Chapter 3
So it was only natural for me to grow up loving him as much as I did. And somewhere along the way, what had been a girlish
attachment on my part to my father had suddenly blossomed
into a romantic love for him.
Not that I ever planned on telling him that. I was smart enough to know that most people would consider my feelings for my
stepfather to be wrong. Though I didn’t think my stepfather
would be one of those people, I still didn’t want to chance it.
Still, in some corner of my heart I had been holding out the hope
that he felt the same way about me, and this was why I had
never been interested in any of the boys in my classes, and why,
when all the other girls were talking about blowjobs and sex and
getting fingered for the first time, I had shied away and not
participated in their discussions. Truth be told, I was saving
myself, my virginity, for the man I wasn’t sure would ever take it.
“Leah? Leah!” My father’s sharp voice broke through my thoughts, snapping me back to the present. Another roll of thunder shook the windows. I turned to look at my father. My hand went down to his on my bared knee, and I smiled.
“Sorry, Daddy,” I said. “Was lost in thought.” “I can tell. You doing okay?”
I sighed and laid my head against his shoulder. My father leaned
his head down against mine and our fingers interlocked.
“Yeah, I’m doing okay, Daddy. Just feeling overwhelmed with
this whole growing up thing.”
“You and me both,” he said, his wistful voice lost to the thunder.
BOOM!
A giant seemed to stomp on the roof of the apartment building and the lights flickered and went out. Suddenly, it was eerily
quiet, even the background noises of little electronics whirring in their boxes extinguished..
“Well, I guess that’s that,” my stepfather said, tossing his cards. onto the new coffee table. “How are you feeling? Do you want to keep playing? We can get the flashlights and hold them between
cur teeth.”
I yawned.
“No, it’s okay. I’m pretty tired, Daddy. It’s been a long day. Maybe we should just go to bed.”

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