I Never Asked For This

Angela lounges in her robe, savoring silence, when knuckles pound the door. She knows that knock. Still, she drags herself to answer, gaze pinning the girl on the step: her sister’s stepdaughter, Harper, now dumped on her threshold. The kid’s got nowhere else. Angela resents it on sight and doesn’t bother pretending. Harper promises not to be a burden. Angela cuts her short—she’ll stay, but she’ll earn it. Weeks grind by. Harper scrubs, cooks, smiles through the lectures. Nothing satisfies. Tension hardens in Angela until she can’t breathe. She corners the girl, words like gunmetal: “You ruined my nights. No cunt since you came here. Tonight you fix it or you’re out.” Harper’s only choice is to offer her body. Angela’s palm snakes under Harper’s shirt, snagging the waistband of her panties, pulling her close, already undoing her own belt with the other hand.