"Don't you think we'll keep you safe here?"
I bite my lip, starting to believe that everything that Daisy told me was a huge lie.
"Well?" He asks softly, after a minute of silence.
I shuffle off of his lap. "I thought you didn't want me," I admit. "I was scared that if aunt and uncle kept asking to take me back, you actually would send me," I explain, realising how stupid my worries sounded.
"Why would you think that? Girly, no matter what they do, you're stuck with us. There's nothing in this world that they could do to have you go back. You don't need to worry about them at all," He told me softly. "But you didn't answer my question, why are you suddenly worried? Why wouldn't we want you?"
"It's nothing," I mumble, fiddling with my nails.
He takes my chin and turns my head gently to face him. "Please Emma, I need to know what's wrong, so I can help. Did we do something? Did Cole say something?"
I shake my head. "No, it wasn't any of you.."
He raised a brow, silently telling me to continue.
I look down. "Well me and Cole were going through our old pictures today, the ones we took when Mom and me came here."
"Mhm,"
"And I posted one on Instagram, the one where we're all at the beach," I say, whipping out my phone to show him. He smiles. "I remember this day,"
I smile back, before frowning. I continued telling him what happened in detail, as he patiently listened, his expression becoming more and more unpleasant.
"It sounds like Aunt and Uncle set her up to this, my girl," he says, once I told him about how she decided to call me. I nod. "Maybe,"
"But did you genuinely believe her when she said we didn't love you?" He asks me, sounding upset, making me feel guilty.
"I didn't at first... until she told me the next part,"
"Which was?" He asked, not sounding eager to hear what she said.
"She told me that Mom had an affair, and I was the result of it. She said that's why mom only took me... because dad didn't want me," I say sadly.
"What? Emma, that's a total lie." Alex says, lifting my chin. "Is that why you thought we didn't want you?"
I sniff, tears springing to my eyes. "Then she said that Dad and all of you hated me too because I'm the reason Mom left!"
His expression softened, and he pulled me in for a hug. "Daisy's spouting nonsense, okay?"
"Are you sure?" I ask, my voice wobbling.
He gently pulls me off of him and puts his hands on my shoulders. "Mom and Dad never had an affair, You aren't the reason they got divorced, and none of us ever hated you. We hated the fact that Mom took you away from us, though. We missed you like crazy, it always felt like our family had a giant gaping hole in it. Our parents decided to get a divorce, it was not about any of us at all. You hear me?" He says firmly. I nod, truly believing him.
"Is there anything else she said?" He asked.
I think for a moment. "Yeah. She said that you guys never fought for me. She says you never wanted me in the first place."
He looks mad. "I'm so sorry that she said all this to you, Emma. It's our aunt and uncle behind this, trying to convince you to come back."
I nod. "It sounded like that. But why do they even want me back so badly? I wasn't the nicest kid..." I trail off.
He chuckles and ruffles my hair. "I'll tell you when you're older, okay?"
I groan. "Come on Alex, pleaseee?"
He shakes his head, adamant. "No. I won't change my mind about this either." He says firmly.
"Fine," I mumble, not wanting to get into any more trouble.
He smiles and kisses my forehead. "Can you promise me one thing?"
I nod.
"The next time Aunt, Uncle, or Daisy speak to you, tell me. Whatever it is, I want to know. But please don't trust them. I don't want you worrying like this unnecessarily. I'll tell them to back off, but I doubt they'll listen," He says, and I agree.
He stands up. "Is there anything else weighing on you? Is this the only reason why you were upset?" He asks.
I fiddle with my fingers, embarrassed. "You know the nightmare I had?"
He gives me a sympathetic look. "It was about this, wasn't it?" He asks, sadly
I nod.
"I had no idea you were that upset about this, love," he says, almost in a whisper. "But wait, why were you snooping around in my office?" He asks.
I smile sheepishly, and he gives me a hard look. "Spill,"
I sigh. "I was trying to find my birth certificate. To see the name of my dad." I tell him.
He chuckles dryly. "Makes sense."
"I'm sorry for going into your office... and for making a mess," I say, standing up.
He kisses me. "It's all good, sweetheart. Just don't do it again, okay? And I suggest maybe apologising to Noah and Aiden for how you spoke to them."
I groan. "You know?"
"Well I heard what you said to Noah, and Aiden told me what you said too. I came up here, ready to spank you." He says, chuckling dryly.
