My phone vibrates and I almost jump out of my skin, earning me a stern worried stare from those apple-green eyes.
“Are you okay? I can go alone.” I’ve never seen the expression on his face before and it makes my heart warm, you know, like when you look at a litter of cute puppies. I look at my phone.
Haley: Hi pumpkin, are you close?
I quickly reply with a ‘yes’.
Damion reads the message out loud over my shoulder and grunts.
“I think my mother likes you more than me.” I snigger at his sulking, puckering his lip like a grumpy toddler. A super cute sexy toddler.
“Ug, you’re such a baby, just get over it mama’s boy.” He stops walking and glares at me with a frown.
“I’m going to get my revenge for that, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.” My nipples harden in anticipation.
“Oh, just see the terror in my eyes.” I wiggle my body as if I’m scared and he just shakes his head while opening the door of his parents’ house. He gestures for me to go first.
“Eeeh!” I shout as he hauls me back with so much force that I literally fall backward into his arms. Before I can even react, I’m pushed against the wall getting the living daylights kissed out of me. Holy cow, I love this punishment a maybe little too much.
“Ew!” a voice wails. “That’s disgusting!” Damion fusses when he lifts his head to eyeball Luke with a distasteful face.
“Are you two finished?” Haley walks up and puts her hands on Luke’s shoulders. Dying with embarrassment, I shove my lips into a line and try to look in any direction not occupied by a human being.
“Not really.” Damion reluctantly lets go of me to steer me into the house.
“I can help you fight,” the ten-year-old beams while grabbing his brother’s forearm. Damion grabs him and throws the squealing wriggling body over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, dude,” he says not even trying to hide the laughter in his voice, “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you ready?” Deimos appears from the kitchen.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“I think we better keep this outside in case of physical violence. I don’t want to have to use my home insurance to replace broken furniture.” Damion puts down his brother and his father puts an arm around his shoulder.
“Luke, I think you need to go play in your room for a little while,” Haley tells her little one.
“Can’t I watch?” She shakes her head and he runs up the stairs without complaints. She’s definitely doing something right – my brothers, at that age would have whined so hard to try and make my mom’s head explode just to get their way.
“Dad, promise me you won’t intervene … no matter what happens. I know those boys … they have to take their anger out on me before they’ll accept this.” I hear Damion say. I can’t believe he’s so calm about this.
“Let them beat me to a pulp if they want … you can fix me later.” Deimos sighs, but seems to agree.
Damion winks at me before he walks away with his father. He doesn’t look fazed, he doesn’t look anxious, nor does he look scared.
Is he crazy or something? He must be! Because no normal person would be so cool when about to face getting beaten up.
Well, I’m not crazy. I’m shaking as if I’m stuck in neck-deep snow. Haley grabs my arm and drags me to the kitchen.
“Let’s get some wine, doll, it seems as if you need it right now.” She hands me a glass, I fill it with red liquid, and down it in one gulp before sitting on one of the high chairs at the breakfast nook. I still don’t know how Damion can be so cool and calm about this.
Although he made me too, promise that I would stay out of the fight, no matter what happens, I’m not so sure I can do that. I know my brothers – they will make him pay using any means necessary – just for the fun of it. And who knows what they may come up with in those fucked-up minds of them.
I toy with the heart around my neck.
Jackson. That’s where the problem lies … the psycho twin. Even if I ask, he won’t back down. I know it. No one in this world can tell him what to do or not do.
“So what’s the scoop here?” Haley leans over, eyes bright and shiny, looking at me to share more details with her. I’m not in the mood, but I need the distraction.
“Damion asked me to be his girlfriend last night. You know it was our first real date and the press just caught us … eh … ”
“Snogging.” She also seems rather calm for a mother about to lose her firstborn.
“Yeah, that … and now he’s going to die.”
“Oh, he won’t die,” she sneers. “It’s not the first fight between these boys … and I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna be the last.” I know that they got into fights before … I’ve seen them. And that’s exactly why I’m scared.
She takes a huge sip of her wine and rolls her eyes. “I asked you before, but how do you feel about my boy now?” I smile dreamily, thinking, and then take a deep breath.
“When I’m not with him I can’t stop thinking about him and when I am with him, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, and it’s epic.” I just want to cling to him and never let go.
“But at the same time, my heart also seems to be in some kind of a vice grip. I’m so scared all the time as if I’m just waiting for the moment he’s going to catastrophically demolish me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go on after that. And now we can add public humiliation to that.” She looks at me and her eyes grow round, then she pushes a hand over her forehead and rubs it lightly.
“Mel, I don’t think you have to worry about him hurting you, just call it mother’s intuition.” I give her a faint smile, hoping she’s right about her little mama’s boy.
The front door burst open … no knocking, no waiting for an invitation, no patience …
“Grimm, where the fuck are you!” My mind is such a mess I’m not even sure which brother that was. I hear them barging through the house and then Deimos tells them that they must go out onto the veranda. They don’t even notice me and Haley in the kitchen … thank heavens for that. Seeing me here would only rage on their already burning anger.
“Want to go eavesdrop?” Haley asks, looking like a teenager about to spy on the jocks in the men’s bathroom.
“They seem pretty pissed. They might kill him,” I say, still shaking like an old Chevy on a wobbly dirt road.
“Nah, he’s a big boy,” she waves it off and takes my arm, leading me in the direction the men disappeared to. “Anyway … I know those boys … they won’t kill him … they’ll just hurt him and he’s used to that.”
We hide behind the curtain, peeking through a gap, not wanting any of them to notice us. The men stand there, looking like soldiers on different sides of the battlefield – Damion alone against my four brothers.
“I can’t believe you’re fucking my sister!” Logan yells first. “You ass-stabbing son-of-a-bitch!” He looks around as if he wants his brothers to back him up. But they stay stagnant – Ilkay with a worried glare, Enrique has a vague unreadable expression on his handsome face, and Jackson, that little dimwit is entertained, an amused smile curling his lips in an upward position.