The Client

Chapter 8

"I met Anthony when I was fifteen, he was Mark's best friend from college. They came down for winter break during their junior year. When I saw him I thought he was cute but I was fifteen so I literally thought all of my brothers' friends where cute. It was something different about him though... He seemed to take an interest in me."

Flashback

"Moma, pops?"

"Mark!!!" Mercedes shouted running to her brother and jumping on him. Mark laughed and hugged his little sister back before putting her down.

"Mercy, what's up kid? Where's everyone?" He said looking around.

"Oh... well JJ kinda of got into some trouble so they're at the school dealing with that. They should be back in a little though." She said beaming at her brother. She looked around him and saw the most handsome man she'd ever seen. He was tall with broad shoulders, dark brown eyes and a wonderful smile.

"Who's that?" She asked looking back at her brother.

"I'm Anthony, Mark's roommate." He answered smiling and hold out his hand for her to shake. She looked at him then down at his hand before shaking it. When their hands touched she felt a tingle rush through her body and didn't want to let go but Mark was looking at them so she let go.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mercy."

"It's very nice to meet you Mercy." He said with a wink. Mark smacked him on the arm and gave him a warning look.

"She's fifteen dude back off!" Mark said stepping in between them and pushing Mercedes away. She giggled and shoved her brother before going back to her homework. They guys went upstairs to put their bags away before heading back down to raid the fridge.

"Mercy, take your things to your room please. I'm going to start dinn-" Marie started before seeing her son walking out of the kitchen arm full of food.

"BABY!!" Marie shouted grabbing her oldest son and hugging him while planting kisses over all over his face. Mark tried pulling away but his mother had a grip on him so he just endured the love before she finally released him. His father followed suit giving him a hug and a strong pat on the back.

"Hi I'm Anth-" was all Anthony got out before he was pulled in by Marie.

"I know who you are baby, nice to meet you!" She said hugging him just as tightly. David gave him a nod and looked over at his daughter giving her a smile before looking back at his youngest son who was just standing there looking like he was completely lost.

"Baby girl go upstairs for a while, we need to speak with you brother who seems to have lost his mind." He said firmly. She nodded and gathered her things giving JJ a sorry look and running upstairs.

"Mark if you don't mind we'd like you to stay here with us. Maybe you can help get to him." David said. Marie took the food out of Mark's hands and nudged him further into the living room.

"I'm just going to excuse myself." Anthony said heading to Mark's room. Once he got upstairs he heard music playing and let curiosity get the best of him. He could see Mercedes dancing around and chuckled at how cute she looked. When she turned around she noticed him looking at her and immediately stopped dancing. They stared at each other for moment before either one of them decided to speak.

"Uhh... I'm sorry I didn't mean... I mean I heard the music and umm... I'm just going to go to Mark's room now." He finally got out turning away before feeling her hand on his arm.