All Chapters of Home Alone With My Stepbrother: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 21I barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes I felt the hallway wall against my cheek and Damon’s hand around my wrists. The ache between my legs was a constant reminder. When the sky finally started to lighten I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Tyler, and went straight to the shower.I stayed under the water until my skin turned pink. It didn’t help.Downstairs the house was still quiet. Sophia’s car was still gone. Damon’s bedroom door was closed. I made coffee on autopilot and stood at the kitchen window staring at nothing until I heard footsteps behind me.Tyler.He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. “You’re up early.”“Couldn’t sleep.”“Bad dreams?”“Something like that.”He turned me around gently and studied my face. There was a faint shadow of concern in his eyes that hadn’t been there two days ago. “You’ve been different since we got back from the lake. Quieter. Jumpier. If something’s going on, you can tell me.”

Chapter 23Damon didn’t wait for me to answer.He closed the distance in two steps, took the phone straight out of my hand, and turned the screen toward himself before I could stop him. The messages were still open. Reid’s last line sat there in black and white.Come alone or don’t come at all.Damon’s jaw flexed once. When he looked up his eyes were colder than I’d ever seen them.“You’re meeting him.”“Give me the phone.”“You’re meeting Reid. Tomorrow. Alone.” He laughed under his breath, short and sharp. “After everything he pulled at the lake. After he fucked Sophia under my roof. After he started feeding you pieces of my past like breadcrumbs. And you still said yes.”“I want the truth.”“And you think he’s going to give it to you?” Damon stepped closer. “He doesn’t want to help you, Lila. He wants to use you. Same way he’s always used people.”“Then tell me yourself.” I kept my voice low so Tyler wouldn’t hear. “Tell me about Cabo. Tell me what you promised Elise. Stop making m

Chapter 25I didn’t sleep in Damon’s room.I waited until he dozed off, then carefully extracted myself from the sheets, pulled my clothes back on, and slipped into the hallway. The house was silent. Sophia’s door was closed. Downstairs, the television still glowed faintly where Tyler had fallen asleep on the couch.I stood there for a long moment, Damon’s words repeating in my head.If anyone gets proof of what’s been happening in this house, Elise won’t just hurt me. She’ll burn everything. Including you.I went back to my own bed and stared at the ceiling until the sky lightened.Tyler found me in the kitchen a little after eight, hair messy from the couch, smiling like the night had been normal.“You left me downstairs,” he said, wrapping his arms around me from behind.“You looked comfortable. Didn’t want to wake you.”He kissed the side of my neck. “Next time wake me. I sleep better with you there.”The guilt sat sharp under my ribs. I smiled anyway and handed him a mug of coffe

Chapter 27I sat in the dark for a full minute with the phone locked in my hand and the images burned into the back of my eyes.Hallway. Kitchen. My face. Damon’s hands. Timestamps that left no room for denial.Tyler shifted beside me in his sleep, reaching out until his fingers brushed my hip. I carefully moved away, slipped out of bed, and stood barefoot on the cold floor while my pulse tried to climb out of my throat.I needed to move. I needed to think. I needed Damon.The hallway was silent. Sophia’s door was closed. Soft light still showed under Damon’s. I walked toward it on unsteady legs and knocked once, quiet enough that only he would hear.The door opened almost immediately. He took one look at my face and stepped aside without a word. I walked in. He locked it behind us.“What happened?”I unlocked the phone, opened the email, and held it out. He took it. The moment the first photo loaded, his entire body went still. He scrolled to the second one. Then he just stood there

Chapter 29The rest of the morning was a performance.I smiled when my mother asked how the week had been. I laughed at Tyler’s comments about the lake. I answered Damon’s father’s polite questions about school and summer plans with the kind of vague enthusiasm that didn’t invite follow-ups. Sophia stayed on the edges of every conversation, watching more than she spoke. Damon moved through the house like nothing was wrong — helping carry the last of the luggage, nodding at the right moments, never looking at me longer than a stepbrother should.By noon my mother announced she was going to unpack and rest for a bit. Damon’s father closed himself in the study with a stack of mail. Tyler said he needed to answer a few work emails upstairs. Sophia disappeared toward the guest side of the house without explanation.For the first time since the SUV pulled into the driveway, the main floor was empty.Damon found me in the kitchen.“Laundry room,” he said under his breath. “Five minutes.”I w