All Chapters of RIVAL'S TO LOVER'S: My Step Brother Is Now My Roommate : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

STEPHEN’S POVI knew he would go after her. The second Lilian turned and ran, I felt it in my bones. Hayden didn’t even hesitate. He just took off, shouting her name like the world was ending.I stood there under the field lights, hands still half-curled from where I’d grabbed his hoodie, and watched him disappear toward the parking lot.The air felt wrong and I told myself I didn’t care.They were dating. Of course he was going to chase her and he would pick her. What else was he supposed to do?But as I watched him reach her, saw him grab her wrist…..gentle, careful, like she was something fragile I felt something ugly twist in my stomach.It wasn’t jealousy.I don’t get jealous. I especially don’t get jealous over Hayden.He’s my brother. The one person who’s always been a pain in the fucking ass, and predictable. So why did it feel like something was being ripped out of my chest?They were talking now. I couldn’t hear them from this distance, but I didn’t need to. I could read h

HAYDEN’S POVBy the time we reached Lilian’s dorm, the tension from earlier felt like it belonged to a different night.The campus had quieted down, the usual hum of students replaced by the soft buzz of streetlights and the distant sound of laughter drifting from somewhere across the quad. Lilian’s hand was tucked into mine, her fingers warm now instead of ice-cold like they’d been in the parking lot.We were okay. Or at least, we were pretending to be.“You don’t have to walk me all the way,” she said lightly as the dorm building came into view.“I know,” I replied. “I want to.”She smiled at that. It wasn’t the fragile kind from earlier. This one reached her eyes.We climbed the steps slowly, neither of us in a rush to say goodnight. I could feel the shift between us with less sharp edges, and more familiarity. Like we had stepped back into something that fit. “I hate fighting with you,” she admitted, bumping her shoulder gently into mine.“I wasn’t fighting,” I said. “I was being

HAYDEN’S POVI’m halfway out of my seat when I hear it. “Mr. Carter, a moment please.”My shoulders tense. Of course.The lecture hall is already emptying, chairs scraping against the floor while students shuffle toward the doors. I sling my backpack over one shoulder and glance back toward the front where Professor Adler stands behind the podium, flipping through a stack of graded papers.Great. I already know what this is about.I walk down the steps slowly, trying to ignore the way my stomach tightens with each step. Professor Adler is one of those professors who looks permanently disappointed in the entire human race with gray hair and wire-rim glasses. That expression that says he’s already decided you’re an idiot.When I reach the front, he slides a paper across the podium. It had red ink everywhere.My jaw tightens. It was 62%.Damn.“You failed the midterm,” he says plainly with no sugarcoating.I lean against the edge of the desk and let out a slow breath. “Yeah… I figured.”

HAYDEN’S POVPractice ends an hour later with sweat burning my eyes and my lungs feeling like they’ve been scraped raw.The coach finally blows the whistle, shouting something about conditioning tomorrow, and the team slowly breaks apart across the field. Guys grab their water bottles, some collapse onto the grass, and others start heading toward the locker room.I bend forward, hands on my knees, catching my breath.For a second, everything is quiet except the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.Then I feel it.That familiar feeling of someone staring at the back of my head.I straighten slowly and turn to see Stephen.He is standing a few yards away near the bench, arms crossed over his chest. His expression is dark, jaw tight like he’s been grinding his teeth for the last hour.Great.I already know what this conversation is about.I grab my water bottle and take a long drink, pretending not to notice him watching me like a predator waiting for the right moment to pounce.It doesn

HAYDEN’S POVI’m late, like very late. The digital clock on the library wall reads 7:42 p.m, and our tutoring session started at seven.I run a hand through my still-damp hair as I hurry down the quiet hallway toward the study rooms. My T-shirt is wrinkled, my breathing uneven, and there’s a very good reason for that.Lilian.My brain flashes back to twenty minutes ago with her tangled in my sheets, hair spread across the pillow, cheeks flushed while she laughed at something I said before pulling me back down to kiss her again.Yeah……that’s why I’m late.And judging by the tight knot forming in my stomach, Ella is going to be thrilled about it.I stop outside the glass study room door. Ella is already inside. Of course she is.She’s sitting at the table with her laptop open, several textbooks stacked neatly beside her. A pen taps rhythmically against the table while she stares down at her notes.The second I push the door open, her eyes snap up and the pen stops.Her gaze drags slowly