Chapter 4Reclaimed by My Family, Spoiled by All

After school, I got cornered by a group of girls outside the restroom.

Thinking about Noah’s ridiculously good looks, I sighed. Handsome guys really are trouble.

The girls glared at me. “Hey. We hear you’re Noah Harrison’s new deskmate?”

It was forced on me. The moment I walked into class, Noah grabbed an empty desk, plunked it down next to his, and told me to sit there. He’d always refused to have a deskmate before, so him insisting I sit next to him basically put a giant spotlight on me. Keeping a low profile was officially impossible.

Great, just what I needed, I thought, asking aloud, “Yeah? So what?”

“So Leo was right. You do have that look about you,” one of the girls sneered. The word she was probably thinking, but didn't say, hung in the air.

Leo?

That jerk. He was already stirring up trouble for me again.

Before I could mentally curse Leo out, the girls started closing in. “Who do you think you are, some nobody from the sticks, trying to latch onto Noah Harrison?”

My first thought was, Seriously? I get called a hick again?

Then I asked, “What do you want?”

The lead girl smirked. “Nothing much. Just gonna teach you a lesson. Help you remember not to touch things that aren’t yours.”

Just as they looked ready to jump me, a cold male voice cut through the air. “Stop it!”

I turned. It was Noah… but different. His uniform was perfectly neat, none of the usual rebellious slouch. I realized – this must be the "model student" twin, my third brother, Mason Harrison.

As the thought hit me, the girls around me gasped nervously. “Mason! What are you doing here?”

Yep, definitely my third brother. Alex had mentioned Mason and Noah were twins.

Mason’s expression was ice cold. “If I weren’t here, how would I see you bullying someone?”

The girls visibly flinched, but the leader stubbornly glared at me. “We’re not bullying her! We’re just teaching this little gold-digger a lesson!”

The next second, Mason kicked a nearby trash can. It slammed against the wall next to the girls with a deafening clang, making them all jump and turn pale.

Mason stalked towards the leader. “I don’t hit girls… but if you say one more disrespectful word about her, don’t blame me for making an exception.”

They immediately backed down. Total cowards.

“Now. Apologize to her. Right now.”

Under Mason’s intense stare, the girls mumbled apologies and then practically tripped over themselves running away.

I glanced at the dented trash can on the floor. Noah wasn’t kidding about Mason.

Once the girls were gone, Mason’s icy demeanor vanished. He came over, grinning, and gently pinched my cheek. “You okay? Scared?”

“No, no,” I quickly reassured him, playing it sweet. “How could I be scared of my own brother?”

Mason clearly liked that answer. “See? That idiot Noah is useless. Tells you he’ll walk you home, and you still end up in trouble.”

Noah had offered to walk me home, but I told him I needed to use the restroom first. Didn’t expect an ambush.

“Don’t worry,” Mason said, his smile turning a little predatory. “As Student Body President, I have ways of dealing with things. Let’s just say if those girls manage to keep a clean disciplinary record for the next three months, it’ll be because I wasn’t doing my job.”