“If you two love each other, and you’re happy, who am I to say otherwise?” her dad said. “You protected her, and even though it got you in trouble with the school, I can’t say I’m upset that you defended Lyric. Thank you for that.”
“No thanks needed. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
They all looked at Landon’s mother. She slowly let her hands rest on the table. “If you’re happy I’m happy.”
In that moment it felt like this weight had been lifted from Lyric’s shoulders, like something had cleared from her vision, from her mind. Landon gave her hand a squeeze, his smile big.
In all honesty she still would have been with him if their parents hadn’t agreed with it, but knowing they wanted them happy made this so much better.
Knowing they accepted them didn’t make her feel like she had to sneak around or feel shamed by what she felt, by who she loved. No one should ever feel anything but happiness when they found love, when they found that person that made them feel whole.
Landon certainly made her feel that and more, and she’d make sure to always let him know that he was it for her.
Chapter
Eighteen
Two months later
They were done with high school, having just graduated this past weekend. Lyric planned on going to college next spring, because she wanted a semester off just to relax, gather herself, and spend time with Landon without the stress of starting the next chapter in her life.
Since they’d first gotten together, expressed their feelings, and told their parents, things had been very … normal. She didn’t know if things should have been different because she was with Landon, but they weren’t, and she liked that.
Lyric liked being able to hug him in front of her father and not feel weird because of it. Of course the PDA in the house stopped at that, because giving a hug and letting Landon touch and kiss her in front of her father and his mother was a line she wasn’t going to cross.
They’d blurred the lines already by being together, and she’d never take that back, but she didn’t want to thrust her relationship in anyone’s face either.
“Baby,” Landon said right beside her cheek, his warm breath teasing the tendrils of her hair.
She turned and looked at him, smiling at the wicked expression on his face. Their parents were just in the kitchen making popcorn and laughing with each other, so right now it was just her and Landon.
Lyric wouldn’t say there weren’t parts of her that felt slightly weird at how things had turned out, because they were strange and certainly not the norm.
Falling in love with her stepbrother wasn’t something she’d planned or ever saw herself doing, but it happened, and she knew she’d never regret a moment of it.
“Let me kiss you while we’re still alone,” he said softly and grinned, and before she could answer he leaned forward and kissed her like he didn’t kiss her every day.
He swept his tongue along the seam of her lips, and then plunged it in her mouth, but only for a second.
He pulled away and righted himself, reaching down to adjust his clear erection so it wasn’t noticeable, and grinning the whole time. He inflamed her with just a look, a touch, or even a smile.
They were respectful of their parents though, not having sex while they were home. That would be too fucked up, even for her.
Besides, there were plenty of places away from them and everyone else where they could be together, where they could explore each other without the hushed whispers and looks they got when they were in town together.
Just because her father and Landon’s mother were okay with their relationship, didn’t mean everyone was.
No, they were still looked at by some as twisted and disgusting, despite the fact the only thing connecting them was a marriage between their parents. It was what it was, and soon she’d be going to college, and starting her life with Landon.
That’s all she wanted.
Her father was the first to come back into the living room, several cans of pop in his hands and under his arms. He set them on the table and handed one to Lyric and then another to Landon. He then firmly situated himself between them.
She couldn’t help but smile at that. Her father was still so protective of her, and always would be.
Landon’s mother came in a minute later, a bowl of popcorn and some candy in her hands, and set them on the table, as well. She looked at Brent and sighed.
“Brent, leave them be, and come sit with me on the loveseat.”
Her father looked at Lyric for a second, and then glanced at Landon.
“No hanky-panky, you two.”
Lyric couldn’t hold in her laugh.
“Hanky-panky? Seriously?” Landon said with a straight face.