My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 109

Chapter 109 Terrified Of Losing Me

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Ryder stepped from the entrance. The five damp photographs hung from the wooden clothespins. Droplets of water fell from the corners of the glossy paper. They hit the stainless steel sink with tiny, rhythmic splashes. The crimson light bathed the black and white images in

a dark, intimate glow.

He stared at the prints. He saw his own face multiplied five times. He stared at the vulnerability captured in silver halides.

“Mrs. Albright asked for the truth,” I said. My voice sounded thin against the hum of the fan. I offered the academic requirement as a

flimsy shield.

“You found the truth,” Ryder replied. He refused to turn. He kept his gaze locked on the center photograph.

He extended his arm. His long fingers brushed the wet edge of the paper. The crimson light caught the silver metal of his rings. He traced

the outline of his own shoulder on the print.

“I look terrified,” he stated.

“You look human.”

He dropped his hand. He turned to face me. The red glow highlighted the golden flecks in his eyes. The anger I anticipated failed to

materialize.

“Human equates to weakness in my house,” he said. The rough gravel in his tone carried a heavy weight. “My father views emotion as a defect. He expects a machine. He expects a ruthless corporate weapon. He uses open wounds against his enemies. He uses open wounds against his sons. To survive the Steinmann dinner table, you kill the human parts of yourself.”

I crossed my arms over my damp white blouse. I pressed my spine against the edge of the stainless steel sink. The metal felt freezing

against my skin.

He closed the distance. He stopped two feet from me. The heat from his body reached my chilled skin.

“The armor feels heavy,” he confessed. He ran a hand through his messy dark hair. The leather of his jacket groaned with the movement. “I wear the shield every single day. I forget the feeling of my own skin. I forget the method of breathing without bracing for a hit. I walk the halls of Crestview Prep, and I project the monster they expect. It drains my blood.”

‘I understand the pressure,” I said.

Ryder tilted his head. He studied my face. “You carry a different kind of armor. You wear perfect grades. You wear a quiet, flawless reputation. You use textbooks as shields. You memorize complex equations to block the noise.”

‘I require the perfect grades,” I admitted. I swallowed hard. I let the vulnerability bleed into the open air. “My mother breaks her back for my future. She serves tables for minimum wage. She smiles at customers who treat her with pure disrespect. She endures the exhaustion to keep me in this affluent school. If I fail, her sacrifice means nothing. The scholarship demands flawless perfection.”

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Chapter 109 Terrified Of Losing Me

I stared at my wet hands.

“I fear failure,” I whispered. “I fear the day I make a mistake I cannot fix with a study guide. I fear disappointing her. I fear looking into

her eyes and seeing regret.”

Ryder took a step toward me. The space between us shrank to a few inches.

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“You lack the capacity to disappoint her,” he said. His voice dropped to a low, rough rumble. “She looks at you with sheer reverence. I saw

the pride in her eyes at dinner. She knows your strength. She knows you carry the weight of the world, and she admires the grace you use

to hold it.

The validation wrapped around my bruised heart. I lifted my head.

“What do you fear, Ryder?”

He stared at me. The question hung in the red-lit air. He refused to deflect. He offered zero sarcastic jokes. The darkroom demanded total honesty. The wet photos on the wall held him accountable.

“I fear the dark, he started. He broke eye contact. He looked over my shoulder at the plastic trays. “I fear the dark inside my own head. I fear waking one morning and realizing my father won the war. I fear becoming the monster everyone thinks I am. The violence lives in my

blood, Raisa. I feel the rage under my skin.”

His jaw tightened. The muscle ticked beneath his fading bruise.

“I failed Leo,” he continued. The name of his brother brought a profound grief into the room. The air grew heavy with the ghost of the boy who died young. I promised to protect him. I swore I would keep the monsters away. I broke the promise. The guilt sits in my chest every single day. It consumes the edges of my sanity. I look in the mirror, and I see the failure.”

I uncrossed my arms. I extended my hand. I placed my palm flat against his chest, centered over his heart. I felt the rapid, heavy thud of

his pulse beneath the thin gray cotton.

He took a sharp breath. He raised his hand. He wrapped his long fingers over my hand, trapping my palm against his chest.

“You are no monster, I told him. I held his gaze. “A monster lacks care for his brother. A monster refuses to buy cherry tarts for a tired waitress. A monster refuses to let a girl with a camera strip his defenses. You possess a good, beating heart. The world tried to break it,

but the heart remains intact.”

Ryder closed his eyes.

You make me want to be a better man, he breathed. “You make me want to burn the entire Steinmann legacy to ash. You make me want to build something new from the ruins. I want to be the man you see in those photographs.”

Then build it, I challenged. “Drop the act. Leave the bad boy persona behind.”

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Chapter 109 Terrified Of Losing Me

He opened his eyes. He studied my mouth. He searched my eyes. The fierce, desperate hunger returned to his expression.

“I lack the strength to do it alone,” he confessed.

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