My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 128

My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy

Chapter 128 He Calls It An Act

He paused. He swallowed hard. The Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.

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‘But I carry a storm,” he continued. “My name brings destruction. The Steinmann legacy ruins everything it touches. If I walked up to you four years ago, I would ruin your flawless record. I would drag you into my father’s corporate mess. So I kept my distance. I guarded the gate from the outside.”

I stared at his sharp profile. The billionaire heir. The monster who shattered metal lockers and terrorized the student body. He spent his entire high school career playing the villain to keep the world away from his bruised heart.

“The failing midterm grade gave me an excuse,” he whispered. “Trent Lawson ran his mouth in the hallway. He targeted you. I needed a reason to stand beside your locker. I needed a reason to protect you without forcing you to deal with my reality.”

“You think I am incapable of handling your reality?” I challenged.

He snapped his head back to me. The dark, consuming fire returned to his eyes.

“You deserve a safe harbor!” he fired back. His voice rose over the wind. “You deserve a boy who writes you neat poetry on expensive cardstock. You deserve the medical degree and the quiet life. You do not deserve a guy who breaks knuckles in warehouse parking lots. I gave you the book to mark the day. I wanted you to own a piece of your past. I did not want to ruin your future.”

“You do not dictate my future,” I argued.

I shifted my grip on the book. I freed my right hand. I reached out and grabbed the thick lapel of his leather jacket. I pulled the heavy fabric. The unexpected force caused him to step forward. Our chests collided.

The heat from his body rushed into my frozen skin. He gasped. His large hands flew up to grip my waist. He held me tethered to the asphalt. His touch sent a spark straight to my core.

“You lied to yourself, I whispered. I tilted my head back to look directly into his hazel eyes. “You made yourself believe I was a random girl who needed saving. You let me build walls to protect myself from you. You let me think I was invisible.”

“Raisa-

I tore the walls down, I interrupted. I poured my entire heart into the words. I held nothing back. I offered him the very thing he spent four years craving from the shadows. I stood on the roof with you yesterday. I felt the pull. I fell for you. I fell for the boy who brings the storm. I look your way, Ryder. I always look your way.”

Ryder froze.

His long fingers dug into the fabric of my navy blazer. The breath stalled in his lungs. The golden flecks in his irises widened in pure shock He searched my face. He searched for the lie. He searched for the pity. He found a fierce, unyielding devotion mirroring his own.

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Chapter 128 He Calls It An Act

I gave him the ultimate validation. I stripped away his insecurities in the middle of the empty parking lot.

The sheer magnitude of my confession hit him. The armor shattered.

And the reality terrified him.

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He spent his entire life pushing people away before they could discover the broken pieces inside his chest. His father demanded

perfection. His brother died under his watch. He believed he carried a poison capable of destroying anything pure. He believed he was

destined to ruin the things he loved.

He gave me the book expecting rejection. He prepared for a fight. He prepared for me to call him a stalker and walk away. He possessed a

script for failure. He knew how to survive a beating.

He possessed zero script for acceptance.

A tremor wrecked his massive frame. The panic surfaced, fast and sharp. The vulnerability choked him. He looked at my face, and he saw a

girl willing to sacrifice her pristine, safe world for his chaotic darkness. He could not accept the sacrifice. He needed to protect me from

himself.

He let go of my waist.

He pulled his hands back. He stepped backward, creating a massive, freezing gap of empty air between us.

The loss of his touch sent a shiver down my spine. I stumbled forward, my scuffed loafer catching on the rough asphalt.

Ryder?” I asked. The confusion warped into a sharp ache in my chest.

He retreated. He shoved his large hands deep into the pockets of his leather jacket. He locked his jaw. He rebuilt the impenetrable wall in

a matter of seconds. The raw, bleeding boy vanished, replaced by the cold, calculated heir to the Steinmann fortune.

He looked at the pale green book in my hand. He looked at the wind whipping my dark hair across my face.

He needed a shield. He needed a defense mechanism to push me back into the safe zone. He refused to let me drown in his storm. He reached for the oldest weapon in his arsenal. He reached for the lie we drafted in the chemistry lab.

I bought the book to sell the story, Ryder stated.

His voice sounded flat and mechanical. The rough, emotional gravel disappeared. He delivered the words with lethal precision.

I stared at him The ait in my lungs turned to ice. “What?”

Trent Lawson watched you walk into school today, Ryder continued. He delivered the lie without flinching. Julian Hayes spread rumors about the hallway fight. The student body questioned the validity of the relationship again. We needed a grand gesture. Birthdays provide

the perfect audience

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