Edited.

This isn't good. Excuses and explanations rushed through her flustered head yet she didn't get any words out.

The looks from her brothers didn't do anything to calm her nerves either. All their eyes had darkened, all of them.

She had to look away because maybe, just maybe, her watching the television will convince them to leave her alone.

She was counting how many seconds it took before someone spoke. She got to seventy-seven seconds of just pure silence before someone said something- correction yelled.

"What the fuck is that?" Silas came closer from his place.

"Who gave you that?" Ezra was not so much leaning against the wall anymore.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Callan was still right above her, still gripping on her jumper.

"Who, love?" Zach pulled her arm closer to have a better look.

"Oh my god, have they been checked out?" Brayden made his way over to Callan's left to also look better.

Zaiden was up from the rounded chair and over Zach's shoulder, using his hand to see it better too, "who the fuck-"

Brynn struggled to be released, her face looking like she was a second away from breaking down. They knew. God-dammit they knew. Let me go.

"Brynn." Zayne.

In spite of the rest of the commotion in the room, Zayne's simple one worded sentence had all the girl's undivided attention within one millisecond.

He was making his way over to the couch. Please don't.

He went around the end of it. I don't want to talk about it.

He came in front of her and crouched down. Please go away.

She couldn't look anywhere other than him as he asked the question she didn't want him to ask. "How did you get them bruises on your shoulder, Brynn?"

"I just ran into the door a few days ago, I told you."

"A door couldn't do that," Zaiden stated, pulling her shoulder further into the back of the couch so the marks were clearer for everyone to see. Brynn flinched and now the only sound in the living room was heavy breathing, most of it hers.

She didn't so much as have the backbone to look her brothers in their faces so she, very courageously, fixed her gaze on her fingers as she intertwined them in and out repeatedly.

She could hear some slight whispering and some aggravated comments from a few of them until the presences around her disappeared. Footsteps went around the couch and she was made to look up; expecting Zayne only to see Callan.

He looked hurt, but not mad. Maybe he doesn't think much of it. He gave her a sad smile and brought her up from where she was sat. She wasn't too sure what he was doing but was far too nervous to protest and just let him guide her out the living room.

Before they made it out the door she took a sneaky glance back at the room only to see it was empty. Oh, she breathed out in relief. They weren't dwelling on it, thank god.

Callan walked them up to her room and into the bathroom. "Get ready for bed, okay hun?" he wasn't asking.

He left closing the door behind him, leaving the girl to stare in the mirror for a few minutes. Brynn adjusted the jumper collar, covering the exposed skin.

After brushing her teeth, she remained in front of the door for a while not knowing whether or not she should go in. What if Callan was still there?

Finally leaving the bathroom, one of her queries proved to be right. Callan was on top of her bed, staring straight ahead at nothing possibly in deep thought. A jug of ice cold water and an empty glass were on the side table.

When she came out and the bathroom light switched off, his attention turned to her. The man got off the bed and lifted the bed sheet up nodding his head for her to get in.

The bed sheets were abnormally warm- probably from Callan sitting on them- and the sheets were brought over her. She suddenly had a sense of deja vu.

When he finished, the empty glass was filled with water and passed to her. Drinking the ice cold liquid down woke her insides up but on the outside she felt exhausted. Not waking up in the morning wouldn't be the most awful thing to happen right now.

"Lay down, hun," he gently laid her down and tucked the covers up higher. She just layed down and closed her eyes, needing Callan to leave right now.

She heard the click of the lamp being turned off and the dark of the room seeped through her eyelids. Then he left and the faint sound of her door closing met her ears.

Turning over to her side, Brynn focused her mind on tomorrow. Nothing was going to happen, she repeated. It was water under the bridge.

Except she felt that she was in the water.

---

The next morning when she woke up it was still dark outside. Knowing it was far too early for anyone to be awake, she settled for just laying there with her eyes closed.

It felt like hours of just laying there staying still until she heard people leave their rooms. From where the sounds of the doors shutting came from, it sounded like Zayne and maybe Callan.

Someone came closer to her room. The door opened a crack and Brayden whispered, "she's still asleep", and then the door closed again.

Huge relief washed over her and for the next two hours or so she kept tossing turning, really having nothing to do. That was until she turned on her right and looked at her bathroom door. A shower, she needed a shower. Yes, she needed a shower.

She pushed the covers off and made her way to the room. Turning the shower on proved to be a little difficult, but she managed. It didn't do what the tap did and turn on automatically when she placed her hand under it. She had to turn a nozzle a whole three sixty and could adjust the temperature with the nozzle below it.

As the hot water trickled down her back and her hair was washed with shampoo she found underneath the sink, she remembered she had nothing clean to change into. The clothes she was wearing were folded up in the corner.

