Not edited from this point forward.

Brynn's POV

"Don't be mean to the kid, Ezra," Jacob said. I wasn't really listening though, I was thinking about what tomorrow would be like. Would he drive me into the middle of the woods and bury me?

I was quickly put off my meal after only a few bites, being nauseous from eating and the thought of having to be with Ezra alone. I tugged Brayden's sleeve to get his attention and when he looked I gave him pleading eyes towards my meal and Jacob. I hoped he'd realise I was full and didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it in front of Mika and Jacob.

He caught on but didn't let me off as he whispered into my ear, "at least a quarter more, bambina." I nodded. At least he was compromising and not making a scene in front of others. He gave me a look to the nodding, "okay."

Smiling at me then continuing his own meal, Brayden began to chat with Callan about work. I sipped my water to try and post-pone eating more and, to my dismay, Zaiden caught on. "Drink your drink as much as you want, Brynn, you're eating your food."

My face flushed red at his comment and started to eat my peas. Thankfully, Mika broke our tension. "So, Brynn, I hear you kicked Zaiden's and Zach's behinds in Mario Kart." When did he hear that? How fast does word travel around here?

"Beginners luck," Zach and Zaiden scoffed at the same time. "No you guys are just sore losers," Callan chuckled. "Are not," Zach defended to which it was nearly everybody's turn to scoff. "Are too," Brayden said.

That's really how most of dinner went, Zach trying to defend his Mario Kart-ing skills whilst the rest of us rolled our eyes. Except me, of course. The last thing I needed was a scolding for rolling my eyes, I was already embarrassed everyone knew about Milo.

After being forced a few more bites, which made me a little sick, and having some painkillers, I went to bed. It was only seven pm, but spending most of my day with my brothers was like holding my breath, easily exhausting me. I didn't think I'd get used to them at all.

I brushed my teeth and re-changed into the pyjamas I wore the night before- they were still clean and I really didn't want to wear anything else. They were so comfy.

My plans to snuggle in bed were put to halt when I walked out to see Mika sitting on my bed staring at the book I intended to read.

"You have excellent taste, little love," he smiled shaking the book next to his head and putting it back in its original place on my side table. Mika's gaze got caught by my pyjamas and he inhaled rather deeply with what looked like almost tears in his eyes.

Did I do something wrong?

I bunched up the shirt in my hand and looked back at him, questioningly.

His eyes went back to normal and he stood up back to his towering height, "just thought I'd say goodnight to you, I haven't done it in so long," he said with a sad smile.

He cleared his throat and lifted up my bed, "m'lady," he bowed with a small smirk. I chuckled and scampered over to the awaiting blankets, getting in. Once I was under and covered, Mika handed me my book and turned my lamp on.

I thought that that was it, that he'd maybe say a goodnight and leave, but by now, I should have known to expect the unexpected. Mika cautiously raised his arms with a soft look before leaning in and bringing me to his chest. So many hugs lately, so little knowledge on how to hug someone properly.

This felt just like when Callan hugged me, almost motherly. Hugging back felt even better; his arms tightened and his head rested on top of my head. Feelings toppled over my already confused brain. Safety, security, home.

I tried so hard to stay awake, I'd learnt not to fall asleep with anyone around me. And I'd learnt that the hard way. Yet it was so hard to not fall asleep in one of the comforting arms of my brothers or even Mika.

Before I fell asleep, I felt something light on the top of my head and whispered words, "sleep well, little love."

And if I was more awake, I would have suppressed the small smile that spread across my face.

---

Waking up at four am was expected.

I read a little and pretended to be asleep when someone came in to see if I was up. That someone being Callan, Brayden and Zach.

They all came at separate times, Callan at five thirty to give me a kiss on the head and a small "have a great day, hun". Brayden came at six to do the exact same except with "see you later, bambina". The fact that they thought I was asleep made my heart skip.

They did it because they wanted to, not because people were watching.

Zayne could have easily told them to, though.

When the time came to seven thirty, Zach came in and I decided to pretend I'd just woken up, it seemed the appropriate time.

Zach was wearing casual, dark navy school trousers, an untucked white button up shirt, an untied school tie, a dark navy blazer with the school logo on the top pocket and plain black trainers; his dark hair was in a quiff with a few strands sticking out in front of his face.

He looked slightly taken back like he didn't expect me to be up at this time. Was this not normal? If I had gotten up at this time with Milo, he would have-

"Hey, love," he smiled making his way to me, "I didn't expect you to be up, no school remember? I'd have slept in till at least one," he chuckled ruffling my hair.

