Standing in front of the double doors, slightly on the right side as the left door was closed, my left hand found its way to the closed door and scratched it nervously.

Get over yourself.

The pit at the bottom of my stomach was bubbling with anxiety and fear. I took a breath, gulping down any oxygen I could gather and relieved the wooden door of my death grip.

I didn't want Zayne to get impatient with me so I began walking. It took me around ten seconds to remember how to walk.

Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left- Zayne.

I walked straight into Zayne, from where he was stood in the middle of his office. In the background, I head the door click shut.

I didn't even get a chance to look up at him as he bent down before me and grasped my bruised arm.

He rolled the sleeve up to my elbow, exposing the painted flesh. I tried to pull my arm back but there was no point; he had ahold of my wrist, my hand laying limply on his suit covered arm, and his fingers grazed over the skin.

His eyes were filled with darkness and his jaw ticked so much I thought it'd snap. He took deep inhales and eventually looked up at me, his face softening for a split second when he saw how evident my nerves were.

"Are you okay?"

I was quick to reassure him. "It doesn't hurt honest, I-"

He gave my arm a little tug, "no, Brynn. I meant, are you okay?"

I was slightly taken back. What was I supposed to say? He'd never accept an 'I'm fine'.

"I'm okay." He gave a chilling pointed look.

"I'd like to be with a book though." His looked turned the smallest bit softer and amused.

His face switched back to stone within a millisecond when he towered over me, once again, and peered behind me.

"Où est-il?" he spat out, obviously to the other person in the room. I turned back to see Callan stood in front of the door, face as hardened as Zayne's. Ezra must've left when the door was closed.

"Magazzino," Callan gritted in the exact same voice I dreaded to hear. Thick with venom.

Before any more words were spoken, the two office doors were flung open and Brayden came in, still in his work clothes, looking as frantic as ever. "Where is she? Is she okay? Where's that fuck-"

"Fratello!" Callan stopped him and then signalled towards me. Brayden saw me and his face fell soft , only to morph into a ruthless sneer after seeing me arm still in Zayne's hold.

He walked over to us and crouched down on Zayne's right side, inspecting my arm just as Zayne did. Just as he was about to remove my arm out of Zayne's hands to get a better look, I pulled it back.

"Seriously, it's fine," I insisted. "It doesn't even hurt."

Zayne stared at me with a calculating look and Brayden looked conflicted, his eyes shifting to black when seeing my arm. I rolled the sleeve down, swallowing the urge to play with my fingernails.

Brayden rose back up, defeated and Zayne spoke to Callan again, "voglio vederlo. Adesso."

The softness in Brayden's face had vanished and now it was as stiff as Zayne's and Callan's.

Looking back at Callan, he had an evil-looking smirk plastered on his face. "Naturalmente."

What were they talking about?

"Dites à Antony de préparer la voiture. I'll be down in a minute," Zayne told Callan, blankly, still staring at me, to which Callan nodded. Brayden smirked but wiped it away when he saw my confused and slightly anxious face. He gave a tight smile, moving a strand of hair out of my face and then kissing my forehead.

He then left, leaving Callan to come up to me and do the exact same thing before exiting. That left just me and Zayne.

I, rather reluctantly, turned back around so that I was fully facing my oldest, most intimidating brother, who was now leaning back against the front of his desk; his hands on either side and legs crossed in front.

I gave him probably the most tense smile in existence and he just observed my every move.

Exactly thirty two seconds later, he broke the silence. "What did I say about listening to your brothers?"

"I did. I swear I did. Ezra told me to sit and wait for him to come back and I did do that, but I felt like there was someone watching me so I looked. Then that man came along and told me I couldn't be in the shop alone and I tried to tell him I was with my brothers, honest I did, but he just wouldn't listen. He probably couldn't hear me but I did try-"

"Someone was watching you?" Zayne raised his hand to silence me mid-rant.

I bit my lip and rubbed my right foot against my left one, trying to look anywhere but Zayne.

