trigger warning: mild violence, mentions of sa & eating disorder
L E O
7:45AM, Saturday March 18th-
My eyes flutter open, booming, frantic voices disrupting the first peaceful sleep I've had in weeks. I groan groggily, burying my face in Zac's pillow, hoping the soft cotton would some how drain out the world around me and magically lull me back to the abyss I've not long left.
"Where the fuck is he!" Someone screams. Too tired to fully decipher their words, I choose to ignore them instead.
I groan louder as Zac jolts awake. For the love of God, couldn't I have just ten more fucking minutes? Pulling myself from the pillow, I sit up and rest my back against the velvet headboard, balling my hands into firsts as I rub the sleep from my eyes.
When my vision starts to awaken, I turn my eyes to Zac. He's frowning, head tilted to the left as he tries to pick up the conversation from the hallway. "I think somethings wrong." He mumbles, tiredly.
I glance at him, nose scrunching. "No shit."
He rolls his eyes, burying himself deeper under the blankets. "It's Saturday," he sighs, throwing his arm over his eyes. "I shouldn't have to deal with anything this early on a Saturday."
"I feel you," I tilt my head back, closing my eyes as my neck rests comfortably against the velvet fabric. "But if you don't deal with it, then I'm gonna have to listen to it."
"You deal with it then," he suggests, lips barely moving with each jumbled word. I glance at him as more shouts come from the hall. Zac peeks one eye at me from under his arm. "I feel like it's you that they're looking for."
"Beth's going to kill me!"
"It's like seven in the morning. If she doesn't kill you, I fucking will."
We both lock eyes hearing Ace's enraged voice. "I think you're right," I tell him. "They're definitely looking for me." I finish, my eyes falling shut again.
"Leoooo," Zac whines, literally whines. "Please, I'm so tired. I don't want to deal with Ace."
"What makes you think I do?" I mutter out, eyes remaining shut.
I'm too busy grieving the fact that if they hadn't woken me up, I could've slept till the late afternoon, easily. As much as I feel more rested than I have for weeks — maybe even months, dealing with my siblings so early would annoy me to the point of exhaustion.
A point of exhaustion that I don't even think a coma could fix.
Zac's door opens with a slam before either of us can even open our eyes. I feel Zac shift on the bed, snapping into a sitting position; as if he hadn't been trying to drown out their voices with a pillow merely seconds ago.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I hear Ace huff, his voice burning with rage. As usual.
"Knock knock." I respond, voice light. My head feels like it's floating between awareness and unconsciousness, my eyes slowly taking me deeper into the drool worthy sleep I'd not long left. Bliss, pure bliss.
"Knock knock? I'll knock knock your fucking teeth out," Ace threatens, interrupting my sleep once again.
I roll my eyes, which are surprisingly still closed. A new talent I never knew I had. I open one eye, narrowing it to the best my sleepy abilities can. "Uh huh, sure you will."
"Quit the shit, Leo." He shoves my shoulder, making both my eyes snap open. I glare at him, not even needing to try this time as my own anger ignites. "You've been in here this whole time?"
"It's too early for this." I hear Zac mumble.
"No, I've been at Target." I give him a look, one that says: are you fucking stupid. "Where the fuck else would I be?"
"It's not funny!" Ace throws his arms up. I never said it was funny... "We've been looking for you for almost an hour."
"Clearly you didn't look very hard." The words tumble out before I had time to think over them.
Ace looks ready to kill me. His jaw clenches, eyes narrowing into slits. He takes a step forward, fingers on his able hand curling into a tight fist.
"Okay, okay," Zac breaths deeply, as if he's lost all will to live. He pushes himself off the bed, grabbing Ace by the forearm. "Leo's here, he's safe. Go away."
"Leo's here! Where?" I hear another yell and multiple footsteps.
Seconds later, Charlie and the rest of my siblings come tumbling into the room like a storm of fucking elephants.
"Leo!" Charlie exhales a relieved breath, wiping the non-existent sweat from his forehead. He stares at me, gold eyes brighter than the sun as he smiles. "You're okay! Oh thank God." He keeps staring at me for five more seconds, before his gaze turns to Ace, all brightness now gone. "Why didn't you say he was in here?" He smacks a gobsmacked Ace on the shoulder.
