My Stepbrother Is My Secret Master novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Chillicothe

"Then I'm coming to you," I said.

"Laurie, don't..."

I hung up before he could finish.

I drove south that Friday after my shift, six hours in the old Civic with Daisy's emergency granola bars on the passenger seat.

The hills came up around Chillicothe the way they always had.

I pulled into our gravel drive at one in the morning.

The kitchen light was on.

My dad was at the table in his undershirt, eating cereal out of a mixing bowl.

He looked up.

He didn't get up.

"You drove all night," he said.

"You did it first."

I sat down across from him.

"Who sent it to you?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

"Pastor's wife." He pushed the bowl away. "She said she was praying for you."

I laughed. It came out ugly.

"Of course she did."

"Laurie, you don't understand what this town does."

"I do, Dad."

"No." He put his big hands flat on the table. "When your mother left, they talked about me too. Not just her. Me. What kind of man can't keep his wife. They looked at you in the grocery store like you were going to catch it. I saw them. I never said a word, because I didn't want you to know."

"I knew."

He looked at me.

"I was twelve, not deaf," I said. "I heard every one of them."

He sat back in his chair.

"I thought if I didn't say anything..." he started.

"I know. I did the same thing."

And I told him.

All of it.

The mask, the rule, the two years.

How I didn't give it.

How I made him swear I'd never see his face, so nobody could ever look at me and know what I wanted.

How it was my rule, from the first night. Not his.

My dad listened with his jaw working.

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

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