Family Matters

Chapter Four

"Valid answer. Mine is the Karate Kid. You can't go wrong with that can you?" He said with a wolfish grin and I nodded in agreement.

With me and Ares' discovery of our mutual liking for martial arts films, we decided to choose one. I couldn't read the title since it was in Chinese but Ares insisted that it was a good movie.

Kade had decided he didn't want to watch since he doesn't like violence and retreated to his room while Roman stayed but he wasn't very attentive to the movie. In fact, every now and then I could see him dozing off.

After we finished the first movie, Ares decided that it was still a little early and that we could watch another one. During the second movie, Roman had woken up and when he saw us still watching he shook his head before going up to bed. Even after the second movie, Ares could still continue to watch whereas I could not.

Yawns continued to escape me and it wasn't until I had actually dozed off had Ares realized that I was tired and that it was way past 10.

"Oh shit. I'm sorry kiddo, I didn't realize it was this late. Let's get you to bed, huh?" He said and I nodded and allowed Ares to guide me up to my room.

When we were almost to my room, Lance had come out of his own room and his eyes widened when he saw me and Ares. Ares froze and even though he stood in front of me to shield me from Lance's view, it was too late.

"Hey big bro, what are you doing up this late? Haha..." Ares let out a nervous chuckle and I peaked my head out from behind Ares just in time to see Lance's eyes narrowing.

"I should be asking you that. Why is Ceres up at 12 am?" He asked with a chilling smile.

"Shit..." Ares muttered. I looked between the two not understanding what the big deal was. I used to stay up later than this when I lived with Mama. What was so bad about it?

"Ceres, I'll tuck you in. You, stay right here and don't even think about going to your room" Lance said with a pointed glare and Ares just sighed before moving to the side.

Once Lance had tucked me in, he placed a kiss on my forehead before saying goodnight to me and closing the door behind him.

"I hope he doesn't get too bad of a scolding" I whispered to my turtle who just stared back at me with her lifeless black eyes. I hugged her to my chest before closing my eyes and let sleep quickly take me.

When I had woken up the next morning, I looked to the clock on my nightstand only to see that it was a little after nine.

I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of them since the clock was a little blurry and I was lucky enough to make out the numbers.

The cold floor touched my feet and I shivered at the feeling. Hearing my stomach growl, I decided that I would shower after breakfast so I made my way downstairs.

I turned the corner only expecting to see my six brothers, so when my eyes locked with an unfamiliar man I had stopped in my tracks.

Was this...?

The man truly didn't look as old as he probably should have, and this was a thought I would definitely keep to myself. There were slight wrinkles at the inner corners of his eyes but other than that he looked as healthy as could be. His brown hair was gelled neatly into a slick back style and he had green eyes that shone brightly as he stood up.