Sophia

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

I glanced down at the plane ticket in my fingers, the one that would take me from this hellhole to Charleston. Part of me was glad to leave my home, but another part – a bigger part – of me was worried. What if they didn't like me? What if they didn't want a sister? I wouldn't blame them. I had gone sixteen years without knowing that they existed and I assumed they'd done the same.

My boarding number was called and I grabbed my carry on and headed for the plane. I handed my ticket to the flight attendant, who checked it over carefully along with my ID. "Have a good flight." She murmured as she gestured for me to walk down the long hallway type thing.

I thanked her, but she didn't acknowledge me as she moved on to the person behind me. I smiled shakily at the pilot and another flight attendant as I headed for my seat. I had never been on a plane before, and when I found my seat, I was surprised to see it was in first class. Someone by the name of Mr. Blackbourne had sent me the ticket with the instructions on what I was to do. Apparently his wife was due with a baby soon, and he was worried about leaving her side.

I had to respect him a bit for that. His wife seemed to be very important to him, given the correspondences we'd had over the last month or so. It made me feel better about leaving everything I knew to stay with this man and his wife. A small part of me was hoping that they'd be nothing like my mother and her... man... was like, but a larger part of me thought that maybe that's what all adults were like.

I sighed as I sat down. I grabbed my iPod out of my bag and leaned back against my seat as I put the earbuds in my ears. I tapped my foot lightly to the beat that was softly playing through the small speakers in my ears. My iPod was in airplane mode, so I didn't have to worry about turning it off like the person next to me did.

I spent most of the flight listening to my music and trying not to interact with the other passengers. The old guy next to me kept leering down at me in a creepy way, and by the time we landed, I was more than ready to get off this fucked up ride. I had to change flights two more times before we landed at the airport closest to my destination.

As soon as we were able to get off the plane, I grabbed my bag and made my way slowly down the walkway, following an elderly couple. After the long, slow trek down the tunnel, I stepped out of the way and looked around. I wasn't sure where I was supposed to go next, but Mr. Blackbourne had said someone would be waiting for me at the luggage claim, so I followed the crowd in what I hoped was the direction I needed.

This airport was smaller than the one I had originally started in, and the baggage area was fairly close to the terminal I came out of. I had to wait for a few moments before the luggage started coming through on the conveyor belt, but it wasn't long before I found both of my bags. I was able to grab them and set them off to the side as I waited for some sign to show me where to go.

Minutes later, a large man who looked to be in his early twenties was shoving his way through the crowd. His hair was a reddish color and he seemed to have an excessive amount of muscles... everywhere. The man next to him was about the same age, only smaller. His russet hair was a little longish, and the strands on either side of his face were blond. As they got closer, I could see that the smaller man had earring studs in both ears, and in his right ear, he had three black studs.

They walked a few more feet towards me, and I could hear them as the smaller man said, "Fucking shit, I hate airports."

The bigger man's lips twitched in a semi smile as he nodded in agreement, "Me too."

Their eyes scanned the crowd until they fell on me, "Oy, you must be Sophia." At my nod, the smaller man continued, "I'm Gabriel. This is Nathan. Owen said we're supposed to take you back to the house." He was finally close enough that I could see the crystal blue of his eyes. They were gorgeous, and I found myself envious and wishing my own brown eyes matched his blue ones.

I finally registered what he'd said, and asked curiously, "Owen?"

The bigger man, Nathan, nodded. "You probably know him as Mr. Blackbourne. He's convinced that Sang will go into labor if he leaves the house, so we're here to take you to him."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so I asked, "What about my... brothers...?" Should I call them that? I mean, technically we were half siblings, or, in North's case, step siblings. Just because we were related, didn't mean I had the right to call them my brothers, though... did it?

"Let's get out of this hellhole. North and Luke are waiting at the house. They were arguing with Uncle about where you'd be staying, so we figured you could meet them when we got to the house." Gabriel murmured as he grabbed one of my bags. I started to grab my other suitcase, but before I could, Nathan had it by the handle and was wheeling it towards the exit. I quickly followed him and Gabriel brought up the rear.

They took me out to the parking garage, where a dark SUV was parked. I shoved a strand of my blond hair out of my eyes as both of the boys hefted my bags into the back. "You get the back, Shorty." Nathan said as he opened the back door for me. I was a little shocked that he felt the need to open the door for me, but I thanked him and climbed in.

I watched as they both climbed into the front seat and Nathan started the car, just as Gabriel's phone rang.

"Yeah?" Pause. "We're on our fucking way!" He paused again, this time for a few moments longer, "No, we didn't fucking stop for coffee! We just picked her up." Another pause, and I shrank back in my seat slightly when he glanced back at me, "Shit, dude. Seriously? Now?" He heaved a sigh, and I imagined he was rolling his eyes before he glanced at me again, "Luke wants to know what your favorite dessert is." He stated.

"Um... I don't know... I'm not really much of a sweets person..." I muttered. The truth was, I loved anything with frosting on it, but I wasn't exactly sure that I wanted them to know what my weakness was.

"She says she isn't really into sweets..." Gabriel trailed off and I noticed that Nathan chuckled at that.

"North will approve." Nathan stated as we pulled into a large, circular driveway.

Pg