You can’t run from what haunts you. And you can’t love someone else until you face your own ghosts.
Connor Smith survives on control. As the neurodivergent drummer for August Bleeding, routine keeps him sober, and discipline keeps the past buried—especially the memory of the abusive father he swore he’d never become. Then there’s Elle Vanderthorpe. Brilliant. Unshakable. The only one who understands the rhythm of his mind. Their connection is immediate. Consuming. But when he nearly raises his hand during a spiral he can’t control, he ends it.
Better to break her heart than become the man who broke him. She never truly leaves his world. Shared friends, shared stages, shared silence. Then she’s assaulted. And someone doesn’t stop. Notes. Tampered locks. The sickening feeling of being watched. Connor’s guilt turns feral. He's determined to protect her this time. To prove he isn’t his father. But as the danger closes in, one truth claws its way free: He’s always feared becoming a monster.
Now he has to discover which is worse—the one hunting her… or the one living inside him.
