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หน้าหลัก / YA/TEEN / Stuck Between Two Hotties: My Stepbrother Stole My Christmas / บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

บททั้งหมดของ Stuck Between Two Hotties: My Stepbrother Stole My Christmas: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: THE LINE IN THE LIGHTLENA Pov;The house didn’t explode the way I expected.No shouting.No slammed doors.No dramatic confrontations in the kitchen with everyone watching.Instead, it went quiet.The kind of quiet that feels deliberate.The kind that waits.Dinner was served like nothing had changed. Plates placed carefully. Glasses filled. My mother smiled too much. Senator Ward spoke about weather and schedules and things that didn’t matter. Bryce ate slowly, his sling resting awkwardly against the table, eyes lowered like he was choosing not to see what was already obvious.And Cassian?Cassian sat beside me.Not touching.Not reaching.But present.Open.Unhidden.Every nerve in my body was aware of him.the heat of his arm inches from mine, the way his knee brushed the table leg near mine, the way his attention never fully left me even when he spoke to someone else.It felt like standing in sunlight after weeks of shadow.And sunlight, I was learning, made e
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: DAYLIGHT DOESN’T SOFTEN EVERYTHINGCASSIAN Pov;Daylight didn’t make this easier.It didn’t soften the edges or drain the danger out of what we’d chosen.If anything, it sharpened everything, pulled the truth into focus and dared us to keep standing when there was nowhere left to hide.I woke early, the house still and gray, the kind of quiet that only exists after storms. Snow pressed against the windows like a held breath. For a moment, I stayed still, listening to pipes ticking, to the old wood settling, to the faint rhythm of a house learning a new shape.Then I thought of Lena.Not last night’s kiss.Not the way she’d looked up at me like she wasn’t afraid of the cost.I thought of her in the daylight.That was new.I got dressed and went downstairs. The kitchen light was on. Coffee brewed. Someone had already been awake long enough to pretend everything was normal.Lena stood at the counter, hair tied back loosely, sweater slipping off one shoulder, mug warmi
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CHAPTER THIRTY THREECassian’s povBack at the house, the afternoon unfolded in pieces. Bryce came downstairs for soup. He asked Lena about a book she was reading. He asked me about a game on TV. Normal questions. Brave ones.Later, when Lena disappeared upstairs to shower, Bryce sat across from me, studying his hands.“You okay?” I asked.He nodded. “Yeah.”A pause.“Listen,” he said, not meeting my eyes, “I meant what I said. I’m not standing in the way.”“I know.”“But don’t make me regret it,” he added quietly.I met his gaze. “I won’t.”That was the truth. Not because I needed his approval but because I understood the cost of being trusted when you didn’t deserve it yet.Evening came early.Lena joined me on the couch as the light faded, her legs tucked under her, shoulder resting against mine. We didn’t hide. We didn’t perform.We existed.Her mother passed by, paused, then kept going.The house breathed.When the night deepened and the world went quiet again, Lena stood and too
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CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR;Lena's Pov I watched him navigate it all with a steadiness that amazed me.And then because the world is cruel in timing his past arrived.It came in the form of a woman at the door the next morning.Tall. Composed. Expensive coat. Eyes sharp enough to cut.“I’m looking for Cassian Ward,” she said.I stood there, heart thudding. “He’s inside.”She smiled thinly. “Of course he is.”Cassian appeared behind me, tension snapping into place the second he saw her.“Marlene,” he said.“Cassian,” she replied. Her gaze flicked to me. “You must be Lena.”I didn’t like the way she said my name. Like it was a concept she’d already evaluated.“This is not a good time,” Cassian said evenly.She ignored him. “You didn’t think you could make this choice without it reaching me, did you?”“I didn’t think you had a claim anymore,” he shot back.She smiled. “No. But I have influence.”I stepped forward before Cassian could block me. “Then say what you came to say.”Her eyes sharpene
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CHAPTER 35: WHAT WE CHOOSE TO SHOWLENA Pov;A mix of fear and relief surged through me.“You mean… publicly.”“Yes.”The words echoed between us.Before I could respond, Bryce entered the kitchen, moving slower but steadier than the days before. He took one look at our faces and sighed.“You’re planning something,” he said.Cassian didn’t deny it. “I’m deciding something.”Bryce leaned against the doorway. “About her.”“About us,” Cassian corrected.Bryce nodded once. “Okay.”That word okay had started meaning everything and nothing all at once.“I won’t pretend this is easy,” Bryce continued. “But if you’re doing this, do it clean. No half-truths. No hiding behind me.”I met his eyes. “Thank you.”He shrugged. “Don’t thank me yet. The outside world is louder than I am.”The noise started by noon.Not a headline.Not a confrontation.A message.Cassian received it while we were sitting in the living room, the TV on but forgotten. His phone buzzed once. He looked at the screen, jaw
