I Wanted One Stepbrother, So All Three Claimed Me novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Hall Chair

At four in the morning Kenji unlocked his door.

He did it slowly, with the bolt held back by a thumb so it wouldn't click, and opened the door into the dark hall.

Leif was sitting exactly where he had said he wouldn't.

He had the old chair turned to face the door, his boots planted, and his forearms on his knees, and his hands hung between them.

He did not look surprised.

"I told you no," Kenji said.

"I know."

"You can't help it."

"No." Leif looked up. His eyes were swollen. "I can't."

Kenji stood in the doorway for a long moment in his socks and his rumpled shirt.

Then he sat down on the floor, with his back against the wall and his shoulder against Leif's shin.

He used to sit like this beside his father's chair in front of the television when he was small.

Leif's hand came down and rested on his hair.

It was very light, and it shook.

"Tell me," Kenji said. "The part you didn't say in the kitchen."

Leif was silent for so long that Kenji thought he wouldn't.

"My mother died on a Tuesday," he said. "I was nineteen. I was on a roof two miles away, running conduit for my first real job, and my phone was in my truck. She was alone in the house. Soren was at swim practice, Erik was at school, Tilda was eight and in the second grade. She went into the kitchen to start dinner, and her heart stopped."

← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend