My Name is Joseph

Jealousy

"It's so stupid!" nineteen-year old Johnnie exclaimed as he slammed himself down into one of the chairs in the large dining room he and the other brothers regularly used. He did not have food this time, however, having avoided the kitchen as soon as he had seen what was at the front of the house. There was no way he was going to run into both dad and Joseph at the same time. Have to grovel at Joseph's feet for his birthday? No way.

Josh just rolled his eyes. "This is stupid? How would you feel if you were the oldest, the one who should inherit the bulk of your father's," he paused, "well everything," he rolled his eyes again, "and the young, stuck-up son of the nearly illegitimate wife gets it all instead? Did you hear Dad the other day? He's giving Joseph everything! Even the company! Joseph hasn't even worked a day in his life!"

He huffed and Oliver walked in with a plate of food, so he huffed again and muttered to himself angrily. Oliver was twenty-seven and Josh's only full brother. He was quieter than Josh, but not by much. "What is it?" he smirked at Johnny, "Your day's already been ruined?"

Johnnie gave him an annoyance-filled look as he sat down, "Have you seen what Dad got Joseph for his birthday?"

"What, he got more than the house and the company?" Oliver snorted before shoving an unholy amount of bacon and eggs into his mouth.

"Look out the front of the house," Twenty-one-year-old Noah answered as he walked into the room, attempted to pull out a chair, failed, then slammed it back under the table, electing to stomp over and stand by the wall.

Oliver shrugged and continued eating. But when the others merely glared at nothing in particular and said nothing more for several minutes, he looked back up at them, "That bad, huh?"

When no one answered, he looked around curiously, got up, and walked out of the room. The others just sat and glowered as they waited for him to come back. When he came back with the twins, William and Liam, his face was full of shock, which quickly turned to anger. William and Liam were already muttering to each other irritably.

"Something needs to be done about this," Josh banged his hand against the table, rattling Oliver's plate, which now sat alone.

"About what?" Ryder asked as he walked in, another plate of food in his hand. He glanced around at everyone's irritated faces before landing his questioning gaze on Josh. Johnnie and Oliver groaned in annoyance. All the brothers knew that Ryder tended to be softer when it came to Joseph.

"Did you see Joseph's birthday present?" Liam offered, in a slightly mocking tone as Ryder took his first bite of food.

Ryder raised his eyebrows in curiosity, "No," he paused to chew his bagel, "Why?"

"You better go look, then." Johnnie answered with a snarl.

"Okay," Ryder glanced at each of them curiously, used to their bad moods, but unsure at this across-the-board anger that was boiling in everyone. He took one last bite before laying his plate on the table and exiting the room again, but not without another curious backward glance. 

Josh and Oliver glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, not expecting anything except for the wimpy acceptance that Ryder had recently been showing to Dad and Joseph. They were quite pleasantly surprised, however, when Ryder entered again a few minutes later, eyes round as saucers, annoyance glimmering his eyes, and mouth tightly shut.

"Well? Do you see what needs dealt with now?" Josh spat out as soon as Ryder sat down. The sarcasm dripping in his voice rivaled that of a hormonal teenage girl. 

Ryder just gazed at them all with the most confused, blindsided, and slightly-irritated expression one could ever muster, and did not say a word--almost as if he had been struck dumb.

"Dad also decided to give Joseph the house and the company." Oliver spat out, "if you hadn't already heard."

Ryder, who had just taken another bite of his bagel, probably without even realizing he had because he was so surprised, nearly choked on the piece in his mouth. "He what?"

Liam snorted, "Joseph's just sooo smart that he deserves it. Not to mention his mother was that wretch of a woman who stole our mother's husband."

"Joseph this, Joseph that. Does it ever stop? Apparently not! Are we no longer even his sons?" William's hands rolled into fists where they were resting on the table as he rolled his eyes.

"It seems we aren't, given that Joseph gets everything." Oliver sneered.

"That's why something needs to be done." Josh stated quietly, with a malice-filled voice. He stood up slowly, deliberately pushed his chair in, and crossed his arms as a smile grew on his angry face.

"What do you mean, something needs to be done?" Ryder retorted, finally having gotten his choking under control when Johnnie had snorted and slammed a glass of water in front of him, "We couldn't get anything back without harming Joseph in some way."

"And is that a bad idea?" Josh answered without flinching a muscle, instead, gazing directly into Ryder's eyes, almost challenging him to disagree. If Ryder would not come on board, then anything they would plan would not work. But if he did...

The other brothers looked up at Josh, who continued gazing at Ryder. 

"Do you really think there would be something we could do?" Johnnie whispered.

After a few more seconds of silently asking Ryder if he would agree, Josh took his silence and the anger that was finally boiling in his eyes as agreement. So he leaned back, made eye contact with each of the brothers, then narrowed his eyes, "I believe there is."