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: UNDER WATCHFUL EYESLENA Pov;By the time the car pulled up to the venue, my heartbeat had learned a new rhythm.Not panic….Not fear…..Awareness.The building rose ahead of us in pale stone and glass elegant, understated, deliberate. Cassian stepped out first.He didn’t rush.Didn’t hesitate.He offered me his hand, not dramatic, not possessive. Open. Steady.I took it.That single motion felt louder than any announcement.Cameras were already there. Not a swarm, not chaos just enough to remind us that nothing in this room would go unnoticed. Cassian leaned in slightly as we walked, his voice low and calm.“Breathe,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”I believed him.Inside, the air buzzed with polite conversation and restrained curiosity. Crystal glasses clinked. Soft music floated overhead. The scent of perfume and polished wood wrapped around us like another layer of expectation.Eyes turned.Some are curious.Some sharp.Some assessing.No one said anything outrigh
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: THE COST OF STAYINGCASSIAN PovThe drive home was quieter than the drive there.Not because there was nothing to say but because everything had been said already, just not out loud.Lena sat beside me in the back seat, coat folded neatly in her lap, gaze fixed on the window as the city thinned into suburbs and then into dark, familiar roads. Her reflection hovered in the glasssteady, thoughtful, not shaken the way people expected after being watched that closely.That steadiness did something dangerous to me.It made me proud.And pride, I’d learned the hard way, came with a price.“You don’t have to be strong right now,” I said quietly, breaking the silence. “You can fall apart later.”She smiled faintly without turning. “That was me being strong.”I studied her profile, the set of her jaw, the calm in her breathing. “You surprised them.”“I didn’t try to.”“That’s why it worked.”The car slowed as we turned onto the long drive back to the house. Lights were on
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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: THE SPACE BETWEEN HELD BREATHSLena's Pov The night after I told him about the placement, I didn’t sleep.Not because of fearbut because of space.The idea of it stretched between us like a living thing. Six months. A country away. Time zones and new streets and unfamiliar skies. It wasn’t a threat exactly, but it wasn’t harmless either. Space could soften things… or sharpen them into something you couldn’t touch without bleeding.I lay awake listening to the house settle, replaying the way Cassian’s face had changed when I told him. Not anger. Not disappointment. Something quieter. Something heavier.Understanding.And understanding, I was learning, was harder than refusal.Morning came pale and cold. I dressed slowly, pulling on layers like armor. When I stepped into the hallway, Cassian’s door was already open. He stood inside, tying his boots, jacket folded over the chair like he hadn’t slept either.Our eyes met.No words.Just that shared knowing that tod
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: THE THINGS WE PACK AND THE THINGS WE CAN’TCASSIAN Pov;The house changed the moment her decision became real.Not when she said yes.Not when the email was sent.But when boxes appeared.Cardboard edges stacked along the hallway. An open suitcase on her bed. The quiet inventory of a life preparing to step outside its borders. I’d thought I understood distance in theory calendars, flights, time zones but the truth of it lived in the small details.Her books are leaving the shelf one by one.The bathroom drawer is emptying.The sound of tape tearing across cardboard.I watched it all with a calm that surprised me and a tension that didn’t let up.“Don’t carry that,” I said, reaching for the box in her hands before she could lift it.She rolled her eyes softly. “I’m not fragile.”“I know,” I said. “I am.”That earned me a smile. A real one. The kind that made the edges of everything soften for a second.We carried the box together down the hall. She pointed where t
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CHAPTER FORTY: THE SHAPE OF MISSINGLENA Pov;The city didn’t wait for me to arrive gently.It hit fastnoise, movement, and color stacked on top of color. My apartment was small and bright, all sharp angles and borrowed furniture, a place that smelled faintly of paint and someone else’s laundry detergent. From the window, I could see a slice of street where bikes cut between cars and people moved with purpose, like they’d already decided who they were before stepping outside.I set my suitcase down and stood there for a long moment, hands on the straps, breathing.I’m here.The words felt strange in my mouth. Real. Heavy.My phone buzzed on the counter. Cassian’s name lit the screen, and for a second my chest tightened with the instinct to step backward to retreat into the version of myself that stayed because staying felt safer.I didn’t.I answered.“Hey,” I said.His voice came through warm and steady, grounding in a way that made the room feel less borrowed. “You made it.”“Yes.
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