My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 105

Chapter 105 Alone On The Front Porch

The heavy wooden door clicked shut. The brass deadbolt tumbled into place with a hollow thud, cutting off the warm light and the hum

of the kitchen refrigerator.

The night air rushed in. The chill bit through my thin cotton blouse. I wrapped my arms around my ribs.

Ryder stood on the edge of the small concrete porch. The flickering yellow bulb overhead cast harsh shadows across the sharp angles of his face. He turned around. He looked at me. The polished, perfect guest who charmed my mother vanished. The broad-shouldered boy

with the dark, heavy past returned.

He reached up. He unfastened the top two buttons of his crisp blue shirt. He rolled his shoulders, shedding the suffocating skin of the billionaire heir. He let out a long breath. A cloud of white mist plumed in the cold air.

“You survived, I said. My voice sounded thin in the quiet street.

‘She possesses a terrifying glare,” Ryder noted. The ghost of a smile touched the corner of his mouth. “She reminds me of you.”

I will take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his tailored trousers. He leaned his hip against the rusted wrought-iron railing. The metal groaned under his weight. He did not head toward his truck. He lingered in the freezing air.

I closed the distance. My scuffed loafers made a soft scraping noise against the concrete. The physical space between us shrank. The heat radiating from his chest warred with the biting wind.

“You shocked her, I confessed. “She prepared a speech to tear you apart. She expected an entitled rich kid.

“I know what she expected. Ryder looked down at the cracked sidewalk. “I spent my whole life giving people the disaster they anticipate. It is easier. If you play the villain, no one asks for your heart.”

“You did not play the villain tonight.”

He lifted his chin. His hazel eyes caught the yellow porch light. The golden shards burned with a fierce, undeniable heat.

‘I could not play the villain with her. She raised you. She deserves the truth.”

“What you said at the table,” I started. My throat tightened. I forced the words past the lump in my throat. “About my dreams. About taking the hits so I can reach the finish line.”

Ryder held my gaze. He did not blink. He did not offer a nervous laugh to break the tension.

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Chapter 105 Alone On The Front Porch

‘I meant every syllable.”

“You do not have to say those things just to sell the lie to my mother.”

I am not selling a lie, Raisa.

The rough gravel in his voice scraped against my nerve endings. He pushed his weight off the railing. He closed the remaining gap

between us. He stopped mere inches away. I had to tilt my head back to look at him.

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The scent of clean soap and faint cedar washed over me. The proximity short-circuited my brain. The logical equations I relied on to

navigate my life turned to static.

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