"Yeah, Ace." Carter grins at the anger in our brothers eyes. "Why didn't you tell us," he sighs, dramatically. "This could all have been solved soooo much quicker if you'd had just been a team player."
"I'll fucking kill you."
"Language."
Ace's stormy blue eyes narrow on Grey. "I'll fucking kill you, too." He enunciates his curse.
Grey doesn't look impressed in the slightest. He purses his lips at Ace, tattooed arms crossing over his even further tattooed chest. "I'll fucking ground you, how's that?"
"I didn't even do anything!" Ace kisses his teeth, his foot tapping against the carpet as if he's seconds away from stopping his heel into it. "This is so unfair."
"Ah, life's unfair baby broski." Carter's grin is cocky now. He leans over and ruffles Ace's hair, eyes lit with mischief as Ace moves to punch him. He catches his wrist in his palm easily. "Nuhu, bambino, no hitting. Hitting is very bad, Acey. You don't want grounded now, do you?"
"Fuck you."
Carter gasps. "Greyson! Ace swore at me."
"Ace, what did I just say?"
"Fuck this, I'm out." Ace leaves, Grey quickly following him. Their argument clear to all of our ears as their voices drift further and further away.
"I'll go make sure they don't kill each other." Charlie offers.
"Jesus, it's too early for this." Callan grumbles, words strikingly similar to Zac's mere minutes ago. He looks at me, tired eyes relieved. "Glad you're okay, Le. I'm gonna grab a shower, I'll see you downstairs."
"Yeah, same." Kaden salutes me, before he basically sleepwalks out of the room behind Cal.
"I thought you were gonna sleep in Jack's room?" Alex asks, looking the most awake out of everyone.
"I kidnapped him." Zac, thankfully, cuts in. "Now, could you all leave? I need at least another hour of sleep." He face plants onto the bed, stuffing his face into his pillow.
"You can't go back to sleep," Killian bravely tells him. Zac lifts his head ever so slightly, eyebrow raising as if to say why? "We have a whole family day planned."
Zac mumbles inaudible words under his breath. "We as in who?"
"All of us." Lily beams, her smile dimming as her eyes meet mine.
I quickly look away.
"Lily, Kaden and I." Killian clarifies.
"And I?" Carter snorts, bumping his shoulder against Killian's. "Stop talking like a weirdo. Just say me, Lily and Kaden."
"Car, stop being a bully." Alex scolds. "Leave him alone."
"Are you really trying to give me advice on how to speak?" Killian raises an eyebrow at Carter. I watch in amusement as Carter's eyes whip to his, clearly dumbfounded at the fact Killian is actually speaking up for himself. "You say words like broski and dude. You can't lecture me when you talk like a dumb Cali surfer."
Jack nods in agreement, smiling as he gives Carter a sympathetic pat on the back. "He's got a point, broski."
"What is this? Pick on Carter day?" Carter huffs, puffing out his chest. Why? I have no idea. "Carter doesn't like this. Carter is going to shower."
Lily blinks. "Did you just refer to yourself in third person?" She tilts her head at our brother, eyes examining him as if he's some mythical creature. Well...
"Third?" Carter looks unsurprisingly confused, "No, I said my name twice and there's only one Carter so it's one person." He says it slowly, as if his words are correct and our sister is the dumb one for ever suggesting anything else.
"I can't listen to him." Killian sounds sad. Sad that he shares any form DNA relatively close to Carter. "See you downstairs, Leo." He quickly leaves before I can say anything in return.
"What did I do?" Carter looks even more confused.
Jack's sympathetic smile returns. "It's not what you do, it's who you are."
"I'm Carter."
"I'm leaving." Alex turns on his heel, shaking his head in disbelief as he passes Carter and leaves the room. Jack and Lily quick to follow after him, seemingly eager to get away from Car.
Carter's mouth falls agape. "I don't understand."
"When do you ever." Zac responds. I snort. "Get out of my room, Car. We'll meet you downstairs."
"But I don't—"
"— bye." Zac shoves him out of the room, quickly locking the door before returning to the bed. "Wake me up in like twenty minutes."
