The first time Jace Montoya met Eli Alcaraz, they were just kids—two boys who should have been enemies.
It happened on a dull summer afternoon when Jace had snuck out of his house, tired of listening to his father rant about the Alcaraz family. He wandered aimlessly, kicking stones down the dirt road near the old riverbank, until he saw a boy sitting on the edge of the water, tossing pebbles into the current.
Jace knew who he was immediately. Everyone in town knew Eli Alcaraz—the youngest son of the family his father despised. Jace had been told to stay away, warned that the Alcaraz name was poison, that they were nothing but trouble. But standing there, looking at Eli, Jace didn't see an enemy.
He saw a boy his age, alone, just like him.
"You're not supposed to be here," Eli said without looking up.
Jace crossed his arms. "Neither are you."
Eli smirked. "Guess that makes two of us."
That was how it started.
At first, it was just stolen moments by the river, quiet conversations that neither of them admitted to anyone else. They never spoke about their families, only about the things that mattered to them—adventures they dreamed of, books they loved, the idea of running far away from a town where their last names defined them.
One summer turned into another, and their friendship deepened. They learned to trust each other in ways they never trusted anyone else. Jace had never known what it was like to have someone who understood him without words, who saw him beyond his family name. But Eli did.
And that scared him.
Because one day, Jace realized he wasn't just afraid of losing Eli as a friend—he was afraid of wanting more.
It hit him one night when they were fifteen, lying on the riverbank after sneaking out of their houses. The moonlight traced over Eli's face, and Jace caught himself staring too long, his heart pounding for reasons he refused to acknowledge.
He looked away, forcing himself to focus on the stars instead.
"This town sucks," Eli muttered. "One day, I'm gonna leave. Go somewhere no one cares about my last name."
Jace swallowed hard. "Yeah?"
Eli turned to face him, his eyes searching Jace's like he was looking for an answer to a question he hadn't asked yet. "Would you come with me?"
Jace knew he should have laughed it off, should have made some joke about how impossible that was. But he couldn't. Because deep down, he wanted to say yes.
He wanted to go anywhere, as long as it was with Eli.
But wanting something and having it were two different things. And Jace knew their world would never let them have this—whatever this was.
So, he did what he had always done. He pushed the feeling down, buried it deep, and pretended it wasn't there.
But some things refuse to stay buried.
And soon, Jace would realize that love—real, undeniable love—has a way of breaking through, no matter how hard you try to stop it.