My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47 A Complicated Order Remembered Perfectly

He shoved his bruised hands deep into the pockets of his leather jacket, his jaw clenching. He shifted his weight, looking over my

shoulder at the blank whiteboard at the front of the room. He was avoiding my eyes.

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” he said. The words came out forced, rough, and completely stripped of any arrogance. “Yesterday. I

shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

My chest tightened, a sharp, painful ache blooming right behind my sternum. The most dangerous, feared boy in Crestview Prep was

standing in an empty classroom, shifting nervously on his feet, apologizing to me.

“You didn’t just lose your temper,” I whispered, my voice incredibly thin. “You were right.”

Ryder finally looked at me, his hazel eyes darkening with a sudden, sharp confusion.

“I handed you a script,” I continued, forcing myself to hold his stare even though my pulse was roaring in my ears. “I treated you like a liability. I told you I wanted an arrangement, and then I panicked the second it stopped feeling like a transaction. I tried to control you because…” I swallowed hard, the absolute truth burning the back of my throat. “Because I don’t know how to handle what happens when

you don’t follow the rules.”

Ryder stood completely still.

The tense, rigid line of his shoulders slowly began to drop. He pulled his right hand out of his jacket pocket. He reached across the desk, his knuckles grazing the cold plastic of the cup, until his hand covered mine.

His skin was burning hot against my freezing fingers. The contrast sent a massive, terrifying jolt of electricity straight up my arm, crashing directly into my chest.

“I don’t care about the rules, Raisa,” he rasped, his voice dropping into a dark, heavy register that made the floor completely dissolve

beneath my feet. “I care about you.”

He didn’t shout it. He didn’t make a massive spectacle out of it. He just dropped the confession onto the desk between us, raw, quiet, and

absolutely undeniable.

I couldn’t breathe. The air was trapped in my lungs, my heart hammering a frantic, uneven rhythm against his palm.

“Drink it,” he commanded softly, his thumb sweeping a slow, deliberate line across my knuckles. “Before it gets watered down.”

He pulled his hand back, severing the physical connection. The sudden loss of his heat left my skin tingling and entirely completely desperate for more.

I picked up the heavy plastic cup. The green straw was already in it. I brought it to my lips and took a slow sip.

The cold liquid hit my tongue. It was perfect. The sharp, bitter bite of the cold brew was perfectly balanced by the creamy macadamia

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Chapter 47 A Complicated Order Remembered Perfectly

milk, followed instantly by the deep, rich sweetness of hazelnut and caramel. It tasted exactly like relief. It tasted like safety.

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I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, letting out a long, shaky exhale. The tight, twisting knot of anxiety that had been crushing my

stomach since yesterday morning completely unraveled.

I lowered the cup, wiping a drop of condensation from the side.

I looked at him. He was watching me, his eyes tracking the subtle relaxation of my posture. The corner of his split lip curved up into a

tiny, guarded slant.

“It’s right, isn’t it?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.

“It’s exact, I breathed, staring at the white sticker again.

I traced the printed letters with my thumbnail. The math in my head was completely failing. I had never told Jenna about this order. I had never mentioned it to Liam. I had never written it down in a notebook or posted a picture of it online. I didn’t exist in the same social circles as anyone who worked at that coffee shop.

The fake dating arrangement started two weeks ago. He hadn’t asked me my favorite drink. We hadn’t played twenty questions.

I set the cup back down on the paper napkin.

I tilted my head, searching his bruised, intense face.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. The question felt incredibly heavy in the quiet room. “I only go to that shop twice a year. I haven’t been there since December. How could you possibly know my exact, ridiculously complicated order?”

Ryder didn’t look away. The small smirk faded from his lips, replaced by something much darker, far more intense, and completely

unguarded.

He leaned forward, bracing his large hands flat on the edges of my desk. He boxed me in, the heavy leather of his jacket brushing against my forearms. The physical proximity was overwhelming, stripping away the rest of the classroom entirely.

“Last May,” he murmured, his gravelly voice dropping so low I felt the vibration in the wood beneath my hands. “It was the Tuesday of finals week. It was pouring rain.”

I blinked, my mind racing backward. May. Ten months ago.

You were standing in line, Ryder continued, his hazel eyes locking onto mine, refusing to let me look anywhere else. “You were soaking wet You had your AP Biology textbook open, balanced on your forearm, and you were biting the inside of your cheek so hard I thought you were going to bleed.

My breath hitched. I remembered that day. I had failed a practice quiz the night before, and I was completely spiraling. I had driven to The Roasted Bean in a total panic.

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Chapter 47 A Complicated Order Remembered Perfectly

🙂

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