Burning Ties

Chapter Sixteen

Iris POV

A few days later, the tension between my parents and brothers remain, however I can say that I'm confident my papa cares since he's been checking up on me every now and then, however he definitely cares more about my mama. I can't say I blame him, so it's okay, I understand perfectly well why he isn't bothering to spend much time with me.

I'm currently sitting in the library - yes, there's a whole library in this freaking house - with Carmine, turns out he's a major nerd like me and so, we've started our own little book club.

Of course it's just the two of us since most of our other brothers would rather shoot themselves than read a book, but I'm happy and by the looks of it, Carmine is too.

I'm just about to make a remark about something the character in our book did when the library door bursts open and a group of people I don't know walk in. At first, Carmine looks startled before he realises that he knows the people, so he relaxes and rolls his eyes - and, I mean, good for him but who the hell are they?

"She's so cute, Luka!" A random dude with caramel skin exclaims, he looks kind of like the dude from spiderman, and he's suddenly walking toward me, making me panic.

I slowly push myself deeper into the beanbag I'm sitting in, hoping that either Carmine or Luca notices my discomfort, however niether of them do before the guy pulls me into a hug and I start hyperventilating.

Logically, I know he isn't doing anything bad, but I don't know him and I didn't consent to the contact.

It's Carmine who notices my panic first, and he immediately signs it to Luka who isn't paying attention, so he gets off his chair and pulls the guy away from me before pulling me into a hug of his own.

I immediately relax into his arms, grateful that I didn't need to say anything before he noticed my discomfort, but slightly disappointed it took so long to notice.

"Thanks, Car." I whisper, before pulling away and watching him nod.

"You okay there, girlie?" The dude who hugged me asked, and I nod, not really wanting to speak to him. I don't know him.

"Iris, this is my friend Jay," Luka gestures to the dude who hugged me, "this is Rina, Slater, Aaron and Zayna." He gestures to the rest of the people.

"Um, Hi?" I greet, not knowing what to say. I mean, they're people so it should be fine?

"You really are the cutest!" Jay says, looking at me like I'm a puppy. He seems sweet, but again, I don't know him.

"Thank you." I reply, not knowing what else to reply with. I need to ask Leo how to reply to compliments.

"Jay, I probably should have told you before, but Iris isn't the most comfortable with strangers and if she doesn't know or trust you, she'll panic if you touch her..." Luka explains, looking a bit sheepish. I narrow my eyes at him, it's definitely something he should've mentioned to his friend way earlier, like before he met me kind of earlier.

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I shouldn't have assumed you'd be okay with me hugging you. I've just been hearing about you for ages and I got a bit excited to meet you. Forgive me?" Jay asks, looking disappointed in himself.

"It's okay," I reply, feeling bad for him. I'm sure he didn't mean to make me uncomfortable.

Jay nods, looking slightly relieved at the fact that I forgive him before Luka interrupts.