"No. Was just being paranoid," I admitted sheepishly, feeling stupid. Zayne inhaled and exhaled a deep breath.

"He could hear you. He was being cruel and he deserves to be-" his voice rose with each word and he cut himself off, taking another deep breath.

"This is your last warning, Brynn. If you break another rule, there will be serious consequences," he stated sternly.

"Your brothers and I are going to do some..." he trailed off, gulping a little, "work. At the office. We'll be back later, feel free to..." he trailed off again, this time pursing his lips, a slight twitch on them, "be with a book."

I looked at him slightly taken back, my lips pursing just as his did whilst I tried to keep my face straight. He had no problem remaining emotionless, unlike me.

"I will, thank you," I replied, at the same time, slowly backing out of the room.

When I felt my back hit the doors, I whipped around and opened it. Once I'd made it out, I leaned against the door, sighing a breath of pure relief.

Thank god he didn't punish me.

Reaching into my right pocket to retrieve my phone, I saw it was only 4:19pm. What should I do now? Brayden and Callan had left to go to work so I couldn't find them. I hadn't seen Zach around either.

I'll just stay in my room for a bit.

However, before I managed to get to my room because as I got to the bedroom hallway, Zaiden came around the corner, slightly out of breath and looked as though he was searched for something. Let me tell you I did not want to be that something because his face looked royally pissed off.

He kept moving around whilst looking at everything in sight until he saw me, trying to tip-toe away to safety. I did my best not to cringe my face when I'd seen I was caught and I had to try even harder not to sprint away when he sped over to me like his life depended on it.

I flinched back when he moved his hands to reach out for me. Zaiden just inhaled a deeply enraged breath, his eyes closed as if controlling himself and reached out again. This time, I didn't flinch, I just watched his face.

The rage on his face, which I hoped to god wasn't aimed at me, increased tenfold once he'd grabbed my arm and moved my sleeve to see the bruise. I could've sworn to Zayne that he looked at least the tiniest bit concerned.

He inspected my arm for twenty five seconds, ghosting his left hand over it like he was checking it was real or something. His hand even began to shake a little as did his bottom jaw.

He looked ready to punch someone in the face and, in no way, do I intend on being that person. I tried to move it away but he tightened his grip and shot me a warning look. Now that I had his attention, I used it to my advantage. "It's not a big deal, pretty sure the guy got a warning anyway."

Zaiden narrowed his eyes, "not a big deal?"

'Nope' was what I wanted to say, but I didn't get to because footsteps sounded from behind me and they were coming towards us fast. I looked over my left shoulder, as best I could with my arm being restrained by Zaiden, and saw Silas making his way over to us. He looked exactly like Zaiden did.

His eyes were focused on my arm and he looked wrathful. Just as Zaiden did, he observed my arm and the more he looked at it, the more his anger seemed to intensify.

Then they started speaking in, what I think was, Italian. "Ezra ha detto che lo stronzo era nel magazzino. Sta andando lì adesso." Silas had a gritted edge to his voice.

Zaiden looked almost amused, a barbarous smirk plastered on his face. "Andiamo a vederlo?" Silas matched his look, "con piacere," he sneered. What the hell were they saying?

How did they even know about the incident?

I was too busy in my thoughts to notice my brothers had now stopped talking and were both staring at me. Gulping, I took the chance to remove my arm from their loosened holds.

"Where are you off to?" Silas questioned, face back to being stone.

Off a cliff, if you guys keep looking at me like that.

"To my room," I answered, oddly hoping it was the right answer.

"Off you go, then," Zaiden uttered, face no different to Silas' cold one.

I nodded awkwardly, slowly backing up. They wouldn't look away! They kept staring at me, Zaiden with his hands in his jeans pockets with a smirk and Silas with his arms crossed, face contorted to a glare even though his mouth looked like it wanted to smirk.

"I'll just..." I continued backing up until I eventually bumped into my bedroom door, "go then."

