Taming the Bad Boy Was a Mistake Chapter 05

Taming the Bad Boy Was a Mistake Chapter 05 The Breaking Point

“Don’t you like it?”

“Look, Natalie. I’m the guy you’ve been trying to make me into. So what’s with the unhappy face?”

The System screamed in my head. [He’s lost it! He’s lost it! Host, this is a defensive dissociative episode caused by extreme stress! He’s using this as a way to get back at you!]

Looking at him like this, my heart ached like hell.

This wasn’t Dylan.

The Dylan who’d freak out when I messed up a problem but still explain it ten times was gone.

The Dylan who’d slip warm milk down my collar in winter and laugh like an idiot when I yelped was gone.

Now he was like a delicate, perfect doll.

“Dylan, don’t do this.” I reached for his hand.

But he flinched away like he’d touched something filthy.

Then he pulled out a wet wipe and slowly, carefully, wiped the back of his hand where I’d nearly touched.

“Miss Clark, please respect my space.”

He was smiling, but his eyes were cold as ice. “I have a germ phobia.”

For that entire day, Dylan performed as the flawless “good student.”

He listened attentively in class, took notes even neater than mine.

Answered every teacher’s question perfectly.

During break, he didn’t go out to play ball. He just sat in his seat reading, and even picked up a pen for the girl in front of him.

That girl turned as red as a tomato. Only I trembled.

Because I saw him scratching hard on the book’s first page with a pen.

Pressing so hard the marks went through the page.

The scratches were hideous.

When he left for the bathroom, I snuck a look.

It was just my name, over and over.

Natalie Clark, Natalie Clark, Natalie Clark.

Every single one crossed out with a bright red X.

20 From Come
The System trembled with fear: [Host, I think we should catch the first train out of this city. This guy is a ticking time bomb right now. He could go off any second!]

1 refused to give up.

After school, I blocked Dylan’s way.

“We need to talk.”

Dylan didn’t look at me, just walked around.

I panicked, grabbing his backpack strap. “Dylan! How long are you gonna act like this? There’s nothing between Simon and me! I made you change before because-”

“Because of what?”

Dylan stopped, turned around, and looked down at me from above.

The alley was dim.

He took off his glasses and tossed them onto the ground.

Crack. The lenses shattered.

Step by step, he advanced, backing me into the corner.

The cultured disguise was finally torn away, revealing the bloody wounds and madness underneath.

“Because you wanted to turn me into him, right?”

He grabbed my chin, squeezing so hard it hurt.

“Do you know how exhausting this past year has been for me?”

“I hate doing vocab drills, I hate wearing a uniform, and I hate acting all proper.”

“But I hate your disappointed look even more.”

“For you, I broke my bones one by one and reassembled them into the shape you wanted.”

“And what happened?”

He leaned in, hot breath on my face, dangerous and trembling.

“You tell me the real guy’s back, and I’m just a fake to throw away.”

“Dylan, that’s not-” Tears streamed down my face. “I never saw you as a stand-in. Never!”

“Then prove it to me.”

Dylan’s eyes were bloodshot, like he was possessed.

“How?”

He leaned down, lips almost touching mine, voice raw:

“Come to my place tonight.”

“You dare?”

System: [!!! Host, don’t do it! You’re basically a juicy steak walking into a pit of hungry wolves! That’s a freaking wolf den!]