by Simone Elise
One car door slammed.
Silence.
I could deal with one brother. I bet it was Troy, he was the eldest.
I then heard the second car door, quickly followed by a third. Before I could let out my breath, I heard the fourth door slam.
I fell back onto my bed. All four were here. ALL FOUR WERE HERE! I shouted louder in my head.
The slamming of the front door brought my attention back to reality. How would my brothers change me? They couldn’t, and they wouldn’t. I started to give myself a pep talk to calm down the nerves stirring in my stomach.
They wouldn’t change me because, for one, I would have to let them, and, two, I would have to listen to them. Neither of these two was going to happen.
Dad must’ve been out of his mind, thinking my brothers could fix this situation. If anything, they could only make everything worse.
There was only one good thing that would come out of them being here; dad might actually make an effort to be home at a reasonable hour.
“Amber!” My father’s voice rang up the stairs.
I stood in the upstairs hallway, trying to put off having to go down and face them, but, just like taxes, I couldn’t put it off forever, so I turned the corner and descended the large staircase.
I pulled my eyes from the carpet, and looked up as I entered the dining room.
My eyes were met by ten pairs of eyes.
I instantly directed all my attention to my father, not dropping my gaze or meeting my brothers’.
My father had a smirk on his face, like his master plan was about to unfold. I frowned, because, no matter how I looked at it, the truth was that my father held all the trump cards in this situation.
“Amber…” a dark voice called for my attention.
I finally came to terms with the fact I would have to face my brothers, and, by face them, I meant look them in the eye and try not to let the hatred I was filled with show.
I turned my head sharply, and faced Troy.
He had changed. His long shaggy black hair was gone and, instead, he had a number two haircut. He had become larger; I could see the defined muscles under his black t-shirt. His hand was rubbing his clenched jaw, and I could almost see the wheels in his head churning, planning his next move.
I raised my eyebrow.
A slow sigh left his lips.
His eyes gave me a once over, inspecting me.
I was sick of being treated like a darn science experiment gone wrong. “What?” I insisted.
His jaw clenched again and his hand dropped to the table. “You certainly have grown up,” he finally stated.
I gave him a deadpan look, and then rolled my eyes. Was he serious right now? After staring at me for that long, that’s what he had to say? Looks like the drugs were finally affecting his mind.
I gave my other three brothers a once over.
Adam. Tyler. Cole.
They all looked older and scarier, if that was even possible.
They all sat at the table, looking at me as if they had just been forced to witness a scene from a horror movie.
They all looked disappointed. Disapproving.
What the hell was the problem? Did they honestly expect to come back to find me still dancing around in my ballet flats? In a pink tutu?
In the silence, you could almost hear the tension brewing in the room.
Minutes passed.
I had to ask myself, why did I even fear them in the first place?
I turned to walk out of the room, not wanting to waste another minute of my life in pointless silence.
I took three steps towards the entrance before another voice stopped me.
“Where are you going?”
I turned my head over my shoulder and stared at Cole.
Maybe they hadn’t lost their voices altogether after all.
I raised my eyebrow.
“Was there a point to your silence?” I questioned. “Or am I just to stand here all day, to be stared at by a bunch of strangers?”
Cole rolled his eyes
“Well!?” I asked “Are you guys going to start the threats soon? So your obligation is completed?” I asked openly.
A low rumble of laughter filled the room. All four brothers were smirking at each other, as if sharing a secret joke.
“And we thought this was going to be easy,” Adam stated to the other three brothers.
“Look, Amber, dad informed us that you’ve been acting out? I guess that’s what you call it?” Adam explained.
“Acting out?” I questioned.
I was sure that ‘acting out’ was a clear understatement of my behavior.
“Bad grades, a little too much drinking, and fighting with your boyfriend or something,” Cole added. With a bored expression on his face, I might add.
I rolled my eyes. Looks like dad underplayed everything. Thank God!
Not to mention he left out the sleeping around, drugs, parties, fighting, stealing and being a member of Blake’s gang. Although to be fair, dad didn’t know all that.
I smiled.
“Ok, I will try harder with my school grades, and I broke up with my boyfriend,” I said innocently. Suddenly, I was seeing a way out and, like a guilty man, I was taking it.
“And the drinking?” Tyler questioned.
“Thing of the past,” I quickly added, waving my hand dismissively.
God, this was easy! Pulling the wool over my brothers’ eyes is as about as easy as sneaking out of this house!
Fortunately, my brothers couldn’t actually believe that their little sister would do anything that wasn’t PG rated.
After all, I couldn’t be like them.
They really didn’t know me.
“Can I go now?” I asked.
A bottle of vodka had my name on it tonight, and I’d had my last drug run tonight, then I had to say goodbye to Blake.
It was going to be hard to walk away from Blake and his gang.
“Don’t you want to catch up with us?” Adam asked hurt audible in his tone.