I close my eyes, snuggling under the covers. "Mhm, same." I hum softly.
—
I manage to get another hour of sleep before Killian struts into the room like an Italian grandmother, proceeding to whack both Zac and I with a kitchen towel, forcing us out of bed with our hands up in surrender.
"Grey has made breakfast," he tells us, eyes narrowed, a low tut lacing his tone. "Hurry up before it gets cold. I told you not to go back to sleep."
We comply with his demands, following him downstairs with our tails between our legs as he leads us to the dinning room.
"About time," Kaden grumbles. "I'm starving."
"You already ate three slices of French toast, Kade. You're hardly starving." Grey says with an eye roll.
"I'm a growing boy, fratello. I'm always starving."
"I remember what it's like to be starving." Jack's voice is distant, but surprisingly un-sad. He blinks back to reality as all of our eyes widen on him. "Sorry, wrong time?"
"Attention seeker." Ace mumbles under his breath, quickly filling his mouth with a whole slice of french toast.
"Says the one who punches a wall anytime he feels threatened."
"I'll punch your face."
"Do it," Jack opens his arms up, egging him on. "I dare you."
Alex's feet come to mind, i grimace. "Don't you think you should take a break from dares?" I ask him, smirking a little as his face flushes.
Oops?
"Shut up," Jack snaps at me, eyes wide, cheeks as red as apples.
Ace laugh rings around the room as he smirks at our blonde brother. "Yeah, Jack. I bet you'd hate to suck a certain something again." He taunts.
"Oh I sense a secret." Carter sings. He looks between the three of us, eyes lingering longer on me rather than the other two. "Spill."
I snort. "No."
Taking the spare seat between Alex and Callan, I accept the stacked plate of food from Grey's outstretched hand. "Enjoy, bambino." He tells me, lips lifting into a warming smile.
Carter grabs the plate before I can even seat it on the place mat. "Spill or I'll eat your food."
"No," Charlie grabs the plate from him. "You won't. Leo has to eat." He keeps his tone light, but the sternness in his gaze is enough to make Carter's teasing smile fall.
"Oh, oh." Carter finally picks up the meaning in Charlie's words. "Sorry, Le. I forgot about that."
"About what?" I tilt my head at him, confused by the sympathy surrounding his words. Sure, I have set meals but only because it's one of the home rules, not because I have a problem. As much as Charlie likes to pretend I have some sort of eating disorder, it's really not the case.
"You know..."
"Clearly not or I wouldn't have asked."
"Your eating problems... I didn't mean to take your food. You can eat." Carter says gently, eyes holding the wince his mouth hasn't released.
"I don't have eating problems." I scoff, shaking my head at his silliness. To prove my point further, I stuff a forkful of the food into my mouth, ignoring the sickly feeling it provides.
I didn't eat much dinner, that's all.
Whatever Carter sees on my face isn't enough to convince him. Same goes for everyone else at the table as they observe me, their eyes confused as they glance between Charlie and I.
"I thought he had an eating disorder?" Kaden clearly doesn't know how to read the room. He stares at Charlie, who in turn is staring at me.
"Kaden!" Zac scolds.
"He's right here and he doesn't." I raise an eyebrow at Charlie. "Right, Char?"
He purses his lips but doesn't comment. And my stomach drops further, the sickly feeling only intensifying at his silence.
"So, Le," Callan cuts in, quick to change the mood dampening subject. "What do you want to do today? We could use the pool room and go for a swim? Or the game room? Or we could watch movies?"
"Anything," I shrug, forcing more food down my throat. "I don't mind."
"We have a whole day planned!" Lily beams at Cal, who turns upon hearing her voice.
I mentally thank Lily for taking the attention away and tilt my head down to stare at the full plate in front of me, my stomach churning to the point of nausea when I realise how full I am after half a slice of bread. Eat it, you're fine. You can do this, prove them wrong.
Where's Rowan when I need him? Where's his reassuring words, his pointless conversation to distract me from actually focusing on the food.
"You don't need to eat anymore." Alex whispers to me, continuing further when my hollow eyes drift up to his. "Don't hurt yourself to prove a point."
"I can do it." I swallow thickly.
I want to do this.
