My Meek Desk Mate Is the Secret School Tyrant Chapter 17

My Meek Desk Mate Is the Secret School Tyrant Chapter 17

Orion pushed open the door and came face to face with me, frozen in place.

Too much information. My brain had crashed.

Orion’s expression tightened instantly. He grabbed my wrist. “Let me explain.”

I looked up at him. My voice came out unsteady. “So you’re the… school bully. Of our school.”

“No.” The denial was immediate. “I never claimed that.”

“But I just watched you beat someone up.”

His grip on my wrist tightened. His voice was urgent but dead serious. “That guy harassed you first.”

“If I didn’t teach him a lesson, he’d keep thinking a girl’s rejection is playing hard to get. I was educating him.”

I stepped back.

That tiny movement made Orion realize his hand was trembling.

He dropped my wrist like it had burned him. His fingers hung in the air. Lost.

“Are you… afraid of me?”

Am I afraid of him? Are you kidding me? I’m terrified.

I’d just watched him kick a guy across a room. If that had landed on me, I’d be a permanent wall decoration.

Then I thought about that slap at the school gate. In front of everyone. The forced academics. The pointer.

The countless smacks.

I was done. So done.

My knees went weak. I was about to kneel again.

Before I could bend, Orion pulled me gently to a stone bench by the path.

He had me sit. Then he crouched in front of me, bringing his eyes level with mine. The edge was gone from

his gaze.

“I never wanted to be the bully. When I transferred here, a lot of people came after me. I had to fight. So I fought. And somewhere along the way, I became that to everyone else.”

He looked at me. His eyes were completely sincere.

“Linnea. I promise you. Starting today, I won’t raise my hand against anyone again. Even if someone hits me, I won’t hit back. Just don’t be scared of me. Okay?”

I stared at him. Hesitated for a long moment. Then I tested him in a small voice. “So when I hit you. Smacked you. Bullied you every day. You weren’t mad?”

Orion looked up at me from below. His eyes were impossibly soft.

“You were doing it for my own good. Why would I be mad?”

He looked genuine. Like it wasn’t an act.

I hesitated, then said, “Well. If someone else hits you first, you can still hit back.”

Orion smiled. His whole face softened, like ice melting into spring.

He pressed my hand to his cheek.

“You can still do what you’ve always done. Hit me. Smack me. It’s okay. Don’t carry any weight about it.”