I woke up to a familiar paw gently nudging my nose followed by a trilled meow.

I groaned, turning my head away from it.

She did it again, this time stepping on my stomach.

Ignoring her didn't work. It never worked.

She was about to do it again but held still as soon as I peered an eye open at her.

Placing her paw down, she meowed at me again.

I sighed in defeat, "Get off of me and I'll do it."

She gracefully leaped off of me before hopping onto the window sill, facing the window.

She always woke me up to let her out. All though, I guess I really shouldn't complain, she usually did it later in the day instead of 6 in the morning like most cats.

I slowly pushed myself up, being very grateful that I was close enough to unlatch the lock without having to move my entire body.

I gave myself extra points for doing that all with my eyes closed.

The morning sun really didn't like my very tired eyes, and I've been too lazy to go buy myself new curtains since AK ripped off my last ones.

Maybe I could make Clayton do it. He probably would.

I flopped my head back onto my pillow, hearing the creak of the window as AK pushed it open and let herself out.

Getting out of bed really didn't seem like an option I wanted to take at the moment.

But at the same time neither did going back to sleep.

For some reason, I could never go back to bed after 8, and according to the clock its...

I swung my arm over to the edge of my bed, picking up my phone from where I left it to charge before I went out last night.

...9:53.

Wait really?

I paused for a moment, listening for any kind of commotion coming from downstairs.

It's oddly quiet to be 9:53 in a house full of 8 boys.

Usually, by now someone would be cussing out Tanner for doing something stupid that woke them up

I sighed again, pushing myself up once more and letting my feet dangle off of the bed.

They all probably got high on something after I went to bed and are all stoned to high hell.

Slowly, I stood up, practically dragging myself over to the vanity, leaving my phone on the bed.

Some of my hair had escaped from the bun that I put it in last night while it was still partly wet.

I debated changing out of my sleeveless hoodie or actually putting some pants on before going down there, quickly disregarding both ideas.

It's not like they haven't seen me in worse before I went out on a job.

With that, I headed towards the door and down the stairs.

Usually, I wouldn't even come downstairs on a Saturday, but I had leftovers waiting for me in the fridge.

I quietly opened the door to surprisingly just see most of the boys quietly sleeping. Even Tanner.

What a rare occasion.

The smell of coffee was mixed with the room's usual musk, which I greatly enjoyed.

Spencer glanced at me from his place against the wall near the window, before he returned to keeping a lookout as he always did.

"Good morning, Lexi." Dante's voice came from the kitchen.

I turned my head to the left, seeing him leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee in his hand.

Dante and Spencer were pretty much the only ones here with the common decency to let the other guys sleep.

"Mornin' " I replied, stepping into the kitchen.

Dante gestured to the half-full pot of coffee, "I can pour you some if you want."

I gave him a nod as I approached the fridge.

Dante knew how I liked my coffee, so I left him with that

I opened the fridge, eyes scanning for the styrofoam takeout box that held my breakfast.

"WHO THE HELL ATE MY SHIT!" I yelled as soon as I realized the box wasn't where I left it.

That leftover pie was literally the only thing I had to look forward to.

Many eyes jolted open, all except Ashton's.

"It was Tanner!" Collin yelled almost instinctively, pointing towards Tanner's couch.

Tanner's eyes went wide as he shot into a sitting position.

"What?!" he quickly retorted," We all saw Dylan go to the kitchen last!"

"Wha- nuh-uh!" Dylan denied, "Dante's in the kitchen right now!"

All eyes turned to Dante as he just rose a brow, my coffee cup in his hand.

Even I knew that It wasn't Dante.

It definitely wasn't Dante, Tyler would have asked first, and even if it was Spencer, I would have just let him have it.

"I'm not stupid enough to touch her food." was all he said as he grabbed some ice cubes from the freezer.

They were all silent for a moment.

"Then It was Ashton! Everyone knows gingers come from the devil!" Clayton spoke up.

"Ashton's been asleep for like 14 hours for all we know, he's dead!"

I quickly tuned them all out.

It was too early for this.

Dante handed me my cup before he bent down to look in the fridge.

"Did you even look for it?" he questioned jokingly.

I shrugged, bringing the cup up to my nose and taking in its scent.

"Not really, It's just not where I put it," I said before taking a sip.

The corners of my mouth rose into a small smile as the taste hit my tongue.

