The Rival Teammate

A flooded dorm. One garage apartment. Two rival teammates forced to share more than a project.

Talia Mercer is tired of being the woman behind someone else's win. She needs the Crownline Academy data-media fellowship to prove her strategy, her ambition, and her voice can stand on their own.

Niko Sayer hides serious talent behind jokes, grease-stained hands, and the easy smile everyone mistakes for carelessness. The Helix Forge apprenticeship could change his future-if he can stop pretending he does not want it.

When a North Quay flood throws Talia and Niko into the same apartment above Bay Twelve, they expect the roommate situation to be temporary. Then a Design Sprint reassignment makes them teammates, and suddenly they have six weeks to build a racing diagnostic project strong enough to survive the final demo.

She trusts structure.
He trusts instinct.
The car only tells the truth under pressure.

Late-night testing, shared coffee, thin walls, and one impossible project start turning rivalry into something far more dangerous. But when Niko keeps a risk from Talia before a live stress test, the project may survive-and their trust may not.

THE RIVAL TEAMMATE is a slow-burn college racing romance with forced proximity, roommate tension, rivals-to-lovers chemistry, emotional accountability, and a hard-earned happy ending.