Precarious

Chapter 20

"What happened to your face?"

"It's nothing, Sierra. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"How long has your face been like that for?"

"I don't know, maybe an hour or so?"

"At least tend to your injury before it gets infected."

"I didn't think you cared that much about me."

"You literally have blood streaming down your face. Of course I care about my brother's health. Is this the first time that this happened?"

"I uh -"

"I'll take that as a no. Here, I'll clean your injury in the bathroom."

"I didn't think you would be that serious about something as trivial as this."

I rolled my eyes and led Gavin to the bathroom. I instructed him to sit down, washed his face, and cleaned his wound before disinfecting it. I was grateful for knowing how to somewhat tend to injuries.

"How'd you do learn to do that?" Gavin asked.

"Common sense," I shrugged. To be honest, it wasn't all that hard. And besides, there was something extremely useful called the internet for people who weren't sure how to tend to an injury.

"Well thanks. I owe you one."

"No problem."

An hour later, Jett entered the house with Stefano and Ashley. Crap, I didn't expect to see Ashley here. I thought she was busy or something. If she brought up what happened on Saturday, there was no doubt that I'd get kicked out of the house, and I'd have no where to go.

"Dinner's ready!" Ashley exclaimed, with a fake smile on her face. "Sierra and Gavin, why don't you both go wash your hands? The rest of us can wait." Was Stefano that oblivious to how fake of a person she was?

"Don't bother trying to tell Stefano about Ashley," Gavin sighed after we finished washing our hands. "That guy's whipped or something. He'll side with Ashley almost on anything."

"Does Jett, Cole, or Adrian know he's being manipulated?"

"I don't know. Jett might know, but Stefano gives him so much work that I doubt he has time to pay attention to Ashley and what she's doing."

"I guess we better sit down before Ashley asks what we were doing."

When Gavin and I walked to the table, everyone stared at us and then looked away when we sat down.

"Wow, I'm surprised you both bonded," Ashley grinned. "I didn't think that out of all of your brothers, you'd bond with Gavin, Sierra."

"Why not?" I asked. "As far as I'm concerned, I've spoken to Gavin the most here. Which brother did you think I was going to bond with in the first place?"

"No need to get so sensitive," she chuckled. "I'm just saying, I assumed you'd bond with Adrian or Stefano first."

I tried my best to refrain from rolling my eyes. I did like Adrian yes, but he always seemed busy, and I didn't want to bother him. Stefano on the other hand, he rarely was home, so how the hell was I supposed to bond with him?

"Well, I guess you assumed wrong," I said in a low tone. Ashley started blushing, most likely out of embarrassment.

"Anyways, there's something else I'm dying to ask. Gavin sweetie, what happened with your face? Did you get into one of those fights again?"

"No, and don't call me that. You're not my mom."

"I didn't think you'd be smart enough to not get into a fight like last time," she retorted, trying to get a reaction out of Gavin. "And Sierra, how's school going? Did you make any friends?"