"Or I can distract them so you don't have to." He offers, surprising me. "Little and often is the key right now, Le. Don't force something that will only push you back. You don't owe us anything, this about you, not us."
Alex says nothing more as he turns his head away from me. To anyone else it would seem like he cut the conversation off when it seemed like he would get no response, but I know Alex better than most. I can see how his gaze shifts to me from the corner of his eye, how he's waiting patiently — giving me the time I need to think over his words.
Fifteen seconds pass before I cave.
"Distract them please." I choke out, voice hoarse.
He briefly meets my eye as he nods. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he wipes his mouth with the napkin, placing it on top of his empty plate, before clasping his hands together as he turns to our family.
He clears his throat.
"I got accepted into Harvard." He says when all eyes fall to him. Seeing that he has everyone's attention, mine included, he continues. "And Yale, Brown, Berkeley, Duke, Princeton, Columbia."
"Holy shit." I don't think I've ever heard Killian swear so effortlessly.
"I'm so proud of you." It doesn't take long for Zac to pull Alex into a hug, followed by Grey, then Callan whilst the rest of us sit frozen in shock.
"You what?" The anger in Ace's voice breaks the happy mood between our older brothers.
"I told you I applied," Alex tells him simply, looking at him with cautious eyes, as if he can sense that Ace is one wrong word away from snapping.
"Not that you got accepted," Ace snaps. "You always tell me everything, how could you not tell me this?"
"I just did." Alex moves towards him, placing a hand on our brothers locked fist. "Calm down, nothing will happen anytime soon. I've still got a good few months left of senior year."
"You're going to Columbia... right?" Ace whispers. "You're not going to leave, right?"
I think we all hold our breath as Alex's lips purse. He takes a moment, as if to convey something to Ace silently.
"You're going to leave?" Jack speaks up now, his voice just as hurt as Ace's.
Alex blows out a breath, ignoring the both of them as he sits back down. He leans close to my ear, voice teasing. "That didn't work out in the way I'd hoped it would."
I snort quietly. "You think?"
"A distraction all the same," he shrugs, rolling his eyes as all our siblings' focus remain on us. "I have nothing more to say," he addresses them. "Now," he clasps his hands again and turns to Lily. "What's first on this agenda you guys have planned for today?"
"We get Leo first!" Kaden buts in, gesturing between himself and his twin.
"I'm not a doll, Kade." I draw their attention as Alex moves to clear his plate and mine from the table.
"Yeah, I know." He rolls his eyes as Killian closes his own. "But still, we called dibs so you're ours for the first hour." I don't get a chance to blink as Kade approaches me, pulling me from my chair as if I weigh less than a feather.
"Be careful, Kaden." Callan reprimands, thankfully pulling me out of Kaden's monster hold. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" He asks me, rubbing his palm over my forearm.
"Cal, I'm not a porcelain doll." I whip my arm away from him, watching as Callan's whole demeanour changes from worry to shame. "I won't shatter with one touch."
They have this way of making me feel breakable, resurfacing the old doubtful feelings I thought I'd began to bury months ago. Whilst their worry is understandable and appreciated, I don't want to feel like I'm damaged — broken beyond repair, that just one wrong move would shatter every existing piece of who I am.
"I know that, Le." Callan says, smiling softly.
"C'mon," Kaden groans impatiently, now taking the time to pull Killian from his chair. "Let's go to the game room."
Seeing my less than enthused face, Jack grins."Have fun, Le."
I flip him off as Kade drags us from the room.
—
Kaden talks my ears off the whole walk down to the basement, where the game room is located. He fills me in on school and how boring it's been, tells me about his friends, his latest basketball tournament, even his online soccer game that I have no clue about.
It's nice to listen to him speak so freely around me, like Carter, he's a lot less cautious than everyone else. It makes me feel a teensy bit more normal than I have in a while.
"I ordered you some books," Killian cuts in, voice soft as always. He looks at me with a shy smile, as if unsure if I'd appreciate the gesture. "There's a new fantasy series I thought you'd like."
I love fantasy books, it's a nice change from the reality that is life.
"Thanks, Killy," I return his smile, making his own widen to full teeth. "I'm excited to read them. Oliver keeps stealing my books to piss me off." I say without thinking.
