The doorbell rang
"Yes!" exclaimed James "That must be the pizza!"
"Finally I'm starving" Harry said before chugging the entire glass of coke that he was holding.
I rolled my eyes at the two of them as I paused the game on my phone and got up. I grabbed my wallet off the kitchen counter as I headed to the door. I could hear a low murmur of voices coming from the lounge I just left, those two could gossip like a bunch of girls at a sleepover. I opened the door and stopped in surprise
"Sa...uh...Rose?" I asked "what are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay away for a while to throw the crazies off our track"
She just held up two plastic bags in response. I stepped aside and she walked straight through. I followed along behind her.
"Noooo! What are you doing here?" groaned Harry jokingly
Lovely to see you too whiney" Rose responded without missing a beat, kicking his foot gently as she passed him.
"What smells so good?" asked James, immediately sitting up straighter, quickly running a hand through his jet black hair in an attempt to smooth his hair down. Not like he needed to his hair never got messed up. Harry and I burst out laughing, James shot us both a dirty look. Rose seemingly unaware of what was happening started unpacking Tupperware boxes. I looked at the wall clock and swore.
"Sorry, that was loud" I said. Luckily, I was saved from having to explain myself further by the doorbell ringing again. I left quickly to answer it.
I paid for the pizza and went back through, what I saw shocked me, man today was full of surprises, James had an arm around Roses' shoulders. The guy made a move but now I had to mess with him.
"Did I walk back into an alternate reality" I asked as I put the pizza on the coffee table
"What? Can't I be comfortable with guys I've known for years?" Rose asked tossing her now mousy brown loose hair over her shoulder.
Harry smirked at James. Rose saw this and narrowed her eyes
"Okay clearly there is some guy gossip here so I should leave" Rose said picking up her faded backpack
"No , no don't go," James said "you shouldn't have left in the first place in my opinion but that's besides the point, you are the only one who can control Harry" we all looked over at Harry who had already started stuffing his mouth with pizza
"What?" he asked mouth still full of food
"Nothing bright spark" Rose responded before turning to James "that doofus isn't my older brother and I'm the best cook out of the four of us so he is reluctant to get on my bad side because he knows that I won't make anything for him"
"Oh by the way Rose, why are you freaking out?" I asked. Harry and James immediately tensed, looking at her.
"What? Oh nothing, nothing don't worry" she brushed off with a wave of her hand. I kept looking at her with one eyebrows raised.
"Nothing Josh, trust me if it were something hectic I would obviously come to my favorite brother" she said
I smiled at her "Rose I'm your only brother, but you only large scale bake or cook when you are stressed"
"And man can your little sister cook" said Harry leaning over her shoulder, grabbing a biscuit from the open box in front of her. She made to smack him , he dodged her hand but ran straight into her outstretched leg which tripped him up. Harry lay sprawled on the floor which made us all crack up laughing.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm the oldest dumbnut?" Rose sighed leaning her back casually against the counter, if you saw her you would think her the picture of relaxation but I knew her better. Harry sat up pouting and rubbed his head. Rose just rolled her eyes.
"Here have another biscuit you big baby" she laughed, turning, picking the box up and tossing it at him in one smooth motion. Harry caught the box with one hand. He was immediately tackled by James.
With those two distracted it allowed me to pull Rose aside
"Look Rose, I know you. You're worried about something. What is it?" I asked
"I saw auntie Isabel yesterday," she started "she says hi by the way, she's always liked you better, well anyway, when she hugged me to keep up a rouse of friendliness she whispered in my ear that she is going to finish what she started, that I should enjoy my remaining time in the sun because this is going to be the last time I see it."
"Oh shit Rose," I said. A tear slipped it's way out of her eye and down her face, it broke my heart. I still couldn't believe that our own family would do this to her. She didn't deserve to be treated this way "I promise they won't hurt you, they won't even get close enough to lay a finger on you" I pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "you should have told us"
"You're damn right they won't get close enough to hurt her" James said angrily "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Yeah Ro, you need to tell us when these things happen" Harry said from the floor smile gone from his eyes now replaced with anger
Rose pulled away from my chest, levelling her gaze at the two of them equally. "Why didn't I tell you? Well because you guys shouldn't have to deal with my psychotic family. And you have each done enough for me" she placed her hand on James' stomach "you nearly died because you got in the way of them" years were running down her face now, but she didn't move, we all knew what lay beneath her hand. The scar James had received when my aunt and father had shot him because he was protecting Rose. If there was one guy I approved of for Sarah, if was James, but she didn't want him to get any more hurt than he already had. Watching him get shot had broken her more than anyone outside of Harry and I could understand. It had broken us too. We had healed slowly but Isabella and and our dad have never been caught and they never stopped trying to hurt Rose. We had moved, Rose had changed her name. We had withdrawn the fortune that our mom had left us and moved it to another bank to ensure that they couldn't track us, but they found us somehow.
"Sarah your blonde is showing through" I said softly, my voice breaking slightly.
She turned towards me "it's been so long since I've been called that" she said sadly
"We need to come up with a plan" said Harry determinedly
"But first I need to clean up" Sarah sniffed