My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 59

Chapter 59 Hiding Too Close Inside a Library Corner

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The second-floor reference section of the Crestview Prep library was a graveyard for forgotten books.

It was a restricted area, cordoned off by a thick velvet rope, designated only for senior thesis research or faculty use. The air up here was

completely stagnant. It smelled of decomposing paper, heavy dust, and the sharp, acidic tang of aging leather bindings. The lighting was

terrible-just a few weak, flickering fluorescent tubes casting long, distorted shadows across the narrow aisles.

It was the absolute perfect place to hide.

I sat on the scuffed carpet behind a towering mahogany shelf of encyclopedias, my knees pulled tightly to my chest. My AP Calculus

textbook lay open on my lap, the dense equations blurring into meaningless black lines.

It was Tuesday afternoon, exactly twenty-four hours since I had bolted out of the clinic and left Ryder sitting on the examination bed.

I had spent the entire morning dodging him. I took different stairwells. I timed my locker visits down to the second to avoid the B-wing

rush. I sat in the very front row of our shared history class, keeping my eyes entirely glued to the whiteboard, pretending I couldn’t feel

the heavy, burning weight of his stare drilling into the back of my head.

I couldn’t face him. The near-kiss in the clinic had completely destroyed whatever fragile, logical barrier I had left. I was supposed to be

the smart one. I was supposed to be the girl who controlled every variable. But every time I thought about the way his thumb had brushed my jawline, a hot, liquid panic flooded my chest, making it impossible to breathe.

I rested my forehead against my knees, digging my fingernails into the fabric of my plaid skirt.

The heavy, metallic clank of the velvet rope unhooking echoed through the silent archives.

1 froze.

The sound of heavy, deliberate footsteps hit the carpet. They weren’t the sharp, clicking heels of the librarian. They were the solid, heavy

thuds of combat boots.

My heart stalled.

“I know you’re back here, Petrova.”

The low, gravelly scrape of his voice drifted over the tops of the bookshelves.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shrinking back against the hard wooden baseboard. He had found me. Of course he had found me. I could hide

from Harper Vance and her spies, but I was beginning to realize I couldn’t hide a single thing from Ryder Steinmann.

The footsteps grew closer, moving down the central aisle.

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Chapter 59 Hiding Too Close Inside a Library Corner

I held my breath, praying the shadows would swallow me.

A large figure stepped into the opening of my narrow aisle, completely blocking the weak fluorescent light.

I slowly lifted my head.

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Ryder stood at the edge of the shelving unit. He was wearing a faded black t-shirt. His dark hair was a messy, chaotic tangle. The harsh yellow bruises on his jaw were fading, but the stark white gauze wrapped securely around his right hand was a glaring, physical reminder

of exactly what he was capable of.

He didn’t look angry. He just looked exhausted.

He stepped into the narrow aisle, the space immediately feeling entirely too small for his broad shoulders. He walked toward me, stopping just a foot away from where I sat on the floor.

“You skipped lunch, he murmured, his hazel eyes dropping to my textbook.

“I wasn’t hungry,” I lied, my voice thin and raspy. The dust in the air scratched at the back of my dry throat.

“You weren’t in the cafeteria,” he corrected, his tone flat. He slowly crouched down, the worn denim of his jeans pulling tight over his knees. He rested his forearms on his thighs, bringing his face level with mine. “You’ve been running from me all day.”

I gripped the edges of my open book. “I’ve been studying. The calculus midterm is tomorrow.”

“Don’t do that,” Ryder rasped, the muscle beneath his bruised cheek ticking sharply.

“Do what?”

“Don’t lie to me,” he said, the rough gravel in his voice dropping into a dark, heavy register. “You can lie to Chase. You can lie to Harper. You can lie to the entire school. But don’t sit here and pretend you’re hiding behind a math book because of a test.”

The air in the narrow aisle completely vanished.

He was entirely too close. The heat radiating off his chest seeped through my uniform blouse, a heavy, burning wave that completely

counteracted the chill of the library.

I couldn’t look at his eyes. I dropped my gaze, staring at the stark white bandage wrapped around his knuckles. The edges of the medical tape I had carefully smoothed down yesterday were slightly frayed.

“I’m not pretending,” I whispered, the words trembling on my lips. “I just… I need space, Ryder. We broke the rules. We broke the contract. I don’t know how to act around you when the audience isn’t watching.”

Ryder didn’t say a word. He just stared at me, the silence stretching between us, heavy and thick with the unresolved, completely

terrifying tension from the clinic.

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