Life With Boys (Emerson Series #1)

Chapter Two

We pull up to a closed gate with an intercom box next to it. Mr. Emerson rolls down his window and presses a button on the touch screen.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Emerson," a male voice says from the speaker on the intercom box.

"Hey Lance, open the gate?" Mr. Emerson says.

"Of course, sir. Have a great day." The gates slowly open, and Mr. Emerson drives the car through, onto a concrete driveway. He steers the car around one of those half circle driveways and stops.

"Here we are," he says, smiling back at us. I force a smile back, but it probably looks like a grimace.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Emerson," another male says and takes the keys from Mr. Emerson. Okay, where in the hell am I? "Well, hello. You must be Miss Annie and Mr. Austin," the same guy says, opening the door for us.

"Um, yes. And you are?" He smiles and helps me out of the car.

"Phillip, ma'am," he says. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Call me Annie."

He nods and moves over to the trunk.

"Shall I have Keith move these bags to their new rooms?" Phillip asks Mr. Emerson.

"No, thank you. We can do that," Mr. Emerson says. Phillip nods, then takes the suitcases out of the trunk. He places them onto the driveway and gets into the driver's seat to the Camaro. I watch him drive away, wondering who exactly I'm living with.

"Come on inside, Annie, Austin. I'll introduce you to the boys," Mrs. Emerson says. She places a hand around my shoulders and walks with me into the giant house in front of me. Actually, it's more like a mansion. Not even kidding.

"The boys?" Austin questions, and I look over at him.

"They apparently have seven boys." His eyes widen.

"Holy shit," he says, looking up at the house.

"You guys live here?" I finally croak out. She laughs, like I was joking, and leads us into the living room.

"Boys, get down here!" she says into an intercom system on a wall in the living room. You'd need something like that in a house as big as this. My goodness. I hear a bunch of mumbles from throughout the house, then heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

"What's up mom?" one of the boys says. He has brown hair and brown eyes. But he doesn't look really young, so I think that's Ryder. Maybe.

"Boys, this is Annie and Austin Cassidy," Mrs. Emerson says. "Remember how I told you they would be moving in with us?" All of their eyes snap over to us, like they just now noticed we were here.

"Damn," one of them mutters, staring at me. A guy with dirty blonde hair and blue green eyes. So that is.. Um.. Bradley?

"Welcome, Annie, Austin," another one says and steps towards me. He puts his hand out and I shake it hesitantly, Austin shakes his hand as well. "I'm Tyler."

"Nice to meet you," I mumble, feeling a bit claustrophobic.

"Could one of you please show Annie and Austin to their rooms?" Mrs. Emerson asks, smiling at her children.

"Of course," Tyler says with a smile. "Come along." He starts to walk out of the room. I adjust my duffel bag on my shoulder, and we follow after him, not willing to get lost in this maze of a house.

We walk into the foyer and over to a large staircase. How in the hell did I not see that when I walked inside? The stairs are set in the middle of the room, and at the top of the steps, the hallway splits into four directions.