"Oliver?" Kaden's tone is curious, his eyebrows are furrowed, nose scrunching in distaste. "Why's he stealing your stuff?" His blue eyes narrow. "Will I beat him up?"
Killian snorts at the exact same moment I do, like me, he knows just how over confident Kaden can be. He's like a mini Carter in that sense; eager to get his hands dirty at the first sign of a bully, especially if that bully is picking on one of his siblings. The key difference between the two, though, is Carter actually knows how to fight. Kaden, on the other hand, doesn't.
"It's okay, Kade," I reassure him, patting his shoulder. He turns to me, eyes still narrowed in suspicion. "Oliver is my friend. I let him borrow the books. He just hides them to annoy me or takes the book marker away from the page I'm reading, so I lose where I am."
Kaden's eyes squint, clearly not understanding the big deal. Not that I'm surprised. Killian gets it, as I suspected he would. The way his mouth falls agape in a silent gasp only further confirms my suspicion.
"I think I'd cry." He rubs his sternum, as if the thought actually hurts his heart.
"You're so sensitive," Kaden rolls his eyes, knowing Killian well enough to then remind him of his own traits. "You literally memorise the page number before you go to sleep."
"Yeah, that's true..." Killian nods slowly, still looking a little devastated on my behalf. "But if someone took my bookmark and then hid my book, I would definitely cry."
"Sometimes I wonder how I shared a stomach with you." Kaden says, making both Killian and I stare at him. He only shrugs under our gazes, directing his attention to his twin as he states."You need to get laid."
I thin my lips to hold back a giggle as Killian's entire face burns red. His eyes widen comically, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly as if he's at a loss for words.
"It's a womb, Kade." He manages to stammer out, trying to redirect the subject. "Not a stomach."
"You're proving my point, y'know? Why would I care enough to know what it's called? You've got too much time on your hands, you need to find a pretty girl and become a man."
"Hey, leave him alone." I decide to save Killian from further embarrassment. "I doubt you've ever said hello to a girl, let alone gone any further."
"Says you." Kaden scoffs, offended by my words that I'm still confident enough to believe are true. He's all talk. "Your opinion means nothing, baby brother. You're just as much of a virgin as he is."
I blink a few times, my eyes becoming unfocused as all hints of warmth leave my body. The way he says it; so confident and sure, it breaks my heart. I'm not the little innocent kid he thinks I am, no matter how much I wish I could be; he left a long time ago.
I try to force a laugh and shrug off Kaden's exclaim. He looks indifferent, not questioning my forced reaction at all. Truthfully, I'm not sure if he even realised the weight his words held.
Killian stares at me for a moment, blue eyes swimming with an abundance of curiosity. The sight makes my heart sink. I know he's seen through my act, that much is obvious. I just hope he's not smart enough to pick away the pieces of what my delayed reaction could mean.
Putting on a pained smile, I raise an eyebrow at the pair. "Are we here to play games or chat shit?"
—
"FUCKING DIE!"
"Been there, tried that." I mutter to Kade, pressing harder on the little flimsy buttons of the xbox controller.
"You're hilarious," he responds dryly.
Whatever game he has me playing, it's weirdly addicting. At first, I assumed it was some kind of war game, but now that we're in a strange battle field filled with zombies, I'm assuming it's not.
"HA!" I jump from my seat, a smug smile on my lips as Kaden scowls at me. "I killed you... again."
"I let you win." He mumbles harshly, eyes hard. I don't let his words get me down, his sullen face is the only confirmation I need, it tells me he didn't let me win.
"I hate this game." Killian huffs, throwing the controller on the floor with a thud. "I never win."
"Cause you're shit." Kade tells him. I can't help but nod in agreement. Killian was so bad that I forgot he was even here.
Killian's shoulders slump, he falls bag onto the bean bag with a sigh. "Can't we do something else? I'm bored of this now."
"What do you suggest we do, hm? Sit in a circle and each read a passage from your favourite book?" Killian's face lights up at Kaden's suggestion. For a smart guy, he sure is gullible. "News flash, Kill, we're not in English class."
"You might actually enjoy reading if you gave it a chance." Killian grumbles, eyes rolling.