"That's cus you're lazy," I cheekily grinned and he gasped in fake shock. "How dare you, I'll have you know, sister mine, I have been awake since dawn," he prodded my sides making me laugh.

He continued his light prodding and poking whilst I tried to squirm away, "Zach!" I froze. Zach? Since when did that slip out in such a casual way? Was I even allowed to call him that? Would he be mad at me?

Zach only stopped and looked at me with a stunned expression, then, with a fleecy look, grinned showing off his pearly white teeth.

"I've got school now, sorellina, will you be okay with the vampire today?" he asked. Not making the mistake of nodding, I replied, "I hope so, I'll probably be in here all day."

He huffed and ruffled my hair even more, it was going to take forever to brush it now! "My little book worm, eh?" I glared at him.

"Cute," he commented.

"I'll be back later, alright? And you better let me know if he does something, I'll sort him for you," he sneakily winked with a cocky smirk. I smiled as he stood up. He looked down and looked like he wanted to do something else. He made hesitant movements towards me, moving his chin down slightly but stopped them abruptly when I backed up.

"Have a good day, Bry love, and make sure you eat," he said sternly but with a smile and who could resist that kind smile?

"You too, Zach," the nickname seemed to brighten his smile even more. He then blew me a kiss and left.

Making my way to my bathroom, I rinsed any leftover sleep off my face and grimaced when my ribs started to hurt. By now, Zaiden, Zach and Silas would have left for school and Zayne, Brayden and Callan left for work long ago. It was only me and Ezra in the house and I really wanted some water.

Gulp.

Okay. All I had to do was walk around unnoticed, get some water and then spend the rest of my day in my room until bedtime. Should be easy, right? He probably forgot I was here. This was going to be simple.

Creak.

Dammit! Why is everything loud when I'm trying to be quiet? I swear yesterday my floor did not make that noise.

Once I made it out and down the hallway, I started to remember where the stairs was situated.

Upstairs cinema room... Zayne's office... bathroom... Ezra in the gym...

Shit.

The double doors to the gym were wide open and I could see Ezra inside. He was wearing black knee length shorts, white trainers and no shirt, once again showing off his muscles and many scary tattoos.

I was utterly transfixed with his workout. How was he lifting so many weights? And with such ease? We had to lift small weights in P.E once and I almost dropped it on my foot. Sometimes I feel like I truly underestimate my brothers' strengths.

Now was the difficult part; having to sneak past. He seemed too into the workout to even notice the door was open. Taking little steps, I was halfway past.

Just to make sure he still hadn't seen me, I took a quick glance to see he had now stopped his workout and was now sat on the bench with a towel wrapped around his neck, water bottle in hand whilst staring directly at me.

He took a look at my state. On my tiptoes, arms up by my sides to keep balance and a guilty/scared look on my face.

He rose his eyebrow and ran his tongue along his bottom teeth.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"My room?" I couldn't get in trouble for this, it was an area of the house I was allowed in.

"Breakfast," he shook his head. I honestly believed he wouldn't care.

Zayne probably made him do it which is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I didn't want them to be told they had to look after me for multiple reasons. One: I could do it myself, I had being do so for four years. Two: it completely disrupts them and they had their own lives to live. It really made me feel more like I didn't belong here.

I'll just let him know that he doesn't need to and I'll be out of his hair.

"N-no, it's fine, I'm really not hungry and I just want to stay in-" my nervous ramble ceased when something lifted me off my feet. Because I was so in-depth with my excuses, I'd failed to see Ezra making his way over.

He tucked me under his arm like I weighed nothing and didn't falter not once despite my squirming and protests.

"You're eating."

"Put me down! I can walk!" I pleaded.

Eventually, I was placed- surprisingly carefully- on one of the kitchen island's barstools. Ezra took his place on the opposite side leaning his upper half on the glossy white marble, surveying me as though I was a piece of artwork at a gallery.

At least he wasn't making me maintain eye contact. Mum always did say to look on the bright side of things.

He stared at me with mighty eyes, observing me. What else was I supposed to do other than shy away and twiddle my thumbs around?

"What do you want?"

To be in my room.

"And do not say you're not hungry, you're eating."

I'm not hungry.

Part of me is weirdly glad with his attitude. He's not treating me any differently, granted he still hates me but it's better than him treading around me like I could shatter at any point. The other part of me was annoyed that he couldn't see how difficult this was for me.

"I really don't want anything," I mumbled sheepishly, petrified for what his reaction might be. What if he hits me?

"Brynn, I don't think you heard me correctly. You're. Eating," he stated with finality.

I just ducked my head even further with a defeated sigh.