I opened the door and walked in as fast as I possibly could, sighing for the hundredth time today.

I jumped when I heard Zach's voice, "Brynn!"Just who I wanted to see.

I smiled when he made his way over from the middle of my room. He was wearing black jeans, an off-white Calvin Klein jumper and white trainers.

He looked concerned and immediately took a look at my arm. We seem to have a cycle going on here.

His hold was much gentler so moving away was much easier. He reached for it again but I turned my body and gave him a cheeky grin, "I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

He looked defeated, but gave me a fake glare and smile nonetheless. "You seem to find trouble everywhere you go, don't you love?"

"'S not my fault," I muttered, picking at my thumb nail.

Zach ruffled my hair at the top of my head. "I actually originally came here to see if you'd like to play some tennis with me."

"Tennis?"

"Tennis."

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Are you repeating everything I say?"

"Am I?" I giggled which made him let out a chuckle of his own.

"It's Wii tennis, obviously," he opened the door, placing his right arm on my shoulders and guiding us out. "Unless, of course, you'd like to do actual tennis. We can go down to the tennis courts."

I was astounded. "We have tennis courts?" I asked, my mouth ajar in shock. Zach chuckled, "of course we do," he said it as though it was such a casual thing to have.

"That wasn't on the tour," I mumbled. Zach laughed even louder, "allow me to show you then, my love." He switched our directions so that we were now headed into the garden.

The patio doors that lead to the garden were at the back of the kitchen. They were two big slidey doors that were locked with a key. Zach unlocked the door and we both stepped outside.

To say I was in awe would be one of the biggest understatements of the century.

Right outside the door was a huge patio. It was entirely floored with red stone and had a ginormous fire pit that dipped in. The fire pit had an ever bigger circular couch surrounding it and in the far right of the patio, there was a dark oak wooden bar; the rest of the patio was filled with white sunbeds and each corner of the patio had one large potted plant.

Zach led us down the twenty three steps from the patio and I saw a jaw-dropping swimming pool. The floor around the swimming pool was different types of beige stone and around the swimming pool was more white sunbeds. Two diving boards were on the right side and a wide slide was on the left.

On the left side of the garden, the stone flooring ended and freshly mowed grass replaced it. On the grass were two large round trampolines side by side.

On the right side of the garden, the stone flooring was replaced with concrete and there were three courts. The end one furthest away was tennis, the one in the middle was basketball and the one closest was football. All three were surrounded by towering black gates and they all had small spaces for entering and exiting.

The entire garden was also enclosed in hundreds of trees around the outside. All I could think of was holy crapbags.

Zach must've seen my flabbergasted expression because he chuckled. "Pretty cool, right?"

I stumbled over my words as I replied, "pretty cool?! This is b-brilliant!" I got so excited, I mispronounced my b's.

Zach looked at me with a suppressed grin and raised eyebrows. Was I being too loud? Milo hated it when I made noises, especially loud ones.

My face fell to calmer expression. "I mean, yeah I guess." I coughed to hide my excited smile as my eyes scanned the garden once again. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of it, this garden was every kid's dream.

"Well I suppose if it's not that cool, we can go back inside," Zach teased whilst using his thumb to point back at the house. My eyes widened. "No!"

Zach smirked, "tennis then?"

When we entered the tennis court, Zach went over to two buckets which held rackets and yellow tennis balls. He pulled out two rackets and handed me one.

"This is how you hold it," he placed my hands in the right positions and thank god he did because I didn't have a clue on how to hold it properly.

He got a ball and bounced it a few times then jogged over to the other side of the net. As I was getting into position, he bounced it once again, only this time, he swiped his racket and whacked the ball onto my side.

I stood there dumbfounded whilst he gave me an innocent look.

"Fifteen," he spun the racket around his pointer finger and then jabbed it in my direction, "to zero."

Giving him my best glare, I went to get the ball.

Game on, Zachary.

---

Playing tennis in real life was a lot harder than the Wii. Especially when you're playing with someone like Zach, who's been playing since he could walk- his words.

