MATED TO MY STEPBROTHER

TWELVE

GRAYSON’S POV

Thirty minutes slipped by, and little by little, silence reclaimed the space. The crowd thinned, footsteps fading until only the distant hum of the evening remained. Isabella’s sniffles softened, then stopped altogether, and somewhere along the way, my heartbeat finally began to slow.

By the time an hour had passed, we were the only ones left. I couldn’t hear a single sound from her anymore. The urge to turn- just once, just to make sure she wasn’t still crying- burned under my skin. But I stayed exactly where I was, unmoving, as if even the smallest movement might break whatever fragile calm we’d managed to find.

“Do your legs not hurt?”

My breath hitched for a second as her voice filled the quiet once again. It was clearer than it was an hour ago, no audible traces of sniffling.

“You must not have heard,” I didn’t turn around as I replied. “But I’m pretty athletic. I used to be the captain of-”

“Just go already,” she cut me off before I could brag about how I used to ace pack sport events. “I don’t know what the time is but I’m sure you’ve been standing for over an hour. I wouldn’t take responsibility if your legs hurt later.”

“You’re right,” with one step after another, I turned around to face her. “I should sit.”

She was now sitting upright, her face clearly in view. Though it was getting late already I could still her, her lips pouted, eyebrows slightly knitted with strands of her hair sticking to her face.

“Have you ever been told?” I looked away from her as I sat next to her.

“That what?”

“You’re a pretty crier,” I met her gaze for a second before looking away. “Not a lot of people can manage to look pretty even when their crying. I might sound like a psycho for saying this, but I felt my heart actually skip a beat.”

“You are a psycho,” she eyed me and I smiled. “But maybe I am. Maybe that’s why everyone around me loves to push me to my limit so I end up breaking down in tears.”

“Nah, that doesn’t make any sense and I’m sure it’s not true,” my smile vanished. “My heart might have skipped a beat but it still hurts.”

She sighed then returned her head to her knee. “Just go away, Grayson.”

“I could,” I nodded. “But we’re going back to the same house so I wouldn’t be able to stay away from you for long.”

“Luckily, I don’t really want to go back to that house right now,” she raised her brows. “My mum is back.”

I chose my next words very carefully. “And you’re not glad?”

“I don’t know. You tell me,” she turned to face me. “My mum hates me so should I be glad?”

“Hey, I don’t know what happened but I’m sure your mum doesn’t hate you-”

“Don’t talk like you know her,” her tone was suddenly harsh as she cut me off. “Or even me. You don’t know anything.”

I swallowed. Hard. “Okay.”

Silence proceeded to fall between us. It wasn’t the comfortable kind. It was heavy, stretched thin between everything she wasn’t saying and everything I didn’t dare ask. The air felt cooler somehow, or maybe it was just the way she’d shut down again- back curled in on herself, chin resting on her knee like she was bracing for impact.

“We can’t be mates.”

The words landed flat. No drama. No hesitation. Just stated. Like a fact she’d repeated enough times in her head that it no longer hurt to say out loud.

I turned to her fully this time. “What?”

She didn’t look at me, her simply fingers tracing invisible patterns on the fabric of her jeans.

“You and I. It’s not possible,” she went on. “We cannot be each other’s mates. We’re stepsiblings. It’s just wrong. Whatever tension we both felt- it must be wrong.”

For a second, my brain stalled. Mates. Stepsiblings. Wrong. The words echoed louder than it should have.

“Is that why you cried for an hour?”

“My mum and I,” she began quietly, her voice slowly going higher. “The relationship we share is complicated. Really complicated.”

“She remarried. Started a whole new life. And if I wasn’t really fine with it, it doesn’t matter. It has never mattered. And I’m used to it. I’m fine with the way our relationship is. I don’t need us to suddenly become close or anything stupid like that. But what I do not want is her thinking I want to ruin her life. Not again.”

Her voice wavered for just a second before she steadied it.

“I don’t want that,” she continued quickly, like she was afraid I’d misunderstand. “I don’t want her marriage to fall apart. I don’t want her thinking I’m trying to insert myself where I don’t belong. If she’s happy- really happy- then I don’t mind. I don’t want to ruin it. I just- I just don’t want to be the villain in her story.”

