Page 110 of Letters to the Lost

Deciding to mess with them, I get onto my hands and knees with great effort since I just want to crawl back under my covers. Crawling towards Zander, Atlas’s groan of appreciation from behind me as he gets a clear view of my ass in my shorts makes me smirk, but I hide the smile threatening to overtake my face as I throw my leg over Zander's lap, straddling him.

“Love you,” I say against his lips, gyrating my hips on top of his now-hardening cock.

Zander chases my lips as I pull away, lifting myself from his lap and running from the room before he can think about chasing after me.

“Brat!” Zander shouts after me, Atlas’s laughter follows.

Slowing myself down to walk, I make my way to Dad’s office. He spends most of his time there when he’s home, his time is rarely spent here now he’s using all his time to search for Charlie and dealing with his other businesses.

Excited I make my way there with a skip in my step, but as I get closer raised voices sound from the other side.

Deciding to wait outside, I hear Brenn’s voice. Harsh and angry, he shouts at Dad.

“She was a fucking child, Dad,” Brenn shouts, his voice slightly muffled due to the closed door but the anger in his voice is unmistakable.

“You think I don’t know that?” Dad replies to him, his tone bitter, “You think I don’t think about that every moment while I was out searching for that monster?”

“That’s not enough to make up for what you’ve done! I want to kill you for this. Imagine how the others will feel, never mind Autumn when she finds out,” Brenn rages.

A thud sounds from the door, and Brenn’s pained grunt makes me flinch.

The sounds so familiar to when I lived with Jane when she argued with a boyfriend. The shouts and the sounds of things being thrown, the sound of flesh hitting flesh. It’s all too much.

He never lashes out like this; Brenn is calm and collected.

Worry churns in my gut. Taking a deep breath, I wrap my hand around the handle and open the door.

The arguing stops, but it’s obvious that they were. Dad stands behind his desk, his hair rumpled and I’m positive he has more grey hair now than he did a few weeks ago.

A pang of sympathy runs through me as I notice how tired he looks, but that soon disappears when I notice Brenn’s sad expression as he looks at me.

“What’s wrong?” I practically demand as I rush over to my brother.

“Nothing Little Bear. Just a disagreement with Dad,” Brenn tries to reassure me as he pulls me in for a hug.

But he can’t hide the tremor that’s running through his body, or that he keeps clenching and unclenching his fists like he wants to hit something.

“We agreed no more lies, Brenn. What is it?” I urge.

“You want to tell her, or shall I?” Brenn asks, directing a venomous look toward Dad.

“There’s nothing to tell Brenn!” Dad shouts, his tone final but his eyes are begging.

“What on earth is going on?” I ask, directing my question to Brenn. Pleading with him to give me a straight answer for once.

They’ve been cold towards each other for months now, barely even acknowledging each other unless they’ve needed to talk business.

Brenn pulls me in for another hug, his arms banding around me like a vice as he whispers apologies into my hair.

Whatever he is about to say, I just know deep in my gut that it’s going to change everything.

“He knew Autumn. Dad knew about Jane from the start. I’m so sorry, we failed you,” his voice breaks, his brown hair falling into his eyes as he hangs his head in shame.

“Little monster. Please. You have to understand…” Dad tries to say but static fills my ears as the words Brenn uttered sink in.

“You knew?” I ask, tears brimming in my eyes as I desperately try to hold them back.

Looking at my dad, I try to see him as I once did.

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