After

Chapter two

My stuff is in my new room. Matthew wasn't in the house, when we arrived so I haven't met him yet. My room is on the first floor (second floor if you're British. For people who are confused: It is not the ground floor, but the floor above it). One of my walls is completely made of glass and it has a sliding door so I can go to my balcony. Like my brother told me, I have a beautiful view on the beach. My bed is like a couch and a bed in one. With a bore I made handles in the wall for my guitar and violin. My brother already placed an electric piano in my room as a present. In a corner stands my dad's old desk and a quilt my mom made lays on my bed. With a soft grey, green and white theme my bedroom is beautiful and peaceful. It reminds me of the home I had a long time ago.

My brother made me shop online yesterday when he found out I only had two sets of clothes. The only reason my aunt let me have two sets instead of one was because she didn't want to see me naked on washing day. Yup, my dear aunt really loved me. My new room has a closet that is actually filled with clothes.

With I feeling of pride I look around my room. Finally, I can be myself again.

I walk downstairs and start preparing dinner.

I hear laughter coming from the living room and when I peek through the open door I see a bunch of man joking together. I guess I'll have to make dinner for six hungry idiots instead of just two.

I quickly start to peel more potatoes. Luckily, Kayden and Matthew have a lot of provisions.

When I stir in the vegetables a deep voice behind me speaks: "What are you doing here?" I yelp in surprise and make myself small, preparing for him to hit me. The hit doesn't come and when I hesitantly turn around, I see a very big man frowning at me. I look away fast, hoping he won't be mad with me for looking.

"Jackson, leave my sister alone!" I hear Kayden yell from the living room.

"So you're the famous Allison?", He asks while getting closer to me. I take a step back. My back hits the stove and I burn my arm on the side of the frying pan. I hiss in surprise. The Jackson guy tries to grab my arm, but I quickly duck around him. He holds up his hands.

"Relax, It's not like I'm going to hurt you or something." I take another step away from him.

"Alright I'll go away.", Jackson says in a soft tone. He moves slowly to not frighten me further I think. I appreciate it either way.

I hear him say: "Kayden, we need to talk." When he walks into the living room again. I watch my brother with suspicion, but I can't hear what they are saying. I focus back on the food, barely preventing that the food gets burned. I let it cook for another few minutes, while I grab the cutlery. I tick with a spoon against the cover of the pot to gain the attention from everyone. I see my brother look up.

"Supper is ready.", I tell him. He holds up a finger and whispers to his friends. Then they all stand up and walk into the kitchen. I scurry in the corner, waiting for them to pick the food so I can eat some leftovers. Kayden sees what I'm doing and pulls me out of my chosen spot.

"Didn't they teach you manners at home?", he asks the others. They look back at him in surprise. Then at me, half behind my brother. They all stop grabbing the food and mumble excuses.

"Get as much as you want, Lyss.", Kayden says to me. I take another look to my brother to make sure he is serious. He catches me looking at him.

"F*ck, Lyss, what did she do to you?" I look to the ground. "Lyss, you have to understand this: I. Am. Not. Going. To. Hurt. You. Ever. And neither are the other guys here. Do you get me?" I nod. I know Kayden would never hurt me. He's my big brother, but I cannot let my guard down so easily after three years, especially with all the strangers around.

One of Kayden's friends walks over to me. "Hi, I'm Matthew Wright , your new roomie. Kayden talks about you all the time." He puts an arm around me and I have to force myself to not have a panic attack. He drags me across the kitchen and gives me a plate. Then he starts to fill my plate.

"You're going to find this place amazing. We're going to have so much fun together. All the pranks we can play on your brother and you can tell me all the embarrassing stories about him." Matthew leads me to the table while babbling further. I can only think: "Doesn't he know I can't talk?" He doesn't expect me to say anything during his babbling.

Half way through the meal I sign to my brother: "Do they know I cannot talk?"

"Yup, your brother told us, when he thought us sign language." The guy across me says. He's a dark skin colour and looks really scary.

"Why would you learn sign language?" I ask him. "We saw you and Taylor talking on Skype one time and thought it could come handy in missions sometime, so we asked him to teach us."

"It definitely helped us through training, didn't it Martinez?" someone left from me says. "Yeah, we would have been toast for sure if Taylor didn't know sign language." The guy across from me replies. So he was Martinez. My brother sees me thinking and smiles.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves to my sister. Although she already knows me, I'll start. Hey Lyss, I'm Kayden Taylor and I'm twenty-two years old."

"I'm Matthew Wright. I'm twenty-three years old and your new roommate" He winks at me. Then the scary person across me starts: "I'm Carlos Martinez, I am twenty-two years old and I am single.", he says smiling. My brother punches him in the shoulder.

"I'm Justin Moore.", the person on the left says to me. "I'm twenty-three like Wright and I'm the most handsome of them all."

"I'm Keith Jackson. I'm twenty-two and we've already met in the kitchen. I would like to thank you for the amazing food." The other guys also say thank you's and compliment on the food.

"I am Samuel Parker. I'm the youngest and will turn twenty-two in three weeks. So our ages are closest.", the last guy says suggestively.

"I am Allison Taylor. I am seventeen years old, which makes me jailbait. So I kindly suggest you all to bugger off." I smile sweetly to them and Kayden laughs.

"Tell them their place, little sis.", he tells me.

"So Allison, what are your plans for tomorrow?", Carlos asks me. I shrug. It's Sunday tomorrow and today is my first day here. How could I have plans?

"Would you like to try your hand at shooting? I mean normally the shooting range is closed on Sunday, but for us they make an exception and you will have lovely eye-candy." He lets his hands slide down his upper body. I shake my head and sign: "I would love to.".

My brother and I smile mischievously to each other. My father had been a SEAL before he became a captain in the navy. He both taught my brother and I how to shoot and defend ourselves from the age of seven. Although, my brother was amazing at hand-to-hand combat. I'm one of the best snipers in the country and even my aunt couldn't keep my from training, because that was my parents motto: Always honour your skills and maintain them as your most precious possession.