short skirts ➳ l.h.

t h i r t y - s i x

t h i r t y - s i x :

Looking up at Brandon, his hair messy and pushed back, I could see the hurt in his eyes. A hurt that was as deep as the ocean in his blue eyes. The feeling of guilt took a knife and pushed it deep into my chest.

I couldn't keep looking at the amount of pain held in the expression of his face, so I turned to Ashton and buried myself in his chest.

I had a normal life.

And I ruined it.

"Come in." Ashton says, stepping back a few steps to give them room to walk in, before closing and locking the door.

"Lottie, does your dad know you're here?"

I look away from the grey of Ashton's shirt and look at Calum, blinking down tears, shaking my head no, afraid my voice will crack with the fear that's consuming me.

"Okay, has he checked here?"

And again I shake my head no.

I'm actually surprised he hasn't, but if he's drunk again, then he wouldn't have the mind to even come up with me possibly being here.

"Okay, well we need to leave here. This will be one of the next places he checks. I'm not going to let him find you. He doesn't deserve to even see you ever again." Calum says, his forehead frowning with anger.

I look up to Ashton, who's thinking about all of this, then look to Brandon, who's a few feet away from Calum, staring out the window. You can see his blank expression, with a dab of numbness.

I can't even imagine what he thinks of all this.

He was just a private tutor for god's sake, probably the safest job out there. And now his life's being threatened because of a jealous rage because of me. Because I was fucking around with Luke.

It started out as teasing and a little bit of fun, but never did I ever think that something like this would happen from a little bit of fun.

The moment he pulled me out of school was the moment that things got too serious for what was just me screwing with my step-father, something that I should've never been doing in the first place.

I pull away from Ashton and cautiously walk up to Brandon, who has zoned out from Ashton and Calum's conversation about where we all were going to go.

"Hey." I say as soft as I can, but still manage to startle him. My heart tears at the fact of how afraid he is of the world right now.

"Hey." He says back, but with no life in his voice.