Their Goddess - The Roses, Book 3 (Completed)

Part 2. Noah

I watched her race across the common room to her group of nerdy friends and growled to myself, as one of the guys pulled her in for a hug, making her laugh.  My fists clenched and I knew I should get out of there but I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.  I knew the moment she felt my stare, her whole body stiffened and went on alert, her eyes scanning the room till they locked with mine, holding her captive as she blushed red.

The connection was cut off by her friends moving in around her and I felt the loss, for two years she had been under my skin, mine and my brothers.  After the first summer of pranks and seeing her up close, she had retreated and avoided us, College had started and we had all thrown ourselves into our new courses, but she had not left our thoughts.

Two bags hitting the table beside me heralded the arrival of my brothers and they too followed my gaze to the group Evie was in the centre of.  "Shit, what's she doing with him?" Eli growled as Evie was once again drawn into a hug, seeming to be comfortable as he tucked her into his side.  "Fuck, let's get out of here, I can't watch this" Riki pushed back and started for the door and with one last look at Evie we followed him.

Riki was pacing by our car when we reached him and I could feel the tension in the air "fuck, fuck" he muttered as he prowled, his gaze flicking back the way we had come.  I watched him wondering when he would explode, we were all on edge, had been for the last three weeks since our birthday.  

Mom had organised a evening party and invited everyone, including Evie in the earlier family part of the day, as she and Mom had been spending a lot of time together recently and we had watched her with our sisters and nephews and when she had gone home to change for the evening before returning in a figure hugging dress we had all realised we missed her when she wasn't near us.  We had tried to talk to her but she had avoided us or latched onto Mom or our sisters to avoid be alone with us, so our eyes had tracked her, as she had danced and moved around the room, her dress showing us every curve and heating our thoughts, teasing us.

I thought back to how that first summer had been, the pranks and laughter and wondered for the hundredth time why it changed, why she had retreated, had we frightened her?

"We need a plan" Eli said watching Riki.  "To do what?' I asked leaning against the car next to him.  "We all want her, but do we want what the dads and Mom have?" he replied causing Riki to stop and stare at him.  "And would she want all of us?" he finished.

"She hates us, she runs when she sees us coming, it doesn't matter what we want if she's not interested" I reply turning to face Eli, who shakes his head at me.  "You're wrong, she cares, if she didn't then she wouldn't be so evasive, we all know she can stick up for herself, we've all seen her chase away bullies and deal with anyone she wants to... except us, she hides from us, all of us" he explains and I think about his statement, he's right.

Riki joins us "Okay, say you're right, what can we do about it, she's off to Uni at the end of the summer and so are we, but not together"

"We have the summer to show her we are interested, our brothers waited for Eve to finish Uni before they claimed her, we can do the same with Evie" Eli explained.

"And how do we stop someone else taking her when she's away from us" Riki questioned and Eli smiled evilly "leave that to me, I have a few ideas".   "like wh...?" I started to ask but the sound of her laugh stopped me as she and her friends came out into the car park.

Her laugh died when she saw us all standing watching, her blush returning before she caught herself and muttered something to the guy next to her,  his gaze found us before he pulled her into his arms, a smirk turning to a full grin on his face as he watched us stiffen, before leading her away to his car.

"Who the fuck is he?" Eli grated. "Nick Carlisle, he's on her photography course, his dad owns a couple of art galleries" I told them watching them leave.

 "What do we know about him, are they together?" Riki asked and I shook my head "I don't think so, and about him, nothing yet but we can soon find out, I'm helping Gabe in the office tomorrow, so I can use our systems to check him out"

"Maybe we should talk to Gabe about what they did with Eve, I have a feeling we are going to need all the help we can get" Eli suggested and I agreed.

xx

"Gabe, how did you know Eve was right for you?" I asked, sitting across the desk from him, he smiled slightly before replying "We all realised we were seriously interested when she turned 18, we had noticed her before that, but she was too young and practically a sister" he laughed at his memories "she twisted us up and we sat down and talked to the dads about how we felt, we took a risk by not making her aware of our interest until she finished Uni but we knew we had support from the girls and Mom, They watched out for her, for us"

"How did you know she was interested in you all?" I pushed.

"We didn't, we hoped and really just never allowed the thought of not having her to grow, there were signs that she was interested, her response to us when we were near, her words and actions, she tried to avoid us and blushed hard when she couldn't" he laughed again "Are you all finally going to go after Evie?"

"What?" I questioned looking at him shocked.

"Evie, you know, short, feisty, lives in the cottage down the road" he teased watching me.

"Fuck...How did you know?"

"Oh little brother, the signs are all there, be warned, Mom will be pleased, she told the dads this would happen years ago, you threw her a bit when you started college but she's been watching you again since your birthday party"

"What?" I ask open mouthed "Mom knows?".

Gabe laughed again before sobering "What are you going to do, you're all off to Uni soon and not the same one" he asked and I smiled back "ahh for that, we might need your help"

I waited tensely as Gabe looked at me in silence before replying "Okay, what do you need?"

xx

"He's gay!" Eli questions when I join them in our rooms later, with the information Gabe helped me find.

"Yep, she's his smokescreen, apparently no-one knows, even his parents don't know and they think she's his girlfriend but it's not real, their facebook status changed the day after our party and Gabe reckons that smokescreen might work both ways" I tell them grinning.

"So she's faking it, why would she bother?" Riki asks confused.

"To hide from us" I tell them softly.