She did have her tattered backpack in the opposite corner though. And that had one set of clothes in so she chose to wear them; black leggings and a white long-sleeved shirt.

She checked her phone at least a hundred times before getting over herself at nine am. She had to go downstairs, face her brothers because that's what someone brave would do. And staying in her room for the rest of time might not work out.

First, she checked the kitchen, no sign of any brothers. Weird, but lucky for her. Starting the day with force-feeding herself food wasn't something she wanted to do.

Though she had to admit it was suspicious. So far, she had not been allowed to skip one meal, so what's changed? Most of her brothers are up by now. Was this the turning point?

She walked past all the rooms downstairs, just in case, but couldn't find them anywhere. It was quiet. Too quiet.

Something was going on, she could feel it in her gut. Or she was being paranoid- which was a strong possibility.

Indistinct sounds came from the cinema room and upon further inspection, she saw Zach slouched on the cushioned seats with a glass bottle of lemonade watching something on the big screen, clearly just out of bed.

When he noticed her in the doorway, he patted the seat to his right, "morning, Bry, come watch with me." Brynn didn't think he was talking to her for a second.

"Morning," she stepped into the room, slowly, and gave a wary smile, sitting next to him.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked smiling down at her and putting an arm around the back of the chair she was on. Brynn shuffled forward a tad to distance herself from where it laid, side-eyeing the limb. "Fine. How did you?"

"Not bad," he mumbled, his focus going back on the big screen. Zach appeared comfortable and calm meanwhile Brynn couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The movie playing didn't entirely make sense when she actually zoned in on it. It was mainly adults gathered around a large table talking, probably something serious judging by their facial expressions. The words they were saying sounded complicated, scientific.

She started wondering how anyone could sit and listen to people talk for so long just as Zach's arm went from the back of the chair, to lower down. It just grazed her back, but it made her arch away from it. Zach noticed the reaction, but according to Brynn, he also noticed her roll her shoulders after it, playing it off perfectly.

She couldn't play off the stunned look on her face when Silas and Ezra came into the room, though. They were dressed similarly to Zach, in bed clothes, and they actually sat down behind her. Like they wanted to be in her presence, or they just really liked the movie that was playing.

The silence was no longer comfortable or reassuring for Brynn. At all. She tried to wiggle out of Zach's hold. He just tightened it. "Just watch the movie, love," he whispered. She didn't like this.

Nevertheless, she continued to watch the movie, still not understanding most of the scenes. Even if she did, she wouldn't have been able to watch properly anyway. Not with all of this tight tension in air which she could only seem to feel.

Callan and Brayden entered and Brynn couldn't believe that that didn't make her feel any better. Callan and Brayden were nice. Why didn't them entering make her feel any better?

And why didn't Callan's smile towards her make her feel any better? Or when he sat down to her right? Or when Brayden gave her his own cordial smile and sat down to Zach's left? They were nice.

Zaiden wasn't so nice as them, so when he entered and sat next to Silas, Brynn was surprised and not. Surprised because he came in, but not because he sat next to Silas which was more of an expected thing. Away from her, which wasn't bad.

But Zayne coming in, now that was not an expected thing. Unlike the rest of them, he wasn't in bed wear, he was in a work suit. Sitting next to Callan, he spoke no words.

Brynn hadn't known her brothers for long, but it was fair for her to assume that this was something Zayne probably didn't usually do; sit in the cinema room and watch a movie. He had impeccable posture, even in his seat, and the suit didn't look so comfortable to sit in. It was like watching a lion in a penguins igloo. It just didn't fit.

Especially compared to the rest of her brothers. Some with shirts and some without, it was revealed that they all had a lot of tattoos. They all had full arm length ones and she noticed Ezra and Silas had full chest and neck ones. She wasn't sure if the rest had that many and she wasn't sure what the tattoos were actually of. Maybe somethings that were meaningful or maybe somethings that looked cool to them.

A bang from the movie playing had Brynn blinking, her thoughts stopping and attention drawn to the screen. One of the characters had slammed their fist down on the table.

Thoughts cut off, she could now recognise how suffocating the air felt. She needed to leave and she knew that. And the option of leaving came with a lot of considerations. The consideration that if she did choose to leave, she'd have to get up with the huge chance that all the attention would be drawn to her.

Or the consideration that her brothers just simply wanted to watch a movie together? Would she be robbing them of that if she left? But why would Ezra want to with her? Or Silas? Or even Zayne?

She was leaving and she was doing it now. She leaned forward.

"Brynn."

No-one needed to pull her back and stop her from getting up. Zayne's voice did that all on its own.

"Yes?"

"We need to talk." Dammit.

She gulped as stilly as she could. Right now?

