STEP BROTHER DEAREST
Chapter 18
The word *loyalty* clung to me like fog.
I carried it with me all through the next day, even when the sun was shining and life was supposed to be normal. It echoed during classes I barely listened to, during conversations I pretended to have, during the drive home where I stared out the window and let Ian’s quiet presence fill the silence.
*Loyalty to yourself.* His stepbrother’s words haunted me, scratching against my ribs like thorns. But wasn’t that a contradiction? Because being with Ian, choosing this storm, wasn’t about loyalty to myself—it was about choosing *us*. Choosing him.