Chapter Seventeen: "What's Done is Done."

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A/N: Just a quick note to say, if you've not noticed yet, I've changed up the character aesthetics a little bit and added some new ones to the extra characters too - so lemme know what you think!
(I've also changed the casting for

Adam Blakesley).

Anyway, enough from me.
Enjoy!!

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Rowan's POV

I averted my eyes from my eldest brother before he could see that I'd even acknowledged him walking through the door of the teacher's lounge, and instead I focused on pulling at the small thread that was hanging from the rip in my jeans.

It was all becoming a bit too overwhelming, from the throbbing pain in my face and the start of a headache lingering in the back of my skull along with Melissa's words echoing in my mind.

'Your dad and brothers are in some sort of gang.'

'They threaten, torture and kill people.'

'They're narcissistic misogynists. No wonder they've kept you in the dark about all this.'

I guess I was afraid that I'd look at my brother and suddenly see the very things Melissa was talking about. I didn't want to believe a word of hers, but something was itching at me, making me doubt my own beliefs. I let her get to me.

My thoughts came to a sudden end when a cold hand cupped my chin, forcing me to look up at the person who it belonged to. My green eyes locked with Aaron's concerned ones and a wave of relief washed over me when nothing about him seemed different. He was just my usual, slightly overbearing, older brother.

He leaned over me a little and turned my head to the side to get a closer look at the fresh stitches across my eyebrow.

My eyes flickered to Adam who was stood off-side behind Aaron, arms crossed over his chest and a hint of a concerned frown was showing on his face too.

"She did quite the number on you, huh?" Aaron muttered.

"Aaron.." I grabbed onto his wrist and pulled my head away, feeling self-conscious by the attention that was on me.

"I'm just making sure you're okay." He reached out again, this time brushing his thumb over the nasty looking bruise on my jaw.

"How'd that happen?" He tilted my head back a little more to get a better view of it.

"Knocked it on the edge of the sink."

He nodded in thought. "We'll put some ice on it when we get home."

"Can we go now?" I pushed his hand away from me again before he could see the tears pooling in my eyes.

The lingering headache I had was building up and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. Thankfully I was no longer feeling dizzy or shaky after the initial shock of everything that happened, but the word 'exhausted' was truly an understatement. Today turned out to be a complete shit show.

"Yeah." He straightened up, standing next to my English teacher. "Grab your things, I just need to chat to your principal quick."

Aaron and Adam walked off towards the mini kitchen area where Principal Anderson was talking to the paramedic, Alex; no doubt their topic of conversation being the situation between Melissa and I.

I blinked back the sting in my eyes and stood up from my spot on the couch, walking towards the arm chair where I had dumped my backpack. The first thing I did was pull my phone out from one of the inner compartments and I read through the few text messages that I'd received from my friends.

Victoria: 'Mr Blakesley wouldn't let me stay, sorry Ro. Hope everything went okay. Face-time me when you get home?'

Eva: 'Hi Rowan! I've got some good news, Mrs Winter's was impressed with our essays! No more to do until after Christmas break. Hope you're doing okay now!'

Dallas: 'Call me later?'

I didn't bother replying to any of them for the time being. Besides, Dallas' message caused my nerves to pick back up. We've not once had a phone-call together yet, why does he want to now? What does he want to talk about?

I swallowed some saliva, wetting my dry throat,
and tried pushing my thoughts to the back of mind so I could do what I was going to do with my phone in the first place, which was to check out my stitches. I put the front camera on to see how bad I looked.

Oh god. As if I couldn't look any worse than I thought. The few stitches across my eyebrow made me want to throw up just from its appearance. I brushed the tips of my fingers over it, wincing slightly at how sore and sensitive it was before trailing my index finger over the white strips across the bridge of my nose.

"You should try and refrain from touching them." I pulled my hand away and looked over my shoulder to be met with Alex. He was standing near the door with his bag of equipment in hand. "I've given your brother some cream for you to use at morning and night on the stitches. It should help with the healing."

