"Gimme the remote!" I whine pouting at my twin brothers Arobynn and
Aedion.
Stopping their game of keep away, Arobynn groans, "Don't make the fa-"
"Too late man, she's making the face," Aedion cuts in.
I widen my eyes as much as I can and poke out my bottom lip.
"Pleeeaaase..."
The twins give each other equally exasperated and guilty looks before
plopping on the either side of me.
"Here," Arobynn scowls.
My face breaks out in a huge smile and I kiss both their cheeks after taking
the remote.
"Love youuu."
"Love you too sis," they say in monotone voices.
They're just sour because I don't want to watch their stupid cartoons.
Seriously, what 30 year old men watch cartoons?
I flip the channel to the bachelorette, something were not exactly fans of, but
we love to see people angry.
"Oh! That girl from the commercial the other day was crying waterfalls! I bet
that comes on next!"
I laugh at Aedion's excitement. At least these two bring some holiday cheer.
All my other brothers are either working in their old rooms or occupied with
calling their girlfriends every hour.
The thought makes me jealous. They're all allowed to date, but me? No no no.
Not daddies innocent little girl. That's what my father's say at least. Not that
my mom argues against them for me.
For now I'll have to settle with my secrets.
Seriously though, my brothers have been home three days now and nobody
will do anything fun with me. It's a first really.
Usually everyone wants to hang out with me. My mom even had to make a
schedule once to split up their Skye time evenly.
Luckily everyone lives within five minutes of home. My home that is. The
same one I grew up in. The same one that I'm forbidden to move out of. It
doesn't matter that I'm eighteen now. It doesn't matter that I finished college
online early. It doesn't even matter that I followed in my entire family's
footsteps and built my own million dollar online clothing store.
Daddy says,"it's not safe for you to live out there alone. You need to be
married to move out."
How can they expect me to ever move out if I'm not allowed to date though?!
It's ridiculous!
Before I can let my mind wander further at my unfortunate situation, my mom
makes her famous call.
"BOYS! DINNER IS READY!"
I'm left in the dust as Arobynn and Aedion become the flash, leaving the room
before I can blink.
Heavy stomps sound through the halls as my other brothers stampede
through the house and into the dining room.
Dad thinks I'm safe here? Please. These boys will kill me one day if I step in
their path before a meal.
I'm the last one to walk into the dining room, sitting between one of my dad's,
Jack, and the youngest apart from me, Kalona. Though only younger than his
twin Kain by four minutes, Kain claims it was "the best four minutes of his life."
My mom serves the food onto plates and my dad's pass them down the table.
The boys scarf down their meal before I can finish half of my potatoes and
asparagus.
Pigs.
Ragnar passes his plate down the line for seconds and when it reaches me, I
joke, "oink oink!"
Chuckles erupt and I earn a flying potato to the face.
"Hey!"
"Food fi-"
Grey is cut off when my mother says in her deadly tone,
"You wouldn't dare if you want to live and see tomorrow boys."
Everyone goes back to eating and my dad's go down the line of chairs asking
about everyone's business.
Since I'm the only single child due to the double X chromosomes of my female
genes keeping both my fathers sperms together, I'm the only one who runs a
business alone.
All my brothers are twins so they are business partners and share equal
ownership of their companies.
Sometimes I think it sucks that my father's genetically altered sperm didn't
split because I want a twin, but then I remember I'm the first child in the world
to have three parents. I have uncle Lincoln to thank for that.
Jonah and James tell our parents about how the president hired their
construction business to demolish and rebuild a vacation home.
Arobynn and Aedion gush over celebrity cases they take on at their law firm.
Rowan and Ragnar tell my dad's about a new missle they're designing for
their weapon manufacturing company.
Grey and Gio tell Mom that they're expanding oversees and she should let us
all go see Paris with them.
Kain and Kalona are hyped up of course because football season is about to
start. Ever since highschool and even past college, they loved the sport so
much they made their own team. The Basilisks.
They named their team after a legendary lizard who could kill with a single
stare. I think it's supposed to intimidate their opponents, but to me it's just
adorable.
"What about you angel?" My dad Kai asks with a mouth still full of food.
I swallow before shrugging.
"I came out with some new casual shirt and lounge dress designs."
Aedion perks up at the news.
"Can I see? Madge loves your clothes. It's the only stuff she has in her
closet."
The sound of his girlfriends name gives me mixed feelings. She loves my
designs yeah, but she so bland. She doesn't have a single hobby and I know
my brother can do better.
I nod anyway, handing him the phone out of my pocket so he can go through
the website.
"Are the new designs taking off?" Mom asks casually.
I nod before taking the last bite of my asparagus.
"Sold two million dollars worth since they came out two weeks ago."
My dad Kai smiles proudly at the news.
"That's my girl."
I give a forced smile. I bet I could do better. Do more. Expand more.
If only I could actually move out. The beep of my phone pulls me back to the
present.
"Who's Archer?" Aedion says with darkening eyes.
My eyes widen a bit involuntarily.
My boyfriend. s**t. My SECRET boyfriend.
I hold my hand out for my phone, but Aedion stands up so I can't reach it
before trying to get into my messages.
"Give it back!" I nearly yell at my brother in fear that Archer said something
about tonights plans.
"Aed, give her the phone," Kalona says standing to grab my cell.
"No its a bo-"
Kane snatches the phone and tosses it to Kalona before my new favorite
brother hands it back to me.
"Hey! No! I think she's texting a boy!" Aedion exclaims looking right at my
dad's.
The entire table now stares at me cautiously.
"Do you think she discovered boys," Rowan whispers not so subtly to
Ragnar.
He earns a slap on the head by someone with common sense and one of my
dads speaks up.
"Are you texting boys?"
His tone seems almost dangerous and I'm afraid of a 'meet the family'
situation.
"No. I'm just replacing my archery bow and forgot the dealers name. I saved it
as Archer so I'd know who it was."
The room is filled with relieved sighs and some laughs.
I can visably see a few of my brothers relax their posture before they continue
eating.
What would they do if they knew I was sneaking out tonight? Again.