Us [18+]

Chapter 4

MADELINE'S POV ⛓️

Punch bowls, snack wraps, empty and half full bottles were everywhere. Walking further, I found a cigarette pack. Who the hell smoked in here?

Thankfully, everyone made it to their respective bedrooms. It would have been a hassle to get this cleaned up with people passed out on the couches.

Why I'm up at 6 when I went to bed at 5? I don't know, either. It's probably conditioning. It's alright, though. I'll fall right back asleep and then round everyone up for breakfast at 11.

Squeezing myself through the slightly open door, I went back to bed and drifted into a dreamless sleep. With Iris held close to me, of course.

                             *-*-*-*
I woke up and in less than two seconds, I was already pissed. There were two reasons for this; one- Iris was nowhere in the vicinity and two- I heard people talking.
Looking at my phone and seeing that it was forty three minutes past breakfast time made it three reasons.

I dragged myself to the bathroom, albeit groggily, and made myself presentable. While in there, I absentmindedly went through my phone and saw an email that could have ruined my whole day if I didn't brush it off right then and there.

All conversation ceased and every pair of eyes landed on me as soon as I walked out of my room. Raising a brow that said 'i know I'm hot but you should be used to it by now', I ignored them and went to get a cup of tea.

"Rude."

"She's the embodiment of 'not a morning person'."

"She'll beat your ass when she gets back." That, I will.

"Kayden, why didn't you call me yesterday?" I asked as I moved to plop myself atop Jared. He tried to pry me off him but I wouldn't budge.

"I- ah- I had errands to run."

"For who?" I was eyeing him suspiciously at this point

"Someone."

"The mohawk you brought here yesterday? Without my permission, dare I add."

"Uh- no?" Everyone was laughing at him. He's such a mess when he's nervous.

"Jared, honey" I planted wet kisses all over his face. Kisses that he proceeded to wipe, earning him a scowl from me. "How have you been? You're my favorite brother, you know that?"

"What do you want, Maddie?" I flicked his nose to stop him from squinting at me.

"Nothing, Jared." Another round of laughter. I'm on fire today. I like how much of a talkative I am when I'm with my family. I wouldn't spare strangers so much as a second glance but I'm like a chatterbox with the people I love.

I looked around and noticed that Dexter's girlfriend wasn't in the room. "D, where's your girl?"

"Oh, so now you'll talk to me." This man child was pouting.

"Are you complaining?"

"No ma'am. She had to go out with friends or something."

"Or something? You weren't paying attention?"

"I was. She was just mumbling so much." I rolled my eyes at him. He replied to that with an eye roll of his own. It was always like this with us. Being my immediate older brother, he's always been a pain in my ass.

"Maybe she was uncomfortable. She's not used to the whole family being in the same room." Iris, who'd been strangely quiet spoke.

"Ever the logical one. You're making the rest of us look dumb." D replied.

"Dexter, you are dumb."

"But I'm hot."

"What difference does it make? Iris is hot, too." I caught her eye after I said that and she looked nervous for a second. What the hell was that about? Whatever she was telling me with her eyes was drowned out by laughter.

I turned my full attention back to the rest, with the assurance that she'll tell me what's going on. She always does.

"Maddie, can we go in the pool?"

"Yes." While the lot of them stood up to go to the poolside, I whispered to Jared that I wanted to talk to him. I watched as Iris awkwardly went after them, uncertainty in her gait.

"You okay?"

"No Jared. I'm scared! I don't want to lose my match. Julia or Jolene is really good and I have a feeling she's not showing all she's got. To top it all, she sent me an email requesting more practice matches. They seem to have this evil plan about getting used to all my attack patterns."

"I don't want to lose my title, Jared. I worked too hard to get here!" I was damn near shouting by now and there were tears spilling from my eyes. This whole ordeal is stressing me more than I thought.

Being Jared, he just wrapped his hands around me and let me cry. Sometimes, all I needed was my big brother and I'm grateful that he's always there for me.

When my sobs died down, he pushed my head face and wiped my tears, kissing my head, nose and cheeks along the way.

"Did you reply to the email?"

"Nope. I just tossed my phone somewhere before I had a meltdown."

"Do you want to reply to it?" He was searching my face.

"I don't know. I could leave it all to Kayden."

"Do what you feel is best, baby. Remember to never doubt yourself or how much we believe in you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Do you want to go in the pool too?"

"Duh."

"Brat." Today is finally going how I want it to.