CHAPTER SEVEN
I wake happy and think about how things have changed so quickly. I glance at my phone and see a text from my mother. Oddly, I’m not angry at her anymore. I mean, what she did was wrong and I don’t think it was okay but I forgive her. Maybe she’s right. I can’t condone it but I do understand what it means to do something wrong because you’re in love. I click on the text.
I know I was wrong, Sam. I’m sorry. I don’t want to lose you.
I don’t know if this is just the perfect time for her to finally apologize or what. I thumb out a response.
You haven’t lost me. I love you. I just need some time to let this pass. How about lunch on your birthday next month?
I put my phone down and I feel a lot lighter for some reason, a whole lot happier.
“I’m really proud of you for sending that text, princess,” my stepfather says from behind me.
I gasp. “Daddy, you scared me!” I turn around and point my finger at him accusingly. I say in an exaggerated, low-pitched, fake angry voice, “and who do you think you are looking over my shoulder?” I can’t keep the fake anger up and giggle.
“Don’t think I won’t bend you over my knee and spank you until you scream.”
“Hmmm,” I reply. “I’d like to try that sometime.”
He rolls his eyes and starts to sit up but I tackle him and cover his face with kisses. He laughs and says, “Honey, this is the eighth day. We’re supposed to discuss things now.”
“You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words?” I ask as I slide down and sit crisscross applesauce in front of him.
“Yeah.”
“Well, how many words do you think this says?” I lift the blanket up and reach for his cock.
He lets out a sigh and says, “Really, I think you need to talk about this before…” I stroke and his words trail off. Finally, he says, “Sammy, listen.”
“Discussion over,” I say.
“But, Sammy, you—”
This time his words don’t trail off. They end instantly when I get my mouth on him. It occurs to me very briefly that I’m just assuming he wants the relationship. I don’t really worry about that for long because I feel his hand on the back of my head in just a second or two.
It happens again the next day.
And the next.
In fact, it happens most days.
I feel his hands on the back of my head the morning I get my bachelor’s degree three and a half years later.
I imagine I’ll feel them on the back of my head just about every day for the rest of my life.