"Do you mind if I look at them, sweetheart?" Brynn's head turned to Brayden's voice. The man was leaning forward in his seat to look at her.

"No, it's alright, thank you. They're fine," she responded, gradually moving back into the seat in hopes that she'd be sucked in.

Every single strand of hair on the back of her neck pricked up when the breath of a person behind her was noticeable. "It's not optional."

"Ezra," Callan warned, eyes still watching the movie. Brynn's breath was hitched and every muscle in her body was tense.

Zach's arm came around her again, his hand resting on the top of her shoulder. He wouldn't have noticed if she tensed at the action, it was physically impossible for her to tense further than she already was.

She felt the collar of her shirt lower. Her attention went to Zach's thumb which was lowering it, only revealing the top part of her shoulder, where a particularly nasty gash was, and giving Callan a full view of it.

She pulled it back up and furrowed her face at Callan, who looked at her facial expression and gave a soft, guilty smile.

Fixing the shirt, she mumbled, "it's nothing," pretending to go back to the movie.

No, she'd had enough of this. She wanted to go back to her room, anywhere in the mansion but here.

Even if she had all the attention going to her the second she stood up, she was leaving. She'd just have to do it fast.

Sitting up faster than Callan or Zach expected her to, she stood fully up and walked to the door.

Almost sensing that was what she'd do, Zayne already stood. His right arm was out to prevent her from getting past and that arm wrapped around her torso, the other placed underneath her thighs holding her in a sort of seating position which was good at restraining most movement.

She kicked and tried her best to wriggle herself out, but it was no use. Another set of hands grabbed her tentatively and laid her down on some pillows that had been placed on the floor. When did they get there?

"Brynn, calm down," Zayne said right by her ear, causing the girl to still. The closeness was a distraction. This whole thing was a distraction and she fell for it.

Once her struggling had ceased, she quickly found herself trapped on the floor, against the cushions. She did her best to start escaping again but the attempts were futile as Zach and Zaiden had her arms held and Brayden and Callan had her legs. Zayne was hovering by her side and Ezra was on her other side. Silas was next to Callan and all Brynn could think of was that time. Not nice, not nice, not-

"There's nothing wrong!" she insisted lying through her teeth.

"If there's nothing wrong then you won't mind just a check-up," Brayden said.

He was right. The more Brynn fought, the more they would know something was up. Too late now, isn't it?

Her back slumped back down in defeat, too tired to stay up and fight back any longer.

Zayne's hand crept to the hem of her shirt and she made eye contact with him and pleaded, "please don't."

"It's for your own good, Brynn," Callan reasoned. She just wanted to scream. They hardly knew her.

She scrunched her eyes closed and let out a shaky breath. Feeling the ghost of a hand on the shirt, she tensed.

Slightly peeking, she saw Zayne's hand tenderly lift her shirt, relatively fast and the top came up to just the middle of her ribs, not revealing that area.

Straight away, all the hands were removed and multiple gasps and sharp intakes of breaths took over any other sound in the room. She didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to see the look of pure disappointment or disgust on their faces.

No one spoke. Not one person. The only thing she could hear was the huffs and puffs of her own chest and her rapid heartbeat in her ears.

She got the idea that maybe they had left. That it wasn't worth it for them. She began to feel insecure about having her eyes closed whilst the other people in the room may or may not be staring at her, hence why she opted to slowly peep through her eyelids.

But what she saw made her want to staple them shut again.

No one had left from their previous position. Everyone except Zayne had their hands to their sides. Zayne's hand was hovering over the top he brought up and he was staring at the old marks in shock? Concern? Anger? She couldn't tell.

Their eyes though. Oh gosh, their eyes. What once were a hypnotic blue and brown had now darkened considerably and held the most satanic look. Brynn was petrified.

All their fists were clenched so hard, they looked like they would break and their jaws had tightened dangerously; their breathing was just as heavy as hers but more audible as they were letting out angered huffs out their noses.

Her gaze trailed down her body to the main spot they were looking at and she saw the old old marks and just the old marks. They covered nearly her entire torso and were so much worse than when she had last checked. Burns, bumpy scratches and more unsettling marks were littered anywhere and everywhere.

It was so uncomfortable being exposed to them like this, brothers or not. The discomfited atmosphere intensified with every second that went by and with her, now, free hands, she went to bring the shirt down but Zayne's hands grabbed her own and prevented her from doing so.

"What the fuck is that?" Ezra seethed maliciously.

"No no no, who the fuck did that to you?" Silas crouched and gripped her chin to face him and when she didn't respond, he shouted again this time at Zayne, "I told you-"

She opened her mouth to speak but had no words. Instead only a whimper escaped and then a loud whine.

