His Rose

Ch. 8

The week passed in a blur of drives to the Castillo's, xBox games, and many sibling banters, and before I knew it, Friday was here. And I couldn't be more excited to wake up at 10 instead of 6:30. No, I wasn't ditching my job; the Castillo children hadn't scared me off yet. Lena had called off nannying today. She didn't explain why, just telling me that I could have a break. Was I a bit suspicious of what was going on considering what I knew of Julian? Yes. But I wasn't going to complain. It was nice to have a breather, even if I would miss seeing the kids.

So now I just laid in bed, smiling tiredly up at the ceiling because of my alarm-free morning. I could lay here all day if I really wanted to. It did sound enticing...

"Dino! Mom and Dad need you downstairs!" Xander yelled, banging on my door. I groaned, slamming my pillow over my head, trying to block out the noise. Just one peaceful day. Is that too hard?

"Diiiiiiiiinooooooooooooooo!" Dawson called, quickly joining in on the army-style wake-up call I was receiving.

"Bastards," I mumbled, getting up and yanking the door open. Their fists hung in the air, poised to keep up the aggressive knocking, as sheepish grins took over their faces as they spotted my disheveled self seething.

"You look wonderful this morning," Xander chirped, taking a step back. I didn't respond to that, knowing full-well he was lying; instead, I pointed sharply to the stairs, and lucky for me, both boys turned tail and ran off. If I wasn't so angry, I would have found this amusing. But I was angry. And still a bit tired.

I sighed, closing my door before turning back to face my bed. Maybe I could still get in a few more minutes of sleep before-

"But Dad, she was this close to murdering us," Dawson whisper-yelled as footsteps approached my door. "You're gonna-"

Dawson couldn't finish his warning before Dad shoved my door open, the force causing it to ricochet off the wall. At least it didn't leave a dent. But it sure as hell caused my heart to go into double-time.

"Well," Dad said, awkwardly clearing his throat after his bold entrance. I just stood there, looking at him with wide eyes, no longer tired. "You're up."

"Yeah," I nodded, getting my heart rate under control with a few deep breaths. And refinding my anger towards my brothers. "I didn't really have much time to get back to sleep after those two tried to beat down my door." I sent a cold glare towards my brothers, both of them taking a few cautionary steps backwards into the hallway.

"You should've been up by now, anyway. Unless you just want to eat lunch and miss breakfast." I raised my eyebrows at my father, both of us knowing I wouldn't mind sleeping until dinner. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Just go get breakfast, then meet me and your mother in my office." With that, my dad left, leaving me with a lot of confusion. We never went into Dad's office. That was an adult-only space.

"Do you guys know what this is about?" I asked, setting aside my anger and turning to my brothers. They shook their heads.

"Nope."

"Why would they tell us?" I rolled my eyes at Xander's comment, instead heading out of my room and to the kitchen. Might as well get the answers as soon as I can.

I grabbed a donut from the pantry, eating it in record time before downing a glass of orange juice and quickly cleaning up before heading into the office. I would have missed an opportunity if I didn't slam his door closed.

"I deserved that," Dad mumbled before meeting my gaze. Mom looked at him, raising her eyebrows. Dad waved her off dismissively.

"We'll talk later," Mom stated before taking a seat beside my dad behind his desk. I sat across from them in an open chair.