Page 22 of Giving In

“Or he’s gonna get back at us.”

“He can try,” she shrugs.

“Ozy, don’t play with him,” I try to warn her. She can’t get into his games, not her.

“I won’t if you won’t.”

That’s easier said than done but I concede anyway. “Sure,” I reply.

I don’t know if I really believe it or just want to talk about something else. The fucker’s got no right to walk back into our lives.

Ozy drives us past the huge iron gate of the Murray’s estate and drives all the way to the top of the hill where the mansion stands. She parks in the garage full of expensive cars and we all get out.

I need to drive to school more often, I think as we walk past the Audi R8 Chris’s parents got me for my sixteenth birthday. This family swims in money and they never hold back when it comes to our gifts.

We walk out of the garage and around the house. We go through the garden, past the huge rectangular pool with a hot tub on one side and an island with a palm tree in the middle, and head straight for the pool house.

The Murrays have about ten bedrooms in their house. Still, they always allowed Ozy and me to live in the pool house. I think they knew we needed the space and didn’t want to act too much as ‘parents’ to us. They never adopted us, they’re only our legal guardians. They just wanted to get us out of the mess we were in. To be honest they’re not too parent-y to Chris either. To our luck, they have the kind of jobs where they never spend more than a few days at a time at home. The house is massive, and we end up spending most of our time in the pool house. Except for parties of course.

I push the door open; we never lock it. Stoneview is way too safe for that and if someone ever makes it past the gate and up the hill, they will probably go for the huge house, not the cute pool house next to it.

I walk in to find Chris and Luke are already here playing video games on our sofa, music playing in the background. Ella is watching the game, settled on the other side of the guys. The place is simple but out of all the foster houses we’ve ever been in, it’s the one that feels the most like home.

I walk in straight into the living room area with a sofa facing the left wall and a TV mounted on the wall. At the back, there is a kitchen counter and a small kitchen behind it that we never use, and the right wall opens to a hallway leading to our rooms and a shared bathroom. Everything is new. After almost three years it still looks untouched. But it’s the people here with me that make it cozy and homey.

I fist-bump my friends hello and mess up Ella’s hair.

“What are you doing here, little gnome?” I ask.

“She truly believed she was going to Camila’s tonight. I had to keep an eye on her,” Luke explains.

Ella sits up and scowls at Luke. “Luke, because of you I couldn’t finish the cheerleading tryouts, they’re never gonna let me on the team. Now you want to stop me from going to a party all my friends are going to. Why are you trying so hard to kill my reputation?!”

I think if Rose had been my younger sister like Ella is to Luke, I would have been the same kind of brother. Annoying, overprotective, controlling. Sadly, Rose is my twin and the little shit doesn’t take orders from anyone.

I can’t help chuckling at Ella. “I thought it was seniors only. You’re too young to go to Camila’s parties,” I tease her.

“You’re sixteen, Jake. I’m fifteen,” she replies.

Being born in October has always been a pain in my ass. Like having to skip a year to be with my friends. We were born the same year, we should have been in the same classes straight away. Especially since we arrived in Stoneview passed October and we were already fourteen.

We couldn’t join Chris as freshmen when we arrived in Stoneview because then we wouldn’t have been fifteen by the time we were sophomores and so on, and god forbid we started college at seventeen. That’s a pretty stupid system we have, especially now that they offered us to skip a year to raise their success rate.

“I’m turning seventeen in a month and you’ve just turned fifteen. But really in our heads, you turned five yesterday. We need to protect you from the big bad world, El’,” I smile at her.

“Give her a break, everyone will be there,” Chris drops.

We all look at him shocked. Luke’s jaw is hanging so low I think it’s going to hit the floor. How is it that the dad of the group is saying this is fine?

“Don’t look at me like that,” he continues without even glancing at us. His gaze is still on the game in front of him. “It’s not like we all didn’t go to parties at her age. We’ll be there to keep an eye out, let your sister have fun,” he concludes.

“Whatever,” Luke mumbles, crossing his arms.

Everyone at school thinks I’m the leader of our little group. Because I’m the captain of the lacrosse team, I’m the most popular, I get the most girls and especially because I broke a few noses when I arrived. I’ve got the image.

Between us, we know the quiet Christopher Murray is the one who calls the shots. Not because we fear him though. Yes, on the outside Chris imposes respect, he’s the tallest and biggest but, internally, we simply know he’s the wisest and it’s always better to go with his plans.

“Look at that, El’. It’s your lucky day, boss said you can come out,” I keep teasing her as I mess up her hair again. I hear Chris growling at the fact that I called him boss.

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