short skirts ➳ l.h.

t h i r t y - o n e

t h i r t y - o n e :

Luke POV:

Lottie's biological father is someone whom we never speak of.

As hard as he tries to get back into her life, her mother and I had convinced her he had fucked her mother and left, and that he had no idea of her existence.

But that's not true.

He never really came around when she was younger, but when I came into the picture, he gradually started to show himself more and more.

We did everything we could to get him away from her, because the last thing we need is her remembering who he is.

Because there once was a time when her father was in her life.

Until she was about 6.

And then her mother walked in on him hovering above a young Lottie with her clothes thrown to the ground, and blood in between her thighs.

She doesn't remember.

And if she does, I doubt she remembers who and what completely happened.

He had started to show up more and more since her mother died, thinking that he could gain custody over his daughter. But somethings can never be forgiven nor forgotten.

But he stayed close.

And it wasn't until I looked up from Brandon's body and saw Calum staring straight me with frightened eyes and his mouth agape did I truly realize how close.

I knew Lottie had a brother.

I just didn't know that he was her best friend.

The look Calum gave me was the same one her father would when I threatened him with a baseball bat, or showing him the butt of my gun hidden in the waistband of my jeans. To get away from my house. To get away from my daughter.

Her childhood best friend was her brother. Which means her father was never far away.

I feel so stupid for not seeing it until now.

I now remember taking Lottie to Calum's house when she couldn't drive, and when she knocked, and I stood next to her, it was always Calum or his mother who answered.

Never his father.

But he was always there.

And it scares me so much to think that he could've gotten his hands on my baby girl.

He lost the right to call her his daughter the night he raped her.

The 6 year gap where Lottie was without a father is something she hates thinking about.

I can see the crinkle besides her eyes when someone asks about her life before me.

She hated it.

Her mother was never there, taking on two jobs to keep them alive, so she was constantly home alone.

She once told me that she hated being home alone.

She just didn't know why.

A part of her knew that her home alone without her mother was something she no longer wanted to endure. For the unknown and unrecognized fear of her father.

When she was 13, she wanted to find him.

Her mind was set on finding him.

She wanted him to know that he had a daughter, because she believed that he did not know.