Semua Bab Pucking Hate You, My Bully Captain : Bab 81 - Bab 89

Zach’s POV“Who is it?” I asked, already rising from the stool, some instinct in me reading the shift in his posture before he’d said a single word.Ryder didn’t answer. He just opened the door, jaw tight, shoulders squared in a way I’d never seen from him before; braced, like he was preparing to absorb a blow.The man on the other side filled the doorway with a presence that made the entire apartment feel smaller. Tall, silver at the temples, dressed in a suit that looked out of place against the casual warmth of a Sunday morning, every line of him radiating the kind of controlled fury that felt more dangerous than shouting ever could.Ryder’s father.Nothing had prepared me for the sheer force of him standing there, eyes sweeping past his son and landing, briefly, coldly, on me, before moving on entirely, like I hadn’t registered as anything worth acknowledging at all.“Dad.” Ryder’s voice came out steady, but I caught the faint tremor beneath it, the same one I’d heard the night he

Zach’s POVRyder stood frozen in the hallway long after the door had closed behind his father, chest rising and falling in slow, deliberate breaths, like he was consciously reminding his own body how to function after everything that had just happened.“Ryder.” I stepped closer, hand hovering near his arm, uncertain whether touch would help or shatter whatever fragile composure he was holding onto. “Say something.”He turned to look at me, and there was none of the devastation I’d braced myself to find. Something quieter instead, something that almost looked like relief buried underneath the shock, and it confused me more than outright grief would have.“We should call him back,” I said, already reaching for my own phone out of some frantic instinct to fix what had just been broken. “Explain, apologize, something. Maybe if we give him time to cool down-”“Zach.”“-we could figure out a way to soften the blow, let him understand that you’re not just throwing everything away, that this

Zach's POV“The best different.” He turned to look at me fully, firelight catching the gold in his eyes, softening every hard edge the day had carved into his expression. “Feels like the first place that’s ever actually been just mine to share, I mean it’s still an inheritance but with no strings attached.”I felt my breath catch at that, at the quiet weight behind the words, at the way he was looking at me like I was something precious he’d fought hard enough to finally deserve.We ended up in the bedroom upstairs sometime later, the fire banked low behind us, moonlight spilling silver through tall windows onto old wooden floors. Neither needing to rush anything, as the night stretched out slowly and unhurried, every touch deliberate, every glance heavy with weeks of longing finally allowed to surface without fear of interruption or discovery. It felt less like reclaiming something lost and more like building something entirely new between us, unburdened for the first time by every e

The photo burned in my hand like it had its own pulse. Ryder’s fingers in my hair. My grip on his chest. Mouths fused like we were trying to devour each other. It looked so real I could almost taste him; salt, mint, and pure rage. My stomach flipped. “This isn’t real,” I said again, louder this time, shoving the paper back at Gigi. “I’d remember kissing him.”Gigi’s eyes flicked between us, sharp as knives. “Group chat’s blowing up. Half the campus thinks it’s AI slop, the other half thinks you two are secretly fucking in the library stacks.”Ryder snatched the printout, crumpling it in one big fist. His jaw worked like he was chewing glass. “Delete it. All of it.” “You think I have that power?” Gigi snapped. “It’s already everywhere.”I couldn’t look at him. Not when my mind was now focused on the phantom press of his mouth from the picture. Heat crawled up my neck. Fake. It’s fake.But somehow, my pulse didn’t believe it.Ryder’s eyes finally met mine; stormy, furious, and somethin