All Chapters of My Boyfriend's Dad?: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

LauraThe second week of the internship was easier.I knew where the break room was. I knew how to transfer calls. I knew which printer jammed and which coffee machine made the good coffee. Leo stopped checking on me every hour. Sarah started saying good morning like I belonged there.Damon stayed in his office.I saw him sometimes. In the hallway. By the elevator. Through the glass walls of his office. He was always working. Always on the phone. Always looking at papers.He did not come to my desk. He did not text me. He did not call.The necklace was still around my neck.I told myself I wore it because it was pretty. That was a lie. I wore it because he gave it to me. Because every time I touched the star, I felt something. Anger. Want. Sadness. Hope. All of it mixed together.Chloe texted me every day."how is the old man""he is not old""he is old to us""he is forty two""that is old""you are annoying""you love me""unfortunately"She was interning at a marketing firm. She ha

Laura The party was at Jake's house again. Same house. Same loud music. Same smell of beer and sweat and something burning in the kitchen that no one was trying to put out. I did not want to come. Chloe begged. She said I had been hiding for too long. She was right. I had been hiding. Not from anything specific. Just from everyone. I wore jeans and a black top. Nothing fancy. My hair was down. No makeup. I did not care how I looked. The necklace was under my shirt. The star. I never took it off anymore. Chloe picked me up at 9. She was wearing a silver dress. Her hair was curled. Her makeup was perfect. She looked like she was going to a club, not a high school party. "You look like you are trying too hard," I said. "You look like you are not trying at all." "I am not." She laughed. Turned up the music. Drove too fast. The party was crowded when we got there. People everywhere. On the lawn. On the porch. In the street. Someone was already drunk. Someone was already crying. S

RickI turned nineteen on a Tuesday.No one cared. My dad sent a text at 8 AM. "Happy birthday. The house is yours. Papers are on the kitchen table." Just like that. A house. Like it was nothing. Like he was buying me a new phone.I stared at the screen for a long time. A house. My own house. No more living with him. No more silent dinners. No more watching him stare at the wall with a glass of whiskey he never drank.I should have been happy. I was not.Laura texted at 12:07 PM. "Happy birthday. I am so sorry. I forgot. I am the worst."She was not the worst. But she forgot. She never forgot anything. She remembered when I got my wisdom teeth out. She remembered our first kiss. She remembered every stupid thing I ever said.But she forgot my birthday.I typed back. "it's okay.""It is not okay. I am so sorry. Can I see you later.""yeah. come over. my dad got me a house.""what.""a house. for my birthday.""that is insane.""that is my dad."She did not argue.---She came over at 7

RickI did not sleep that night.The house was too quiet. My own house. The one my father bought me. The one he probably picked out while thinking about her. While texting her. While planning the next time he would have her alone.I lay on the floor of the living room because the bedroom felt wrong. Too big. Too empty. Too much like something I did not earn.At 3 AM, I got up. Walked to the kitchen. Stood by the window. The street was empty. The streetlights were buzzing. A dog barked somewhere. Then nothing.I thought about my father.Not the man who bought me a house. The man before that. The man who never came to my games. Who never asked about my grades. Who never said goodnight. I thought about all the dinners we ate in silence. All the birthdays he forgot. All the times I needed him and he was not there.I used to think he just did not know how to love. That something was broken in him. That it was not personal.Now I knew the truth. He was not broken. He was selfish. He knew ho

DamonI had not slept in four days.Not really. I would close my eyes for an hour, maybe two, and then I would see his face. Rick's face. The way he looked at me when he said "you are not my father anymore." The way his voice broke. The way his hands shook.I had done that to him.I had spent eighteen years being distant. Cold. Absent. I told myself it was because I did not know how to be a father. I told myself it was because his mother left and I was all he had and I was doing my best.My best was not good enough. It had never been good enough.And now I had taken the one person who made him happy. The one person he loved. I had taken her and I was not sorry.That was the worst part. I was not sorry.I loved her. I loved Laura. I loved her in a way I had never loved anyone. Not his mother. Not any woman before her. She was the first thing in my life that felt real. And I would burn everything down to keep her.I had already burned my son.I sat in my study. The house was empty. It h