Isabella

Chapter 24

"Isabella", god even his voice sounded blank, "I think it's time you came inside, don't you?".

"Took the words right out of my mouth", I unbuckled my belt and cleared my throat, swatting Ezra when I saw the grin on his face, "shut it you- I'll see you Monday".

"Yeah you will", he chuckled, "Xander". My brother's gaze followed me as I climbed out of the car and approached him, he couldn't be that mad at me, right?

"Good day?", I asked perkily, he raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes; Ezra gave one last beep as he headed off down the street and disappeared.

"You're gonna be the death of us", he commented and I shrugged, "because I'm your favourite brother, I'm not gonna rat you out- I prefer to have dirt on my siblings".

"You little-", I jerked a finger at him but he caught it , dropping my arm back to my side.

"Uh uh", he wagged a finger at me like I was a baby, "the consequences of your own actions Bella, let this be a lesson".

"A lesson?", I repeated with my arms folded, this hadn't taught me shit.

"Someone's always watching", he smirked, "come on, you can make me a hot chocolate- or do I have to go to Zane and-".

"Shut up Xander", I groaned, stomping off ahead of him, not missing the laugh that came from behind me. Prick.

~~

He was actually gonna be the death of me.

It had been a whole six days and Xander was still giving me those knowing looks across any room we were in - I was surprised Zane hadn't caught on at this point and to be honest, I was tempted to come clean myself at this point.

Squashed in between Xav and Caleb on the sofa, I gave Xander the middle finger discreetly and he scowled; we'd all been summoned to the living room by Scott who was yet to show, so I was staring down my youngest older brother until he appeared.

"What if it's bad news?", Xav intertwined his fingers and clasped his hands together tightly, "I hate bad news".

"It won't be", Cay eyed him, his demeanour calm and collected. That was one of the first times I'd heard him speak today; he'd been quiet recently and I made a mental note to check up on him soon. Zane trailed into the room with Scott close behind, the pair of them in black suit trousers and white shirts with the sleeves rolled up.

"What is it then?", Xav asked instantly, "the suspense is killing me". To be honest with you, I had no idea what was about to come out of my brother's mouth, I hoped it was something good too.

"It's not that big of a deal, chill", Scott perched on the edge of the sofa near Cay and inhaled, "I haven't made your lives easy these past few months-".

"Are you moving out?", Xav asked and Scott's eyebrows furrowed, "it sounds like you're moving out".

"If you let him fucking finish-", Xander snapped.

"Alexander", came Zane's warning and I snorted which only earned me a death stare.

"Let the guy fucking speak", Caleb groaned and we all turned back to Scott quickly, he looked amused as he cleared his throat and scratched his head.

"It's unfair putting you all through my shit like this, I know all you wanna do is help me but that's not your job-", he continued.

"It's not your fault either though, we-", Xav tried - and emphasis on tried - to reassure our brother, he was shut down within seconds yet again.

"Just shut the fuck up and let him speak!", Xander cracked and Xav flinched, "just stop talking for one second of your life man!".

"Xander", Scott closed his eyes with a sigh as I cast my gaze to Xav who was just fiddling with the drawstrings of his joggers with shaky fingers, "not fair - anyway, I've decided to go back to therapy".