The current game was at 40-30 to me, but the overall score was, embarrassingly, 16-3 to Zach.

I was serving and the pressure was on. Zach said this was our last game seeing that it was getting dark and it was becoming colder.

Zach was stood on the other side, bent down and twirling his racket in his hands; his face was permanently smug.

I threw the ball up and hit it as hard as I could over the net. Zach effortlessly swung and hit it back. It was going far too fast and it was headed straight for the entrance, the entrance of which Callan was walking in that very moment.

I could see the pure dread etched onto Zach's face and I let out a sharp gasp.

Callan, on the other hand, looked surprised for about 0.2 seconds before he simply caught the ball with lightening fast reflexes.

He twisted the ball in his hand, almost observing it before he looked back up at Zach's guilty face and my worried one.

"Zach, still got horrible aim I see," he smiled, sarcastically. Zach fake laughed, "Callan, reflexes are still working?"

Callan fake laughed as Zach did, looking at the ball again then suddenly stopping and launching the ball in Zach's direction. Zach didn't have time to react before the ball smacked right into his- his area.

Zach doubled over on the ground and I smacked my hands over my mouth to prevent my giggles. Callan winked at me, walking over to give me a kiss on the head, "hey, bambina."

"Hey, I missed you," I paused when I realised what I'd said. Don't be so needy. He definitely didn't miss you.

"I missed you more." Oh.

Did he really mean that?

"Dinner's ready and I heard there were some chicken nuggets waiting for a certain little sister," he moved a stray, sweaty piece of hair from my face, me blushing as he did so.

"Come on let's get you inside, it's getting chilly. Here take my ja-"

"Oh don't worry about me!"

Was Zach actually hurt? I hastened over to him a little concerned and placed a hand on his shoulder, bending down to see his face and check for injuries.

"Are you- AHH!" Zach swiftly stood up, scooping me in his arms and holding sideways. He blew raspberries into the side of my face, causing me to laugh.

He put me back on my feet and started taking his jumper off, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath. I tried to ask what he was doing but my speech was cut off when his jumper was placed over my head.

"Let's go, I'm starving," he held my hand and tugged us forward, making his way to the patio doors. When we passed Callan, I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with us.

When we got to the patio, I could see everything in a much clearer light. Zach was just as sweaty as I was, hair sticking to his forehead and shirt sticking to his upper body. Callan looked slightly puffed out too, like he'd just had a burst of adrenaline. Probably from walking up and down all those steps.

A closer look showed that his muscles were a lot more tensed that usual and he had something on the side of his face, something that was dark red.

My curiosity vanished when Zach took ahold of my chin and gave me a tight smile. "Brayden's asked for your help with the drinks." Brayden asked for my help? Me?

I was eager to help Brayden so I scampered into the kitchen, taking a glance back to see Zach urgently signalling to the side of his face.

Brayden was by the island infront of the sink, filling up glasses with water. He looked tense like Callan did; work must've been stressing them out a lot.

I walked over to help him out with the drinks. He heard my footsteps and looked towards me, becoming a lot less tense and face softer. I smiled shyly as he greeted me, "hey, sweetheart, fancy helping me with the drinks?"

"Sure."

---

We were halfway through dinner and I wasn't doing too bad. I had a system.

I figured out I could only stomach around a quarter percent of the meals given to me so if I eat slowly, I don't finish faster than everybody else. If I don't finish faster than everybody else, no attention is on me about what I'm eating. Problem solved.

Right now, my brothers were halfway through their meals. They had steak, salad and potato bites. I had the exact same except the steak was substituted for chicken nuggets. Big upgrade, in my personal opinion.

"So, what were you two doing outside?" Brayden started conversation, aiming it at Zach and me.

I looked at Zach, silently asking him to answer because I did not want to speak to all seven of my brothers at the same time. Zach, thankfully, responded.

"We played some tennis."

