Chapter Three: Rose
“I’m, um…” I mumbled, not sure of what to say. I racked my brain for an explanation that made sense, but kept getting distracted by the pure anger that was coming off of him in waves. If looks could kill I’d be on the ground, and his strange eyes reminded me of Philippe’s. I realized he must have been one of his siblings.
“Your brother, Ph-”
“Philippe!” He yelled before I could finish my sentence, and pushed me into the kitchen.
His hands were rough but gentle on my back, not hurting me but forceful enough to get me where he wanted. They were strangely hot, like he had been standing next to a fire, and he felt like he was barely containing himself- ready to explode.
“How did you know it was me?” Philippe asked with a smile when we got into the kitchen. He was sitting on the counter, sitting cross-legged and eating out of a bag of cookies.
“Who is she, and what is she doing here?” The behind me asked, voice barely controlled.
“As for who she is, I actually do not know her name. But as for why she is here, I thought she could be our new maid!” He said with a smaller, slyer grin.
The other boy stepped out from behind me and towards Philippe, giving him a look that I’d already given him multiple times that day- like he was crazy.
“Are you insane, Philippe? We don’t need a maid!”
Philippe said nothing, only very pointedly looking around at all of the trash that littered the floor and countertops before looking back at his brother.
“It’s not that bad, Philippe. We can clean it ourselves.”
“Oh, really Blair? Who’s going to do it? You? Aaron?” He asked, laughing to himself.
His brother, Blair, didn’t say anything as Philippe continued to stare at him, cocking his head to the side in anticipation. A smile broke out across his face as Blair broke eye contact, folding his arms and looking to the floor instead. Then he walked the rest of the way to Philippe and started whispering, too low for me to hear. Blair glanced over his shoulder once at me before turning back to Philippe, while I stood awkwardly against the wall with my own arms crossed.
“Besides, what’s the big deal? It isn’t like we don’t have the money.” Philippe said, returning back to his normal volume. I finally agreed with him on something, as the grand house and everything inside it screamed wealth.
“It is a big deal, Philippe. What if mom and dad find out?” Blair asked, lowering his voice slightly.
“Mom and dad finding out about something they don’t approve of. That will cause them trouble. Is that really so awful?” Philippe asked.
Blair didn’t answer or look up at him, either unable to answer or afraid to get Philippe talking again. Meanwhile I stayed comfortably far away against the wall, watching everything.
“This is too far away…” Blair sad finally, “Too out of the way. She would have to live here with us, and she doesn’t look old enough to be out of high school. Her parents would worry. And you said you don’t know her name, we don’t know anything about her…”
