The Victim (Book #1)

Chapter 45

The rest of the week flew by and soon enough it was the weekend. I was excited when Saturday arose, which was kind of a new feeling for me. When I lived with my uncle, school was a break from being around him and being home. In this new family, staying home was a break from school and a reason to be happy.

But I didn't want today to be like the other weekends I had spent here, exploring or on Netflix. I wanted today to be special.

By lunchtime, I knew it would be. Charlotte looked up from the cutting board where she was preparing her lunches for the week and yelled to Brooks, who was in the living room with the other boys. I sat at the kitchen table, working on homework so that I could enjoy tonight and Sunday without distraction.

"Brooks?" she called loudly, voice echoing in the cavernous halls.

"Yeah?" he called back.

She quieted her voice when she realized how close he was to us and said "What do you think about inviting Valerie over tonight? I haven't seen her in a while!"

I heard shuffling from the room and then Brooks walked in and up to the counter. "Sounds good!" he said to her. "We could do a BBQ out back? I'm down to make burgers."

"Puh-lease." Dominic said, trailing in behind them. "I'll make them with Caleb. Brooks couldn't make a good burger if you begged him."

Caleb laughed from the other room and I could hear Damon chuckling too. Brooks turned around and glared at his older brother, giving up the expression when Dominic smiled back, unafraid.

"More time to spend with Val, I guess. Too bad you don't have someone to invite." He said with mock pity.

"I do actually have someone to invite." He said, still at ease. He looked up at Charlotte. "Mom, could I invite a girl too?"

She thought about it before breaking into a smile and saying with artificial grandiosity, "it could be an event."

He rolled his eyes with a smile but said "perfect."

I interrupted their conversation with whining, that seemed perfectly justified to me.

"Why can't I invite someone?" I asked, making my eyes go wide and look sad. Charlotte almost unconsciously tilted her head in remorse before saying that I could bring someone too.

"Yay!" I said, cheerfully resuming my homework. Dominic and Brooks walked over to the table, sitting down menacingly on either side of me. I kept writing, as if I hadn't noticed, trying not to crack up at their angry expressions. I hoped they didn't realize my essays conclusion had turned into random words I wrote to make it look like I was focused.

I looked up at Brooklyn as if in surprise when he cleared his throat.

"Is there a problem?" I asked innocently.

"Who are you bringing tonight?" he asked, giving me a look that could only be described as threatening.

"Just someone I met at school." I said, giggling a little at the end of my statement.

"What's his name?" Dominic asked, cracking all of his knuckles with a quick pop that was supposed to intimidate but mostly just grossed me out.

"Ew!" I said, looking at his hands.

"What a cute name!" Caleb said sarcastically, walking into the room.

Brooks nudged me with his shoulder. "Well? Who is it?"

Caleb walked over to us and slammed his hands down on the table abruptly, looking at the boys with his gentle eyes squinted fiercely.

"She can bring whoever she damn well pleases, gentlemen. Now get back to kicking puppies or whatever you were doing before you began intimidating this sweet, innocent girl." He said, nodding his head towards me. I bit my lip to keep from laughing as the boys got up and shuffled away, muttering to each other.

Caleb leaned down closer to me with a smile.

"You're welcome." He said tauntingly, wiggling his eyebrows in my direction and taking a seat next to me. We started laughing and poking each other in the ribs to make it worse. His sides were his weakness, and mine were definitely ticklish too.

"Thanks, C." I said when we managed to calm down. "But how do you know you won't hate whoever I choose to invite?"

"Oh please." He said as he stood. "I'm sure J.J. and you are close but I'm not too worried about her making any moves."

He gave me a quick wink before exiting the room and heading up the stairs. I smiled to myself.

He knew me too well.