"Thankyou." I offered a tight-lipped smile in his direction.

"Take care, Rowan." And he left.

I breathed a deep sigh and threw my back pack over my shoulder before turning to where the remaining three men were still stood talking, my ears catching on to their conversation; despite them speaking in hushed tones.

"We'll get her things packed up whilst she's here tomorrow, so then we'll be ready to leave town as soon as she's back home in the afternoon.." I heard Aaron say.

Are they talking about me? Packing my things? We're leaving? Christmas break isn't for another four days. Where on earth could we be going tomorrow afternoon?

Surely my family would've informed me if we were taking an early Christmas break to travel somewhere? Unless it's a surprise for me and I'm just ruining it for myself right now?

"How long do you think this will be for?" Principal Anderson asked him.

Wait. So the length of our Christmas getaway isn't determined? That's a little odd.

Aaron suddenly caught my eye to which I immediately looked away and tried to look like I was distracting myself with my phone.

There was a moment of silence before my ears pricked back up to Aaron's voice.

"I can't be sure of that yet." Uncertainty dripping in his tone. "It'll be a matter of just seeing how things go. Dexter is keeping a good tab on things at the moment."

Dexter? The police officer that just moved from Canada? What's he keeping a tab on?

That doesn't sound like something you'd say about a holiday and there didn't seem to be any excitement in Aaron's words to make me believe this was going to be a fun family getaway either. So what the hell is he talking about?

My mind was suddenly on overload again and I was finding it impossible to try and come up with a reasonable explanation and piece the puzzle together.

And then it dawned on me.

Every part of me was fighting against Melissa's taunting words about my family, but something within me didn't want to let it go and her bitch-ass voice kept ringing in my ears.

'No wonder they've kept you in the dark about all this. Once they realise you're no longer any use to them, they'll probably sell you off.'

I couldn't even go a whole school day without showing how weak I am, I've got the stitches to prove it. They've had enough.

No, I'm just being stupid. They wouldn't get rid of me, they're my family. Besides, that doesn't add up with what they've just talked about because where the hell would Dexter come into this? and why is Principal Anderson in the loop with whatever they're talking about?

One thing is for sure, my family is hiding something from me and I'm determined to find out what it is.

However, I surely hope they're not the people that my high school bully says they are. I don't want Melissa to be right about this...

...Then why is my gut telling me otherwise?

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"You feeling okay?" Aaron's voice spoke up over the low rumble of his car engine as he drove it carefully along the snow covered road.

With my eyes closed, I shrugged in reply. All of my energy was completely drained and my headache was getting worse and worse.

"Tired?" He questioned me again.

I nodded this time.

"You wanna talk about what happened?"

"No." My voice came out sharp. There is no way I can talk about what happened between Melissa and I without having to explain why I ended up with the injuries in the first place.

Like imagine that. 'Well, Melissa told me that you guys are in a gang and kill people and that you're going to sell me off somewhere because all you care about is money, so I shoved her and she retaliated.'

This is exactly why I'm so torn with what to believe because on the one hand that sounds absolutely and utterly ridiculous, but all this secretive talk, the guns and everything else that has been happening around the house lately makes complete sense if they're leading such a dangerous lifestyle.

If what Melissa said is true, then why are my family keeping this from me? What else aren't they telling me? Should I even trust them?

But if it's not true and I confront them about it, they'll just laugh in my face and I'll look like the biggest gullible idiot on the planet.

I wish Melissa hadn't said anything to me, because she now has me questioning absolutely everything on a completely deeper level.

She has me questioning my own family.

"Well whenever you want to talk about it, I'm all ears." Aaron brought me out of my thoughts.

I blinked my eyes open and shifted my position in the passenger seat so I was turned more towards my side window; Watching the rain fall atop of the snowy street. Snuggling deeper in my oversized hoodie, I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to rid my mind of everything that had happened over the course of the day.

