My Dear Brothers|✓|

Chapter 5: My Encounter with Bitchzilla

Isabella POV

The ride to the mall was silent and extremely awkward. When we reached the mall, I hopped out of the car with relief. I would have preferred any of my brothers over Xander. Even Luca had been conversing properly with me after I had shouted at him. The air was nervous as we entered the mall. As soon as we entered, all the girls and a few guys sent him seductive looks that honestly made them look like they were constipated. Xander had a smirk on his face and was enjoying the attention he was receiving. He winked at a few girls and led me to the various stores.

Three hours later we had bought everything that we needed and we headed to the food court to eat something. Xander went and ordered while I found us a table and collapsed in one of the chairs. Suddenly, a girl strutted upto me. She would have been pretty if not for the excessive make up on her face. She was vaguely hispanic looking and had dark pin-straight hair. She assessed me from head to toe and her lip curved maliciously. I hated her immediately but for the sake of being polite I gave her a smile. She came up to me and slapped me. I was so surprised that my mouth fell open. The slap wasn't hard. In fact it barely stung. My temper rose immediately.

"What the actual heck?" I said as I stood up. Even with her five inch heels, I towered over her with my 5'10" height. She shrank back slightly and opened her mouth and I heard a sound like nails were scratching a blackboard. Then I realised that this female dog was speaking.

"Stay away from my man, puta. He is mine and he always will be mine. You have no chance with him. He's probably going out with you out of pity. I mean who would want to voluntarily do that. You are so ugly. I have no idea why he's even being seen with you. You're fat and probably not even a good-" I cut the girl off, my face amused, but I knew her words hurt me because they were my insecurities.(bitch)

"Okay first off, who are you talking about? Secondly, did you just slap me? Third, Girl, eat some make up so that you are pretty from the inside too. Oh wait, you are not even pretty from the outside." I retorted but before I could react her hand came to slap me again and my eyes closed involuntarily, waiting for the impact. But it never came. I opened my eyes to see a positively livid Alexander standing in front of me, his hand having caught Bitchzilla's wrist.

"Baby, why did you do that? We love each other and this nobody was trying to break us up." Bitchzilla whined as she looked at Xander giving him a puppy dog look which seemed to infuriate him even more as she started the waterworks.

"What did you call my sister? Listen up cagna because I'm going to say this only once. If I find you near my sister ever again I'll personally make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?" Xander growled out his whole demeanor threatening and angry. But at that moment I felt safe. I had a brother who cared about me and I had an amazing family. I knew that whatever happened they would be there for me.(bitch)

Xander turned around, grabbing all the bags and took my uninjured hand in his and started pulling me away before turning back with a smirk and saying," Oh and by the way, we are over. There is no us anymore. And I never loved you. You were just a way for me to break the rules. You were a means to an end." He then pulled me away and half-pulled, half-dragged me to the car, not uttering a single word. As we reached the parking lot I tugged on his hand and called out to him softly.

"Alex."

Another tug," Alex!"

Finally I stopped, making him pull back and glare at me but I didn't pay any attention to it. I just stepped towards him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. After a few moments, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around me too. I whispered into his chest and my voice broke with emotion, "Thank you."

Alex squeezed me lightly and whispered so quietly that I might have missed it," Always, tesoro."(treasure)

We got into the car, the silence was comfortable but I wanted us to know each other better so I started telling him about the pranks that I have played over the years and by the time we reached home we were both grinning and laughing. As we walked in I told Alex about the habit I had of sleeping on my stomach with my legs bent at 90 degrees so it seemed like my legs were floating in the air so that when my mum woke up in the middle of the night she almost had a minor heart attack. We both burst out laughing and everyone in the room looked up in shock.
I gave everyone a smile and they gave me small smiles back.

"We are going to buy pizza. Which one would you like?" Roman said, clearing his throat.

"Plain cheese." Victor and I said simultaneously as he entered the room too. I gave him a smile and he gave me a small one back.

"Anyway, I am dead on my feet. I'll take these bags upstairs and just call me when the pizza gets here." I said gathering all the bags in hands

Elijah nodded," Will do."

I started lugging the bags upstairs. I put the bags in a pile in the corner of the room and collapsed onto the bed, the lack of sleep catching up with me. Before I knew it I was asleep.

I woke up to someone screaming while others were trying to calm that person down. I could feel people shaking me awake while others called my name. I shot up and realised that I was the one screaming. I stopped immediately, my breathing heavy. They looked at me wide eyed and I suddenly felt broken. Now that they had seen me like that there was no way that they would want me, right?

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that I was having a nightmare." I apologised, not looking at any of them. I felt someone cup my cheek and pull my head up to meet their eyes. Victor sat in front of me his eyes soft as he started talking, "Bambina, it's okay to have nightmares especially after you lose your family. We are going to be with you every step of the way. We love you and we will not let anyone hurt you, okay?"

I nodded keeping my emotions under control as I had learnt to over the years. Victor pulled away his hand and stood up and said," Come on, pizza's here." I smiled gratefully at him for the change of topic and then shooed everyone else out of the room as I reiterated that I was fine. I went into the en-suite bathroom and splashed water on my face. A tired teenager looked out at me through the mirror. Today's run-in with that girl had triggered all the memories I had successfully buried. I walked out of the room and went downstairs to the living room where everyone had already started eating and were arguing over which movie they should watch. I smiled at the scene and after grabbing a slice of pizza, I settled in between Roman and Alex and took the remote from Elijah's hand making everyone look up.

"It's my turn to choose." I said firmly and they all looked at each other and then looked at me. They all started whining again and told me how I will choose a chick flick. I ignored their whining and chose the movie I wanted to watch and sat back leaning into Alex with my legs lying on Roman's lap. The opening scene started and everyone realised that I had already put on a movie and they turned towards the television. Their reactions were video worthy. Elijah's and Roman's eyes widened with fear while Luca and Alex smiled and Victor looked at everything in amusement.

"Are you serious?" Roman exclaimed, "You couldn't find anything other than Annabelle?"

I grinned, "Aww Roman, I'll protect you." He threw me a filthy look and I answered with a sweet smile. Halfway through the movie Roman and Elijah had their face hidden in pillows. Luca had fallen asleep. Victor had gone up to his room and Alex and I were nodding off. I had a genuine smile on my face as I leaned back against Alex and he put his arms around me and we fell asleep.