I tried hard not to roll my eyes.
Cole wasn’t saying that a few months ago, but that was a different story. A longer one, a darker one and one I wasn’t ready to share with anyone but Blake. So, even now, as he looked at me, I couldn’t bring myself to telling the story - maybe one day I would, but today wasn’t that day.
“Not much to talk about,” I said blankly.
Because they couldn’t, no, let’s rephrase that, they wouldn’t tell me the truth about them and what was going on in their lives.
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?” Tyler asked quietly.
Why did he sound disappointed too?
“Yeah, assignments to complete, you know,” I brushed off easily.
“Good. We have more important things to deal with anyway,” Cole stated and rose from his chair.
“No, you boys said you would stay the night!” My dad piped in.
Annoyance flickered across Cole’s face, but Troy quickly interrupted.
“We did, and we are.” Troy ended the conversation, giving Cole a pointed look.
Hah, sucks to be him.
“Have a good night studying Amber,” Troy softly said to me. A smile appearing on the corners of his lips.
“I knew dad was overdoing it, saying you had gone completely off the rails.” Tyler added.
“Yeah, all you needed were some wise words from your brothers,” Adam quietly added, with a smile.
Geez, how stupid could they be!
I almost felt bad for lying so bluntly to their faces.
I smiled and quickly turned my back to them, as I curled my nose in disgust!
Wise words from my brothers! Hah.
What a joke.
I took the stairs two at a time.
Now to get changed and go take care of business.
Then, after business was taken care of, I was going to get seriously smashed. I didn’t know what was worse, knowing I had lied to them
so easily, or that I didn’t feel the tiniest bit guilty.
Chapter 5
“NOOOOOOO”, I screamed as I stepped out of the black Mustang.
Liam chuckled. “You are! You are seriously hammered,” he slurred.
I wasn’t going to lie and say this was one of my finest moments. I was drunk, and perhaps high on a fresh break-up. These two factors combined, ended with me wanting a meaningless one-night stand.
I fought another fit of laughter as I stumbled up my front steps.
“You’re just jealous! Cause I am awesome!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I stopped short and wondered whether the front door had always been that big. Jeez, it was huge!
I had seemed to have forgotten that it was the early hours of the morning, and that I wasn’t meant to be out of the house in the first place.
“You’re a gentleman… taking me home,” I slurred, giggling at Liam.
I was hammered; no I was beyond drunk… I had reached a new level altogether - I was on the edge of passing out.
I stumbled to the front door with Liam right behind me.
I didn’t have my keys, so I did the next best thing my drunkenness told me to - I picked up the potted plant next to the door, and slammed it through the glass of the front door.
Liam laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist. I reached in and pulled the door handle, and we both fell through the front door.
I laughed loudly. Loud enough to rattle the dead.
Turning around in Liam’s arms, I slammed my lips against his.
I could feel his lips turn up into a smirk before they started moving on mine, and hard.
“I’m going to miss you Amber,” his lips continued to move with mine.
“Let’s make a memory we won’t forget then.”
“You are so hammered,” Liam stated.
I laughed again, finding my own voice amusing.
“AM NOT!” I screamed at him.
And then out of nowhere, the lights came on.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?” A familiar voice screamed from the top of the stairs.
I didn’t pull my lips away from Liam’s, and his hands began to travel down my body, resting on my lower waist. We were too high to even notice anyone else.
“GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER!” Another voice growled from the top of the stairs.
Liam pulled away from me, and his eyes widened as they stared behind me.
I spun around, too quickly, lost my balance, and fell to the ground.
I went into another fit of giggles. Ground… that was a funny word.
“Oops!” I slurred as I tried to get a hold of myself.
I felt Liam put a firm hand around my waist and pull me back up.
“Get your hands off her!” a voice snarled.
My eyes landed on two shirtless, toned bodies at the top of the stairs.
Cole and Troy.
Were they staying the night?
Oops.
“Shut the fuck up Shields,” Liam snarled back. Then he looked down at me in confusion. I shared his confused look. Why weren’t they wearing t-shirts?
“I didn’t know you were related to the Shield brothers,” he said slowly.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“You don’t know I dislike pickles either.” I pointed out. Though to be fair, the pickles were a more serious matter then these things that were also known as my brothers.
This made Liam crack up, although I think anything would’ve caused us to crack up at this point.
Liam’s hand was suddenly yanked away from my waist.
I then noticed Troy had him by the collar.
“Let him go,” I tried to say firmly, but the words were slurred and ineffective. Now was a great time for cohesion to fail me. Great!
“What the fuck are you doing with my sister Liam?” Troy roared into his face. I could see the red veins in his eyes, as his face twisted in pure raw rage.
Cole was now standing between me and Liam, blocking my view of what was happening.
“OH bloody hell. He was dropping me off!” I stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Troy shot me a glare.
“You were meant to be studying!” he stated, sounding a tad pathetic.
