The Bad Boy's Brothers

Chapter 9

As my vision clears, Vincent comes into focus above me. Standing next to him is another guy who I don't know.

"Well," The stranger says, "This is a little bit of an awkward first meeting, isn't it?"

I stare at him.

"I'm Chris." He clarifies, offering his hand down to me.

"Your new probation officer," He adds when I ignore his hand and keep staring blankly at him.

I push myself up from the ground slowly, keeping my eyes trained on him the whole time.

"Why don't we head inside and we can get to know each other," Chris suggests.

"Sounds great," Vincent replies.

As they both turn to head back to the restaurant, I make a last-ditch effort to run. I turn on my heels and sprint away.

Now, I know you're probably thinking that was stupid. And I completely agree, it was a totally dumb move. However, I really did not want to go in there with them. Like, try to run away even though I have no chance of escaping in front of my new parental guardian and someone who could send me to juvie if he wanted to, bad.

I was starting to feel good about this plan after I had gotten pretty far. Maybe Chris was the kind of person who says shit like, "We don't need to go after him, he'll come back on his own." Because if he was, that would make my life a hell of a lot easier. If I got away, I had no intentions of ever coming back. Luca could live peacefully with a bunch of older brothers who love him, so I wasn't worried about him.

As I turn the corner, I run into this girl carrying a giant cup of coffee.

"What the fuck, dude? I have to go to work!" She exclaims. Her shirt is now drenched in coffee.

"I'm so sorry," I say, trying to grab a couple of napkins to help her clean up the mess. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you," I say, apologizing again.

"Obviously you didn't see me. Otherwise, you wouldn't have run into me and ruined my shirt!" She replies, her hands joining mine to attempt to wipe off coffee stains.

I look up trying to see if there were any more paper towels or napkins around here. Instead, I found Vincent's gaze, his eyebrows raising as he made his way toward me.

I shot up, turning around to go back the way I came from, just to find Chris blocking the way. I rotate to sprint into the street, but Chris's hand stops me.

"Where are you going, Will?" Chris asks, his expression not unkind, "We were heading back to the cafe, not this way."

At least he doesn't seem particularly upset I ran. Vincent probably won't like it though. People don't like it when you make them look bad in front of other people. Especially when they're supposed to be in charge of you.

I back up, tripping over the girl who's still down there.

"Ow!" She cries as I fall over her legs, "What's wrong with you?"

She pulls herself out from under me and gets up. She storms away, muttering to herself.

Vincent appears behind me, crouching down so he's on my level. He somehow still manages to be tall and dominating.

"Did you really think you could get away, Will? I've lived here most of my life. I know all the shortcuts and back alleys, and so do all your brothers." Vincent says, pulling me up to my feet.

"Now, why don't we head to this diner instead of the cafe, it's closer and I'm hungry." Vincent suggests, pointing to a small diner a block away.

"Great idea," Chris responds, gesturing for me to follow Vincent who's started to the diner. As I move forward, Chris slips behind me, blocking my sides of escape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slip into a diner seat and Vincent sits down next to me, while Chris sits across from us.

"So, Will, tell me a little about yourself," Chris starts.

"No," I reply, crossing my arms and slouching down into the seat.

"Ok, that can come later. What about if I start by telling you about myself?" Chris suggests.

"Fine." I say. If he wants to give a monologue about his life, it presents a great opportunity to not talk about probation and me.

"Alright. Well, I grew up in New York, but not the city, Upstate New York, so that was pretty boring. I went to college in New Jersey, at Rutgers, where I majored in Criminal Justice and minored in Childhood Studies. I then got a job with the foster care system up in Colorado working with their juvenile delinquents. Helping them out, finding their purpose and passion besides crime. I worked there for a while, then did essentially did the same job, but in other states. And now I'm here, as your probation officer. Pretty exciting, huh?" Chris finishes, picking up the menu in front of him.

"Not really," I reply.

"Welcome to The Diner, I'm Ellie and I'll be your server today," A voice above me says. "Do y'all know what you'd like to order yet?"

"I'll have the blueberry pancakes with bacon, please," Chris orders.

"And I'll have a double cheeseburger with onion, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup, please," Vincent adds.

When did they figure out what they wanted to eat? I swear Chris only glanced at the menu for a second.

"And what about you?" She asks.

"I'm not hungry," I replied keeping my gaze on the ground. In reality, I feel extremely hungry, but I have learned how to ignore hunger when I'm not allowed to eat, or in this case, when I don't want to.

"He'll have a normal cheeseburger," Vincent orders for me.

"I said I wasn't hungry," I say, mostly under my breath.

"Yes, you are, Will. You've been up since 5 am, and I only saw you eat the tiniest sandwich," Vincent replies softly, so only I can hear.

"Wonderful. Any drinks?" She asks.

"Just water," Chris replies.

"Great, I'll be back in a second with that water for y'all," She says, then heads toward the swinging kitchen doors.