My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 79

13:01 Fri, Jul 10

My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy

Chapter 79 One Remaining Truth Left Unspoken

78

We did not need to pretend. No one was watching. Yet, Ryder kept his hand firmly wrapped around mine. His thumb swept a slow, rhythmic pattern against my knuckles as we walked past the cafeteria and pushed through the heavy front doors.

The April wind bit at my face. I shivered, pulling my thin trench coat tighter around my shoulders with my free hand.

Ryder noticed. He stopped on the concrete steps. He let go of my hand, shrugged off his heavy, scuffed leather jacket, and draped it over

my shoulders.

The familiar weight settled over me, trapping his body heat against my skin. I looked up at him, a small smile breaking across my mouth.

“You are going to freeze,” I pointed out. He wore nothing but the thin gray t-shirt.

“I run hot, he replied.

He offered a slight, crooked slant of his mouth. It was not his arrogant smirk. It was a private, unguarded expression meant only for me.

We walked to the South Lot. The massive, dark blue Ford truck sat alone near the edge of the asphalt.

Ryder opened the passenger door. The hinges gave their usual metallic groan. I climbed inside, sinking into the faded cloth seat. He shut

the door, walked around the hood, and slid into the driver’s side.

He turned the key. The engine roared to life, a deep rumble shaking the floorboards. He cranked the heater dial, blasting warm air into

the freezing cab.

He shifted the truck into drive, steering us out of the Crestview Prep parking lot and onto the main road.

I leaned my head against the cold glass of the passenger window. I watched the sprawling, manicured lawns of the wealthy district blur past. I thought about the first day I walked under the bleachers. I thought about the sheer terror I felt looking at the boy with the bruised

knuckles and the terrifying reputation.

I had approached him to use him as a human shield.

Now, sitting in the cab of his truck, wrapped in his leather jacket, the thought of losing him felt like a physical death.

“You are quiet, Ryder noted. He kept his eyes on the road, his hands resting easily on the steering wheel.

I am just thinking,” I said.

“About?”

“About how wrong I was, I admitted. I turned my head to look at his profile. The fading sunlight highlighted the sharp, aristocratic slope

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13:01 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 79 One Remaining Truth Left Unspoken

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of his nose and the harsh line of his jaw. I thought I had the entire world figured out. I thought logic and math were the only things that

kept a person safe.”

Ryder glanced at me. The golden shards in his eyes caught the light. “And now?”

“Now, I think the math is flawed,” I said.

He let out a soft, genuine laugh. The sound warmed the interior of the cab better than the broken heater.

He reached across the center console. He rested his large hand on my knee, his thumb drawing lazy circles against the fabric of my coat.

The touch was casual, intimate, and completely real.

We drove through the shifting landscape. The pristine mansions faded into smaller, cramped houses. The pristine sidewalks turned into

cracked pavement

Ryder turned onto my street. He pulled the heavy truck up to the curb outside my house.

He shifted the gear into park. He did not cut the engine.

I reached for the door handle.

Raisa

The rough, scraped sound of my name made me pause.

I turned back to look at him.

The easy, warm atmosphere inside the cab was gone. The transition was staggering. The boy who had laughed with me ten minutes ago vanished into the shadows of the truck.

Ryder sat frozen in the driver’s seat. Both of his hands gripped the steering wheel. His knuckles were stark white beneath the healing pink scars. The muscles in his forearms were pulled tight, corded with a rigid, agonizing tension.

He stared straight ahead through the windshield. He did not look at my house. He did not look at the street. He looked at a ghost I could

not see.

Ryder? I asked. A cold prickle of dread crawled up the back of my neck.

He turned his head.

The look in his hazel eyes stripped the breath straight out of my lungs.

It was absolute, unadulterated torment. The despair carved deep, hollow lines around his mouth. He looked like a prisoner standing on the edge of the gallows, savoring his last glimpse of the sun.

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13:01 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 79 One Remaining Truth Left Unspoken

78

The promise we made in the drama corridor echoed in my mind. We promised the truth. But the truth was a double-edged blade, and he

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