Chapter 10~ Family Meeting

"Denver!!" I hear Andrew say. With a simple word, I'm made aware of the seriousness of my situation.

I'm in the office, possibly facing detention. Andrew is going to be livid, and I really don't want to see that side of him. With that, I can feel my eyes start to get watery. I'm not the troublemaker, that's Jack. Andrew has never really had to punish me, the disappointment is enough to keep me in line. I don't want Drew to be mad at me, I really just want a hug from him. I am so dead, and I can't even tell Andrew why I'm not getting rest. I can't tell anyone that. After he closes the office door, Andrew starts walking toward me.

"Come on, we're going to talk in a more private place," Andrew says, obviously pissed off.

Great, he's going to take me in an empty room to kill me with no witnesses.

Following him to an empty meeting room, he motions me to sit down while he turns the chair beside me around to face me and talk.

"Explain," He simply orders.I'm generally not scared of Andrew, but I am now. He has never been this mad at me, not even when I ran over his toe with my bike once. It's killing me because I can't explain, I can't tell him the truth.

"I can't," I say, barely loud enough for him to hear me.

Noticing my distress, he softens up. "buddy, you have to tell me what's wrong so I can fix it," he says in a slightly softer tone.

"You can't fix it," I say, and with that, I let out tears I didn't even know I was holding.

Trying to wipe them away before he notices. I try to use my hoodie sleeve, but I was already caught. Andrew gets up from his chair and walks back into the office. I start crying harder once he leaves, I just want him near me even if he's upset with me. Just when I think he's not coming back, he walks in with Jack and Ryan walking behind him.

Great, let's have a family meeting right here, I mean it is a meeting room.

Andrew sits back down where he was, Jack sits on the floor beside Andrew, and Ryan sits beside Jack closer to me.

"Hey, my nerd of a Brother has finally got in trouble," Jack says as he holds up a hand for a high five.His attempt to lighten the mood falls on deaf ears.

If looks could kill, Jack would be dead. Both Andrew and Ryan are giving him a death glare. Putting his hand down, Jack realizes how serious Ryan and Andrew think this is. It's a rare occurrence but, he instantly goes into big brother mode along with the other two.

"What's wrong little one," Ryan asks in a soft voice.

"Whatever it is, he thinks we can't fix it," Andrew says with a look of defeat in his eyes.

Well shit, I've made him feel like he hasn't done enough, when in reality, he gave up everything for me.

"That's not true. I can fix everything regarding my baby brother," Ryan says, smiling at me with tears in his eyes.

I give him a small smile back. I finally realize that maybe they can fix this.

"Nightmares," I simply say, easing into the idea that they might be able to help.

They all look at each other so they can piece the puzzle together. Sometimes they do this thing where they look at each other to decide something, I think they are telepathic honestly.

"Nightmares about what?" Jack asks breaking eye contact with the boys

"Mom and dad," I say, looking down. I really hope this doesn't upset them, we don't talk about our parents much.

"Aww baby," Ryan says, getting up because I start crying. Ryan picks me up and sets me in his lap.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Andrew asks, he still has that look in his eye. He's being distant right now, it's like he doesn't know how to deal with the fact that I thought he couldn't help.

"Didn't want to be a bother," I say, trying to answer back in between gasps of air.

"Shh shh calm down, little one," Ryan whispers in my ear.

"Denver Blake, you will NEVER be a bother do you hear me?" Andrew says raising his voice. "I don't want to ever hear those words come out of your mouth again. You will never, I mean never, be a bother to any of us" Andrew says with his voice still raised,

Well, at least he's not being distant now.

I would appreciate less yelling though, I'm sensitive. I shrink into Ryan because I hate when someone yells at me.

"Drew," Ryan says, making eye contact with him to warn him.

"Sorry, baby," Andrew says, immediately dropping his anger. He goes to take me from Ryan. When he does, he grabs my side, making me yell in pain. I didn't expect the strong grip, or I would have braced myself. Without the warning, I couldn't help but react.

"what the hell did you do?" Jack yells at Andrew.

"I don't know, but you will not yell at me and stop cursing," Andrew says to Jack in a warning voice.

Bending down to my level Andrew grabs hold of my shirt. "No, stop, please," I say, Remembering Finn.

"Baby, what are you hiding? If you don't tell me, I will punish you. Because you know I hate people, especially you three, hiding things from me. So I'm gonna ask again, what are you hiding? Andrew asks, going into Dad mode.

"I'm not hiding anything, you just caught me in an odd spot," I say trying to get him to drop the subject entirely.

"I can tell you're lying to me Denver Blake, and I don't appreciate it. I'm going to raise your shirt up, and you're going to let me. If you don't, Ryan will hold you down," Andrew says with a warning look, looking me dead in the eye.

Damn, my middle name has been used twice in the last twenty minutes. I think that's a new record.

Andrew's hands go back to my shirt, and before I can protest, he pulls my shirt up. When he does, he reveals a black, purple, and kinda yellow-looking bruise going from the waist of my pants up to where Andrew stopped raising my shirt. The room is full of gasps from my three brothers. Ryan's grip tightens on me, and Andrew looks like he's about to cry. But Jack seems almost calm, which is never good.

"Who did this" Jack says in a scarily low voice. I don't answer. If I do, they will tell someone, which will get Finn in trouble, making my life more of a living Hell.

"Answer the question, Denver, or you will be in big trouble." Andrew orders.

Again I don't answer.

Finn said if I ever told anyone he would kill me and he wasn't lying. I'll take whatever punishment they choose to give me. I will never in a million years tell them who did this. To keep from hurting them more, I need to act like I'm completely fine. Sitting in my brother's lap isn't helping that case. I pull my shirt down, stand up, and walk out the door. Hopefully, they'll get the message. As I walk out the office door, I immediately regret my decision. I can't take it back now.

Andrew's P.O.V

What. The. Hell. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'm going to find out whatever is troubling my baby, and when I do, it's not going to end well.

Edited A/N~ I hope I can do a couple of more chapters tomorrow, slowly but surely I'm editing this thing lol. Until next time 💜