"Who won?" Silas asked, looking like he really didn't care. He looked a little envious. Did he want to play with Zach instead?

Zach ignored Silas' bored tone and answered with a cocky smirk of his own, "who do you think?"

"Brynn." Everyone except Zach and Zayne replied. I looked up surprised at the lack of hesitance in their voices and saw Zach fish mouth.

He looked at each of them with mock hurt and then made eye contact with me and mimed a knife going into his heart. I couldn't hold back my laugh which made Brayden, Callan and Zach laugh with me. Ezra, Silas and Zaiden looked like they were straining to keep straight faces and even Zayne looked moderately un-tensed for a few seconds.

We composed ourselves after sixteen seconds, going back to the comfortable silence we were in before, the only sound was the clinking of cutlery against the plates.

After another sixteen seconds, Zach spoke up again, "actually I won seventeen to three."

"It was sixteen, not seventeen," I pointed out.

"What about that beautiful last shot?"

"You almost hit Callan with that shot so it doesn't count."

"Keyword being 'almost'."

"I think we should dock points from Zach for 'almost' hitting a spectator," Callan inputted, smirking into his glass of water.

Whilst Zach was bickering with Callan, I readjusted Zach's hoodies long sleeves to prevent them from getting dirty. I saw I still had three chicken nuggets, half of my salad and a most of my potato bites left. I really didn't like wasting this food but I just couldn't stomach anymore, my tummy was acting up again.

Tugging on Brayden's sleeve lightly on my right, I caught his attention and whispered, "I'm finished." He gave me a look and said, "one more piece of chicken and four more potato bites and you can go."

I did as he said, reluctantly and by the time I finished, so had everyone else. Everybody took their own plates out this time so I went to do the same however Brayden took my plate with his own.

"Oh no it's fine, I'll do it, it's the least I could do," I insisted whilst reaching out for it back. Brayden shook his head, smiling, "you don't have to do anything, hun, let me."

I was going to protest again but that all too familiar pit in my stomach flared again. I put a hand on my stomach and gulped down some rising bile. Brayden looked instantly concerned, putting the plates down and feeling my forehead.

"Are you okay, bambina?" he raised my chin to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired," I mumbled back, rubbing my right foot against my left one.

I backed away from his worried state, "I'm just going to have an early night."

I didn't give time for Brayden to say anything else as I had already seen him going to pull me back and avoided his touch. I left the room without being stopped by anyone else.

As soon as I was out of eyesight from anyone, I sprinted up to my room and straight to my bathroom where I threw up in the sink, not making it to the toilet in time.

This is one nasty stomach bug, I thought to myself when I was sat against the toilet, regaining my breath.

Two hundred and eight seconds later, I found it in me to stand up and turn on the shower, one to wash away any sickness and two to wash away the sweat from today.

Throwing my clothes from today in the hamper, I made sure the door was locked and then got in the shower. I focused specifically on washing my face and tried scrubbing any tiredness away yet it didn't do me any justice; the tiredness remained.

It was sort of a good thing though, maybe tonight I'd be so tired, I wouldn't have any nightmares.

I washed my hair with some tropical shampoo and with a towel around me, I got out and brushed my teeth. Zach's jumper caught my eye when I looked in the mirror.

I wondered if I could wear it to bed. Would Zach mind or would he want it back?

I'll just sleep in it tonight and give it back to him before he notices.

I took it from where it was hanging out the hamper and slipped it back on. It was still warm and still smelt just like Zach. Vanilla, a hint of cologne and safety.

I still needed pants though. Wrapping the towel around my lower body, I awkwardly trotted to my wardrobe and changed into some dark blue pyjama bottoms which had stars and moons on them.

Slumping down in bed, I felt utter exhaustion wash over me, quickly pulling me into sleep, before I could turn the big light off or get under the covers.

---

I woke up highly disorientated. My eyes were fighting to stay open and I struggled to lift my head up.

When I'd managed to move my arm up, I clicked the home button on my phone and squinted my eyes to look at the time.

