War

Chapter Sixteen

A/N - messy chapter coming your way❤️

Upsetting (and heated) scenes this chapter

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Aniyah
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It had been two weeks since the..events around the dinner table where Eli had shouted at Izzy, which resulted in Xav shouting at Eli, and then the pair of them leaving before they could join us for food; now we were all over at Zane and Nix's for a meal.

A very awkward meal, if I did say so myself.

Aside from myself, Marco and his brothers being present, Zane, Phoenix, Izzy and Xav were home too...and apparently tensions were still running high. If the all but subtle glares Zane was giving Eli were anything to go off of anyway.

I understood that he was being protective over his sister, but Eli had been doing the same for Zeke; Marco had since told me that their cousins weren't aware of his brother's struggles surrounding meal time and would like it to stay that way, for Zeke's sake.

"Did anyone want any more?", I glanced up from my plate as Phoenix gestured to the large dish of lasagna with a weak smile, obviously trying to break the excruciating silence in the room.

"I've got plenty Nix", Izzy told her brother's boyfriend, mirroring his half smile and briefly looking around the table.

"Me too, thank you", I replied when it appeared nobody else was going to, they all seemed too infatuated in staring at each other intimidatingly instead. I was sandwiched in between Zeke and Marco, the former literally vibrating with anxiety and the latter squeezing his fork in a death grip as he watched his older cousin closely.

I didn't see this ending well.

"It's fucking great though Nix, you cooked it?", Emiliano broke the silence again and I saw Izzy visibly deflate in relief, apparently she hated the tension just as much as I found it painful.

"I did, wasn't too hard", he beamed, turning to Zane and frowning, "and you're not eating any of it".

I drowned out him assuring Phoenix that he did, in fact, love his cooking and turned to Zeke; he was staring at his still-full plate almost in a daze, shaking due to the noise around him despite the earplugs he had in. The nineteen year old had insisted on coming to show his face today, but it looked like he was enduring torture at this point, it was unfair on him.

"Because you're spending the entire time glaring at my brother", worrying about my brother-in-law was cut short when Marco spoke up to my right, his deep voice sending a chill down my spine, "get over it, he's apologised to Isabella countless times in the past two weeks".

"He's right Zane, what happened is in the past", Izzy assured her brother who was now staring at Marco, eyes slightly narrowed as he cocked his head to the side- it was like watching two Marco's sit opposite each other.

"I don't take lightly to people who make my sister cry", he sent a pointed look to Eli who scoffed, dropped his cutlery on his plate and raked a hand through his black hair harshly. Oh shit.