Claimed By My Stepbrother (Cadell Security Series)

Chapter Five

Eden’s POV

The SUV slows before turning into a driveway that has two large iron gates that swing open automatically as we approach.

We head up the long, sweeping paved driveway toward what has to be the biggest house I have ever seen. OK, we didn’t have a lot of money in our family, but my dad’s life insurance paid off a chunk of the two-bed house Mum and I lived in and she worked hard to pay the mortgage that was left, so it’s not like we were living in squalor.

This thing in front of us though? It has three stories and would probably fit our little home inside it at least four times over.

The driver slows to a stop outside of the huge oak front doors, opening his door and sliding out before heading to the back and opening the door for my mother. Hmm seems he did hear me, and took note, good job too, my mum worked her ass off to raise me, no one is going to disrespect her in front of me.

I open the door on my side of the car and slide out, walking to the back of the vehicle and opening the trunk without waiting for an invitation. My laptop and all my possessions are in my case, I am not letting Mr Hunky but moody pants slam it down and break anything.

I feel him before he comes into view, standing beside me as he lifts my mother’s case and sets it on the ground before shutting the trunk again.

‘Oh I can take it dear’ my mother fusses, hurrying over to our driver and trying to take her case as he lifts it up again.

‘No bother Ma-am’ he replies, speaking for the first time since we met him, and I swear my knees go weak as his soft chocolate coated voice drawls out. Dear God, how can someone so grumpy look and sound like that?

My mum pats his cheek affectionately, which seems to shock the man as he stills in surprise for a split second. ‘Well aren’t you just the sweetest’ Mum coos, smiling up at him. Is she just completely oblivious to the man’s don’t touch me vibe or is this like a mum thing and grumpy men have no effect on her?

Leading the way, the driver marches up to the front door, Mum behind him and me bringing up the rear, dragging my heavy case behind me.

The man doesn’t even bother to knock, just opens the door and walks straight in as my mouth falls open in shock. What the heck?

Once inside, our driver places Mum’s case on the floor before grunting something I don’t hear and disappearing.

‘He’s gone to get Henry’ Mum says excitedly as she clasps her hands together, looking around us.

‘Love!’ a deep voice booms before a huge, muscular man strides toward us, his arms opened wide as my mother literally runs to him, wrapping her own arms around his neck as he sweeps her off her feet and spins her.

‘Too long’ he grumbles huskily, kissing my mother as I pretend to be extremely interested in a vase on the table beside me, ‘you should never travel without me again, I just can’t bear it.’

My mum is giggling like a sixteen year old, and I risk a peek at them, thankful that this new man who I assume is Henry, has finally put my mother down again.

‘Oh you’ Mum giggles, touching his face affectionately, ‘I was gone for three days, you make it sound like i've been missing for weeks.’

Henry chuckles, the sound rich and deep, ‘that was three days more than I wanted, it felt like an eternity’ he replies, ‘I’ve missed you my love.’

Mum looks up at him like he's her entire world, ‘I missed you too’ she murmurs.

Awkwardly, I clear my throat loudly, making them both jump as two sets of eyes swing toward me.

‘Oh my God! Eden!’ Mum shrieks, releasing her new husband and rushing back to me, grabbing my hand quickly before she drags me forward. ‘Henry, this is my daughter Eden, Eden this is Henry . . my husband’ she adds with another giggle as Henry smiles at her lovingly.

Turning his gaze back to me, Henry extends his hand, engulfing my own as he shakes it firmly. ‘Eden’ he says loudly, ‘a pleasure to meet you finally, your Mum has told me all about you.’

I nod, wincing slightly at the strength of his hold on me, he must realise as he relaxes his grip immediately, looking a little embarrassed.

‘Sorry, I forget how strong I am sometimes’ he mutters.

‘Yeah, sorry about Dad, he has no idea how to curb his cave man’ comes a voice from the side of us and I turn toward a flight of stairs and have to blink in shock as our driver is standing halfway up the steps, smiling at us widely.

‘Dad?’ I ask weakly.

