Page 78 of Tutoring Mr. Hotshot

He pauses his steps to look at me. “You should be afraid of me. You should be cowering in fear. It's like the world has turned mad. Everything is upside down.”

I shake my head.

“For once, I think everything has turned out right. You should really let this go. There's nothing else to say. We don't even have to be around each other.”

He throws his hands up, stepping closer to me. “I don't have to be around you to be reminded of you. You're everywhere I turn. All the networks are showing you and the future of hockey, or you and the current MVPs. I can't even watch football without a mention of you. I figured getting away from my beloved sport of hockey would give me some kind of relief, but no.”

Part of me wants to feel bad that the plan has worked so perfectly. It's a very small part. The part where empathy lives. Everything else inside me is thrilled to know he has had to deal with me being in his space. That every time he tries to enjoy something, I'm there to remind him that he can't.

I tap my foot on the ground, my impatience showing in my body language.

“It's not my fault. Maybe find something else to do. Learn to cook or something.”

His laugh comes out dark. “I don't want to learn something new. I want you out of my life completely, in the real world and online. Just fucking disappear, Rodney.”

His hands grab onto my shoulders, shaking me as if he can get rid of me that way. I freeze at the touch. Who the fuck does he think he is? This is not okay.

I try to get away from him by backing up. My feet catch on something. Whatever it is causes me to stumble.

Liam lets me go suddenly, and in a last-ditch effort to catch myself, I spin around, hoping my hands will stop me from falling too hard. Unfortunately, I don't have good luck when it comes to these types of situations. My hands do very little to catch me when the pavement is uneven.

I go down hard. Well, my face does anyway. I don't hear any noise that indicates that I might have broken something, but the ache on the right side is intense. When I run my hand over it, I come away with blood.

“Shit,” I mumble as I slowly push myself up. When I look over my shoulder, Liam is standing there with a smirk in place.

“Would you look at that? I didn't even have to try to hurt you this time. You did it to yourself.” He whistles and practically skips away.

It's as if my pain helps him get past everything he was just ranting about. I don't understand him.

People like that are the worst. I think there's some broken part of him that justifies his actions to make sense. Only a licensed professional can determine that. Not me.

I manage to get back on my feet and head towards the library, though I should really go to the nurse's office to get some medical help. However, if I don't show up for my tutoring session with my boyfriend, he is liable to send out a search party.

It's not until I'm walking inside said library that I realize I could have just texted him.

The stares I get let me know that my face is worse than I suspected. I don't stop to look in the mirror and from everyone's reactions, I don't think I want to.

I weave through the stacks until I reach the back table where I know my boyfriend will be. He hears my steps, and a smile builds on his lips even before his head rises.

“I was wondering where you were —” he starts, only to stop when he takes me in. He leaps from his chair and rushes over to me, his hands cupping my face gently.

In a soft voice, he says, "Little genius, what happened? Who did this... your face?"

The words are broken as tears flood his eyes.

"You’re hurt," he tells me."Who did this to you?"

I shake my head, my voice catching before I can even verbalize my feelings.

“It was just an accident. I ran into Liam on the way here.”

Andry pulls his hands away, clenching his fists as his body goes tight.

"He hurt you?”

I shake my head again quickly, but then a surge of pain goes through me, and I wince. “He didn't...”

I don't get to finish my words because the next thing I know, I'm being lifted into his arms and rushed out of the library.

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