CHAPTER THREE
There’s very clearly more to Dominic Jackson than I ever knew before. I mean, I really like my stepfather. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think he was a great guy. He’s responsible, a great businessman, and from the day he married my mom, money stopped being an issue in my life. My life until Junior high involves almost getting evicted from one apartment after another. Then, my stepfather arrives, and I have stability.
He's the reason I have a 4.0 high school transcript.
He’s the reason I have a college fund.
He’s the reason my life is good instead of bad.
Hell, he’s the reason I have a nice apartment built into the house. You can call it a garage apartment but It’s really not. I mean, the garage was a three-car garage and he built a second-story loft, added a master bathroom, and also put in a full kitchen for me. He also put a deadbolt on my side as well as a full, solid door that opens to the house and a door that opens to the driveway on the wall he had built to replace the big roll-up door.
I always thought all of that was mine now because of how he feels about my mom. Now I realize the things done for me are for me. He just essentially gave away a hundred and eighty thousand dollars so I won’t be the girl in town whose mom is in prison. “Holy shit,” I say as I realize something else. “He knew about the affair.” Three years. That’s how long it’s gone on, he thinks. He and Mom have a year-long drought with sex, too. He didn’t stay in the marriage for my mother. He’s here because of me.
It's too much to handle, and I run to the main house kitchen and grab a bottle of vodka from the liquor cabinet. I bring it back to my apartment and set it on the table, but I feel so overwhelmed I just leave it there and run to my bathroom. I think I’m going to throw up and I lean over the toilet for a while as I consider what this man went through just to protect me. I think about every time in the last three years I might have given him trouble, angry about being grounded or anything like that. It feels like my mind is swirling and I quickly pull off my clothes, hoping a hot shower will calm me.
It does, kind of.
As the heat flows over me and steam rises up, my mind stops racing. Instead, I just feel very emotional and find myself weeping in there. Some of it is tears for the betrayal and hurt my mom creates. Some of it is tears for the hurt he endures for my sake. Some of it isn’t hurting but gratitude and love for the man who does so much for me. I remain in the shower, just weeping for ten minutes or so when it occurs to me that I didn’t lock the deadbolt and a bottle of vodka is on the table. Actually, I think I left the door wide open. I get out quickly, dry enough not to make a total mess, wrap myself in a towel to try to keep even more of the mess at bay and rush out to get the bottle.
And my stepfather stands in the doorway. He points to the table and says, “It’ll make you feel a little better right now but it’s never a way to deal with unhappiness, Sammy.”
“Oh, Daddy!” I cry and run to him, throwing my arms around him. I think it may be the first time I use those words.
As I weep into his shoulder, I realize how hard his body is next to mine. His muscles bulge through his shirt and I can feel the definition in his abs even through his suit. I catch a whiff of his cologne and realize my attraction to him is not as platonic as I believed.
I hold him tightly and drink in the feel of his hand softly stroking my hair and the deep, melodic sound of his voice assuring me that everything will be okay. I keep crying but they are crocodile tears. I’m too overwhelmed by my discovery of my attraction to him to want to let him go and so I keep crying so he’ll keep holding me.
I lift my head and look into his eyes. “Why did you stay married to Mom?” I ask. “Was it for me?”
He sighs and says, “Yes, Sammy. I love you.”
I hug him tightly again as the tears resume in earnest. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that he stayed but I’m still overwhelmed by the other realization as well. I know he didn’t mean anything sexual when he said he loved me but I can’t keep from imagining some attraction on his part as I play those words back in my head.
I feel my towel loosen and unravel. Before I even think about it, I step backward and allow the towel to fall to my feet, leaving me completely naked in front of my stepdad.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I say as he stares at me in shock.
I allow just a hint of sultriness into my voice as I say it and when my stepdad turns around and apologizes, I notice the bulge in his pants. My eyes widen in shock as well. Unless his clothes magically add to his size, he’s very well endowed. I wonder again how on Earth my mom could have cheated on him but now I have a different reason for wondering that.
“Why don’t you get dressed?” he says, still looking away. “We’ll watch a movie and eat some ice cream together. No need for vodka.”
“That sounds wonderful, Daddy,” I say in the same barely sultry voice.
He swallows and leaves without turning around. Too bad. If he had, he would have seen that my nipples are rock hard.
I dress and smile as I think about the night ahead. I can’t make up for the money my mom stole from him. I can’t make up for the years of dishonesty he had with her. I can’t make up for the way she disrespected him, but I can make up for one thing.
I have a beautiful body and so far, I’ve allowed no one to take my virginity. I’ve given blowjobs and hand jobs and allowed one very lucky football player the chance to cum on my face after he scored the winning touchdown, but I’ve never actually had sex.
I’m going to have sex tonight. I have one gift I can give that might make up for the pain my stepdad suffered at my mom’s hands and I can’t think of anyone better to take my virginity than him.