Liam laughed, causing him to glare at me harder.
“I had things to do!” I pointed out. “Now, let him go!” I pointed out to Troy and started flicking my finger at him, for no apparent reason.
Troy pushed Liam away from him.
“Leave,” he ordered.
“Wait,” I added, and sat down on a step. Liam didn’t move an inch.
He smirked. “Are you going to miss me sugar?” he teased.
“Obviously! But…” I began, pushing a hand down my long black boots. I pulled out my gun and laid it on the step, then went back down, pulled out two wads of cash, and tossed them at Liam.
“Tonight’s take. Make sure Blake knows.”
He nodded.
“Miss you already,” he added and winked, then turned around and walked out the door.
I sighed and looked up at my two shirtless brothers.
They were both glaring at me.
I shrugged my shoulders. Heck, what was a girl meant to do in these types of situations?
“Bed time!” I screamed excitingly.
Both flinched at my sudden outburst.
I started to climb up the stairs.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Cole said, a mixture of hurt and anger in that voice.
Turning my head over my shoulder, I noticed Cole was pointing to my gun.
I giggled.
“Better not forget that!” I smiled.
Reaching down the two stairs, I scooped it up.
Troy eyed me in complete disbelief. His reaction mirrored mine when I had first discovered alcohol, why hadn’t I known earlier such a wonderful and numbing agent existed?
I sighed and resumed my long climb up the stairs.
“I hate steps,” I stated to no-one in particular.
Before I knew it, I was scooped up by a strong pair of arms, and I was in the air.
It was Cole, jaw clenched, now walking up with me in his arms. Why was he so mad?
Troy was muttering something behind him, but I didn’t catch it.
“We weren’t to know,” Cole snapped over his shoulder.
I glanced up the hall, and saw something that made my blood boil in disgust.
“IT’S HERE!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Cole jumped in surprise, but Jax leaned against his bedroom door calmly, eyeing me carefully.
“Another big night Amber?” Jax stated, a certain smugness in his voice.
I flipped him the bird.
“I don’t know which room is hers,” Troy advised from behind us.
“I don’t have a bedroom,” I added, joining their conversation.
“It’s the door to the left,” Jax blurted from his bedroom door.
“LIAR!”
“Amber, lower your voice,” Troy warned as he twisted the knob of my bedroom door.
Cole placed me back on my feet.
“Watch where ya step,” I advised, before placing my gun on the bedside table.
I then pulled my boots off and flung them in random directions. Without paying attention to my brothers, I ripped off my top and tore off my jeans.
I launched myself into my big, fluffy bed.
I muttered into my pillow. I was going to feel like hell come morning. “You have a tattoo,” Jax stated.
I turned to my side, and looked at my two brothers and Jax, all with shock on their faces.
“It’s a gang mark actually.” These men needed an education. “NOW, PISS OFF!” I said fiercely, but it came out all slurred.
I closed my eyes and drifted off, remembering only my door clicking shut.
Chapter 6
I took my clothes off in front of Jax and my brothers!
I took my clothes off in front of Jax
and MY BROTHERS!
This thought kept running through my head, as the events of the night before came back to me in waves the next morning.
Another wave of nausea ripped through my body, and I clenched the toilet bowl a little tighter.
What was I thinking? Oh wait… I wasn’t!
I shouldn’t have drunk so much, but it was so heart-wrenching to have to leave the gang and Blake.
He had hit me though.
But the thing was, before that night, Blake had never laid a finger on me. He protected me, he loved me.
We had the modern day romance; it would have made a great romance novel.
Even the ending was twisted; wasn’t that what every reader wanted?
For the characters to be left heartbroken.
Well I was.
And now I had no choice but to walk away, because Blake and I both knew that was the only way to go.
If we really wanted to end it.
Which we had to.
I leaned away from the toilet bowl, and ran my fingers through my hair.
I hoped that I had just imagined that Cole had carried me up to my bedroom.
Maybe they had left already, thinking that it was nothing?
My hand wrapped around the basin for support, and I pulled myself up to my feet.
I suppose I would find out soon enough.
What makes a hangover worse? What doubles the nausea ripping through your stomach? What increases the mind hammering headache?
Knowing that your brothers and wanker of a guest got a strip show when you were wasted, and then to know I now had to go and face them all. Together.
As I twisted the taps and the water started to flow, the bathroom began to steam up.
I hoped and prayed my brothers had left.
***
I stood outside the dining room, leaning against the wall, listening to my brothers’ conversation.
“You sure it was the HellBound tattoo?” Tyler asked.
“Yes, it was their tattoo!” Cole exclaimed.
“We would have seen her!” Tyler pressed.
“It was their tattoo Tyler,” Troy emphasized.
“How could dad be so fucking blind?” Cole roared.
“She blinded us pretty easily,” Adam pointed out.
“I wonder how deep in she is…” Adam wondered out loud.