All Chapters of Stepfamily Stories: Chapter 311 - Chapter 320

Dinner was already waiting when my mother led us into the dining room.“You both must be tired,” she said, smiling at Julian. “Sit. Eat before you disappear.”Julian pulled out a chair at the head of the table. Kai sat across from me. I kept my hands in my lap.My mother turned to him again, brighter this time. “Sloane attends your university, by the way. She’s in one of the business programs.”Julian’s eyes moved to me. “I know. We already met. This afternoon.”My mother’s smile slipped. “Oh. How was she?”My fingers tightened around my fork. I stared at the plate in front of me and waited for him to say it. The remote. The wet chair. The way I’d sat there and come while he watched.He picked up his water. “Her grades are failing. She’s missed assignments and did poorly on the last quiz. You should speak to her about paying attention. I’ll be monitoring her from now on.”That was all.I exhaled slowly, but my shoulders stayed tight.My mother turned to me the moment he set the glass

I couldn’t stop hearing it.Don’t lock your door. Your first punishment starts tonight.The words stayed in my head the whole way home. I barely registered the drive. By the time I walked into the house my stomach was tight and my hands wouldn’t stay still. Dinner was already on the table. My mother looked up when I sat down.“How was the test?” she asked.“Fine,” I said.Kai glanced at me but didn’t speak. My mother started talking about something else—work, the house, a dinner she wanted to host. I nodded when it seemed necessary and kept my eyes on my plate. Every few minutes I checked the time. Julian still wasn’t home. The longer he stayed gone, the worse the waiting got. I kept thinking about the cheat sheet in his hand. About the way he’d looked at me when he told me not to lock the door. About what a man like him actually did when he decided someone needed to be punished.My mother said my name. I didn’t catch the rest.“I’m tired,” I said, standing. “I’m going upstairs.”She

I walked to class on unsteady legs.Every step made the ache between my thighs worse. I kept my bag strap tight in one hand and focused on the path in front of me so I wouldn’t stop. One quiet corner. One minute with my hand under my skirt. That was all it would take to take the edge off. I didn’t do it. I didn’t trust myself to stop once I started.The morning lecture passed without me hearing most of it. The professor’s voice stayed in the background while my mind stayed on the car. On Julian’s hands on the wheel. On the low way he’d described what he would do to me if I agreed. I shifted in my seat twice and immediately regretted it. The friction only made it sharper.Maths was next.Julian walked in the same way he always did. Cold. Controlled. The room quieted faster than it did for anyone else. Students sat straighter when he started speaking. A few of them took notes without looking up. He moved like someone who still trained regularly—shoulders broad under the shirt, forearms

I cleaned up after Kai left and changed into something that didn’t smell like him. The ache between my legs had eased, but it hadn’t disappeared. Every time I moved I still felt where he’d been, and the thought that kept sliding back in was worse than the soreness. I’d been thinking about Julian the entire time. Not once. The whole time. I told myself fucking Kai would take the edge off whatever this was. It hadn’t. If anything, it made the want sharper. I kept checking my phone. Julian usually got home after nine. By ten he still hadn’t come to my room. I waited until my eyes burned, then gave up and lay down. Sleep came eventually. Disappointment stayed.The next morning I dressed for class and went downstairs. My mother was already gone. Julian wasn’t in the kitchen or the dining room. Kai was. He looked up when I walked in and smiled.“Morning, angel.”I stopped. “We have nicknames now?”He laughed under his breath and kept packing food into a container. “Just testing it. You don’

The weekend arrived faster than I wanted.I stood in my room with the bag half-packed and felt the familiar tightness in my chest. Willa’s seventieth. The reading of my grandfather’s will. A full weekend surrounded by my mother’s people. I didn’t get along with them on a normal day. Spending two nights under the same roof felt worse. Jolie used to come with me whenever these gatherings happened. She knew how to stand between me and the worst of it. Now she was across an ocean at another college, and I was doing this alone.They hadn’t come to my father’s funeral. Not one of them. Willa hadn’t even sent a message. My mother still called them family. I zipped the bag harder than necessary. For a second the old memory cut through—my father’s assistant telling him Julian’s company had played dirty and taken the deal, the way my father’s face changed, the heart attack that followed. I swallowed it down and carried the bag outside.They were already in the garage. Julian, Kai, my mother. I