The Bad Boy and Student President Want Me

Eli Grant, a quiet scholarship student at Blackridge University, lives with crushing social anxiety—until one night he is locked inside a gymnasium shower stall by his rival, Nolan Pierce, who films his panic and leaks the footage campus-wide, then edits his two rescuers' efforts into a fake "three-way forced kiss." With his honor fellowship frozen and a seventy-two-hour deadline to prove his innocence, Eli must fight for his future or lose everything. Two very different men answer his call. Kane Vance, the campus bad boy known for his fists and his fierce temper, shields Eli from the cameras and confesses that he wants him. Arthur Sinclair, the immaculate student council president, protects Eli through rules and access—but his "protection" curdles into control, and he hides evidence to keep Eli close. Drawn together against a common enemy, the two rivals circle each other like a battlefield, and their jealousy keeps pushing Eli into shower rescues, cramped closets, tightened neckties, and almost-kisses. Refusing to be treated as a prize, Eli sets the rules: no violence, no secret deals, no touch without his consent. As he follows the clues—a blue towel, a broken silver clasp, a black recorder, a duplicated access card—he uncovers Nolan's conspiracy of surveillance, editing, and blackmail. Along the way, Kane must learn to ask before he acts, and Arthur must surrender the power he once misused. In the final hearing, Eli traps Nolan into revealing details only the real filmer could know. Nolan is convicted of orchestrating the bullying; Kane's enrollment and Eli's fellowship are restored; Arthur resigns the presidency and accepts rejection. At last, Eli returns Arthur's coat with a goodbye hug, then kisses Kane—twice—choosing him, and inviting Kane into a relationship whose pace Eli alone will set.