𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

38. 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖－𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙

May 9, 2023

Queen

It had been a few hours since I had spoken to or even seen Syn. He hadn't made any attempts to reach out- not that I wanted him to anyway. I was fuming. I couldn't imagine him opening up and sharing a fear with me and then turning around and doing just that.

After the things Sebastian did, I tried my hardest not to close myself off from the world. I pushed it so far to the back of my mind hoping that I would just forget it. That didn't work. Instead, I began to see any men that I didn't know personally as a potential threat.

...Syn knew that. He told me that he understood and that I didn't have to worry and yet, here we were.

He wanted to "talk", but I couldn't see a way for him to explain away the fact that he completely did a one-eighty on me after talking to my brothers once. It was stupid.

I didn't like feeling unsafe in a place I should've been comfortable.

Paris knocked on my open door and peeked his head inside. "Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"Syn just left."

"Oh."

"I was just letting you know...so you could stop hiding in your room."

"I'm not hiding," I muttered.

"Yeah, whatever," he said. "We're all downstairs trying to cook dinner but we can't figure out how to use the grill. If you don't come downstairs and help us we may burn the place down."

"What makes you think I know how to do it?"

"Because you're a woman."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"No. Cain always does it for us and you're his sister. I assumed he taught you. Was I wrong in that assumption?" He questioned, glancing around the room before looking at me.

"No, you weren't wrong..."

"Then come help. You can meet everyone too."

"I don't-"

"I don't care. We're hungry and you're the only one with the knowledge to feed us. If you don't come down, we'll come up," he said, "with the grill!"

I blew out a breath and looked down at Saint who was fast asleep. I wasn't really doing anything. And I didn't know Paris well enough to know if his threat was a bluff or not. Seeing as I'd be stuck with all of them because of Syn, I figured I'd at least need to be on a first-name basis.

I picked up Saint and carried him to his room before gently closing his door and heading down the stairs. I took slow steps, not in a rush to get there as my nerves ran wild. I rubbed my palms along the side of my dress and took a deep breath. I could hear their loud banter and husky laughs as I walked down and silently feared stopping all of their fun with my presence.

With that thought, I almost found myself turning around and going upstairs, but it was too late. I had already been spotted. "There's the woman of the hour!" Someone yelled in a thick accent.

I froze, grimacing to myself before finishing the rest of the steps. Besides Paris, I spotted four other men in the living room. The closest one to me was the one that called me. His sandy blonde hair flowed down to his shoulders and his eyes were a bright blue. He wore a leather jacket and black tee shirt accompanied by dark jeans. Not to mention, the man was larger than life. Literally. He was one of the taller ones and probably the most muscular. He had to be the muscle of most operations.