‘Yeah, Dad’ comes a second, identical voice from behind me making me scream out loud. Spinning around I find our driver is also leaning against the doorframe of the room he disappeared into earlier.

My head swivels back and forth between the two men who I now notice are dressed differently.

‘Ahhh Eden,’ Henry calls, drawing my attention back to him, which is a good thing because I think my jaw might still be on the floor somewhere. ‘Please meet my twin sons, Harrison’ he points to the man who picked us up from the airport, ‘and Gage’ he indicates the second man who winks at me, smiling widely.

OK, so they might look alike, but identical twin number two definitely doesn’t have the personality of twin number one. As I absorb the fact I have two stepbrothers, I feel my face burn red in embarassment. Oh God, I called him a driver, I complained about him not opening the door of the car for us . . I peek over at Harrison who has finally removed his sunglasses giving me a clear view of his piercing blue eyes that are studying me. The barest hint of a smirk crawls across his face when he catches me looking at him and I quickly allow my hair to fall forward to block my face.

A hand lands on my arm, and I jump, turning around to find twin two next to me, ‘come on little sis’ he grins, tugging at my wrist, ‘I’ll show you to your room, it’s right across from my old room’ he adds with that mischievous wink again.

‘OK’ I reply dazedly, reaching for my case as twin two picks it up and starts walking. ‘I can carry it!’ I call out desperately, hurrying to catch up as the tall man takes the stairs two at a time.

‘It’s OK princess’ twin two drawls, glancing back at me as we both reach the top of the stairs, ‘I’m not going to drop it, your stuff is safe with me.’

Swallowing down my worry, I nod, following behind him like a lost lamb as he leads the way down the corridor toward where I hope is my new room. The padding of feet behind me has me glancing back, I’m surprised to find twin one following us, my mother’s case in his hand.

I turn back toward twin two, hurrying my steps to keep up with him, damn my tiny five foot six frame!

About halfway down, twin two throws open a door to the right, walking in and setting my case down on a king sized bed with surprising care before sweeping his hand around to encompass the room.

‘I hope this is up to your standards, princess’ he says with a cheeky grin.

I should go all feminism on his ass over calling me princess but I’m too busy gawking at the room I’m standing in. The king size bed is in the middle of the wall to my left, an ornate desk sits under a huge bay window and a chest of drawers and a large book case sit next to it. On the wall opposite the bed is the biggest tv I’ve ever seen and two recliners are placed in front of it, a small table between them.

On either side of the TV are painted white doors, twin two points to each in turn, ‘closet, bathroom’ he says, ‘so you don’t have to share with anyone.’ He leans closer slightly, smiling wickedly, ‘though if you want to, as I said, my old room is right across the hall, I do sometimes stay the night here if my roommate needs alone time.’

A growl rumbles from the doorway and we both look back to find twin one, Harrison? I think his dad said his name was, glaring at his brother angrily.

‘Harry!’ twin two calls out, lifting his arms toward the other man, ‘there you are! I missed you! Come here and give your little brother a biiiiig hug!’

I can’t help it, I snort out a laugh, covering my mouth with my hand as the fun twin as I have decided to call him, grins at me.

‘Ignore Mr Grumpy’ he sighs, ‘he’s always like this, seems when we split in the womb, I got all the fun genes and he got all the moodiness, It's not personal, he's a killjoy around everyone.’

‘Gage’ Harrison snaps, ‘how about you f*****g leave now? I'm sure you moved out years ago, why don't you go and spend some time in that house instead of this one?’

Gage winks at me, ‘see’ he whispers loudly, ‘grumpy! He really needs to get laid. hey, if you happen to make friends with any hot co-eds, maybe you could pass on his number? Get him some act . . .’

‘GAGE!’ Harrison yells, literal fire spitting from his eyes.

‘I’m going, I’m going!’ Gage replies, holding his hands up, ‘geez! I’m just welcoming our new sister!’ Turning back to me, he points at the door, mouthing, ‘across the hall!’ before hurrying to his brother who grabs his shirt and hauls him out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.