by Sarah Bailey
“Yeah, not people… landscapes, mostly. I’m applying to do production design for stage and screen at uni.”
I’d always loved the theatre. My dad took me to the West End a lot when I was younger before he died. It’d been four years and it still left a gaping hole in my heart where he used to be. Losing him so suddenly to a heart attack had wrecked my entire world. Probably why I was guarded and, on occasion, terribly bitchy to other people. They didn’t understand the pain of losing a parent who’d been my everything.
“Oh, really? That’s interesting. Raphi’s adamant he won’t follow us into the family business.”
I had no idea what they actually did. Raphi had never mentioned it.
“Yes, because working at a casino fills me with so much enthusiasm… not,” Raphi muttered.
“A casino?”
Raphi glanced at me.
“Yeah, they own the Syndicate. All high-end with exclusive clients.”
I’d never heard of it. Then again, I didn’t pay much attention to anything outside my little slice of the world.
Eric eyed Raphi in the rearview mirror with a frown.
“We do other things, but yes, the Syndicate is our main business. And what he isn’t saying is we’ve never forced any of them to be a part of it. I’m proud of him for wanting to do environmental sciences at university, even if it takes him away from home. It’s your mother who doesn’t want you leaving.”
“Mum needs to chill out.”
“Raphi…”
“What? She does. The thought of us flying the nest makes her go into full-on overprotective mode. It’s exhausting. Probably why Rora and Duke won’t move out, even though they’re always trying to murder each other every five minutes.”
I tried not to laugh. Raphi looked like he’d rather die than deal with that shit off his mum.
“More like Quinn won’t let Rora do anything without his watchful eye over her,” Cole put in. “Can you imagine what he’d be like if she told him she wanted to get her own place?”
Eric stifled a snort whilst Raphi grinned, his green eyes sparkling.
“When Rora brought a guy friend home, Quinn was up in his face asking what his intentions towards his daughter were. Rory had to drag him away and tell him to calm down.” Raphi glanced at me. “That’s Cole’s dad.”
I wondered at Cole’s dad. Was he anything like Cole? If Raphi’s looks were anything to go by, I could imagine Cole would take after Rory.
“Okay, so let me get this straight. Obviously, Eric is your dad, Rory is Cole’s, Quinn is your sister’s dad. Who’s Duke’s?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
“Xavier. You’ll meet them all soon enough. Trust me, it’s super obvious.”
Raphi knew I didn’t judge them for their strange family dynamics. Not like I had any problem with it. They were clearly close and it must work for them.
The rest of the journey to their house was silent. Cole didn’t look my way again, and for that, I could only be glad. His death stares were making me uncomfortable.
We all piled out of the car when Eric pulled up outside a big townhouse. I had wondered where they all lived since there were nine of them. Eric led us up the steps and unlocked the front door. Cole pushed past him into the house, not even bothering to give us a backwards glance. Raphi looked at me and smiled.
“Welcome to the madhouse.”
I swallowed, unsure of what I’d let myself in for as I followed him in. Guess I was about to find out.
Chapter Three
Why the fuck did Raphi have to invite her over for dinner? Did he like her? The thought of it made me crazy. Especially since Raphi was almost eighteen. Meredith was more likely to look at him favourably rather than me since he was her age and I wasn’t.
She’s mine. Meredith Pope is damn well mine.
She wasn’t, but in my head she was. I’d staked a claim on her years ago, but I was far too young for her to look my way so I’d kept my interest to myself. Now I was sixteen and nothing would fucking well stand in my way. Not even my brother.
The way she’d spoken to me earlier had made my blood boil, and not in a good way. I wanted to teach that girl a lesson for it. Whatever Meredith’s damage was, I had no fucking idea, but she needed to be put in her place.
“Cole.”
I stopped in my tracks on my way to my bedroom at the voice behind me.
“Yes, Quinn?”
“Come here.”
