All Chapters of Claimed by my Biker Stepbrother: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Pearl A couple of days passed after the whole experience with me, Vienna and Zander, stitched together by small routines and forced calm. Doors opened and closed the same way, coffee brewed and we all shared breakfast and meals the same way we used to. Vienna hummed while she moved around the kitchen, careful not to look at me too closely, and surprisingly Zander stopped asking questions. He no longer breathed down my neck like I was a thief he'd caught stealing something important. This time, he watched instead, like a man standing guard over something already brokenEverything happening, sounded and felt normal enough that even I almost believed it. Like that wasn't jarring enough, noone said the word threat again.It should have been a relief, and in some ways, maybe it was. Silence did sometimes feel like mercy when you’re tired of being afraid, but the texter was gone.I got no good morning texts, no cryptic praise and not even a fucking reminder that I was being watched. Jus

Pearl I came back to my body in pieces, and I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that. I knew I should be grateful that I was alive,or at least that's what it felt like, but no matter how hard I tried to condition my body into feeling that way, it just didn't budge. In all my life, I'd never felt as disconnected from my body as I felt right now. The headache came first, dull and crushing, like something had been wrapped too tight around my skull. Then the nausea, rolling and heavy, sitting low in my stomach. My tongue felt thick and numb, like I’d been chewing on cotton soaked in metal.I tried to swallow but I gagged instead. I wasn't sure what I would have done after that, but I didn't get the chance to figure out because someone's voice cut through my very slow and painful recovery process. “....can’t keep pretending this is nothing,” even if I'd just woken up from a six year old coma,I would still be able to tell whom the voice belonged to. Zander’s voice cut through the f

Pearl I woke up to the sound of a machine breathing for me. Not literally, at least I didn’t think so, but the steady hiss and beep beside my bed made it feel that way, like my body had outsourced a basic function and hadn’t bothered to tell me.The ceiling above me was too white, foo clean, and literally the kind of white that made you aware of every shadow, every crack, and every possibility of something going wrong. I'd seen it before when I woke up earlier, but seeing it the second time did nothing to make it less daunting. If anything, all it did was light up a kind of unease deep in my chest. I blinked once. Then again, hoping it would better, but it didn't so much as make a difference. I decided to focus on something else after that. My throat felt dry, like I’d swallowed sand, and when I tried to move, a dull ache spread through my limbs, heavy and sluggish, as if I’d been underwater for too long.“Zander?” I croaked. My voice sounded wrong, thin, and unfamiliar, but th

Pearl I didn’t turn the light on, and while it probably wasn't a big deal to someone else, it was to me. I didn’t check my phone again either. I told myself the reason why because it wasn't necessary, but deep down, that tiny voice at the back of my head just wouldn't let me pretend like fear wasn't the leading cause. I lay there until the house went quiet in the way that meant everyone was asleep, or pretending well enough that it didn’t matter. My body still felt off, like it was lagging a half second behind my thoughts, and when I sat up, the room tilted slightly, corrected itself, then stayed still.I still wasn't fully okay. I could feel it deep in my bones, but I chalked the unease I was feeling to the fact that the room didn't look anything like mine. It wasn't better in any way, just quieter, and it made my skin crawl I dressed slowly, and even though every movement felt loud in my own head, I didn't stop. Sounds echoed around me, from the fabric whispering against skin

Zander I didn’t slow down until the night swallowed me whole. I wasn't one to lose my temper unnecessarily, or maybe I was, but right now, I liked to think that nobody would blame me. I deserved a valid crash out at this point, and no one was going to say otherwise. If they did though, I didn't give two fucks about that. The door slammed behind me hard enough to rattle the frame, but I barely registered it. My grip on Pearl’s phone was tight, knuckles aching, like if I loosened it even a little, the truth would slip through my fingers and disappear again.I didn’t go far, I couldn’t even if I tried that. With each step I took, every instinct I had screamed to stay close to her, even as I walked away from the house like it had burned me.I stopped under a dead streetlight and unlocked the phone. It took me half a second to realize she hadn’t changed her passcode. Don't ask me how I knew the code in the first place, but the fact that she hadn't changed it hurt more than it should