Stepbrother’s Rage
1109 Words
[Maddox]
Now this wasn’t what I was expecting after Damian slept in my space yesterday, well not my space, my doorstep… his doorstep. God I need to take a break.
Looking at him across the breakfast table, pushing his scrambled eggs around, his jaw so tight the muscle kept twitching every few seconds… I’m starting to think something’s seriously off with him.
We hadn’t talked. He left before I even woke up. It was like the guy from last night had vanished, replaced by this cold version sitting across from me, wearing a scowl like it was part of his face.
Damn me, I want to know why he’s like that.
My stepfather, Edward cleared his throat. "Kids," he started, his voice booming cheerfully in the quiet room. "Your mother and I have decided it's time for a proper break. We're heading up to the lake house this weekend. The whole family."
He smiled, a broad, politician's smile that didn't reach his eyes. My mother smiled back, nervous and hopeful.
Me? I want to spend time with my mom, but with Damian involved? That will be like a special kind of hell.
“Not going.” Damian said, his voice flat.
Thank f**k.
Edward's smile tightened at the edges. He set his fork down gently, pinning Damian with a sharp look. "It wasn't a request, Damian. You will be joining us."
For a second, I thought they had an agreement. But then Damian slammed his fork down hard on his plate, which I’m sure broke.
He finally lift his gaze and if eyes could kill, I’m telling you right now, no one in this room would make it out alive.
“Are you intentionally trying to piss me off?” His voice was no longer flat. "Or are you just that oblivious?"
"Watch your tone," Edward warned, his own voice dropping to a dangerous growl.
"You know I have to go to my mom’s this weekend," Damian shot back, his chest rising and falling with rapid, shallow breaths. "You know that. But here you are, talking about a goddamn family vacation. What family exactly?”
Damian let out a humorless breath, "What family, Dad? Huh?" He gestured wildly between me, my mother, and Edward. "This one? The one you built by cheating? Is that the family you're so eager to show off?"
The words hung in the air like poison gas. I saw the color drain from my mother's face.
Edward's nostrils flared, his jaw snapping shut as he raised a finger. "You will not…”
"I will," Damian interrupted, pushing his chair back so hard it scraped against the floor. "I'm not playing this game. You want to play house with her and her son? Do it on your own time."
I was lost. Completely and utterly lost. Cheating? Edward built this family by cheating? The timelines didn't make sense in my head unless... unless Edward and my mom were together before Damian's parents were divorced.
“Sit down.” Edward growled.
“f**k that.” And then he was gone.
Fuck this.
I threw my napkin down and went after him.
"Damian," I called out, "Damian!"
He didn't stop. His long legs were eating up the distance toward the staircase.
"Damian, wait!"
"f**k off, Caldris."
I stopped dead in my tracks for a fraction of a second. Why does it feel like he ripped my heart out by calling me by my last name.
The irritation I'd been suppressing all morning flared into genuine anger. I lunged forward, grabbed his shoulder, and yanked him around to face me.
“The f**k is your…”
It happened so fast I didn’t even see it coming. One second I was standing there, the next my back slammed into the hallway wall with a hard thud.
Pain shot up my spine and into my head, sharp and burning. The rough wall scraped the back of my neck, stinging like it was definitely going to bruise, maybe even bleed a little.
Damian had me pinned. His arm was pressed against my collarbone, holding me in place, his face way too close to mine.
His eyes looked crazy, like he’d lost it, but for a second, just one quick second, something softer slipped through. Like regret. It showed when I flinched.
And then it was gone. His face went hard again, colder than before, like that moment never happened.
He pulled his weight off me and tried to walk away again.
"No." I pushed off the wall, ignoring the throbbing ache in my shoulder blades. “You wanna try telling me why you’ve been acting like an asshole to my mum and I?”
“Last time I checked,” I stepped closer, close enough to smell the clean, sharp scent of his soap “we have something going.”
He turned slowly. His height seemed to double as he stepped into my space, using the difference in size to loom over me. He was trying to drown me in his shadow, to make me feel small.
"That," he said, his voice a low rasp through gritted teeth, "is different."
"How?" I refused to back down, tilting my chin up to meet his glare. "How the hell is that different?”
"Because you stole my family!" The words ripped out of him. His hands shot out, and two fingers pressed hard into the center of my chest, right over my sternum.
My brows pulled together. “What?”
“When I thought things were finally going to get better,” Damian continued, his voice was low, shaking with something barely contained, “the two of you showed up and shattered everything.”
My confusion deepened. “I don’t even…”
“Wish I’d known from the start it was going to be you,” Damian cut in, stepping even closer. “Would’ve saved me the trouble.”
“Yeah?” I shot back, my anger rising to meet his. “And what trouble is that, exactly?”
Damian’s jaw tightened. “I have no f*****g interest in playing family with you,” he said.
The pressure of his fingers on my chest was painful, but the look in his eyes was worse. It was pure, undiluted resentment.
“Whatever we have on campus?” he muttered, stepping back and leaving me stranded in the cold space he vacated. “That’s f*****g different. Keep them separate in your head, or don't keep them at all. I don't care."
“Leave me the f**k alone Caldris.” And just like that, he turned and stormed upstairs.
He just made it clear where I stood.
- Writer
