Semua Bab TOUCH ME MORE, DADDY: Bab 121 - Bab 130

Chapter 3Late NightsThe shift happened so gradually I almost didn’t notice it at first.Maya had always been the type to stay up late scrolling or rewatching the same three shows, but by the end of the first week she started claiming exhaustion earlier. Bookstore shifts, summer heat, the general drift of someone who had never needed much sleep to begin with whatever the reason, she began disappearing upstairs around ten with a yawn and a vague promise to “finish the episode tomorrow.” The living room would fall quiet. The kitchen light would stay on. And somehow, without ever discussing it, Adrian and I started remaining downstairs longer than either of us strictly needed to.The first night it happened I told myself I was only finishing an application. I sat at the dining table with my laptop, the cursor blinking against a half-written cover letter, while Adrian worked through a set of blueprints at the far end of the same table. We didn’t speak for nearly an hour. The only sounds

Chapter 5 Breaking PointMorning light cuts across the bed in a thin, bright line that makes my eyes ache.I lie still for several minutes after waking, listening to the ordinary sounds of the house Maya’s footsteps downstairs, the low murmur of a news broadcast, the distant clink of dishes. The hallway confrontation from last night sits behind my ribs like something bruised. Every time I close my eyes I see the way Adrian looked at my mouth for those three long seconds before he walked away.I force myself out of bed.The kitchen is already occupied when I come down. Maya stands at the stove in an oversized T-shirt, humming under her breath. Adrian is at the counter with his coffee, fully dressed, posture carefully neutral. Our eyes meet for half a second over the rim of his mug. The contact lands harder than it should. I look away first and pour my own coffee with more concentration than the task needs.Maya talks through breakfast plans for a later shift, a text from a friend, the

Chapter OneThe ArgumentThe clock on the microwave read 1:47 a.m. when I finally heard the key in the lock.I had been sitting on the couch in the dark for almost three hours, phone face-down on the cushion beside me, the only light coming from the streetlamp outside the living-room window. Every time a car slowed on the street my stomach tightened, then dropped again when it kept moving. I had told myself I would go to bed at midnight. Then at twelve-thirty. Then at one. Instead I stayed exactly where I was, knees pulled up, arms wrapped around them, listening to the quiet of an apartment that felt too big without her in it.The door opened. Riley stepped inside, laughing softly at something on her phone, the sound bright and unguarded. She toed off her shoes in the entryway the way she always did, dropped her keys into the bowl with a familiar clatter, and only then noticed the shape of me on the couch.“Jesus, Lily. You scared me. Why are you sitting in the dark?”I didn’t answer

The Party & The KissThe party was already loud by the time we arrived.Bass thumped through the floorboards of the overcrowded house. Someone had strung cheap string lights across the ceiling, and the air smelled like spilled beer, perfume, and the sweet-sour mix of too many mixed drinks. A mutual friend from college Jess had declared it a “mandatory reunion,” which meant half the people we used to know were packed into the living room and kitchen, shouting over the music.Riley looked good. She always did, but tonight the low light caught the gold in her hair and the easy way she moved through the crowd like she belonged in it. Rose had met us outside. The two of them fell into step immediately, laughing at something I didn’t catch. I followed half a pace behind with a plastic cup I hadn’t asked for already in my hand.I drank faster than usual.The first drink took the edge off the tight feeling I had been carrying since the afternoon I walked in on them in the kitchen. The second

Chapter OneBack HomeThe driveway looked smaller than I remembered.I sat in the driver’s seat for a full minute after turning off the engine, hands still on the wheel, staring at the two-story house with its faded blue shutters and the same cracked basketball hoop above the garage. Four years of college and somehow the place had stayed exactly the same. The lawn was neat. The porch light was on even though it was only late afternoon. A pair of James’s old running shoes sat by the front door like they had never been moved.I had told myself this was temporary. A few months at home while I figured out jobs and next steps. Nothing complicated. Just the house I grew up in, the stepfather who had raised me since I was twelve, and the stepbrother I had spent most of my teenage years carefully ignoring.I grabbed my bags and walked up the path.The front door opened before I could knock. My stepfather, David, stood there in a faded T-shirt and jeans, smiling the same warm, slightly tired s