Alle Kapitel von Pucking Hate You, My Bully Captain : Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

Zach’s POVThe walk back to my dorm felt like something out of a dream I was afraid to wake from, the night air was cool and crisp, carrying the faint scent of blooming jasmine from the campus gardens.Streetlights cast soft pools of gold along the paths, and the distant hum of students heading to late-night study groups felt far away.Ryder walked beside me, his presence solid and warm, the space between us charged with everything we’d confessed over dinner, and it all felt surreal, dreamy. Like the complicated history between us had finally stopped being the excuse between us.I was still processing the way Ryder had looked at me across the table, raw and honest, asking for a second chance.My heart had been surrounded by the walls I built, but the feelings I’d fought for so long had returned stronger than ever.We reached my dorm building sooner than I wished, Ryder didn’t stop at the entrance like I thought he would. He walked me all the way to my door, the hallway quiet except fo

Zach’s POVMore late-night sessions in Ryder’s apartment turned into something deeper, more intimate. but the air between us hummed. Shared laughs came easier now. Ryder’s low chuckle, my own smile when he challenged my notion with a witty insight.The partnership felt electric again, but it was the vulnerable conversations that deepened the bond the most.One evening, after a particularly productive stretch on the project, we took a break on the couch. Ryder’s arm rested along the back, his fingers occasionally brushing my shoulder.The conversation started personal, as it often did now.“You’ve mentioned home a few times,” he said quietly, eyes on me. “Issues with your family and stuff. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m here if you do.”I sighed, keeping most of my family trauma to myself had become second nature to me, but I realized then how unfair it was, he’d unloaded his own situation to me.The least I could do was trust him with that, and the safet

Zach’s POVThe project deadline loomed like a guillotine, adding an unbearable pressure to everything else going on in my life. We were so close to finishing the extended component, the work getting stronger than ever. What I needed the most was to focus on that.I held on tightly to our final late-night sessions together, three days had passed since I got the letter and just as I’d started to relax into the idea that the blackmailer had been bluffing another threat came.It felt less like a threat and more like a consideration, an extension on the time I had to end things with the man I loved.So, every moment since then had become the highlight of my days. But even then every meeting felt weighted with the secret I was carrying. It was ironic, I made him promise not to keep secrets to protect me, and I couldn’t hold myself up to the same standard.The self judgement became too much for me, and the moment Ryder started to notice I distanced myself slightly, making excuses when my fee

Zach’s POVMy eyes fluttered open slowly as rays of sun landed on my face and cut through my sleep, the mattress I lay on was comfortable today, like really comfortable, and even the air around me felt cleaner as I turned on my bed.My body stopped halfway as I felt another heavy weight beneath me and just as I was in the process of jumping out of my skin, a pair of strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me close.In that moment, the scent of this invader carried memories of last night and m entire body felt warm as I melted into the embrace.I couldn’t relax too long, as the weight of the decision I had to make today sent a chill through my body and my thoughts became a burden once again, I really hated that this was my life now.Hated that I couldn’t just sink into the sweet moments without something threatening to go catastrophically wrong.But I had made my peace with it last night, and I was done waiting for some miraculous escape to pop out from nowhere.This is what I had to do

Ryder’s POVThree days.That’s how long it had been since I watched Zach walk away from me that gloomy afternoon, since he stood in front of me and expected me to believe every heartless lie he’d forced out of that pretty mouth. Three days of waking up at five, lacing my shoes before the sun even considered rising, and running until my lungs gave out before my legs did.Routine was supposed to fix this. Routine was supposed to make the ache in my chest feel like something manageable, something I could outrun if I just stretched a few extra miles than required.It didn’t.The campus gym was empty at this hour, just the low hum of fluorescent lights and the rhythmic clang of weights from the one other insomniac who always beat me here. I didn’t know his name. Didn’t care to. We nodded at each other like men who understood a particular kind of silence, the kind that didn’t need to be filled.I racked the bar heavier than I should have and lay back on the bench, staring up at the water st