Semua Bab Rule Number 1: Kissing Your Stepbrother Again Will Ruin You: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Elowen "She smashed it?" a guy in the row ahead murmured, twisting around to look at me. "Wait, did someone actually pass?" a girl two desks down whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. "I heard she got an A," another voice chimed in from behind. Within seconds, a low, buzzing drone of whispers filled the air, dozens of eyes shifting away from their own failing papers to lock squarely onto my burning face. I felt completely stripped bare beneath the sudden, unwanted spotlight, the intense scrutiny making my skin itch with discomfort. Oh, please, no. I hated being the center of attention, and having a room full of competitive, stressed-out students staring at me like I was a freak of nature was my absolute worst nightmare. "Oh my god, I am so, so sorry," Ivy whispered frantically, her face turning pale as she quickly shoved the paper back onto my desk. "I didn't mean to shout it like that." I shook my head, trying to assure her or myself. "It's fine," I lied through

Zephyr "Whoa, chill the fuck out, Blondie," I muttered, holding my hands up in a mock surrender. "What happened just now was absolutely not my fault. I was literally saving your damn life. If I hadn't grabbed you, you would’ve gone flying backward down the concrete stairs and met your maker before the midterm grades were even finalized." I leaned back slightly, my smirk returning despite the lingering heat in my jeans. "Besides, you should be thanking me. Your dad—my dear stepdad—explicitly told me to look out for his precious little daughter. I’m just fulfilling my civic duty as the protective older brother." Before the last word could fully leave my mouth, Elowen’s hand shot out. Her small, soft palm slammed directly over my lips, effectively cutting off my sentence. I blinked in genuine surprise. I didn't move an inch as she aggressively stepped into my personal space, her face coming to a stop barely a breath away from mine. I could see the tiny flecks of emerald green in h

Zephyr The bass was hitting so hard it felt like a physical punch to the chest the second I unlocked the front door. My roommates were completely, utterly piss-drunk by the time I finally dragged my exhausted ass into the living room. The place was an absolute war zone. The mahogany coffee table—which we had explicitly agreed was supposed to be kept clean—was completely overflowing with empty, crushed beer cans, sticky red plastic cups, and a nearly empty handle of Jack Daniel's. I knew for a definitive fact that the whiskey belonged to Damien, mostly because he loudly subscribed to the philosophy that beer was strictly for pussies. His exact words, not mine. I stood in the entryway for a second, just taking in the sheer, chaotic mess. Ever since the beginning of the semester, I had been split between two entirely different worlds. I had this apartment with the boys, our official hockey sanctuary, but I had spent practically every single night staying at the other apart

Zephyr The silence in the room stretched out, heavy and suffocating, before I forcefully slammed the brakes on my own thoughts. Obsessed? No. No fucking way. I rejected the word the exact millisecond it tried to take root in my mind. Why the hell would I even say or think something that completely insane? It was a glitch in my brain, nothing more. A byproduct of exhaustion and the sheer annoyance of having my entire life upended. I was supposed to hate Elowen. I did hate her. She had invaded my family's life, showing up out of nowhere with that police officer father of hers—the same hypocritical man I had caught sneaking around back once, smoking a cheap, pungent cigarette like some low-rent criminal instead of a guardian of the law. They were intruders, parasitic additions to a structure I had spent years trying to navigate, and the idea that she was somehow clawing her way into my head was a joke. An absolute, infuriating joke. "Zephyr?" Sable’s voice broke

Elowen "Wait, back the actual fuck up," Ivy said, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull as she slammed a fresh stack of cardboard pizza boxes down onto the stainless steel prep table. "Are you seriously telling me you didn't know? Like, at all? You’ve been attending this university for a whole week and you had absolutely no clue that Zephyr is the literal Ice King of Belmont University?" I blinked, holding a plastic squirt bottle of marinara sauce suspended in mid-air above a raw dough circle. "The Ice King? Ivy, what the hell are you even talking about? He’s just... a guy. An arrogant, infuriating jerk who happens to have a permanently sour attitude." "A guy? Elowen, he isn't just a guy," Ivy corrected, throwing her hands up in utter disbelief. She leaned across the counter of Slice & Dice Pizza, the local shop right down the street from the campus gates. "I swear to God, you live under a literal rock. He is the captain of the hockey team, the absolute golden boy of Belmont