"He'd have to learn how to read to do that." Callan's voice flows through the room.
We all turn at the sound, finding Cal, Alex and Grey at the doorway. Kade mumbles incoherent words under his breath, knowing there's no point in denying to Callan's claim when the rest of them are here, they'd only tease him worse.
"Your hours up," Grey claims.
Walking towards the television, he switches off our game. Kade's face burns red with either annoyance or anger; clearly somewhat pissed at the fact he won't have a chance to win against me tonight.
"What are we doing?" Killian looks hopeful.
"Monopoly?" Zac suggests, as he, Charlie and the rest of our siblings enter the game room.
"I love monopoly," Kaden cheers, at the same time Killian mutters with a huff: "We always argue when we play that."
"No arguments." Charlie promises or declares — I'm not sure which. "I'll make sure it's a fun, child friendly game. Plus, I'll be the banker, since I'm trustworthy. Arguments only happen when the banker is a cheat."
Killian pouts his lips. "Fine," he says after a short, fifteen second hesitation. "But any sign of an argument, I'm leaving."
"Deal," Charlie outstretches his hand.
—
"You're a dirty fucking cheat!"
We all, in sync, roll our eyes at Ace.
This is the fifth time in an hour that he's lashed out. It started when he landed himself in jail, through no other fault than is own. Escalated when he couldn't roll a double to leave jail, and proceeded to get worse when he eventually did leave jail, only to end up back there again after his next roll.
"Who are you even yelling at?" Lily asks him, clearly confused.
"All of you, you're doing this on purpose." He fumes, eyes narrowed.
"Or you're just shit?" Jack suggests, smirking as Ace turns his glare to him.
"I'll kill you."
"Oh," Jack places his hand over his heart, feigning doe eyes as he looks at our brother. "Shiver me timbers."
Charlie raises his hands in surrender, eyes soft as he looks at Ace "Why don't we all just— "
Ace lunches for Jack, cutting off Charlie's let's calm down speech. Monopoly cards and figures fly everywhere as the two seventeen year olds roll around the floor like fucking pigs. From what I can see, Jack has the upper hand, much to the fact that Ace is struggling to strangle him with his casted hand.
"Is anyone going to stop this?" Charlie shrieks, eyes wild as he stares at my brothers in shock.
"Hell no." Carter beams, eyes lit with excitement as he gazes between the pair.
"Best to let them fight it out." Zac shrugs, clearly done with their shit.
"My money's on Jack."
"I bet you twenty that Ace wins."
Callan thinks over Carter's offer, lips puffing as he comes to a decision. "Deal," he extends his hand to Car. "No backing out when Ace loses though, that twenty is mine."
"Ace won't lose." Ace grunts out, whacking Jack's cheek with his cast.
"Ouch," Killian winces for Jack, hands pressed firmly over his eyes as he peeks at our brothers through the gaps in his fingers.
"Oh, Ace will." Jack returns the hit, only using his fist instead. The sound reverberates around the room as his knuckles come in contact with Ace's cheekbone.
"Double ouch." Lily, who's position replicates Killian's, winces. "You go Jack!" She calls, surprising us all, especially Ace who glares at her.
"Seriously!" Charlie looks towards Zac and Grey, both of whom are watching the fight with little interest. "Neither of you are stopping this?"
"Why?" Grey shrugs. "It's like watching cable for free."
"Don't take your eyes off of him, idiot!" Carter screams at Ace. "Kick him in the nuts, do it you little pussy!"
"Ignore them, Jack, you've got this fratello."Callan pipes up. "Knock him out, aim for the temple!"
"Jesus Christ." Alex mumbles, pulling his glasses off to rub his eyes.
"I've got supplies!" Kaden runs from the other side of the room, a bowl of popcorn in each arm. He places one between our eldest four brothers, bringing the other to sit between us young ones. "What did I miss?" He asks, eyes in awe as he watches our brothers become more brutal.
"I'd say Jack has the upper hand right now." I inform him, grabbing a handful of popcorn, my eyes never straying from the fight. "He landed a pretty mean punch on Ace's cheek."
