The Steele Brothers (Completed)

22. Viridian

OMG! 

His parents are here... now, in front of me!

What do I do?

When Raven had pulled me round in front of him, I had been met with... arms reaching for me and pulling me into a hug before pushing me away as she looked me up and down.  I could see their dad watching from across the room, a smile on his face as he watched his wife's antic's.

"Ma, let her go now" Raven chuckled and his arms pulled me back into him, securing me and giving me some distance to process.

"Hello" I whisper out and she beams at me.

"Oh you are so precious" she tells me before squeezing Ravens cheeks over my head "My boy you have done so well, she is beautiful" she rushes out.

I can see all his brothers grins and even his father is smiling still as he comes forward and puts an arm around her shoulders and guides her a few steps back.

"Viri, what an unusual name" Ma says still smiling and its infectious, you just can't help smiling back.

I hold out my hand to them, "I'm Viridian Waters, its lovely to meet you" I offer.

"Viridian, like the colour?" their Ma questions and I nod, smiling that she knew that. "I am learning to paint and just love all the colour names, yours is one of the more unusual ones, Are your parents artists?" she asks.

"Let go through and sit down, then you can get to know each other in comfort" Pa suggests, leading the way to the den, I had heard Jett mutter something and grin again when he comes back with a tray of tea and coffee, pouring me a cup first before offering it around.

I know their father is watching closely and I wonder what he was told before we arrived.  Their Ma has chosen to sit next to Raven and I and I could see she was itching to ask questions, I could feel Raven's tension from my side but I leaned in against him, hoping that would reassure him.

"You're right my father is an artist" I grin at her, "Most people who hear my name think they were hippies"

"And are you artistic too?" she asks and I shake my head, remembering the numerous failed attempts at creating something beautiful.

"God no, I tried but never managed to produce anything halfway decent, I prefer the sciences, luckily my parents are very go with your flow and didn't mind my lack of talent, so dad had his studio, mum her studio/office and I had a lab"

"And, What does your mother do?" Pa asks with interest.

"She's a writer, she paints as well but says she seems to prefer to create with words for now" I tell him, wondering again how much he knows.

"So you are in classes with my boys, are they all behaving and studying hard" Ma asks and I nod "That's good" she replies before adding "Then its not that making my husband worry about them, would you like to tell me what's going on"

The boys all freeze at her question, my gaze searching theirs before returning to her as Pa adds. "Someone was running checks on the boys, then we got an invitation to dinner with the Governor, something was going on, that's why we came.  Would you like to tell us why?"

"Pa!" all four boys objected at once, their glares now on their father, but his gaze was locked with mine.

"My family worry about me, and I have acted out of character with my interactions with them all, they would have wanted to know why, same as you do" I sighed, knowing the truth in my last words, he was doing exactly for the boys, what my family do for me.

Raven's hand held mine and with a little squeeze I felt connected to him, his strength...

"My father and parents are relatively normal, My Dad is Augustus Waters and my mom is called Elizabeth, as I said they're artists." I had heard Ma gasp when I gave my fathers name and knew she had recognised it. "The rest of the family are not so normal, we have two extremes, Dad's side of the family connections are Waltons, Bush and Kennedy" I pause and take a deep breath "Mum's side of the family includes Genovese and Gambino families"  I know by the widening of his eyes he realises who they all are.  "I am sorry if you feel this puts the boys in danger and I understand if you want me to stay away from the... em" I am cut of by the shouts of all four boys as they all object to me walking away from them.

"Boys she is not going anywhere" Ma shouts over the top of them, and they look at her with both hope and worry.

"I agree, you shouldn't leave, not unless you want to" Pa says joining in. "The boys tell me their interest has made you a target, are you alright with that?"

I exchange a panicked look over my should at Raven who sighs and kisses my forehead before addressing his father.  "Some of Viri's family are in town.  She was cornered by a boy this morning who has a grudge against Jett but we got her away, I met with her family and have explained the issue to them, they are dealing with the boy and looking at the other main group"

"Group!" his Pa sounds horrified. "What do you mean, Which Group?  Why?"

I watched as the boys had a silent conversation across the room, I knew their parents were seeing it too. "Raven, what group?" Pa's voice was tighter, loud enough to be heard and very obviously an order.

"Pa, you don't want to know, leave it please" Raven looked at him calmly but his hand was tight on mine, telling me he was faking it, something was very wrong.

"Ash!" Pa's gaze switched to him and I knew he would tell him.

"Sigma Beta" he whispered out, knowing he was going against his brother but unable to not reply to his father.

"Who in Sigma Beta?" Pa sounded business-like in his question and I knew that was to hide his emotions. What was the deal with this frat?

Jett leant forward "All of them, they have made it into a challenge, even the new rushes are involved" he explains and even I feel shocked at this.  I know the boys had warned me about Sigma Beta, this was more so much more than a simple bet to spite the boys.

"What is the deal with this lot and you, I don't understand?" I ask them all and I can hear the shake in my voice.

"We are legacies, all of us. Sigma Beta thought they were going to get all of us join, but we decided before even enrolling here that we didn't want to get involved with a frat, and everything we had heard about this Sigma chapter was raising alarm bells anyway.  They did not take our rejection well, it had a ripple effect you see, other influential people didn't want to engage or let family members engage with them or any of the other chapters, they blamed us"

"Why didn't you tell me, I could have..." Pa started but the boys all looked at him, shaking their heads.

"Pa, we had to do it ourselves, you brought us up to stand by our own decisions" Ash tells him and he nods, but we can all see the anger on his face.

"There's something else you should know" Raven tells them, guiding their attention back to us as he lifts my hand to his lips, gently kissing the back before he says.  "I... We have asked Viri to move in, until we know its all safe" 

We all hear Jett mutter 'Forever' 

"And her family are coming here to update us this evening... there was a break in at her dorm, someone trashed the room, covered everything in red paint" Ravens voice was full of his frustration.

"Of course she should stay here, its safer" Ma rushes out, taking my hand in hers and patting it. "And it would be lovely to meet some of her family.  Can you cook?" she asks and looks at me expectantly, so I nod, wondering where she is going with this ping pong like conversation.

"Wonderful, then we will make dinner, while the boys do their planning about Sigma Beta, and you and I can get to know each other better, after all I can see how smitten my boys are with you, I don't think they will let you get away easily, Plus you can tell me all about your father, his work is wonderful" she looks around the room. "Can one of you call and invite them to dinner"

Raven squeezes my hand again and I know its his silent question. Am I alright with this. I nod.

"Raven has their number, and it would be lovely to cook with you" I tell her, as Jett mutters.

"Thank god we got groceries" and everyone laughs.

"Come, come" Ma gets up and looks at me expectantly and with one last squeeze of my hand Raven pushes me up and I follow his Ma into the kitchen.