Rule 9 - Domino

Istared at Koi from behind the safety of my brother"s shoulder. His gray eyes had only grown more intense with age, and his hair blonder. He had it styled long, but pushed back, with a backward baseball cap covering it all.

Much like me, tattoos covered his skin all over. He was built like it was his job to look hotter than sin.

I'd imagined him many times over the years, but seeing him in person, all grown up was…

My stomach fluttered and only grew worse when I broke eye contact to look over at Swayze. He crossed his arms and glared at me, causing me to duck further behind Mattias.

"I"m glad I caught you guys because I wanted to talk to you about my sister," Mattias said. "Can we go somewhere?"

"What about me?" I piped up.

"The other one." He rolled his eyes and glanced at the men. "I have a feeling she"s already up to her shit. I can"t get a hold of her..."

I fell back. After the announcement that I"d be taking over the job of park ambassador, and Marisol had tried to beat up half the family, she"d stormed into our dad"s den, now Uncle Carlos"s, to drink straight from the bottle.

I listened to her throwing a tantrum in the other room. We moved our conversation to the living room, where I sat in a chair by myself and told them my terms.

"I"ll stay, but I want to be paid weekly. And I"m not staying here." I looked around the room and shuddered. Thankfully, Uncle Carlos and Monica had opted to console Marisol instead of coming in here. The less I was around that bastard and his awful wife, the easier it was to tolerate this entire situation.

"Easy. We already pay weekly." Fabian nodded. "As far as not living here..." He exchanged a look with Mattias. I sat up straight.

"I"ll walk right out those doors if you make me stay even one night here."

"Fine!" He put his hands up. "We"ll get you a hotel for tonight, and then we"ll figure out the rest."

"There"s always that last cabin at the camp," Mattias piped up. It was right at that moment that Marisol stormed back in, tipsy as hell, and twice as angry as before.

"Oh, so now you"re putting her at Camp Frisky? Fucking great. I can"t have anything," she muttered before storming out of the house.

That was the last time anyone had spoken to her, according to Mattias.

"She was here," Swayze confessed. "She"s... well, she"s your sister." He shook his head.

"Unfortunately. I have a feeling she spoke to you two specifically, didn"t she?"

"Maybe," Koi said coolly.

"Let me guess, she wants you to get rid of her, doesn"t she?"

There was a light chuckle among them.

"How much did she pay you?" Mattias asked.

The guilt was clear on both of their faces. They didn"t even know me, and they had agreed to... to what?

"Why?" Swayze snickered. "Are you going to make a higher offer?"

"Anyone that makes a deal with Marisol is making a fool"s agreement."

I looked from my brother to the boys and back to my brother. It was like I wasn"t even there. Georgie returned to me, nudging my thigh and whimpering. Everyone"s attention turned to him.

"Come on." Mattias turned to me and ushered me and Georgie toward the beach. I turned my head only once to see the two men watching us, and Mattias nudged me with his shoulder.

"Word of advice, don"t look twice. A pretty face and a hot body only go so far. Those two will do more damage than good to you here."

"What makes you so sure? I can handle myself. You don"t even know what I"m capable of. "

"Yes, but I know what Marisol is. If she"s got her claws in them, then I"d stay far, far away."

Georgie took off toward the water, bounding into the lake and prancing around with joy.

"I can't believe Dennis is dead." I sighed.

"I can't believe you remember him." Mattias raised his eyebrows. "It was so long ago."

I looked out toward the lake as memories flooded in.

"I remember all of them."