"Ow!" she gave an agonised cry when Brayden tried to touch the spot on her shoulder. She hadn't realised that it was still this sore. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he grimaced. He then glanced up at Zayne almost helplessly, "most of them are healed over, but some are still sore. We can get the shoulders properly bandaged at medical."

"Oh my god," Zach mumbled above Brynn with tears in his eyes and his hand covering most of his face. Zayne nodded seriously and bent down and held her face in his two hands. "It's going to be okay," he muttered with no doubt in his eyes. She almost believed him too.

Still maintaining eye contact with me, he spoke out, "somebody get some painkillers and some ice."

When nobody responded to his order, he looked up, "Ezra, go."

"No, I'm not leaving-"

"Now."

Muttering a string of curse words, Ezra half-stomped, half-sprinted out to get the things Zayne requested.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Brayden's disappointed voice interrogated Brynn. How was she supposed to respond to that? She wanted to be a part of a family. A proper family. A new start.

Luckily, Ezra came back with the supplies before the time she was given to respond was over. The supplies were handed over to Brayden.

Said man pressed the ice pack covered in cloth on her shoulder and she couldn't hold it back any more. A pitiful cry escaped her, "s-stop it hurts! Please!" she whimpered pathetically and Brayden gave a pained look. "I'll fix you up in no time, sweetheart, I promise." The nickname did nothing, she kept trying to fight.

"You guys wait here, Brayden and I will take her," Callan announced. "I'm coming too," Zach fussed.

"Come on, love."

Callan tried to carry her to the car and Brayden tried to make her sit on his lap, but she was having none of it. Brayden pushing the ice on her shoulder hurt enough.

Every minute or so, Brynn looked towards the car's console to check the time. After twenty two minutes, the car pulled up to a huge warehouse.

There was security everywhere and Brynn sat up as much as she could with Brayden keeping her in place. She felt her lips tremble the tiniest amount, "where are we?"

"Just at one of our warehouses, sorellina," Callan answered, looking back from the driver's seat with an un-discerned look.

"What are we doing here?" she whispered, miserably, so tired. She had heard Brayden mention something about a medical back in the cinema room.

"So I can take a look at your injuries, bambina," Brayden replied sadly, his eyes darkening when he looked over the ice pack protected shoulder.

Brynn felt like sobbing all over again, "but there's nothing wrong with them, they're- they're- most of them are healed, why-" she started breathing heavily. Brayden looked terribly pained as he placed his free hand on the right side of her face and stroked her hair out of the way of her features. "Please don't," she begged.

"Come on, love," Zach picked her up, already out the car. She cried out again, trying to get down, but it was no use, her legs already being forced to wrap around his waist by him. He cradled her head into his neck and she laxed.

She just wanted to go home, with her mother. It's a place she'd always imagined being in when she felt this helpless with Milo.

"Sh sh, I know," he quietened and walked towards the giant doors at the entrance. She wasn't a goddamn baby, she wanted to be put down.

She was so tired though. There was no specific reason for her tiredness. She was just tired of everything. Therefore, she allowed herself to go completely limp in Zach's hold. There was no point anymore.

Two security guards opened the doors for them and bowed their heads towards her brothers. They looked momentarily stunned to see the girl, but gave soft smiles nonetheless. Zach shoved her head back into his neck before she could think of how she could respond.

The next thing she knew she was being settled down on a hospital looking type bed and curtains were closed around it.

"Okay, brynn, I'm gonna take your shirt off now okay? Just so I can see the damage," Brayden informed. Brynn shook her head "I'm not-"

"It's okay I'll just roll down the shoulder parts since everything else has been healed over, okay? The last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable as I do this."

Brynn closed her eyes tightly and nodded after a few moments. There was no point anymore.

Brayden did as he said he would and all the brothers' eyes darkened again and their fists clenched. "Let's get started, yeah?"

---

"Okay does that feel better, Bry?" Brayden sat her up and checked over the shoulder bandages he put on. He said that she only needed to keep the bandages on for three weeks.

"Yes, thank you," Brynn muttered, quietly, still really tired.

Callan was rubbing her back and Zach was kneading her knee. She shrugged them off and shuffled to the end on the bed casually.

"Brynn."

Zayne's voice surprised them all as he entered the room and plucked a chair from the corner and brought it next to the bed with ease. He sat inclined into his chair and arms rested on his spindly legs.

To make matters worse, Ezra, Silas and Zaiden were now also in the room loitering by the door.

"Would you like to tell us how you got these..." Zayne paused, almost as if restraining himself, "injuries?"

---

You look so pretty today by the way. Like wow.

Shout-out to anyone who has either added my story to one of their reading lists, voted, commented or even just read. You guys hold a special place in my heart.

<3