Three days.
I've been living in this house for three days and I've barely seen him, not because he's avoiding me but because I'm avoiding him. The house is massive enough that disappearing is actually possible if you're committed to it, and I am very committed.
My mother thinks I'm adjusting. Marcus thinks I'm shy. Neither of them knows that their daughter and their son spent a night together in a stranger's guest house three days before becoming step-siblings. That I danced for him at a strip club. That every time I close my eyes I see his tattoo, feel his hands, hear his voice telling me I'm his.
I am losing my mind, slowly and quietly, in a beautiful house that doesn't belong to me.
My mother appears in my doorway at six with that smile that means the conversation is already over. "
