Claimed By My Stepbrother novel Chapter 46

Camila POV

I took another step back, putting some much–needed distance between us, but Llam didn’t seem to care. He stayed right where he was, leaning casually against the wall, watching me with that same smirk, like he enjoyed making me squirm. Then he said something that made my skin crawl even more.

“Relax. It’s not like I’m going to eat you.”

I stared at him, wide–eyed, trying to decide whether he was joking or if he was actually insane. His voice was light, playful even, but there was this undercurrent of something darker, something that made it hard to breathe,

“Yeah, well, I would rather not stick around and find out,” I muttered, turning to leave again, but before I could take more than a few steps, Liam pushed off the wall and started following me.

“Wait,” he called out, his footsteps echoing behind me. “Let me walk you home.”

I stopped, narrowing my eyes at him. “No thanks. I’ll be fine on my own.”

He shrugged, unfazed by my refusal. “Come on, it’s late, and you don’t exactly look like you know where you’re going.”

I hated that he was right. I didn’t know where I was going. I had been so caught up in my own head that I had wandered too far, and now, with the dark streets stretching out around me, I didn’t have the energy to argue.

“Fine,” I muttered reluctantly, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “But if you try anything, I swear I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” he interrupted, his lips curving into another smirk. “Kick me in the shin? Bite me?”

I rolled my eyes and started walking again, not bothering to respond. He fell into step beside me, his hands tucked casually into his jacket pockets, as if we were just two friends taking a late–night stroll. The silence stretched on for a

while, broken only by the crunch of gravel beneath our feet and the distant hum of traffic.

“So,” Liam said after a while, breaking the awkward silence. “You probably have questions about what you just saw.”

“Nope. I’m good,” I replied quickly, not wanting to get involved in whatever weird drama he had going on.

He chuckled, clearly amused by my attempt to brush him off. “Her name’s Claire,” he said anyway, ignoring my lack of interest. “We were… seeing each other.”

I raised an eyebrow, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. “Seeing each other? She looked like she’s twenty-

nine.”

He grinned, the kind of grin that made you want to punch him just to wipe it off his face. “She’s thirty–five, actually.”

I nearly tripped over my own feet. Thirty–five?! And how old are you?”

“Eighteen,” he told me with a casual shrug, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

I stopped dead in my tracks, turning to stare at him like he had grown a second head. “Eighteen? Are you serious?*

“It’s legal,” he stated, that damn smirk still playing on his lips.

1/3

Chapter 46

Barely. I muttered, resuming my pace. “God, you’re such a creep

Liam didn’t seem the least bit offended by my comment. In fact, he laughed, the sound echoing through the empty street. “You’re not the first person to say that,” he admitted, his tone light. “Probably won’t be the last.

“Yeah, well, maybe take it as a sign,” I shot back, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice.

He didn’t respond right away, and for a moment, I thought I might’ve actually managed to shut him up. But then he said, “You’re different tonight. Usually, you’re more…”

“More what?” I asked, not liking where this was going.

“More put together. Less… frazzled.”

Frazzled?

Great!

That was just what I needed to hear after the night I’d had. I didn’t bother responding, too tired to come up with a clever comeback. Instead, I kept my eyes on the road ahead, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

We walked in silence for a while after that, the tension between us thick enough to cut with a knife. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened- my mother’s outburst, Greg’s guilty look, Ethan turning into some kind of monster- and now Liam, with his weird relationship drama and cryptic comments, wasn’t making things any easier.

Eventually, we reached the edge of the neighborhood, the familiar houses coming into view. Relief washed over me at the sight of something normal, something that didn’t make me feel like I was losing my mind.

“Thanks for the… company,” I said awkwardly, glancing at Liam as we came to a stop at the corner.

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