I turned and found him staring at me with a neutral expression on his face. You never knew what mood Quinn would be in at any one time. Sometimes he was reasonable and sometimes it was better to avoid him at all costs.
He walked back into his office and I knew then I was in trouble. Quinn had always been the disciplinarian in our household. Didn’t matter if he wasn’t my biological father. I might not call him dad, but he was that for me. They all were. It might sound odd to those who’d never been in our situation, but our family just worked that way.
I trudged after him, hanging my head and hoping I wouldn’t get shouted at for the incident in my chemistry lesson earlier. Mum would be extremely disappointed in me and who knew what my dad would think. He wasn’t the most talkative of people, but I was the closest to him out of our dads. He got me without me having to explain myself.
Quinn sat behind his desk when I reached his office. He put a hand out, indicating I should take a seat. I didn’t bother shutting the door as I walked over and threw myself down in the chair, chucking my bag on the floor.
“I had a call from the school.”
“Yeah, okay, I know, I shouldn’t have poured my chemistry experiment all over Penelope’s work, but she said something horrible about Mum.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow. I hadn’t told the headteacher about it. Didn’t care if I got in trouble. Besides, Penelope got what she fucking well deserved. That girl was a stuck-up bitch through and through. I wished I’d pushed her face in it, but then she might have got injured from the chemicals and I wasn’t about that. Better to scare her into keeping her trap shut than cause her actual bodily harm.
“What did she say?”
“That Mum’s a greedy whore and she’s clearly conned you all into being her own personal sex servants. And she said something about cuckolding, but honestly, by that point, I was too busy destroying her work to listen any further.”
Quinn’s lip twitched. Honestly, I was sick of people giving us shit over my parents’ relationship. There was nothing wrong with it. If they saw the real love and support shared between them, then they wouldn’t make idiotic comments about it.
“And you didn’t tell this to Mr Hanover?”
“Why would I want to repeat that shit to anyone?”
“You told me.”
I almost snorted. I knew better than to keep anything from Quinn.
“Yes, but you’d ground me or something worse if I lied to you.”
“Well, I am going to ground you for a week even though I understand why you did it. You need to stop getting into trouble at school, Cole. It makes your mother anxious.”
I didn’t object to my punishment, knowing it would only get me in further trouble if I did.
“Have you told her and Dad?”
“Not yet. They’re at the Syndicate.”
Whenever my dad found out anyone had talked shit about my mum, he’d get this wild look in his eyes. Honestly, my dad could be intense as shit. Not to mention how he was with my mum. I could only be glad our bedrooms were downstairs. None of us wanted to hear our parents going at it. I shuddered at the thought.
“She’s going to be upset.”
“Can you blame her? Duke wasn’t as much trouble as you and I’ve told you what Xav was like at school.”
I smiled at that. Duke was a force to be reckoned with and his dad even more so. Xav might be in his fifties and liked to make fun of everything and everyone, but the guy was still ripped to shit. H
e could probably bench press Mum if he wanted to.
“No, I guess I can’t.”
“I don’t want to have another conversation like this with you, Cole. Head down and concentrate on your exams, yes?”
I nodded. It wasn’t like I didn’t try at school. I was smart and all that shit, but people just pissed me off. Maybe I’d got that from my dad. My aversion to being around idiots. Mum said he used to be worse when she first met him, but my dad had gotten better over the years at being out of the house and around people. We were all well aware of our parent’s pasts. They hadn’t hidden that from us.
“Good. Now, you can go, but don’t forget your presence is expected at dinner as we have a guest.”
I got up from the chair.
“Yeah, don’t I fucking know it,” I muttered.
Quinn didn’t tell me off for my language. Considering the way all of my parents, including him, swore like sailors, he didn’t have a leg to stand on.
I trudged out, picking up my bag on the way. Walking towards my bedroom, I couldn’t help fixating on Meredith Pope again.
Where did Raphi take her?
