Chapter 74 : Physical Spikes
HAYDEN’S POV
I shouldn’t have gone back. I knew it the second time i stepped into the dorm building.
The air felt wrong again. Conversations dipped as i walked past, eyes followed me a second too long, and even the silence felt louder than usual.
By the time i reach our floor, my chest is already tight. I hesitate in front of the door. For a second… I was thinking about turning around and going anywhere else.
Ammy’s place, the field. Hell, even just wandering outside until it gets dark.Anywhere but here.
But I didn’t. Because i can’t keep avoiding this, not when it is already spiraling.
So i push the door open and immediately….
My body goes still.
Stephen’s voice cuts through the room, low and cold, but there is something underneath it.
I close the door slowly behind me, my grip tightening on the handle for just a second before I let go.
“I….” I start, but the words get stuck.
Stephen is standing near the window, arms crossed, his posture rigid. His eyes are already on me.
“You got my message,” he continues.
It was not a question. I swallowed. “Yeah.”
“And you decided to ignore it.”
“I didn’t ignore it,” I said quickly. “I just….”
“Didn’t come,” he finishes flatly.
Silence stretches between us. I exhale, running a hand through my hair. “It felt… weird, Stephen. The message, the whole thing.”
His jaw tightens. “Weird?”
“Yeah,” I snap, a bit more defensive than I intended. “You sent it from an unknown number, saying you ‘know what I did’? What was I supposed to think?”
“That i wanted to talk to you,” he says.
“That’s not what it sounded like.”
His eyes flash. “Then what did it sound like?”
“Like a threat.” The word hangs in the air.
For a second, something shifts in his expression. He looked hurt, then it was gone, replaced by something colder.
“Right,” he mutters. “Because I’m the bad guy here.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you meant.”
I shake my head, frustration bubbling up in my chest. “Why didn’t you just talk to me normally?”
“Because you have been avoiding me.”
“I’m not avoiding you….”
“You literally snuck out this morning.”
That hits. I hesitate for half a second too long, and his expression hardens.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “That’s what I thought.”
“I just didn’t want to deal with everything at once,” I admit, my voice tighter now. “The video, the meeting, people talking….”
“And me?” he cuts in. “You didn’t want to deal with me?”
I don’t answer because I don’t know how to and that is an answer enough.
Stephen lets out a short, humorless laugh, turning away from me as he runs a hand through his hair. “Of course,” he mutters. “Makes sense.”
Something in my chest twists. “Stephen…”
“No, it’s fine,” he says quickly, cutting me off. “Really. You’ve made it pretty clear where you stand.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He turns back to me, eyes sharp. “It means you walk away when things get messy as usual.”
My brows furrow. “That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” he challenges. “You walked away last night and you are doing it right now.”
“I’m standing right here!”
“Physically, yeah,” he shoots back. “But that’s about it.”
The words hit harder than I expected as my frustration spikes. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to be honest!” he snaps.
“I am being honest!”
“No, you’re not.” His voice rises, the tension snapping tight between us. “You’re acting like nothing’s wrong,” he continues. “Like this is just some drama that will blow over if you ignore it long enough.”
“That’s not what I’m doing….”
“Then what are you doing, Hayden?” he demands. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re just moving on like none of this matters.”
My jaw tightens. “That’s not true.”
“Really?” he scoffs. “Because it didn’t look that way when you left with Ammy.”
There it is. I exhale sharply. “This isn’t about her.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No,” I say firmly. “She just helped me get out of a bad situation.”
Stephen laughs again, but there’s no humor in it. “Yeah. That’s what it looked like.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” he says, stepping closer now, “that you always seem to find a way to avoid dealing with things head-on.”
My patience snaps. “Not everything has to be a confrontation, Stephen!”
“No,” he agrees. “Just the things that actually matter.”
The room goes still. My chest rises and falls unevenly. “Then just say it.” His gaze locks onto mine. “Say what this is really about,” I push. “Because this isn’t just about the video or Lilian or Ella.”
His jaw clenches. For a second, I thought he won’t speak about it.
Then, he spoke. “That night.” The words hit like a shockwave. Everything inside me goes tight. “You think I didn’t notice?” he continues, his voice lower now but more intense. “The way you’ve been acting since then? The way you won’t even look at me half the time?”
I swallow hard. “Stephen….”
“No,” he cuts in. “You don’t get to brush this off.”
“I’m not brushing it off…”
“You are!” he snaps. “You’re pretending it didn’t happen.”
Silence crashes between us because he’s right. I have been.
“I didn’t know what to do,” I admit quietly.
His expression flickers. “Yeah?” he says. “Well, neither did I.”
The tension shifts, something heavier settling in the space between us. For a second… it almost feels like we’re actually talking.
I continued, “You almost kissed me.” My breathing goes shallow.
His voice drops, rougher now. “I almost kissed you,” he corrects quickly, like the distinction matters. “And when I did at the locker room two weeks ago, you didn’t stop me.”
My chest tightens painfully. “I…”
“Say it,” he pushes. “Say it didn’t mean anything.”
The words get stuck in my throat because I don’t know if I can. I’m not sure I would believe it and he knows.
Something shifts in his eyes when I don’t answer. “Yeah,” he whispers. “That’s what I thought.”
“Stephen, it’s not that simple”
“It is,” he cuts in sharply. “You just don’t want it to be.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Nothing about this is fair!” he explodes. The sudden intensity makes me flinch. “I didn’t ask for this,” he continues, his voice shaking slightly now. “I didn’t ask to feel like this. I didn’t ask for people to start noticing”
He stops himself abruptly, like he’s gone too far. The room falls into a heavy silence.
My heart is pounding. “Feel like what?” I ask quietly.
His eyes snap to mine. For a second, just one second, I see it. Everything he’s been holding back.
He opens his mouth, then shuts it. “No,” he mutters, shaking his head. “Forget it.”
“Stephen”
“I said forget it!”
The sharpness in his voice cuts me off completely. He grabs his jacket off the chair, movements rough and unsteady.
“You want to keep pretending?” he throws
over his shoulder. “Fine. Go ahead.”
“That’s not what I’m doing!”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He moves toward the door.
“Stephen, wait” But he didn’t. The door slams behind him, the sound echoing through the room like a gunshot.
And just like that…..He was gone.