A couple seconds passed and Ezra sighed catching my attention. I looked up and he had his back turned to me walking towards what looked to be a pantry. Walking in he muttered, "we'll start off small."

"Toast. Small and simple," he didn't let me respond, he just popped the toast down and faced me with his hands on the counter top.

I avoided eye contact at all costs, he seemed adamant about having it. I wished he knew how hard this was for me.

Pop!

I didn't even realise he was staring at me for so long.

He grabbed the two pieces in one hand and laid them on the cutting board to butter.

Once the two slices were buttered, he froze with the knife hovering them as if he were debating something. Was he debating stabbing me?

Approximately six seconds of hovering later and he swiftly cut the two pieces into four equal triangles. Just like mum used to.

He slid the plate over to me with the order, "eat," then went to get a glass of water, a paracetamol and slid them over to me as well.

I took the paracetamol straight away, hoping to postpone the toast thing, but Ezra never stopped looking at me. Inwardly sighing, I took the smallest piece my eyes could find.

Unable to take large bites, I nibbled my way through two triangles whilst Ezra made himself a coffee and scrolled through his phone. If he's distracted maybe I could just slide the plate-

"Don't even think about it," he warned not looking up from his phone. I was feeling bold so I replied, "I've had enough, I don't want any more."

"I didn't ask, finish the whole piece and then you can go," he commanded raising his vision to look at me with a daring expression.

Begrudgingly, I returned back to the toast, glaring at the piece I was about to eat.

When Ezra finally allowed me to leave (after eating the whole piece and consuming all my water), I washed up my dishes and headed to my room without being stopped by Ezra.

As I was walking there, I realised something and smiled to myself.

I just ate an entire piece of toast.

And if I smiled to myself the rest of the way, nobody needed to know.

---

I spent most of the morning in the library in the little cosy corner after deciding I wanted a change in scenery. The only time I was disturbed was when I heard the front door slam. I jumped knocking my already messed up phone on the floor. Dammit.

Looking at the giant grandfather clock I saw that it was only 11:56 am. It couldn't have been Zaiden, Silas or Zach, they were at school and as far as I know, my working brothers never come home this early. Part of me sort of hopes that it's Zach so we could play Minecraft together or even watch a movie.

I'm far too anxious to be brave enough to see who it is, therefore, I decided to just stay where I was.

Not much later, Silas popped his head round the corner of the bookshelf. I thought he was in school.

"Get dressed, we're going to Ezra's boxing studio," he stated with zero room for argument. Flabbergasted by the sudden order, I did my best to form words but it came out more like, "I- you- wait- what-" which is not what I wanted it to come out like.

He sighed annoyed, looking at the grandfather clock then back at me.

"You, get dressed. We, wait by the door. All of us, go to Ezra's work. Understand?" he asked me condescendingly whilst making over-exaggerated hand gestures.

That was just degrading. If I'm giving him respect, why isn't he giving me any? I did not appreciate being spoken to like I'm two.

"I'm not a baby, you don't have to speak to me like I'm stupid," I mumbled, tapping the side of my phone to try and get it to turn on. It did, thankfully, but the screen was highly battered and glitchy.

When I went to leave I almost head butted into Silas, well, my head butting into his stomach. He glared down at me with a gaze harder than a diamond and I had to strain my neck to look at him properly. His glare was tearing me down inside but I wasn't going to let him know that.

Our staring competition ended when Silas smirked, "cute how you try to be intimidating." I believe the right words you're looking for are nerve-wracking and frightening.

Wiping the snarky look from his face, he became serious Silas again. "Get ready, we're leaving in ten."

The relief I felt when he left was phenomenal, I half expected him to give me a lecture about my "attitude".

I raced to my room as quick as possible, keeping in mind I only had ten minutes to get ready and I knew for a fact my brothers would make me go in my pyjamas if I was too slow.

I wanted to try something different to what I usually wore because my brothers bought me so many different types of styles. I dressed into some moderately baggy jeans and I cuffed the bottom of them twice, then pulled on a plain black sweater, tucking the bottom of it into my jeans and some plain white shoes. I looked into the full body length mirror on the back of my wardrobe door and cocked my head to the side, reviewing my outfit choice.

Not too shabby.

I brushed my teeth and my hair, grabbed my battered phone from the side of the sink and made my way to the front door.

Silas and Ezra were both on their phones leaning against the walls not paying attention to any of their surroundings until I stood in front of them. They pocketed their phones and looked me up and down, presumably assessing my outfit choice. Did they hate it? It never fails to amaze me how much I look for my brothers' approval.