"Is anyone else at home?" I filled the short silence between my brother and I.

"Asher and Maddox were there when I left. I think Ash was going to invite his friend Blake over, so he may be there already by the time we get home."

"Great.." I muttered with distaste.

"Finn might be there too." Aaron added.

Speaking of Finn, I wonder what happened since that phonecall from Danny this morning.

"Oh yeah, how did it go with that situation at the yard?" I peeked over my shoulder to look at my brother. "Who did you have to kill?" I joked, trying to keep my suspicions lighthearted.

"What?" Aaron darted his eyes onto me. What almost looked like fear flashed through them but it was gone far too quickly when he turned back to the road and deepened the frown on his forehead.

What the hell was that?

An awkward laugh escaped my lips. "You know, cause you said they like to get your help when there's misunderstandings and what not. I assumed you help get rid of them? Send them on their way? I made a joke..."

"Right! Yeah.." It was now his turn to laugh uncomfortably. "Guess I'm a little out of it this afternoon too.."

The hell was that kind of reaction? The kind a murderous gang member would make when they think you're onto them.. no stop it, Rowan. I shook that thought away and looked back to Aaron.

"So how did it go?" Curiosity was getting the better of me again.

There was a silent pause between us. I noticed Aaron's grip on the steering wheel was getting tighter as his knuckles turned white. He seemed deep in thought before he spoke up. "Let's just say, you and Finn look like twins."

"What do you mean?" I frowned at him.

"He's also had to get some stitches across his eyebrow." His words came out through gritted teeth. "The assholes that turned up at the yard decided to start a fight."

My chest whirled with concern for my second eldest brother.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine." Aaron shot me a quick, reassuring smile. "He just needs some rest, like you."

I sat up in my seat. "Why did those guys start a fight?"

"It was just a big misunderstanding.." he clearly didn't want to elaborate.

"About what though?" I pushed for an answer.

"It's nothing I want you to worry about, Ro."

I slumped back in my seat with a sigh. There's no point trying to get a good enough explanation out of him.

«»«»«»

Upon returning home, we were met with loud voices and laughter coming from the kitchen. Great...people.

"Sounds like they're in there." Aaron gestured towards the closed kitchen door. "I'll be in dad's office if you need me, alright?"

"Why? what're you doing?" I questioned him.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to face Asher and his friend alone. I don't know how much more teasing this girl can take in one day; Aaron's always the best mediator between us

"I've got a video chat meeting with dad, which I'm already late for." He said whilst checking the time on his watch. "Tell Maddox to start prepping dinner for later."

He rushed off down the hallway before I could stall him any longer.

"Thought I heard someone out here." Another voice startled me as I dumped my bag at the bottom of the stairs and I turned to find Finn poking his head out around the kitchen door.

Aaron wasn't lying about Finn needing stitches too. The stitched up gash across his eyebrow was slightly bigger than mine and looked way worse.

With Aaron's odd behaviour in the car when I questioned him about what happened this morning, and with these apparent gang rumours, I couldn't help but wonder that something more had happened rather than just some random guys turning up at the yard and starting a fight.

I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands and wrapped my arms around myself, not wanting to dwell on everything too much right now, especially with how exhausted I felt.

"Look at you." With a sad pout on his face, Finn fully stepped out of the kitchen allowing the door to shut behind him and he moved towards me.

"Don't even mention it." My whiny tone was enough for him to know that I felt embarrassed. "I look ugly."

"You don't look ugly." He placed his hands on either sides of my face willing me to look up at him.

"I do." I pouted back at him.

"So does that mean I look ugly too?" He raised his good eyebrow up at me.

"Yeah." I said with a blank expression.

"You little shit." He let out a low chuckle as he removed his hands from my face and instead wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders, pulling me into a bone crushing hug; a giggle escaping my lips.

A comfortable silence fell over us, the light beating of Finn's heart thumped against my ear as he lightly rocked us from side to side.

