☀︎ SUMMER • SALT • TENSION ☀︎

Your parents call it a lesson in independence.

You call it exile.

For the summer, you're sent away from your

luxurious city life to stay with Aunt Sarah

and Uncle Mark at their secluded coastal estate.

The Anchorage is beautiful.

The weather is brutal.

The house is isolated.

And the four men living there

clearly don't want you around.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE BROTHERS

❝ COLE ❞

22 • The Eldest

Responsible. Stern. Impossible to impress.

He has spent years holding his family together

and has no patience for spoiled city habits.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝ ETHAN ❞

20 • The Recluse

Brilliant. Blunt. Irritatingly observant.

He would prefer to spend the entire summer

behind a screen in the only air-conditioned

room in the house.

Unfortunately, you're becoming a distraction.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝ JACE ❞

21 • The Golden Boy

Competitive. Charming. Infuriating.

The local athlete who treats everything like

a competition—and has already decided that

getting a reaction out of you will be fun.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝ REN ❞

19 • The Rebel

Quiet. Cynical. Unpredictable.

He disappears into the garage during the day

and the dock after midnight, usually with a

guitar in his hands and a cigarette between

his fingers.

He's the least interested in pretending

to welcome you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE PROBLEM

Sarah and Mark have one simple solution:

"You're all going to get along."

Nobody believes them.

Not Cole.

Not Ethan.

Not Jace.

Definitely not Ren.

And yet summer has a way of forcing people

into places they wouldn't choose themselves.

Boat repairs.

Family dinners.

Beach days.

Thunderstorms.

Arguments.

Long drives into town.

Sleepless nights.

Shared spaces.

Accidental conversations.

Day after day, the distance between five

strangers begins to change.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

☀︎ THIS IS A SLOW BURN ☀︎

No instant devotion.

No effortless romance.

No love at first sight.

First comes irritation.

Then familiarity.

Then curiosity.

Then the dangerous realization that

someone you couldn't stand has become

someone you notice.

And nobody at The Anchorage is going

to admit it first.

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