Dante was always the best at making coffee.

Iced with milk, vanilla syrup, and just a couple dashes of cinnamon.

I took a step back as Dante stood back up, the small styrofoam box residing in his hand.

oh...

"Tyler probably pushed it back when he filled the fridge up with his creme sodas and beer." He said, handing the box over to me.

I just stared down at it blankly.

"Oh... Thanks." I said, slightly embarrassed.

Dante just laughed before placing a plastic fork on top of the box.

With that, I began making my way back up to my room, leaving the first door open so I could hear if anything happened

I decided to leave the others to their now pointless argument and instead stay in my room for the rest of the day for a peaceful Saturday.

~~~

Why did I think I could have a peaceful Saturday?

It's barely 2 and the boys just all started freaking out all at once.

I sighed, turning off the stream I was watching to see if I could figure out what was going on by just listening.

I quickly noticed that this wasn't like their usual boyish frenzies.

The sound of the front door being swung open caught my attention first.

I only started to worry once I heard at least three of them cocking their pistols.

I even noticed that their yelling was less frantic and angrier.

Like they were on a job.

If we were being attacked, someone would have told me, so I wasn't that worried. But still, this was weird.

"Tyler! Get out here!" I heard Collin yell.

That's when I decided to stand.

They wouldn't call for my brother unless we were getting attacked, or there was an intruder.

And since one of those options had already been eliminated...

I hastily grabbed the 9mm pistol I kept in-between the mattress and bed frame and made my way down the stairs.

There's no way I was gonna let the boys have all the fun.

I was about to go shoot some poor guy in the face with nothing on but a hoodie.

I stopped dead in my tracks once I reached the final step, finally seeing what was happening.

All of the boys stood around the man that Spencer just dragged in and threw down onto the floor, some having their guns pointed and ready to fire.

I almost felt bad for the guy, Spencer was not one to do things lightly, and if he got that guy down, he surely didn't do it very nicely.

The man didn't have enough time to raise himself up before Spencer placed a knee on his back, successfully keeping him down.

That right there, is exactly why we don't mess with Spencer.

The boys made an organized circle around the guy, making sure that he couldn't escape.

Everyone was surprised that the man gave out a small laugh as Spencer pulled his arms back and tightly fastened them together with his belt.

My breath caught in my throat as he did.

I knew that laugh.

All eyes turned to Tyler as he walked in from his room, glaring straight at the man on the floor.

"Spencer saw him snooping around outside by Lexi's bike." Claimed Ashton.

The guy groaned a bit as Spencer forcefully pulled him back enough that he was sitting on his knees.

A single eye shut from the discomfort and pain of what just happened to him, but his grin stayed strong.

It was the man from last night.

That realization caused me to take a single step back.

"Look at the tattoo on his chest and tell me if it is what I think it is," Spencer mumbled.

Tyler stepped in front of the man, only barely obstructing my view.

Everyone else just watched in silence, prepared to attack at a moment's notice.

They're all a riot when nothing is going on, but when they meant business, they meant business.

The man just looked up at my brother. He didn't seem worried at all given his current circumstances.

He didn't even flinch when Tyler pushed his still shredded shirt away enough to reveal his tattoo

I felt my hand tighten around my gun, an odd sense of nervousness building in my chest.

Within a split second, Tyler had the barrel of his right in-between the man's eyes, and he looked pissed.

"Who the hell are you?" He spoke lowly.

The man just smirked, eyes staring right at Tyler.

"The name's Leo." He responded casually.

How fitting.

Still, how the hell was he so calm right now?

Tyler's eyes narrowed even further, obviously thinking the same thing.

"Why are you here?"

I was less worried about that and more concerned about how he even got here.

Leo's eyes drifted off to the left like he was looking for something.

And I knew exactly what he was looking for.

"I came here to find something, well," He breathed out a laugh," Someone."

My brows rose, but I dared not move.

I caught Dante's eye as he glanced at me, immediately noticing the look on my face

Apparently, Leo caught Dante's movement because he leaned a bit to the right, just enough to see past my bother.

His eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed in confusion.

I couldn't blame him. Last time he saw me I was wearing a skimpy dress and heels with my hair curled, and now I was wearing nothing but a sleeveless hoodie with my hair in a half-assed bun.

His confident look returned not soon after.

"Ah, would you look at that. I just found her."