All Chapters of My Hockey Bully Stepbrother : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Crew's PovI watched her walk right past me like I wasn't even standing there. She didn't actually see me.She didn't even glance my way….yeah because she didn't see me. She just pushed her door open and disappeared inside, and I stood in the hallway like an idiot, staring at the space she'd just been in.I'd been watching her all afternoon. First at the pool, when she and Tyler were splashing around like they didn't have a care in the world, laughing at nothing, and she kept pushing water in his face and he kept pulling her back in. Then when Gray joined them and somehow the whole thing turned into some kind of group thing with the others, and Summer was right there in the middle of it, loud and bright and alive, and I was just... watching from somewhere that wasn't there.At one point she grabbed Tyler around the neck from behind and he spun her around without even thinking twice, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like they'd been doing that forever.I don't know why

Summer's PovHonestly, going back to school felt like breathing again.The whole weekend had been too much. Too much house, too much tension, too many feelings I didn't know what to do with. And then there was the painting.Gray had shown me his work the morning after I'd seen it, properly this time, walking me through a few of the pieces he'd finished and some he was still working on. He was calm about it, the way Gray was calm about most things, like sharing something that personal was just another conversation. I stood in front of each one and tried to say the right things, but my mind kept drifting back to that corner of canvas in the hallway, the sketch underneath the paint, the line of my jaw done carefully in pencil.When I finally asked him about it, he'd smiled like he'd been waiting for that question.He said it was a gift. That he'd been working on it for a while and he'd meant to keep it hidden until it was finished, and he was a little annoyed I'd seen it before it was do

Summer's PovI did not sleep.Not at one. Not at two. Not at three in the morning when I was lying on my back staring at the ceiling like it had answers written on it that I just hadn't found yet. I kept replaying it. The way he'd said it.*I just wanted to spend more time with you.*And when I'd asked why, he'd said he'd been enjoying my company. That he craved it. He'd been almost shy about it, which was the part I couldn't stop coming back to, because Crew Ashford was not shy. Crew Ashford did not say things like that. And yet there he was saying exactly that, sitting in my room looking at the floor like he didn't quite know what to do with himself.I told myself it was nothing. Siblings enjoy each other's company all the time. That's a normal thing that happens in normal households. I told myself that until about three forty-five and then I just gave up and lay there until my alarm went off.****Gray and Crew were both in the kitchen when I came downstairs.They said good morning

Summer’s PovThe drive home was different from the morning.Not awkward, not heavy, just quiet in a way that actually felt okay. Every few minutes I'd glance over at Crew and he'd already be looking at me, and he'd smile, small and unbothered, and look back at the road. It was the kind of quiet that didn't need filling. I hadn't known Crew and I were capable of that until right now.When we got home he carried half my shopping bags inside without being asked, which I didn't comment on because I knew if I made it into a thing he'd make it into a thing too.I went upstairs, put everything away, and then stood in my room for a moment thinking about the look on his face in that parking garage. The way he'd gone completely still after Brianna walked away, like something had been knocked loose inside him and he hadn't figured out how to put it back yet.I went back downstairs. That was when I saw Gray.He was at the dining table. No food, no phone, no book, just sitting there with his hands

Summer's Pov I walked into that building feeling like a hero.By the time I reached the elevator I felt like an idiot.The lobby was empty in a way that didn't feel like a quiet evening. It felt like nobody had been here in a while, like the air itself was stale and unbothered, and the numbers above the doors ran from one to ten on the ground floor which meant room fifteen was upstairs. I pressed the button and waited and told myself to breathe.The elevator was slow.I thought about Crew saying he wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to me, and for one stupid second I smiled at the wall of the elevator like a complete fool. Then I remembered where I was and why I was here and told myself very firmly to stop that.The doors opened.Room fifteen was directly across from me.I walked to it and raised my hand to knock and the door opened before I touched it.The room was small and dim, two monitors on a desk pushed against the far wall, cables everywhere, a second person sitti