THE TAYLORS [H.S]

30.

Truth be told, there was a certain bond that my brothers had between themselves that I would never have.

So as much as little naive Annabeth Taylor begged her mother when she was five to give me a twin, unless I was going to go out and kidnap a doppelgänger, the sad truth would be I would never be able to have the same connection as they did.

So as I stared across the room at my brothers, my eyes flickering between all the similarities, my heart had a painful tug to it, a reminder that they were something much more than I was.

I refused to even look in Harry's direction as well because for whatever reason, I had a weird sense of betrayal settle in my bones. For some silly reason, the secret that held us two together, felt more like an unspoken bond between each other. One that would possibly have the benefits of secrets being told. Apparently not.

"Just so I'm sure I'm not hallucinating, I want to confirm something," I said, my eyebrow raised in Trent's direction. "Your putting your trust in a bodyguard that I barely know from a passing stranger, and your expecting me to go along with this?"

Trent sighed. "Yes Annie."

"Alone. While you're out of the country?"

He pursed his lips this time. "Yes."

I nodded, this time pointedly staring at Harry. His dark eyes didn't shy away from the staring competition. As usual, I was the first to break. My gaze filtered back to my eldest brother.

"Right after our parents were murdered?"

"Annabeth." This find it was Michael who hissed my name as if it was a warning. Trent was too busy looking as if he had lockjaw and Johnny seemed to be too busy rolling his eyes at my remark.

I could only scoff at the lack of response from each brother. I stood up, shaking my head as I did.

"Don't Annabeth me. I'm just wanting to confirm all of this, you know, just in case anything happened while you were all out of the country and you seem comfortable in leaving me in the hands of some random ass bodyguard."

Harry barely looked affected by my words, and I wondered if I was just trying to push his buttons a bit further. Truth be told, it didn't sound like a bad idea, being alone with Harry and having more freedom than I ever could imagine - though it didn't stop the annoyance brewing in my body that he already knew about it.

It was most likely the reason why he even suggested the little Rendezvous anyway. He wasn't trying to keep this rather large secret. He wasn't trying to dangle it right in front of my brothers and see how long he could keep a secret for. He just knew my brothers were going to be leaving and wanted to jump at the first chance of having something nobody else could get too. God, it boiled my blood.

"Do you possibly want it in writing?" Johnny chirped, clearly egging me on. "Happy to sign it in blood."

"Eat a dick," I hissed at him as I stormed out of the room. Enough with being lady-like, my brother was a royal pain and I wanted out. I couldn't deal with his attitude, it was too much.

As I stormed my way to the car, it was only then that I realised that Harry had driven us here. Rather than look like a fool and stomp back into the house, I did the only thing I could of. I continued to walk.

With my head held high, I continued to storm my way to the front gates of the property, despite how far the distance was. One thing my mother taught me was if I was going to do something, to do it with confidence.

I also pretended not to hear the crunching of the gravel behind me as I marched on.

"We walking now, are we?" The deep British voice hummed. "How adventurous of you, Princess."