2:46 am.

After blinking a few times and fisting at my eyes, it became apparent that I was now tucked under the covers. Two blankets were draped over me on top of that, the big light was off and my fairy lights had been turned on too. As well as this, there was a glass of water on my side table and I also now had cream coated on my arm rash and bruise.

Callan and Brayden must've done this for me. Blushing and making a mental note to thank them tomorrow, I rolled over to try and fall back asleep.

I had nearly drifted off when all of a sudden, my door swung open. I couldn't see who it was in my half dozed off state but I could see a blurry figure enter and close my door behind them. They walked up to my bed silently and lifted up the right side of my covers to climb in and lay on their side facing me.

They pulled me towards them, wrapping their right arm around my waist and placing their left arm underneath my head, bending it to bring their left hand up to my head, effectively bringing it to their chest.

The person was wearing sweatpants and no shirt but I could tell who it was by their scent and the amount of security they gave me.

"Zach?"

"Hmmm?" he began stroking my hair with his thumb.

"What are you-"

"Shhhh," he silenced and I listened, far too tired to question further.

After a few more moments, he talked again. "There was a huge spider in my room."

I let out a giggle. My, big, tough brother came to stay with me in my room because of a giant spider in his.

His body rumbled with a chuckle of his own.

"Shh shh go to sleep, it's way past your bedtime," he reprimanded, forcing his chuckle to die down.

We both fell silent for another few minutes again before I spoke, not feeling as tired anymore. "How was your day?"

"Didn't I just ask you to go to sleep?"

"Yeah, but I'm not tired anymore."

"Hmmm."

He kissed the top of my head, "it was good."

"Woke up about five minutes after you left. Mad I didn't get to say goodbye to you." He gave a joking pat on the back causing me to let out a small huff of laughter.

"Ate some croissants for breakfast. Went to the gym for a bit although Ezra was hogging the weights. Then I went to my room, did some homework. Went to the living room around two o'clock to find Zaiden playing some video games. I joined in. You would've liked the games we played actually, we should play them tomorrow and..."

The words Zach's deep and soothing voice mumbled had me fighting to stay awake. I was just so comforted and secure. Absolutely safe.

Safe to fall asleep in my brother's arms.

---

I was brought out of my slumber by the sunlight streaming through the curtains. I yawned and rubbed my eyes to get any goop out.

Zach wasn't here anymore. Did I dream last night?

I guess not because there was an imprint in the pillow next to me that most certainly wasn't mine. He must've went back to his own room.

My tummy wasn't as bad this morning which meant I could try to stomach some of breakfast.

The time was seven am, which meant it was a suitable time to be awake and go downstairs; I did so as stealthily as possible incase my other brothers were sleeping.

Brayden was in the kitchen, blending smoothies and cooking eggs. He was dressed in sweatpants and a grey knitted sweater, kind of like a fuzzy grandpa.

"Hey," I sat down on one of the bar stools, leaning on my right arm sleepily.

Brayden jumped at my voice then chuckled at my state. "Morning, hun. Want some breakfast?" I didn't have to respond, he was going to make me eat anyway so I had already, unwillingly, accepted my fate.

Brayden wouldn't let me get away with eating a little bit, as usual, so he waited until I finished half of my scrambled much to embarrassment.

He finally let me go and I went to the library. This was my last day off before I had to go to school tomorrow. My first day of high school.

I was fully intent on using my last day to read and that's what I did. Except for lunch and dinner, I remained in the library, completely alone and calm. A great way of de-stressing if you ask me.

Now I was in bed, trying to go to sleep. Nerves, excitement and nightmares kept me up and I found myself only getting an hours worth of sleep.

In the end, getting an hours worth of sleep wasn't so bad. I was up bright and early and had time to read before washing my face, brushing my teeth and getting dressed.

At twenty to eight, Callan walked in, suited up and holding a black backpack; I had just finished brushing my hair.

