AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh…oh God, no.”
It’s a string of sounds—of words…of…horror.
My eyes snap open and I sit up straight, craning toward the wide-open door.
Andrew Bailey and Kip stand at the threshold, staring at me. Andrew cups a hand over his mouth, the color draining from his face as he witnesses his daughter, completely bare, intimately entwined with the man he considers a son.
June rouses beside me, lifting up on her elbows.
She gasps. “Dad?”
“No…this isn’t real,” Andrew mutters, his eyes huge and full of sickening outrage. He stumbles backward, bumping into Kip. “Please, no…no.”
I’m frozen. I’m speechless.
June starts to cry as she yanks the bedsheet up to her chin.
Andrew shakes his head, looking like he’s about to be ill, then clumsily retreats from the room.
Kip stares at me.
I stare back.
Disappointment dims his eyes as he swallows, rubbing a hand down his face and pivoting away from the door.
Everything else is a blur as June continues to sob, scrambling for her clothes, while I just sit there.
Numb.
Sad.
Done.
Last night I was lucky…
But not today.
Today is just another tragedy.
32
FIRST CRACK
JUNE, AGE 19
This isn’t happening.
My father staggers away, hand clasped over his mouth as if he’s trying not to vomit. Tears pour out of me, desperate, ugly tears, and I search for my dress as Kip moves out of frame.
Brant sits beside me, breathing heavily and totally silent. He looks like he’s in shock.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
Locating my dress peeking out from under the bed, I throw it over my head and whip off the covers as the front door claps shut. “I–I have to go talk to him…” I mutter through my tears. “God, Brant…”
Brant doesn’t respond.
He just sits there, glassy-eyed and void.