Something twisted uncomfortably in my chest. Guilt, sharp and unwelcome. I knew exactly what she was talking about. It was a thought that had lingered in my mind for a while too.

More than anything, I loved my dad. I watched him crumble after my mum died and watched him pick himself up just because of me. I watched him completely lose interest in love for a while and suddenly, out of nowhere, fall in love again.

His marriage announcement brought me the most happiness in a long while. I was so happy to see him happy again. So happy it scared me when I realized his stepdaughter was the woman mated to me.

“Oh,” I looked away from her like I’d been doing to all those thoughts. The possibility of what could happen- how complicated it could all get- I’d been avoiding the thoughts and even when I was forced to face them, I still didn’t want to. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m just-”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” she cut me off with a sigh. “This is not your fault.”

Except maybe it partially was my fault. Cause as much as I wanted to run away from a lot of things at that moment, she wasn’t included in that list.

“Look, we have to live under the same roof. And we don’t have to be friends,” she continued. “I’m not asking for that. I just- can we at least not be enemies? I don’t need her thinking I hate my new stepbrother too.”

I blinked. “Is that my only option?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“No,” I shook my head once, slow and deliberate. “No, that’s not happening.”

Her brows pulled together in confusion. “No? what do you mean?”

“If we’re not going to be enemies,” I said, meeting her gaze. “Then we’re going to be friends. I don’t do this half-way thing.”

She stared at me like I’d just switched languages.

“Grayson-”

“Friends,” I cut her off. “Or enemies. The ball’s in your court.”

For a long moment, she said nothing. She just stared at me and I stared back, doing my best to act as calm as possible.

Then to my surprise, she let out a small laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah,” I shrugged, my nonchalant act wearing thin. “I get that a lot.”

She hesitated then finally nodded. “Fine. Friends.”

Something light settled in my chest. Relief, maybe. Or just the absence of tension for once.

“Good,” I said, immediately standing. “Then let me drive you home.”

“No, I didn’t say that.”

“I know,” I said, stretching my arm towards her. “But it’s late, you’ve had a horrible day, and I’m already here. Oh and in case you forgot, we’re going to the same place.”

She opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. “Fine. But just this once.”

“Definitely not.”

She ignored my stretch arm and began walking forward, a light smile appearing on my face as I quickly caught up with her. We switched places and I took the lead, opening the car door before she could reach for it herself.

The drive back was quiet, but not awkward. The kind of silence that didn’t demand filling. I could tell she was still at a war with her thoughts and I allowed her focus on it, calming myself down by stealing occasional glances from her.

By the time we pulled up to the house, she was no longer resting her head on the window. She got out of the car before me, slowly leading the way towards the front door.

“Are you okay now?” I asked as I managed to meet her pace, walking next to her.

She didn’t stop but nodded. “Yeah. I am.”

I stopped my steps though and before I could hesitate or change my mind, blurted out, “Can I hug you?”

I watched her immediately freeze. She didn’t move or turn to face me, my tongue curling in my cheek as I watched her slowly turn around to face me.

“What?”

“I hug my friends,” I quickly added. “When they’ve had a terrible day. And since we’re friends now, it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”

She stared at me for a second longer, her lips stretching into something I could barely call a smile. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”

I took a step towards her. Then another. And then another one until there was barely any distance between us. I swallowed, my whole body suddenly stiffening for a second before I could widen my arms, slowly.

Her steps were just as slow but by the time she finally leaned in to hug me, everything else immediately faded into the background.

She felt warm in my arms, my heart racing as I tightened my arms around her. I didn’t allow myself think about anything else but her. And for a brief moment, I was certain she did the same.

“Goodnight, Grayson,” her lips moved before mine could even attempt to. “Thank you for today.”

I watched her go inside first, my lips still unable to come up with words. My heart twitched it my chest for reasons I couldn’t understand. Reasons I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to understand.

By the time she opened the door and stepped it, I could finally speak up. Words loud enough to calm my beating heart but quiet enough to barely get to her.

“Night, Isabella.”