บททั้งหมดของ Pucking Hate You, My Bully Captain : บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 105

Zach's POVI turned, and for one disorienting second my brain refused to place the face heading toward me, tall and composed. He reminded me so much of his brother and I felt my chest ache."Matthew?""Got a few minutes?"“Yeah, sure.”He fell into step beside me before I'd even answered, steering us naturally toward the little café at the edge of campus like he'd done this walk a hundred times before."Figured I'd catch you between exams instead of waiting for you by the dorms."“You couldn't call?”“I was around the area, plus I needed to check on you and be sure you're okay.”We settled into a corner booth, drinks ordered more out of habit than actual thirst, and I studied him across the table, searching for whatever news had prompted an actual in-person visit instead of another apologetic call. He seemed relaxed on the surface, easy smile in place, but his eyes moved a fraction too often toward me with a kind of practiced casualness that felt, the longer I sat with it, less like id

Zach's POVThe first thing I registered was the smell, antiseptic and faintly sweet, the particular sterile hush of a room designed to make people feel cared for while stripping away every ordinary comfort at the same time. My eyes opened slowly, ceiling tiles swimming into focus above me, fluorescent light too bright and too even, nothing like the warm amber glow of the warehouse that my mind seemed determined to compare everything against lately."Hey. Hey, easy." Gigi's voice, close, urgent, her hand pressing gently against my shoulder the second I tried to sit up too fast. "Slow down. You're at the campus clinic."Memory returned in a disorienting rush, fragments assembling themselves out of order. The dining hall. Brittany's voice, pitched deliberately loud enough to carry across three tables, something about Ryder transferring schools, some casual cruelty tossed out like a gut punch. The room tilting. Then nothing."Ryder." I struggled upright despite her hand still braced again

Zach's POVIt was finals week and the morning of my first exam arrived exactly as unwelcome as I'd expected, gray light filtering weak through my dorm window while I stared at a stack of practice problems I'd meant to review the night before and hadn't managed to touch, and every time I tried to force my attention back toward corporate finance formulas, my mind slid sideways instead, circling back to that text glowing accusatory against my screen.I'd read it so many times over the last two days that the words had lost some of their shape, worn smooth from repetition the way a stone gets smooth from being turned over and over in a pocket. Every time I closed my eyes for more than a few seconds, some part of my mind supplied the gala photo instead of rest, Ryder's hollow, unreadable stare replacing whatever I'd actually been trying to think about.Gigi found me in the dining hall an hour before the exam, dark circles evident enough under my eyes that she didn't bother pretending not to