Bully stepbrother

64. Bathtub

MADISON

With the holiday break underway at my workplace, I arrived home around five in the evening.

However, I still made a stop at the police station to talk to the lieutenant, who remained unyielding despite my pleas.

Worn and irritated, I unlocked the door to the apartment I share with my stepbrother.

Stepping inside, it was just like any other day. Caden had already cleaned everything.

He was in the kitchen preparing dinner, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and cargo shorts that made him look innocent.

His tousled hair, shorter on the sides and longer in the middle, highlighted his hazel eyes that could shift in color. They were captivating and could change within a nanosecond, especially in the light.

When our eyes met, a sudden, benign smile spread across his face.

Yes, when I mentioned he needed this quiet treatment, I meant it. Surprisingly, it was working. Apart from trying to get me to talk, all he did was work, play video games, and sleep.

"Hey! Shit," he froze, holding out a tomato in a funny way. I wanted to laugh but refrained. "I forgot you were coming home earlier today. I didn't leave you lunch," he announced, somewhat terrified.

Glancing at him as I took off my boots, I said, "It's fine; I'll go shower."

"Dinner will be ready before you're done showering then."

"Okay!" I simply answered and began walking towards my room.

Then he asked, "You good?"

People might say it's a simple, harmless question, especially with the innocent personality he was wearing. But after a long day like today and the previous ones, it felt like he had stirred up everything I had gone through in the past weeks.

Agitated, I turned around to face him.

"No, Caden, I am not."

Cautiously and curious, he asked, "What happened?"

What? He had to be kidding me.

Can't he see all of this? Can't he see that it's Christmas, and we have to be with the family? But no! We don't even know our fate because he had to go all avengers.

"What happened is that you made a stupid and reckless mistake, and now I don't even know how to get out of it," I angrily retaliated.

A sudden frown replaced his facial expression when he began, "I didn't mean to get you..."

But angered, I interrupted him for interrupting me.

"Let me finish," I sternly said, not knowing where the courage and words were coming from but kept going on. "I am mad at you... You might do all this," I waved my hands around the tidy house that smelled just right. "But it is not going to change the fact that you messed up everything. Mom and dad expect me to be home by tomorrow, and I don't even know how to start because I can't leave you all by yourself here for the holidays. Only God knows what trouble you'll pull off next." I scoffed, feeling actually tensioned as sweat began breaking out from the tiny pores on my skin.

He appeared sad behind the island when his hurt eyes locked with mine.

"I am not stopping you, Maddie," he quietly said. "I never wanted to put you in the middle of this. You can go home; you can go have fun. I am not a child; I've been alone my whole life." The last part came out much lower, but I heard.

"Well, you act like it. Caden, adults don't go solving issues with that kind of vicious behavior."

He could've killed her, and then what? He gets thrown in jail or even worse: a death sentence?