Qiang

After being outed in the most humiliating way possible, I made a list of rules. No more jocks. No more rich jerks. No more relationships. I built walls so high they couldn’t be scaled; ones that hid the lies and trauma so well, I had convinced even myself I was perfectly fine.

But then Marcus Bauer, with his intense eyes, flirty smiles, and ridiculously cheesy lines, saunters into my life. He’s everything my walls are supposed to protect me against. He’s a jock. An irrationally irritating rich boy. My housemate. And did I forget to mention he’s my brother’s boyfriend’s best friend?

In the world of nope, he’s the king, and yet I’m drawn to him despite myself. It doesn’t help at all that he wants me. Ardently. Determinedly. Loudly. And no matter how hard I fight against him, he has this uncanny talent of bringing my walls down one at a time. But my walls were built for more than just keeping people out. They were built to keep secrets and terrible truths in, and as each wall falls, more of the detrimental toxicity floods out, hurting everyone I care about.

Marcus

I’ve never really been interested in relationships. My life is pretty perfect, between football, family, and never having a problem finding a willing hookup, I really can’t complain at all. And then I meet my best bro’s boyfriend’s older sibling, Qiang Jiang, and my whole universe flips upside down.

What starts as knowing better than to mess around with them quickly turns into an obsession. I want them more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. But when that want turns into something deeper, something all-consuming, I can’t help but push. Doesn’t help that the desire in their eyes matches mine, even while their pretty mouth says no. And it doesn’t keep the protective side of me quiet at all when I see demons thrashing deep behind the desire in their eyes.

One layer at a time, their secrets start slipping out to reveal things that are darker than I could have imagined. As their trauma swallows them whole, all I can do is be the pillar they need to pull themselves back out. I just hope the wreckage doesn’t swallow us all whole before everything’s said and done.

Leaning On You is a medium-angst, MX romance between a nonbinary makeup influencer who uses sass as a weapon to protect themself and a besotted wide receiver who will stop at nothing to protect them. You can expect forced proximity, hurt/comfort, roommates-to-lovers, the slowest of slow burns, and then all the spice once it starts, along with mental health and trauma rep, POC and BIPOC rep, an omnisexual nonbinary MC, and an MC that questions labels but never claims any as his own.

This is Book Two of the Iver’s Sphere University Series. It can be read as a standalone, but the series is best read in order.

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