All Chapters of Owned By My Stepdad(MxM): Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

The next class was worse.Not because of the lecturer or the work, but because my head refused to stay in one place. Every time I tried to focus, something pulled me back out again. Bella scribbling nothing in her notebook. Lisa two rows ahead, not turning around once. The bodyguard still there, quieter than before but somehow more noticeable now that I knew what to look for.And Kai.That conversation sat at the back of my mind like something unfinished.“You’re staring,” Bella muttered beside me without looking up.“I’m not.”“You are.”I exhaled softly and leaned back in my seat. “I’m thinking.”“That’s worse,” she said. “Whenever you say that, something stressful follows.”“Good to know you have that much faith in me.”“I have experience,” she replied dryly.Despite everything, that pulled a small breath of amusement out of me. It didn’t last long.The lecturer called for group work, and the room shifted immediately. Chairs moved, people turned, voices picked up again. Bella groan

I didn’t make it far.I told myself I just needed a minute. Just space to think, to breathe, to get my head straight before I went back to pretending everything was fine.But the second I turned the corner and the hallway noise dropped, it hit me.Hard.I leaned against the wall, arms crossing tight over my chest like I could hold everything in place if I just stayed still long enough. My breathing felt off, uneven, like something inside me had shifted and refused to settle.“This is so stupid,” I muttered under my breath.Because it was.It was just an argument.Just words.So why did it feel like something bigger had broken?I pressed my eyes shut, but that didn’t help. If anything, it made it worse. Every second replayed in my head too clearly. The way Bella looked at me. The way her voice changed when she said she missed me. The hesitation when I asked her to explain.That hesitation.That was the part that wouldn’t leave me alone.A shaky breath slipped out before I could stop it

The rest of the day dragged in a way that made every hour feel longer than it should.Bella didn’t talk much after the hallway. Not about Lisa, not about earlier, not about anything that actually mattered. She kept things light on the surface, throwing in random comments about class, complaining about assignments, acting like everything was fine.It wasn’t.But I didn’t push.By the time classes ended, the campus had that late afternoon feel. People moving slower, conversations stretching out, no one really in a hurry.“Let’s not go back yet,” Bella said as we stepped outside.I glanced at her. “Where do you want to go?”“Anywhere that’s not that room,” she replied.“Fair.”We stood there for a second, both thinking, then she snapped her fingers lightly.“Cinema.”I raised a brow. “You’re serious?”“Yes. We need distraction. And popcorn.”“You just want food.”

We should have left.That thought came too late, somewhere between Bella dragging me back toward the claw machines and me not putting up much resistance.“Last game,” she said, already feeding coins into the machine like it had personally offended her.“You said that ten minutes ago.”“This one counts.”I leaned against the side, watching her narrow her eyes at the glass like she could intimidate it into working. She adjusted the controls carefully, lips pressed together, fully locked in.“You know it’s still rigged, right?” I said.“Be quiet,” she muttered.The claw dropped, grabbed a teddy bear, lifted it halfway—and then let it slip right back into the pile.Bella stared at it.“That’s actually insulting.”I laughed softly. “You should’ve stopped earlier.”“I was never winning,” she shot back. Then she stepped aside and pointed at the machine. “Your turn. Let’s see what you can do.”“I never claimed I was good at this.”“Exactly. Prove it.”I sighed but stepped forward anyway, drop

I shouldn’t have followed him.That thought sat heavy in my chest the moment we started walking farther away from the arcade, farther from the noise, from Bella, from anything that felt normal. The night air was cooler now, quieter too, like the city had pulled back just enough to make everything feel more exposed.“How far is this place?” I asked.“Not far.”“You said that five minutes ago.”“And it’s still true.”I exhaled sharply. “You’re annoying.”“That’s not what you were saying earlier.”I frowned slightly. “When?”“When you were laughing.”Right.The claw machine.I almost smirked, but stopped myself.“That was different,” I said.“Because I wasn’t winning?” he asked.“Exactly.”A faint shift in his expression, barely there, but I caught it.Good.At least he was human.We turned down a quieter street, the lights dimmer here, fewer people around. The further we went, the more the city noise faded, replaced by something calmer, almost too calm.“That’s not suspicious at all,” I