I got nervous under their gazes and pulled my sleeves over my hands, squeezing the fabric as tightly as possible. Rather than say anything, they just smirked as Silas twirled his car keys around his fingers and gestured for me to follow them to the garage where they did the cool hand scan thingy and guided me towards a sleek black sports car. I got in the back leaning on the lavish seats and the other two sat in the front.

For the majority of the ride, they just made meaningless conversation over the radio as I pretended to be on my phone when in reality, I was just going from my settings apps to my notes app. I wanted to look like I was busying myself so I didn't look lonely or awkward.

At last, we arrived at the boxing studio. If I'm being honest, it looked really cool and that was just from seeing the outside. It was a large building in both height and width with large, red letters on the front spelling out, "Elite Boxing Studio".

Ezra let me out and gave me a stern look. "You stay by us. No wondering or talking to anyone else."

I nodded submissively and answered, "okay."

Did they want me to call them sir? We're in public, maybe they expect that kind of respect.

I flinched when someone grabbed my shoulder, only to turn around and see it was Silas. "Brynn you-"

"Hurry up. I have business," Ezra interrupted whatever Silas wanted to say and entered the building. I didn't think this was possible but the inside looked even better than the outside.

In the middle of the room, there was a huge black and red boxing ring, around the sides were an endless amount of punching bags and workout machines. The walls were painted black with some motivational quotes written in white and we were walking on black padded flooring. Toilets could be found at the back of the studio and a huge glass office was at the side. On the black office door, the words "Mr. E Verlice" was inscribed.

We walked straight towards Ezra's office but I fell behind when I tried to watch the boxers in the ring. They were ripping each other apart, punch after punch, kick after kick. I could feel my breathing pick up.

Out of nowhere, Silas appeared and pulled me behind him, effectively blocking my view and steered me the right way.

We entered Ezra's fancy office and Silas put me down on the black leather couch.

"Stay here and do not move from this couch or disrupt us," he ordered and I wasn't about to complain. All I had to do was sit here and not talk. Finally something I'm good at.

As long as I remain here and play on my phone, I'll be just fine.

---

As fine as you can be when you're figuratively dying for the toilet.

I kept squirming in my spot trying to hold it in. Ezra was on what looked to be a very important call and Silas was doing some paperwork. Hold it.

My phone died which meant my main source of entertainment had vanished; the sounds of fighting made me feel even more distressed. I don't do well in loud, social environments.

"Brynn, we're going to take a look at something. Do not, under any circumstances, leave this office or talk to anyone else. This door stays closed until we come back," Ezra's authoritative tone instructed. If they left, I'd have a few moments to calm myself.

"Okay," I nodded. Ezra raised an eyebrow, "okay to what, Brynn?" I gulped and responded glumly, "okay to staying here and not leaving under any circumstances."

"Good girl," he said and left with Silas.

I slumped into the snug couch, barely managing it without gritting my teeth. I needed to ask for some painkillers. I'll just have to wait until I see Callan or Brayden.

Fifteen minutes later and they weren't back yet. Where were they? I was basically dancing trying to hold my bladder.

Twenty minutes and I couldn't hold it any longer. I had to leave otherwise I'd pee myself. My brothers would surely understand, of course.

I briskly flung the door open and made a speedy course to the toilets. I was desperate but not so desperate to run, so many embarrassing outcomes could come from running and I did not need that right now.

Now with a relieved bladder, I rinsed my hands with some fancy soap and exited. Hopefully I made it just in time so I wouldn't be caught.

"I told her to stay! I don't fucking know where she went to!"

"I'm phoning Z."

"No! He will slit our throats! Let's just do a double check and make sure she didn't leave."

"Silas-!"

I'm so dead.

Sucking in what probably is my last breath, I entered timidly with my head down. The conversation died down instantly. "Brynn, oh my god!"

Silas bolted over and crouched down, lifting my arms and cupping my face with an expression of utter concern. When he finished checking me over, he let out a huge sigh of relief and stood up with his face in his hands.

"Brynn Marie Verlice, what did I say about staying in this office?!" Ezra bellowed clearly not caring about anyone else in the studio hearing us. I flinched at the volume and retracted into myself.

"You are in so much trouble! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!" he continued.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just-"

"No you don't get to speak right now!" Silas yelled equally as enraged.

I didn't mean to make them so worried.

"We were so close to calling Zayne! He would have had the whole fucking world looking for you! Why would you be so irresponsible?!" Ezra waited for my response but I couldn't form any words. Not without stuttering or crying. I really didn't mean for them to get so mad.

Ezra shook his head when I couldn't reply. "We're going home."

I shrank. What would happen at home?

---

(9000 reads??? You guys spoil me. Thank you so much. I love you all.)

<3