He smiled, "well don't you look smart, sorellina," he complimented, making me flush. He smiled wider and handed me the backpack.

"This is the school's backpack and I've already packed your lunch. Make sure you eat it, I'll know if you don't," he warned sternly. I gulped, I had no doubt he'd find out. "I will."

"Come downstairs for breakfast when you're ready, sweetheart." He left and I retrieved my already packed pencil case from my desk to put in the backpack, not before putting a pen and ruler in my blazer's inner pocket though.

Putting my phone into the other inner pocket with a zipper on it, I was fully ready to leave. Deep breaths.

I went downstairs and placed my backpack by the front door then made my way to the kitchen.

The kitchen had most of my brothers in there. Brayden was leaning against the sink on his phone, dressed in scrubs; Callan was talking to Silas about something that looked important, leaning on his elbows on the island. Silas, Zaiden and Zach were all sat on the island's bar stools, dressed in their uniforms with their shirts un-tucked, ties undone and backpacks flung under their seats.

When Callan saw me enter, he stopped his conversation and stood up fully, giving me a smile and making most of the attention in the room to go on me. I smiled back sheepishly and took a seat next to Zach.

Zach now had these cool metal rings on either hand, so did Zaiden and Silas. The only difference was that Zaiden had his nails painted black. They looked so cool.

Callan came around the island and twirled my seat around to face him. "You be good today, hm trouble?" he teased, giving me a kiss on the head. "Listen to your brothers, as well."

"I will."

"Zayne wishes you good luck too, he just had to go to work earlier than usual," Callan smiled tightly. I shrugged, "that's fine."

Callan ruffled my hair, grinning, "always being adorable." My face was permanently tinted red as he gave me one last forehead kiss before giving a small nod to Silas, who was watching us from over his shoulder. Silas gave him a nod back and with that, Callan winked and left.

I turned back around to see Brayden placing a plate of toast before me. "At least one slice, okay hun?" I nodded, "okay." I didn't know if I could do that though.

My stomach was acting up again this morning and I truly didn't think I could even eat one slice of toast. I felt pathetic.

That's when I noticed I was sat right by the bin. I could throw one piece in there when no one was looking. True, it was risky, but so was eating right now and this was the best option I had.

Just as Zach and Zaiden decided to chat about something, Brayden turned around to clean the counter tops. I took my chance. I subtly opened the bin and threw a piece of toast in, making sure it went under a scrap piece of paper.

I sat back up as if nothing had happened, silently applauding myself.

When Brayden turned back around, he saw the missing piece of toast and beamed. "Good girl."

I felt bad lying to him but I had no choice.

Zach caught my attention, "ready, love?" Him, Silas and Zaiden were standing up and putting their bags on, all identical to mine. "Yeah," I stood up too, bringing my plate to the sink and going to wash it only to be stopped by Brayden, who did it instead.

They all walked out and I went to follow but was stopped by Brayden holding the back of my blazer and spinning me back around to him, "hang on there, little miss."

He wrapped me in his arms and gave me millions of kisses on my head. Pulling back, he got a glass of water and a painkiller. "Make sure you tell one of your brothers if you need another one."

I nodded, it being the only I could do with my mouth full of water. "And make sure to tell them if you have any problems or you can call or text me, I'll answer straight away no matter what, okay? I'm serious Brynn, any problems just-"

"Brayden," I laughed lightly, "I'll be fine."

He hummed, pulling me back into another hug, "as long as you stay out of trouble," he whispered. "I will."

He pulled away, "now go on, before you're late."

I rushed out, not wanting to keep my brothers waiting, just as I heard him yell again, "and stay with your brothers!"

Silas, Zaiden and Zach were waiting by the front door and I joined them, picking my bag up and flinging it over my shoulders, which didn't hurt as much now. Zach gave me a calming smile and grabbed my hand, giving it a tight squeeze of reassurance.

There wasn't much to do now.

Well, except go to school which I believe is one of the scariest things a person could do.

---

<3