All Chapters of PINNED BY MY STEPFATHER (MxM): Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Chapter 83Marcus’s POVSunday’s conversation stayed inside the limits she set. Two hours. Kitchen table. No assumptions. She asked about practical transparency, what limited time in the house would require, what would happen if the old patterns started to creep back, how either of us planned to keep the rules from turning into another quiet arrangement she wasn’t part of. I answered without trying to soften the edges. Derek sat to her right and did the same. When she said the time was up, I stood, pushed the chair in, and left.On the sidewalk Derek walked with me as far as the corner. The cold air sat between us. Neither of us spoke until we were far enough from the building that the windows couldn’t catch the shape of the conversation.“She’s still not ready,” he said. His voice was quiet, tired around the edges the way it got after the harder sessions.“I kno

Chapter 85Marcus’s POVShe allowed another limited visit the following week. Same rules. Same chair. Same two-hour window that ended when she said it ended. I arrived at the time she sat, sat where she indicated, and kept my hands visible on the table. Derek sat to her right. The kitchen felt the same as it had in every talk since the photo, ordinary light, the clock ticking, the weight of unfinished things sitting between the three of us.She started with the practical questions.“I need to talk about what transparency would look like if you were ever in the house while Derek is home and I’m not,” she said. Her voice was controlled. “Not as a plan I’m approving. As a scenario I need answers before I consider anything further. What do you do with that time? What don’t you do? How do I know the old patterns aren’t just waiting for the first empty afternoon.”

Chapter 87Marcus’s POVHe got into the program.The message came in the middle of the afternoon. Short. Almost disbelieving.I got in. Six weeks. Starts in May.I read it twice before answering. The fact of it settled carefully, the way every piece of his future had been settling since he first mentioned the application.That’s good. That’s really good. How do you feel?Scared. Ready. Both. I didn’t expect the yes to land this hard. I’ve been staring at the email for twenty minutes.Both make sense. I’m glad for you. You did the work to get it. That matters.There was a longer pause before his next message.Mom said she’s glad too. She said it might be good for all of us to have a stretch of different space. She didn’t say it unkindly. Just practically. Like she’s already thinking about what the house feels like without me in it for a while.She’s probably right. Space isn’t the same thing as disappearance. You can go do the work and still come back to the talks. Nothing about that e

Chapter 89Marcus’s POVThe night before he left for the six weeks, she allowed me thirty minutes in the house. Kitchen table only. No hallway conversations. No extended goodbye. She set the time clearly and told Derek to make sure I understood the limit before I arrived. I did. I arrived on time, sat in the chair she indicated, and kept my hands visible on the table.Derek sat across from me. She sat at the head of the table and watched both of us with the same careful attention she had brought to every talk since the photo. The ordinary kitchen light felt the same as it always did during these sessions, too bright for the weight of what was being said, too familiar to pretend any of this was normal yet.“I’m not asking either of you to pretend this is simple,” she said. Her voice was controlled, tired around the edges. “I’m asking you to keep the same rules while he’s gone.

Chapter 91Derek’s POVThe research site sat on open ground an hour from the nearest town. Three low buildings, a gravel lot, equipment sheds, and housing that smelled like dust and old coffee. I arrived late on the first afternoon with one bag and a printed schedule folded in my pocket. The transport dropped me near the main entrance and pulled away before I had fully adjusted the strap on my shoulder. A woman named Priya from the lead team met me at the door, checked my name against a clipboard, and handed me a key on a plastic tag.“Lab is in the east wing. Field staging is out back. Meals at seven and six. If you’re late for sample intake, you lose the slot. Questions?”“Not yet.”“Good. Sleep if you can. Briefing at six-thirty.”She left me in a narrow room with a bed, a desk, and a window facing the fields. The walls were bare. The mattress was covered with a thin blanket that had been washed too many times. I unpacked enough to function, clothes in the drawer, charger on t