MasukRyker's POVVanessa kept following me around since the party yesterday.Honestly, she had been hovering so much that I was beginning to suspect she thought I was some kind of fragile glass ornament that would shatter if she looked away for more than five seconds.She had even wanted to sleep in my dorm last night.I practically begged her to go home.Not because I didn't appreciate her.I did.More than she would ever know.But I was fine.At least, I thought I was.Or maybe I just wanted to be left alone long enough to convince myself that I was.The dorm was unusually quiet for a Saturday morning.Most people were either sleeping in or already making plans for the weekend.The sunlight filtered through the windows and stretched across the floor.&
Leo's POVI woke up to what I assumed was Ryan and Warren screaming their throats off in excitement."Husband-to-be! Husband-to-be! Husband-to-be!"They kept chanting it at the top of their lungs like a pair of deranged cheerleaders.I groaned and rolled over, ignoring them.That only made them laugh harder."Husband-to-be is grumpy!" Ryan shouted."Husband-to-be needs his beauty sleep!" Warren added.I ignored them and dragged myself out of bed.My head felt like it had been split open.I had barely slept.The migraine pounding behind my eyes was vicious, but no pain was worse than the one waiting for me downstairs.Today was my wedding day.The realization settled in my chest like a stone.Ry
Leo's POVIf I thought I felt terrible before, this was a completely new discovery.My soul was broken.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the journal.Every time I tried to think of anything else, my mind dragged me back to those water-stained pages and the words written inside them.Words that weren't angry.Words that weren't accusing.Words that should have been.Instead, they were kind.Hopeful.
Leo’s POVThe poolside was alive in a way that felt almost violent.Music thumped through the air like a second heartbeat, bass vibrating through glass bottles and bare feet. Lights strung around the mansion flickered gold and blue, casting shifting halos over bodies packed shoulder to shoulder. Students spilled across every surface of the place, laughing too loudly, shouting names too carelessly, drowning the night in noise that didn’t belong to me.Some were already in the pool, splashing like the water owed them something. Others leaned over the edge with drinks in hand, cheering whenever someone jumped in fully clothed. A few couples kissed like the world was watching, and others just screamed for attention because they could.It was my birthday.It felt like somebody else’s punishment.I stood near the far corner of the terrace, half-shadowed, a brandy glass warm in my hand. The bottle beside me was nearly empty. I didn’t remember finishing most of it, only the steady dulling of
Riker’s POVIf I ever thought my first year had been hard, this second year was laughing in my face.Not the soft kind of laughter either. The kind that drags its nails down the back of your spine while you’re still trying to pretend you’re fine.I adjusted my book bag for the third time as we walked, the straps digging into my shoulder in a way that felt more honest than anything else today.“That bad, huh?” Vanessa said beside me, falling into step like she had always belonged there.I let out a small, tired chuckle. “I’m exaggerating.”She raised an eyebrow. “That didn’t sound like exaggeration.”“It was dramatic exaggeration,” I corrected, and she laughed softly.Campus moved around us in pieces. Students drifting between buildings, conversations overlapping, life happening like nothing in me was falling apart in slow motion.It was Friday.
The door clicked shut after Vanessa left, but the sound didn’t really leave with her.It stayed.Hollow. Final. Sharp in a way that made the silence feel louder than anything she had said.I stood there for a moment longer than I should have, staring at the empty space like it might answer back if I gave it enough time. But there was nothing. No second knock. No correction. No undoing.Just me and the weight she had dropped in the middle of my life.Warren. Ryan. Riker.My jaw tightened.Every word she had thrown at me earlier still echoed in fragments, not even fully formed sentences anymore, just impressions of accusation and disappointment and something that sounded dangerously close to truth.I dragged a hand down my face and turned back into the room.Catherine was still there.Of course she was.She had resumed her place like nothing had happened, like the interruption had been a minor inconveni
Leo’s POVI kissed Ryker several times on his cheek, his face, his nose, his neck, everywhere my lips could touch.Then I pulled my shirt back over my head.My hair was still damp from the shower we just had, the m
Ryker's pov I let out a gasp, my cock practically jumping in response to his feather like touch.His words echoed in my head making me even harder, even though I didn't think that was possible.He didn't bother warning me before he took my full length in his mouth. I felt my eyes roll to the
Leo's pov This was peace.Kissing Ryker didn’t feel like a chore or an obligation. It didn’t feel like something rehearsed, something expected, something staged for an audience that was always watching, always judging.It felt quiet.Like the world had finally shut up for once.Like the expectatio
Leo's povThe place everyone called Mason Bridge was not really a bridge.It was just a long covered passageway between two old campus buildings, with cracked concrete underfoot and rusted railings no one trusted enough to lean