I fucking hoped the two of them were not hauled up in his room or something. That would have me on edge. As if I wasn’t already. The damn girl had me worked up.
I passed by it, stopping to peer inside because apparently, I couldn’t help myself. It was empty.
You live another day, brother.
I walked into my bedroom a minute later and threw my bag down before changing out of my school uniform. Raphi and Meredith didn’t have to wear any since they were in sixth form. I would be fucking glad when this year was over. I wanted to do something with my hands as opposed to being studious like Raphi. My parents got annoyed with me for constantly tinkering with their cars, but it never stopped my innate desire to learn more about the inside workings. Might not be the most high-flying job, but if I wanted to be a mechanic, then so fucking what? Dad said he’d let me get my motorbike licence, much to Mum’s dismay. She didn’t have the heart to tell me no.
As much as I hated Raphi for saying it in front of Meredith, he was right about me being a mummy’s boy. She let me get away with far more than the others as I was her baby. Probably why she left all the disciplining to Quinn.
I sat down at my desk and took out my homework. Might as well get it done. Then I could watch Meredith later without my parents harassing me over schoolwork. For now, I was safe in the knowledge Raphi had likely taken Meredith into the living room and they were not hanging out alone. If they were, I’d have a few fucking choice words to say to my brother.
Firstly, Meredith was mine.
Secondly, I would hurt him if he touched her.
And third, he better be telling the truth when he said they were just friends.
I would not stand for anything else. If that made me crazy, then so be it. I wanted what I wanted. That was Meredith Pope. And soon, I’d make sure she fucking well knew it too.
Chapter Four
Raphi and I were watching TV when the rest of his family arrived home and the noise level in the house went from zero to one hundred in an instant. Raphi’s dad was in the kitchen making dinner. Who knew where Cole was. Raphi told me Quinn would be ensconced in his office, so he didn’t want to bother him.
I was a little overwhelmed when five people arrived in the living room. My eyes darted to each of them in turn. I knew Duke and Aurora, having been at school with them. The short blonde haired lady must be their mum, Ash. Next to her was a man with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. Lastly, there was an auburn-haired man with grey streaks running through it and striking blue eyes. He looked exactly like Duke apart from their hair colour. Duke used to have blonde hair, but it had changed to a lighter auburn colour similar to mine as he grew up. The man had to be his dad, Xavier, and he was the first one to open his mouth.
“Well, hello, is this the girlfriend you’ve been telling us all about, monkey?”
Raphi immediately scowled.
“Not funny. I told you she’s just my friend. Repeatedly.” He turned to me. “Please feel free to ignore him.”
Xavier winked and came over, putting out his hand to me.
“You must be Meredith. I’m Xav, Duke’s dad.”
I shook his hand over the back of the sofa. It amused me how adamant Raphi was to his family about me being his friend. The feeling was entirely mutual. We got along well. Besides, if I was attracted to anyone it would be… DO NOT SAY IT!
I shoved aside all of those dangerous thoughts and concentrated on Raphi’s parents. Ash and Rory had arrived by the sofa.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Meredith. I’m Ash and this is Rory, Cole’s father.”
Ash put her hand out to me and I shook it. Rory didn’t put his hand out for me, but to be honest, I found him a little intimidating. Especially the vibrancy of his hazel eyes which matched his son’s. It’s like he could see right through me and knew I’d thought about his son inappropriately.
Stop it. No one knows you think Cole is hot, okay? No one. Not even Raphi. And even if he suspects it, you just have to keep denying it. That’s it.
“It’s lovely to meet you all too,” I replied.
“Has Quinn come out yet?” Ash asked, turning to her son.
“No,” Raphi shrugged.
“And where’s Cole?”
“How should I know? Probably in his room sulking.”
Ash raised an eyebrow.
“Why would your brother be sulking?”
“This is Cole we’re talking about. He’s always grumpy about something. He spent the entire way home staring daggers at us for no reason.”
Ash looked at Rory with some concern.
