All Chapters of STEP CLOSER, MY STEP BROTHER : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The house looked too perfect to be real. White walls, polished floors, furniture that looked like it belonged in a magazine not a single thing out of place. Not a fingerprint on the glass, not a speck of dust on the frames lining the hallway. I hated it instantly.It didn’t feel like home. It felt like walking into a stranger’s life.Technically, it was. My mom’s new husband’s house. And now mine too.I stood by the doorway, my fingers tightening around the handle of my suitcase, pretending I wasn’t dreading every second of this. Pretending I wasn’t counting the days until I could get back to my dorm, to my quiet, to my life before all of this.“You’ll love it here,” my mom said, smiling way too brightly beside me. “And it’ll be nice having Roman around. Maybe the two of you will actually get along”My chest tightened at the mention of his name.Roman.I hadn’t seen him since the wedding since I wore that pale blue bridesmaid dress that clung a little too tight and he looked at me lik

The room was quiet, save for the soft hum of the ceiling fan and the occasional creak of the old wooden floor beneath my chair. Afternoon light spilled in through the window, warm and golden, brushing over the open laptop in front of me. My fingers hovered over the trackpad, my heart racing in my chest like it already knew what was waiting.I stared at the admissions portal, the login screen blinking back at me. My stomach twisted. I’d checked it four times in the last week, always hoping, always bracing for disappointment. But today… something felt different.I typed in my credentials slowly, like dragging out the moment would make it easier to handle. One last breath. Then I clicked.Congratulations, Ariana Blake. You’ve been admitted to Woodhurst University.For a second, I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just stared at the words on the screen as if they might vanish if I blinked.Then I let out a shaky laugh and pushed my chair back, palms pressed to my face as a thousand emotions hi

Ariana's POV I sat on the living room couch, arms folded tightly across my chest, phone still in my lap where the last text from Mom blinked up at me. A little heart emoji sat at the end of her message like it was supposed to soften the blow.We’ve just landed. Send pictures of your first day! Love you, sweetheart Three months. They’d be gone for three whole months. Three months without Mom, without the only familiar face in this shiny, polished stranger-house.And she wouldn’t even be here for my move-in day. For my first steps into college. She’d chosen a fucking honeymoon.I hated how spoiled I sounded even inside my own head, but I couldn’t stop the ache. It pulsed behind my ribs, deep and childish and sharp she left me.I blinked hard and looked away from the text, tossing the phone onto the couch beside me like it had burned my skin."Still pouting?"The voice startled me. Deep, smooth, laced with sarcasm.Roman, I didn’t even hear him come in.He stood in the doorway to the l

Ariana's POVThe house was quiet again. Too quiet. Mark and Mom had been gone for three days now, lost somewhere on a sun-soaked island, drinking cocktails and pretending their blended family wasn’t just... weird.I stared at the bowl of cereal in front of me. The milk had gone warm, and the flakes were soggy and swollen. I hadn’t taken a single bite.Roman’s voice still echoed in my head. “Stay away from me.”Not please. Not I’m busy. Not even one of his usual sarcastic shrugs, Just cold, Blun and Final.I shouldn’t care. God knows he’s been nothing but a storm cloud since the day I moved in towering, unreadable, always watching me like I was some sort of puzzle he didn’t want to solve but couldn’t look away from either.But I did care. More than I should.I pushed the bowl away and stood up, my socks barely making a sound against the kitchen tile. The house felt bigger without Mom’s humming or Mark’s awkward dad jokes filling the air. Roman was probably still in his room, pretendin

Roman’s POVThe house was too quiet.I’d spent the last hour flipping through the same playlist, trying to drown out the silence. But music didn’t do shit when your thoughts were screaming louder. The sofa was still warm from where I’d been sitting for too long, doing nothing but clenching my jaw and trying not to think about her.So when Maddie texted me—“u home? i’m bored and hot ;)”—I didn’t even hesitate before I replied.Yeah, come over.That was all she needed.Ten minutes later, she was at the door, perfume hitting me before she even stepped in. Vanilla. Cheap. Sticky sweet, like every time she came over already meant nothing. Her smile was stretched too wide, her blonde hair in those perfect waves she spent hours on, like she expected me to care.“You gonna let me stand out here or what?” she teased, already walking in like she owned the place.I shut the door behind her.She didn’t wait. Dropped her bag by the stairs and turned around to press herself against me, her lips bru