Just His Arm

I woke up and didn't open my eyes immediately.I just laid there, aware of his arm across my waist, and the very specific weight of it, and the sound of his breathing, which was still slow and deep and completely unbothered by the world. The morning light was coming through the curtains in that particular way it does on a weekday when there's nowhere to be yet. Not demanding. Just there.I kept waiting for the anxiety to show up.It does that. It waits until I'm almost comfortable and then it arrives with its whole agenda.But this morning it didn't come. There was just the warmth of him beside me, and the sound of the house, and that very low, steady thing sitting in my chest that I couldn't quite name but also didn't need to.Three months.I thought about that. We had three months of this before anything outside this house got to have an opinion about it.I genuinely didn't know what to do with three months. I have never had that much time with anything good. Usually by the time som

I Know That Look

His laptop was closed on the coffee table. I didn't notice when that happened.The afternoon had shifted. The light coming through the living room windows was doing that specific golden thing it does around five, low and warm, the kind of light that makes everything look a little more important than it is. Or maybe exactly as important as it is. I could never decide which.His thumb was moving slowly against my shoulder.I wasn't sure he knew he was doing it. I was very sure that I knew.My phone was in my lap but I'd stopped actually looking at it a while ago. I was just here. Present in a way I'm not usually present, with no part of my brain running its usual background noise. Just this couch, this room, his arm, the light.I thought about the last few months. The versions of myself I'd been. The girl who lost weight she didn't need to lose and stared at ceilings at two in the morning and felt like she was genuinely coming undone at every single seam.And now a Wednesday evening on

It Felt Like This

He stopped right in front of me.The kitchen was bright and warm and very quiet, and he was just there, looking down at me with that expression. The dark, certain one, the one that does something very specific to my ability to think clearly.I looked up at him and waited.His hands came to my waist. Unhurried. Like he had all night. Like he had three months and a whole empty house and absolutely nowhere else to be."Hi," I said. Quietly. The same word from the gym, and I didn't plan to say it. It just came out.Something moved through his face. "Hi."He kissed me slowly.Both hands pulled me in from my waist, and I went immediately, my hands on his chest, kissing him back with everything I had because I was done pretending I had any restraint where he was concerned. He knew that. I knew that. We were past the part where I performed otherwise.It built gradually. Deeper. His hands moved from my waist to my back a

All Chapters of Ruin me, Stepbrother: Chapter 231 - Chapter 233

Just His Arm

I Know That Look

It Felt Like This