Miss Perfect and Her Brothers (Part I&II)

8. The empire

Tony didn't say a word to me to explain what happened the previous evening. Not that I was surprised — by now, it had become tradition for him to avoid any contact with me. 

But this time, he could've at least thought that I deserved the bare minimum of an explanation. So I wouldn't have to keep worrying that I was living under the same roof as a psychopath. 

Or five psychopaths.

These thoughts started to weigh on me, and I'm pretty sure they were responsible for at least a few migraines I've had recently. So I decided it was finally time to talk to someone about it, vent a little, and lighten the load. 

Unfortunately, when I ran a quick mental casting call for the most suitable listener, nobody won.

My brothers were out in the first round. Dylan and Tony didn't even make it to the starting line. Mona and Audrey were just friends, after all. If I started telling them about bloody shirts, they probably wouldn't take it too well. They'd freak out and tell their parents, and I'd end up in foster care. Things with my brothers might not be as cozy and family-like as in commercials, but I'm not sure I could handle more moves and getting to know new legal guardians.

So, in the end, I told Jason what had happened. He wasn't the best candidate either, but since he was the last one left, I went with him and just decided not to go too deep into the details. I'd just sketch the situation for him...

"I don't know if he got into another fight with someone or what," I said, staring at my hands. "Maybe it's totally normal for him to walk around the house in bloody clothes..."

"Maybe it was paint? You know, maybe he was painting something?" Jason chuckled. He was reacting with way less concern than I had hoped for. "What? Apparently, he's good at, like, artsy stuff. I heard he designed those badass tattoos himself."

"That shirt was torn!" I emphasized, then frowned. "Wait, seriously, he designed them himself?"

"Yeah! They look sick, right?" Jason nodded. "And about the torn shirt — maybe there was a girl posing for him, and they ended up in bed. What do you think?"

I shot him a sour look. On one hand, Jason's dumb ideas annoyed me because they downplayed a situation that, for me, was a serious problem. But on the other hand, his chill attitude actually helped calm me down a bit.

"He looked pissed," I added.

"Maybe the sex was bad."

I stared at Jason for a long moment, then burst out laughing. Maybe that's what I needed. A laugh. I was also glad we'd come up with some sort of explanation for Tony's behavior. Even if it was ridiculous, nonsensical, and highly unlikely, I preferred believing it over thinking it was blood and another fight.

Once I started talking to Jason about my brothers, it was hard to stop. I desperately needed to complain, to share what it was like living with five of my new, suspicious siblings, and oh God, it was such a relief to just casually gossip about them.

"Mona and Audrey once told me there are all kinds of rumors about my brothers," I said. "Do you know... any of them?"

"You want me to believe you didn't push them for more details?"

"I didn't want to admit that I had to rely on random people for information about my own brothers," I confessed, wrapping my arms around myself. "It's a little humiliating, especially since the whole school already knows I just met them."

Jason nodded and even scooted closer, wrapping an arm around me, which was such a nice gesture that I relaxed and finally realized just how tense I'd been the whole time.