“Do you want to go or should I?”
“We should speak to Quinn first. He did text to say the school called again.”
I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Raphi, who was rolling his eyes. What on earth had Cole done at school?
“Okay, well, we’ll be back in a few as I’m sure E has dinner ready.”
Ash and Rory left the room, seemingly having a silent conversation with each other over their son.
“All right, Meredith?” Duke said, throwing himself down on the sofa next to Raphi and nicking the remote.
“Yeah, you?”
“All good.” He nudged Raphi’s side. “You two really aren’t dating?”
“Would you shut up? You’re as bad as our dads,” Raphi retorted, scowling.
Xav, who was still standing behind us, ruffled Raphi’s hair.
“We’re only playing, Raphi. We know you don’t have a girlfriend. Hell might freeze over before that happens.”
Before Raphi could say a word in response, he walked out of the room. That’s when I noticed Aurora staring at me with interest.
“I could get a girlfriend if I wanted one,” Raphi muttered.
“Doesn’t that girl in chess club like you… what’s her face, Mimi?” I said whilst still keeping my attention on Aurora, who’d circled the sofa and planted herself in one of the armchairs.
Raphi looked alarmed, pushing his glasses up his nose and glanced around as if Mimi was actually in the room.
“What? Jesus, no way in hell am I going there. She’s a full-on stalker.”
I grinned. He’d complained about it on many occasions.
“Mimi Lintott?” Aurora asked.
“She keeps asking Cole if I’ll go out with her, even his death stares won’t keep her away.”
Mimi was in the same year as Cole.
Aurora gave Raphi a sly smile. Mimi Lintott’s older sister was her friend, Colleen. Those two had been top dogs when they’d been at school. No one gave Aurora Knox shit or they’d have their head bitten off.
“Oh, I’m sorry, should I not have been encouraging her when she asks me about you?”
Raphi looked like he wanted to put his sister in the ground. Lucky for Aurora, his dad walked i
n and told us dinner was ready or I think Raphi would’ve had a go at her.
“My sister is a fucking pain in the arse,” he muttered to me as we got up and walked through into their dining room.
“For once, she isn’t giving me shit,” Duke said as he shoved Raphi in the arm.
Raphi had me sit down next to him on one side of the large dining table whilst his brother and sister sat on the other side. His parents duly filed into the room. I guessed the one I hadn’t met with greying black hair and little crinkles around his eyes was Quinn. He sat at the head of the table, his gaze landing directly on me.
“Is this our guest, Raphi?”
“Quinn, this is Meredith, my friend from school.”
He gave me a quick nod in acknowledgement before turning his attention to his daughter, who was sat to his left.
“I have yet to see evidence of your family being anything other than normal except the whole four dads thing,” I whispered to Raphi.
“Just you wait… dinner usually has someone getting into an argument, Xav making inappropriate comments, Quinn telling him to shut up and Mum trying to keep the peace.”
I braced myself for the show as Eric and Xav came in carrying dishes and set them in the middle of the table.
“Did you tell Cole dinner’s ready?” Eric asked, looking around the table.
“Yes,” Ash replied with a frown. “He should be here.”
The boy himself sloped into the room, glancing around the table before his eyes landed on me and the only free chair to my left. I watched his eyes narrow as he made his way towards me and sat down. The anger radiating off him scorched my skin. Why did I have to get stuck next to Cole? I didn’t think Raphi had planned this, so I wasn’t going to comment on it.
“Dig in,” Eric said as he sat down at the other end of the table.
It was a free-for-all the next moment as people served themselves and passed dishes down to each other. There were three different pasta dishes, garlic bread and salad. It seemed Eric had catered for different tastes considering both Raphi and Cole only chose one type of pasta.
I barely had time to stick a fork full of food in my mouth when various conversations started up at different ends of the table. It was like watching ping pong as one person would talk across the table at another. I leant over to Raphi, who was busy eating and ignoring what was going on around the table.