After the End: Book 4

39. When Things Catch Up

Harry's POV

I couldn't help but eavesdrop. I just liked to know things, especially other peoples drama. It was the best type of drama. It was like a low impact sport. Other peoples drama couldn't hurt me. I was basically immune to it.

"He wasn't even your dad to ignore! You're not even our real brother!"

I wasn't a stranger to saying dramatically untrue things emotionally. Sometimes things just slipped out before I could stop them. I was exceptionally bad at filtering my thoughts out, but Daisys words actually shocked me a bit. I'd never expected her to be the undreasonable one when Louis gave his secrets over like that. It was just unnecessarily cold.

When I heard Louis audibly choke on his own words in response, I couldn't stop myself from making my presence known. I'd been standing on the other side of the wall almost the entire conversation, but I stepped forward and turned through the doorway into the living room to take in the scene.

Lottie was sitting on the sofa staring at Louis like she thought he might explode. Phoebe was staring at Daisy's angry expression as if she'd never seen her before. They were both standing in front of the sofa looking defensive. Louis was sitting on the piano bench. He was the only one that had noticed me walk in. I'd never seen such a helpless expression take over his features. He had no idea what to say.

I turned to Daisy.

"So what the hell does that make me, Daisy?" I demanded. "If you no longer consider Louis your real brother over something like this, then what does that make me?"

When Daisy's face snapped to mine, I thought for a moment she looked feral. Her eyes were still wide and electrified, and her posture was hard. I couldn't think of a time I'd ever seen her like that. Her mind had to have been on overdrive. It was just written in her face.

Despite this, my words seemed to have some type of impact on her. She opened her mouth to snap back at me and then hesitated.

"She didn't mean it like that," Phoebe cut in. She didn't have that usual anger at all. I'd always expected she'd be the angry one at this. When Louis had told me about all of this business, I'd just assumed she'd be the one that got fired up. It was always her. She looked back at her sister with an expression that looked impossibly unclear. "Right Daisy? This doesn't change anything."

Louis looked kind of like watching this conversation unfold at all was enough to make him want to throw up.

"It's not..." Daisy trailed off. Her voice was tense and frantic. "You've known for how many years, and you never told us?!"

She was deflecting from the heaviness of her words entirely. It made sense, however unfair the reaction was. She couldn't handle the news and she was reacting without thinking. She probably didn't even mean to say it out loud. It was just a thought passing through, completely unbridled by the situation.

"What does it matter?" Lottie chimed in. She seemed more collected than everyone, like she'd barely learned anything new. Louis had indicated to me that Lottie might know something. I wondered how much of it was new. Maybe Lottie just didn't care. She didn't seem to care about most things. "Our dad is still his dad. He didn't make any decisions, he was just a kid along for the ride. He didn't know the other guy either."

"Exactly," I agreed.

I just agreed with Lottie... holy shit.

"That's still our dad he ignored!" Daisy insisted. She was completely undeterred.

"Barely," Lottie argued. Her passive and unconcerned voice seemed inappropriate for the subject. "That man was more like a bad roommate with an ego problem than he was a father to any of us. Louis would know. He was around him the longest."