What August Heard by Sasha Rivers

August
I have been in love with Fletcher Calloway for five years.
My best friend’s older brother. Wealthy, guarded, and somehow the only man who has made me feel seen — while pretending he doesn’t see me at all.
Every summer at their beach villa, I convince myself it means nothing.
Until this summer, when he brings his girlfriend.
She is beautiful, polished, and cruel. She comes for me from the first day.
I smile through every dig, every dinner table comment, every perfectly aimed insult.
Until the night I stand behind a curtain and hear something that shatters my heart.

Tropes:

Overheard Betrayal
Grumpy x Sunshine
Dark Secret
Other Woman Drama
Epic Grovel
Beach Romance
Possessive Hero
Author’s Note: This is the first book in the Words of Ruin series — short standalones linked by one devastating truth: overheard words can destroy everything. Each book, a different season, a different secret. The same earth-shattering moment of hearing something you were never meant to hear. And the grovel? The knees-on-the-floor, heart-in-your-hands, please-give-me-a-second-chance grovel?