The Rules

He's my stepbrother. The one guy in this town I am absolutely, categorically, NOT allowed to want. But then again... I've never been good at following the rules. A few months away from my eighteenth birthday, I suddenly get a new stepbrother, stepmom, and a house with more rooms than I've ever seen. Speaking of that new stepbrother... Caleb is the town golden boy, so naturally everyone assumes he has it all together. He's got color-coded binders, he never misses an event on his schedule, and he carries that notebook of rules he's set for himself like his own personal ten commandments. Or 917 commandments, by last count. Only, I'm the one who hears him counting his steps at two in the morning. And I'm the only one who knows he's started following all those rules in a desperate attempt for control the day after his world started falling apart. He's the one guy in this town I am absolutely, categorically, not allowed to want. Rules were made to protect people from ideas this catastrophically bad. But what if I feel safer in his arms than I have ever felt anywhere in my whole life? And the night he says my name like it's the only word he knows...? Let's just say I've never been good at following the rules. Turns out, though? >Note: contains intense situations, please pay attention to content warnings. Book 1 of a 2 book completed Duet.