Chapter 171 THE STORM

Chapter 171 DADDY DEAREST
Bohdi’s POV

First day of exams.

I woke up about ten minutes earlier than usual, a manifestation of my anxiety. I knew I was ready, I'd been studying since the sems water started but I just couldn't help it.

I rolled over to see Maverick splayed out on his bed, mouth open softly snoring. I smiled, watching him.

But I was anxious about Maverick too.

It was great that I could take some of the burden off him. I was stretching my allowance thin but it was worth it, for him and the boy he basically took in, especially after the boy's deadbeat father died.

I had to be careful though. It would basically be trying to get blood out of a rock if I asked Dad for more money. He wouldn't give me more, intent on teaching me value for money and all that which I understood.

Mom, on the other hand, was easier to break even as she tried to follow Dad’s doctrine so she supplemented me quite nicely.

I hadn't gone home since I found out I was engaged, I didn’t want to.

Surprisingly, they hadn't found me out yet. Dad had invited me back to the house two more times, but I had declined both invites with meticulously crafted stories. I don't want to be in that house, especially if the woman I was supposed to marry was there too.

I groaned as I got out of bed to get ready for the day.

Belinda was a self-perpetuating machine, it seemed. Even as I barely replied to her messages, she kept sending them, giving me life updates and mini memos I couldn't give a fuck about, truly.

The last few weeks had passed quickly.

It had been mostly blissful, if I was being honest. I went to class, and I came back to my boyfriend. It was amazing, especially as I wasn’t lying out of my teeth to my best friend.

But ever since Elias’ mom had divorced Fidelis, he had been in a very good mood.

And Maverick. He had really warmed up to the relationship now, and it thrilled me. He understood me, my tiny routines. And if he didn't, he made sure to find out.

Plus he took his studies very seriously, so I believed he'd already had those top grades in the bag. Which was well deserved, considering all he had gone through.

I stepped into the shower and took a bath.

Of course, I shared in his pain. He'd lost some friends one after the other, so close to each other that he hadn’t had time to process and that was the main source of my worry.

Day by day, I noticed there was something there. He wasn't getting worse per say, it just… wasn't getting better. The sadness behind his eyes had become a permanent fixture and I didn't like that.

But I didn't exactly know how to help. I was sure he needed to process his grief, maybe at the end of the first semester exams I would suggest therapy. That would be a start.

I got dressed, kissed Maverick on the cheek and got rewarded with a sleepy smile before I left.

I wrote my exam so quickly, the three hours flying by, that I knew I'd be getting an A. I went back home, content, knowing that with his two hour exam that had started an hour after mine, he would probably be back too.

I was right. Maverick was laying down, one hand behind his head as he watched something on his phone.

I grinned, walking up to brush my hand over the little hair. “Hey baby.”

“Hey,” he smiled back at me, then blew me a kiss, eyes on his screen.

God, he could be so cute sometimes.

That wasn’t enough, so I bent my knees and leaned in for a kiss.

He kissed me, putting his phone down now and I sighed against his lips.

Maverick's kisses were just honey and sugar sometimes with the way I craved them. He'd nibble on my lips, caress them in such a way that oftentimes made me want to spend an extra hour just with his lips on me.

When I stepped back, he picked up his phone again.

“So what's are we doing to have for —”

“No.”

The word was softly spoken but the burst of raw emotion behind them made me pause. He was staring at his phone hard. What? What was going on?

“No, it can't be!”

Maverick was looking right through me now, holding his phone tight. His brows were dipped down, two angry straight lines. “Mav—“

“No!” Maverick repeated, getting to his feet, tossing his phone down on his bed as he began to pace. I watched him confused, a bad feeling settling in the pit of my stomach.

“What’s going on baby?” I asked gently, reaching for him.

I wasn’t sure he heard me, as he started muttering. “He can't. He can't be dead yet. He can’t!”

I sighed, my heart already breaking. Who was it again that had died? “Maverick—”

“And I was so close too! We're literally at the end of the semester, all he needed to do was hold on, exert that hardheadness and stay alive!”

I wrapped my hands around his waist, resting my head against his back. The action seemed to deflate him a little.

“I hate him,” he said softly. “I hate him so much and I hate him even more because he took this from me.”

I rubbed his back, still unsure who this was.

“I hope that man was in pain in his final moments,” Maverick continued, his voice hardening in a way that surprised me. “My father deserves nothing better!”