Sullivan Siblings

XIII

"Can you hold my arms back?" Kieth asks, putting his arms behind his back. I grab his wrists and slowly push them together, letting his muscles stretch.

"I'm having a couple friends over tonight," I say. It's been about a week of working out with him, and a week of wondering who exactly Izak Sullivan is to us, who in the world that blonde haired lady is, and if she's been waving at me or Katie. A week of the girls warming up to Kieth, a week of holding back my sarcastic and sassy attitude around Baby so Emmett won't think I'm flirting with him. I think I get stage fright when I see Odin observing our cheer practices. I'm officially ungrounded today and because Ivan has us volunteering somewhere this weekend, my Saturday to spend with friends was pushed ahead to this evening. "You can come, if you want."

"Shit, man, I dunno," Kieth laughs nervously. "Hollis and Silas made it pretty clear what they were gonna do to me, something involving baseball bats, I think? If we did more than just work out. And, they said Odin would help them hide my body...."

"Oh." I state dumbly. They didn't tell me that! I also want to say that they are just kidding but I'm suddenly very aware of the pet cemetery our backyard is because of Emmett and Silas's sociopathic tendencies. Odin's buried pets for them, what is one step up to humans?

"And I, like, actually believe them, 'cause I think there is someone following me." Kieth looks sick to his stomach when he voices his thoughts aloud. I drop his hands after an eight second Mississippi count. "Different times of the day, here at school, I see someone shadowing me and running errands I've noticed, like, three times a green Ford F-150 a couple streets or blocks down."

"Oh, no." I can't help but gag. Levi's precious is a green Ford. He's the chill older brother! I didn't expect him to jump on the crazy train and stalk my friends just because they are boys! He's also too good to be caught, at least from what I understand with what he's told us, so he followed too close to Kieth on purpose! They're going to make the poor guy scared of his own shadow!

"This has only started since we started working out together." He scratches his head sheepishly. "You got some whacked out brothers."

"I know!" I wail, sounding very much like Monica from Friends. I might even throw my hands up in the air like her. He picks up his water bottle and toasts it at me. "But, I'll see you Monday, Huxley. Thanks for spotting me."

"No problem, Kieth," I sigh sadly. Why do my brothers have to run off my friends? I watch him walk out of the weight lifting room, windbreaker flung over his shoulder. Then I groan when a familiar, annoying face pops in the doorway of the stinky weight lifting slash equipment storage room. "What do you want, Fred?"

"Hot damn, Huckleberry." Baby frowns as he lifts up his sweater over his head. He looks like a stalk of celery waving before his head appears again and he throws his sweater on the floor by the corner. "I'm working out."

"Oh," I respond glumly. I pick up Emmett's crewneck that I stole and slip it over my head. Since Odin banned me from wearing his, Emmett has been my go to. Oddly enough, Emmett isn't petty and possessive when it comes to me wearing his clothes, unlike Hollis, Silas and Simon.

Lukas is way too tall for me to attempt it, a good foot and two inches taller. It dwarfs my five foot two self because he is six feet and one inch. And, of course, Emmett's sweater is black. He is void of colour. I huff when my hair thrown in a low ponytail escapes and staticky strands fall into my face.

"Why so sad, Chad?" Baby asks as he starts stretching out his arms. Tristan is the next in the weight room, diligently stretching. I look at Tristan and hesitate, not really wanting to rant about how crazy my brothers are to someone who doesn't understand it. Baby pulls out a speaker from his backpack, turns on some AC/DC loudly enough we can't hear someone running if they were doing a fast paced run, and walks over to me. He stands in front of me, his thick, muscular upper body blocking my view of Tristan. Well, for a fifteen year old. He has nothing on Odin.