The Victim (Book #1)

Chapter 46

"Come on!" I said, grabbing her hand and shooting up the stairs. When we reached my door, the door down the hall opened and Damon walked out.

He gave me a head nod that didn't change his expression and kept walking. JJ froze in place as he walked by, but I pulled her into my room easily enough.

As I shut the door behind me, she turned to face me with an expression of pure shock. "Was that Damon Anders?" she asked.

"Yep." I said, laughing at her tone. It was as if the Queen of England had walked by.

"And you're Maya Anders!" she said, as awareness brightened her expression.

"That's what they tell me." I replied with an unsure smile. What was she getting at?

"OH MY GOD SO YOUR BROTHERS ARE THE ANDERS THAT EVERYBODY KNOWS? CALEB? BROOKLYN? ALL OF THEM?" she screamed.

I slapped my hand over her mouth and said, "They can hear you; you know!"

Her eyes widened and I pulled my hand away, before walking over to my bed and leaping onto it. She followed suit and we looked up at the white ceiling together.

"Yes, they live here too." I replied with a chuckle after she turned to look at me.

"Wow! I didn't know that!" she said. I wanted to tell her that I could tell from the way she screamed in my ear, but I kept that to myself.

"What's it like to live with a bunch of older brothers?" she asked, curiously.

I thought about it for a moment. Even if they weren't my real brothers, I did sort of know what living with them was like at this point.

"It can be fun, when they're in a good mood." I replied charitably.

"And when they're not?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"I want to punch them all in the face repeatedly." I said with a laugh that she echoed.

She told me that she only had younger siblings and showed me a picture on her phone. Although the two little twins looked like absolute angels, she assured me that they were closer to devils with the way they misbehaved and threw tantrums.

"They're young though," I suggested. "Maybe they'll grow out of it!"

"I hope so." She said, rolling her eyes at the memory of some of their antics presumably.

"What's the best part about having younger siblings?" I asked, mirroring her earlier question.

She closed her eyes as she considered that and then jumped up on her elbows to talk to me directly.

"I think I just love that I get to see all of their life. I knew them the day they were born, and I'll know them forever." She said softly. "I just want to make sure they're safe and do well."

I felt my heart melt while simultaneously my body stiffened. I didn't get that safety. I didn't have anyone there for everything besides him. My expression must have been interesting because she pulled me back to the present with a snap.

"Maya? I lost you for a second." She said with a little concern in her eyes.

I turned back to face her with a generic grin, although I was sure the smile wasn't as genuine as I wanted it to look.

"Sorry about that. I was just thinking about your answer. I love it."

The concern washed from her face and she opened her mouth to reply but a noise came from downstairs, silencing us.

"MAYA! Dinner!" a deep voice called up the stairs.

"Ready for some BBQ?" I asked, standing up and getting a slight head rush.

"Frick yeah." She said, smiling and racing me downstairs. When we got to the kitchen, I looked around in surprise. It was empty and I couldn't smell the dinner they claimed had been ready.

JJ looked at me and pretended to be stern.

"You lied to me about being related to the Anders boys, didn't you? You hired Damon to walk by to make you look cool, and you don't even have a fake dinner prepared?" she asked, shaking her head.

I looked at her with disdain and tried not to smile.

I heard the sliding glass door open and then Brooklyn walked into the kitchen, pulling ketchup and mustard from the fridge.

"What're you doing inside, loser?" he asked me. "Party's outside!"

"That makes more sense." I agreed. I turned to the suddenly shy JJ.

"JJ, this is Brooks. Brooks, JJ." I said, introducing them. Brooklyn held out his hand and they shook, before he led us out to the back. And I had to admit that he was right. The party was outside.