All Chapters of Tamed By The Campus Bad Boy: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

AARON'S POVLeon turned to look at me, his eyes soft and searching. “I didn't know it was you, Aaron. I swear it. I wasn't using you.”I let out a small, sad laugh, casting him a quick sideways glance.“It sure felt like it.”“I apologize for that,” Leon murmured.“It was dark, and I was delirious with fever,” he sighed, rubbing his palms over his jeans nervously. “I know it probably sounds like stupid excuses because I was coherent that night. Coherent enough to demand for things, initiate things and…and respond.”Our eyes met and I looked away first before he could see how much he was affecting me.“I didn't even know you were there and I had just seen Damian... or was that a hallucination?”“No,” I replied, gripping the wheel until my knuckles turned white. “He was there. He was meeting someone, and you’d fainted.”I shook my head, trying to dissipate the memory, but not all of it.Just the part where Damian and I had almost got into a fight over what Leon was doing there.“Damian

LEON'S POVThe afternoon light filtered through the stained-glass windows of the church building, casting long, broken patches of crimson and violet across the floorboards.I was in the middle of correcting a twelve-year-old’s posture, my fingers aching from hours of repetitively playing the keyboard, when I felt the air in the room shift.I looked up, expecting to see a parent or perhaps the janitor. Instead, my heart dropped to the floor as I saw Aaron.At first, I blinked hard to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I wasn't. Aaron was sitting in the very back row, his long legs stretched out into the aisle, leaning against the polished wood as if he owned the pew.Perhaps the second most surprising thing about his presence there was that he didn’t look out of place at all. He looked like he belonged there, even with his apparent arrogance which was practically seeping out of his pores.His handsome face slowly split into a smile that I would've mistaken as ‘warm’ if it wasn't from

AARON'S POVI felt like I was being scorched by the relentless, silent judgement on aunt Sarah's face.She stood by the counter, her arms crossed, watching me with a pointed expectation that made my throat feel tight.It was a suffocating look, one that suggested she knew exactly what I was hiding, the guilt, the rage, and the terrifying void where my conscience should have been.“It’s been months, Aaron. She doesn’t have that many people left,” my aunt said, her voice soft in a way that made my eyes burn.“You’re punishing yourself, and you’re punishing her. You can't keep running away from her for good.”I gently placed my glass down on the granite island, my hand shaking ever so slightly as I turned my back to her.“Trust me, aunt, you don’t want to talk about how long I'm willing to keep ‘running’”“Aaron! Just stop, okay?!! It wasn't your…”“Please don't,” I murmured, spinning on my heel to face her again. My blood was beginning to boil, a familiar, toxic heat that I’d been carry

LEON'S POVThe doorbell chimed, a bright, intrusive sound that sliced through the quiet of our house. I rushed to open it, pulled the door open, and for a second, I simply just stared.First at the familiar round, cherub face, pouty lips and big, hazel eyes framed by softly arched eyebrows.Then my eyes dropped to the long graceful neck, collarbones, the pretty, light-blue, knee-length dress and the shiny, black mary-janes with frilly socks that matched the colour of the shirtwaist dress.“Rose?” I breathed, feeling my brow furrow as I began to do the math in my head.But the mention of her name had already drawn my mother's attention.“Rose Graham!” Mom hollered as she hurried towards us, her face lighting up in a way I hadn't seen in months.Rose stood on the porch, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, still looking exactly like the girl who used to chase me through the sprinkler system, just grown now.“Hi Leon,” she beamed, not waiting for an invite. She surged forward, wrapping

LEON'S POV“Rose Brown!” One of the girls from the cheerleading team, Aliyah, screamed, rushing to hug her.She and Rose had been close friends before Rose moved. And from their exchange, there was no doubt they had stayed in touch, even if it was just lightly.“What are you doing in town?? Last we spoke you told me you were going on some debate competition for your school in Portland??”“My school closed for the term early,” Rose replied as a group of girls began to form near the lockers, her tone light and airy.“Also I and my parents are just back for a church program, and since Leon's my bestfriend, his parents were kind enough to let me crash, I’m stuck with this one.”She nudged me, her eyes sparkling.Cassie, a girl who usually looked through me as if I were made of air, leaned in. “Rose, seriously, you have to help us out. You guys are very close, right? Tell him to stop playing so hard to get, girls don't like that!”The girls giggled, a chorus of high-pitched validation. I