My Stepfather and His Friends novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Deed

On Thursday morning there was a document waiting beside my coffee.

It was three pages long, and it had a blue ribbon on it, which meant Graham had drawn it.

Warren sat across from me with his hands folded on the table.

"What is this?"

"The deed," he said. "Quit claim. It puts the house in your name. All of it."

I looked at the first page.

Tessa Calloway, in dark ink, in the box marked grantee.

"You can't give me a house before breakfast."

"I can. I did it yesterday afternoon. Graham says it's clean."

"It's very clean," Graham said from the doorway.

He was leaning in his shirtsleeves with a cup of someone else's coffee, looking deeply pleased with himself.

"He asked me for the strongest possible version. I gave him twelve pages and he told me to cut it to three."

"Why?"

"Because it should be easy to understand," Warren said. "It's yours. Nobody can sell it out from under you. Nobody can say you were only ever a guest here."

His voice shook on the last word.

I put the deed down and looked at him for a while.

"Is this because of the church?"

"Partly."

"Is it because you think it makes up for the Friday talk?"

His mouth tightened. "Partly that too."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

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