My eyes go wide. "Am I still getting spanked?" I ask in dread. I haven't been spanked in quite a while, and I plan to keep it that way.
He shakes his head. "I don't appreciate you yelling, or going into my office without permission, but no, I won't spank you."
I sigh in relief, before hugging him. "Thank you," I say, my voice muffled.
He hugs me back. "It's okay, love"
I stay like that, in his arms for a while. I love how safe my brothers make me feel, especially Alex.
"Do you still wanna see your birth certificate?" He asks
"No. I believe you," I say with a smile, looking up at him.
He chuckles and rolls his eyes playfully. "Good to know."
Later, Alex told everyone what happened, and for the rest of the day, we all spent time together. All 6 of us. We watched a couple of movies, played in the arcade, went swimming, and played basketball too. I had the best time, and I finally felt at ease again.
Around 7, we were watching Home Alone. It's one of the few movies that we all like. Cole didn't feel like watching, so it's just the rest of us. I'm snuggling into Liam, his arm wrapped around me when Cole walks in. He looks at the screen, then at us.
"Sup?" Alex asks, pausing the movie.
"Can I go out tonight?" He asks.
"Where?" Alex asks. "Isn't it a bit late to be asking for permission?"
Cole scoffs. "Don't be anal. I just found out."
Noah glares at him. "Watch your mouth. Keep that up, and you won't be going anywhere," He warns.
Cole quickly mumbles an apology.
"Where do you wanna go?" Alex asks with a sigh.
"A party," Cole says sheepishly. "At Nick's house,"
"Yeah, No," Alex says immediately.
"What? Why?!"
"Nick is bad news. We've told you to stay away from him before." Alex says, walking up to him.
"And the last time he had a party, it ended in the cops getting involved," Noah says.
"I know what happened," Cole reiterated. "You didn't let me go then, either!"
"Did you just miss the point of what we said entirely? You're not going Cole, end of discussion." Alex says sternly, folding his arms over his chest.
"It's amusing that you're asking why we won't send you to an unsupervised party where they'll be college kids, alcohol, and possible drugs." Noah adds.
Cole stomps his foot. "I'm not going to do anything wrong, Chill! Just let me have fun for once!" He argues, much to my surprise. Cole is usually pretty calm. He knows when to stop, unlike me. Well, he usually knows when to stop. He certainly never screams at my brothers like he is now.
Alex shakes his head firmly. "No, Cole. That kid is a bad influence. I can't stop you from talking to him at school, but I can sure as hell stop you from going to his house and getting messed up. Do not argue with me about this."
"YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING!" Cole screams, much to our surprise.
Alex is quiet for a minute. "Excuse me?" He says in such an eerily quiet voice, that I shudder.
Cole is seething. "It's just one party!" He says, courage still coursing through his veins.
Alex breathes heavily. "My patience is wearing thin here, kid. I hear what you're saying, but my answer stays the same, NO! I am not going to let you go to a party where there'll be drugs, alcohol, and no adult supervision. It's downright dangerous, and you can't convince me to let you go, so I suggest you drop it." He says lowly in a scary tone.
"You fucking suck," Cole grumbles, leaving the room. A minute later we hear the door of his room slam loudly.
"What the hell is wrong with him?" Aiden asks. "He's never like this,"
Alex comes back and sits with us, rubbing his forehead. "Beats me,"
Noah pats Alex on the back. "I'll go talk to him,"
Alex shakes his head. "I think it's better we give him space. He's mad, and he'll land himself in more trouble if we talk to him. He's not in the right state of mind to be rational, either."
"You sure?" Noah asks sceptically. All he gets in response is a glare from Alex.
Noah says nothing, and we sit back and finish what's left of the movie. The mood isn't the same though, that's for sure.
"You know why this party is such a big deal to him?" Liam asks me in a whisper.
I shake my head. "I've heard about it, though. Everyone in his year is going, it's been quite the talk for a while." I say. I'm not that interested in parties, and even if I was, the time I went to Jamie's party with Holly will forever haunt me. Never again.
After the movie is over, we start getting ready for dinner.
"Cole, come help set the table!" Noah yells out. No response. He yells again, but we hear nothing.
Noah mutters something to himself, before running upstairs.
We hear him knock on Cole's door, before swinging it open when he again, doesn't respond.
"Cole?" We hear him say in a worried voice.
"What's wrong?" Alex yells.
A minute later, Noah peeks out of Cole's room.
"He's not here!"