Just as I finish my sentence, Ace head-buts Jack, bursting his nose on impact. Jack doesn't let it phase him, simply wiping the blood on his sleeve before lunching for Ace. His knee presses heavily against Ace's casted arm as he pins him to the floor, quickly using his hands to wrap them around Ace's throat.
"I'm totally winning this bet," Cal whispers in excitement as Carter groans.
"Tap out," Jack commands with a grin. "C'mon, bro, you're turning blue."
"Fuck... you." Ace wheezes, bringing his own knee to Jack's crotch. Jack's grip loosens slightly, giving Ace the advantage he needed to switch their positions.
"Okay, that's it." Charlie decides, clearly having seen enough. "Break it up, now!" He goes to get between the two.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Alex warns, which Charlie stupidly ignores.
He gets between the two of them.
Charlie gets punched.
Ace doesn't give one single fuck.
"What the heck!" Charlie groans, hand clutched tightly against his swollen lip.
"Alex did warn you." Ace shrugs.
"In his defence," Jack cuts in. "He was aiming for me. You just got in the way."
Charlie gapes at them, head switching between the two so quickly, I'm sure he's given himself whiplash. "Why are you defending him?" He grunts. "He hit you! Heck, he hit me!"
"So?" Jack stares at him, completely unbothered as he wipes more blood from his face to his sleeve. "I hit him, too." He looks at Ace, smirking as he takes in his split lip and cut cheek. "Plus, I got him worse."
"Did you fuck," Ace huffs, extending his hand to Jack, pulling him up from the floor. "I can barely feel it."
Kaden smacks Ace's cheek.
"What the fuck, Kade!" Ace turns to him, eyes blazing as he rubs his fingers across the scorching skin.
"You said you couldn't feel anything." Kaden shrugs and the rest of us can't help but laugh. "I wanted to know if you were lying."
"I found the first aid kit!" Lily calls from the other side of the room, a small green box in her hand as she makes her way towards us. She hands the box to Callan, who gives her a cheesy smile in thanks.
"Come on, idiots." Callan gestures to our brothers. "Let's get you cleaned up, yeah?"
They comply, sitting on the bean bags as Callan pulls a pack of antiseptic wipes from the box. He hands a wipe to Zac, who begins cleaning Ace's face whilst Cal cleans Jack's.
"Am I invisible?" Charlie shrieks, again.
"I did tell you to come over." Callan smiles, "You didn't listen."
"No," Charlie denies, "You said come on idiots, you didn't—" he gasps in realisation, eyes narrowing at Callan.
Callan's smile morphs to a smirk. "Took you long enough."
"Leo?" A small voice pulls my attention away from Charlie and Callan. My body tenses as my eyes meet Lily's, she's smiling softly at me, her nerves showing through the trembles in her hands. "Could we... um... talk? It doesn't need to be right now, but tonight? I just—"
"Yeah, Lil." I cut her off, unable to handle the fragility in her tone. "Tonight, I promise."
Before she can say anything else, the sound of the door bell echos throughout the basement. I mentally thank God for the interruption, quickly excusing myself from my sister.
"I'm gonna get the door," I say, offering her a half smile as I practically sprint from the room.
My pulse quickens at the thought of talking to her tonight, I know it has to be done, but I can't help the apprehension that swells in my gut. I miss my sister, the last thing I want is for her to feel guilty due to someone else's mistakes.
I don't allow myself to think much about it, deciding to push the thoughts to the back of my mind, storing them in the little box my brain holds, filled with every trauma I've tried and failed to bury.
I blow out a breath as I grip the door knob, not bothering to check through the peephole before unlocking the latch and pulling the door open.
My heart stops, or skips, or does something that I can't quite explain when I see him.
"Leo," he beams, a breathtaking smile on his lips, one brighter than the summer sun. His stormy grey eyes hold me captive the second our gazes meet and I'm scared my hearts going to stop from the emotions pulsing into it.
My own lips lift, a genuine smile.
"Emmy," I say, breathlessly.
—
End of chapter 73
Ooops Lilo and Eleo next chapter...
I PROMISE
thoughts?
Zac? Zeo?
Alex?
Poor innocent Killy
Jace?
I need song ideas for CFM if you guys have any suggestions? I wanna make a playlist for it<3
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