"You wanna talk about what happened today?" He asked me, every ounce of playfulness having disappeared.

That all too familiar feeling of a lump at the back of my throat made itself known and my previous thoughts about everything that happened between Melissa and I and her taunting revelation about my family started swirling around in my mind again.

There was no escaping it.

Part of me wanted to lie in bed and cry it all out but the other part of me wanted to scream and tear Melissa's head off with anger.

"No I'm fine." I settled with the most basic answer as I managed to pull myself away from my brother's death grip. "I'm just tired and I've got a headache."

"'M not surprised." He ran his hands through my hair. "You've had a shit day."

"Same goes to you though." I referred to the stitched up slash across his eyebrow, which mirrored my own.

"Yeah well, that's just down to dumb ol' me not wearing safety goggles when doing some work underneath a car." He chuckled.

Wait what?

I awkwardly laughed off what he said as to not bring attention to my slight confusion.

Did he just lie to me?

I don't think he and Aaron got the memo on making sure their stories matched up. So maybe I was right in thinking there was more to it than just some random guys starting a fight at the yard? Especially if Finn felt the need to lie to me about it.

"Want me to make you a tea or some food?" Finn gestured for me to follow him through into the kitchen.

"Tea please." I pushed my previous thoughts to the back of my mind for now. I'll come back to those later.

"Anything for you, baby sis." He ruffled my hair as we walked through the kitchen door.

"Don't call me that." I swatted his hand away with a huff.

As soon as we entered the kitchen, my eyes roamed the room. They first landed on Maddox who was leaning back against the counter that held the sink. And then they settled on the youngest of my brothers, Asher; He was stood, leaning against the kitchen island. And Blake, the mysterious new guy in town, who I've only met once before, was sat on one of the barstools.

"Woah." I darted my sight back to Asher. He pushed himself away from the counter and started walking towards me.

"What?" My self-consciousness started sinking in again when I could feel him staring at the injuries on my face.

"Who invited Frankenstein's monster?" He questioned with a playful glint in his eye, moving closer.

"Ash..don't start on her." Finn warned him to back off from any teasing before turning to switch the kettle on.

Any other time I would've casually laughed off Asher's brotherly insults. But with the shitty day I've had and with everything crowding my mind and fucking up my emotions, I wasn't going to let him get away with it. And so with all the anger I had built up for Melissa, unfortunately Ash was going to bear the brunt of it.

And what that was exactly, was kicking him with full-force in the very place where no man likes to be kicked.

A hissing sound echoed the room as Blake, Finn and Maddox caught what happened. No doubt feeling the phantom pain of being kicked in the balls.

Asher's face immediately turned beet red and his hands flew to his crotch as he doubled over in agony, a string of curses fell from his lips. "You bitch." I heard him seethe out as his knees hit the kitchen floor. "Fucking hell."

I just stood there staring down at my brother with a frown. No remorse showing in my eyes.

"You kinda deserved that one dude." Blake laughed at his friend, to which Asher shot a glare back in his direction.

"Here." After rummaging in the freezer, Maddox walked towards Asher and I with a bag of frozen peas in his hand.

Asher snatched it from him and placed it between his thighs, sighing in relief at the coldness that started to ease the bruised pain through his jeans.

"I warned you, bro." Finn said to him whilst throwing an arm around my shoulder and steering me away from our brother; who was slowly pulling himself back up to his own feet.

I sat down on the stool adjacent to Blake and I looked up to find him watching me intently. What is with this guy?

"What?" I didn't mean for my voice to come out so harshly but the boy creeped me out.

"Asher mentioned that you're being targeted by some girl at your school?" Blake questioned me. "Melissa is it?"

"Yeah." I mumbled out my quick reply as I focused my attention on tracing the marbled pattern of the counter top with the tips of my fingers. Why does he care anyway? We hardly know each-other.

"Her twin brothers were the absolute assholes of the school when we were there." Asher piped up. "They were

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