“Give them to me!”
“Bugger off!” I shouted at her. “You are going to rip them, you stupid cow, for God’s sake! The brothers have a right to see them before anyone, it was their father that ripped their world apart, ” I growl loudly. The papers crumbled in our fists, neither of us was prepared to let go until a loud cough comes from the same ladder Daxx, Mallory and I climbed up to get here. The noise surprising us so much we both froze and turned our heads to look, only to see Drixx and Fenixx poking their heads through the large manhole.
Both men wore different expressions, one looked entertained and one, the one I love, shocked.
But it was Fenixx that found his voice first.
“I just have two questions. One, can you do this again but in a pool of jelly? And two, what the hell are you two fighting over?”
Taking advantage of the pause in our struggle, I snatched the papers and twisted around to face Hendrixx.
“I found this box full of legal papers and correspondence between your dad and that fella Buchanan, there has to be at least a hundred of them.” Waving the papers in front of me, I raise my other arm and point to the box.
“The rest of them are in there, Mallory wanted to see them, and I said no.” Glancing at Mallory, I narrowed my eyes at her and gave her my best bitch face.
“You fight like a wussy by the way, who the hell wrestles at your age? I mean seriously have some dignity.” I could feel Hendrixx staring at me. Those intense blue eyes silently yelling at me to look at him, but I couldn’t. From the small amount I had already read, Will Hott was about to cause more grief for his sons from the grave. Again.
My heart ached for him, Noxx and Fenixx too. I just thank God that they decided not to tell Lillian about the lengths Will went to keep Noxx and Makena apart. Lillian adored her husband, she wasn’t blind to his rough ways, often pulling him up to give him a dose of what for when she thought he went too far concerning punishment for their boys, and at times me. Lillian was the only person that stood up to Will without fear of reprisal, she didn’t take his shit, but at the end of the day, Will and Lillian Hott loved each other deeply and knowing her husband deliberately caused heartache to their own sons will absolutely destroy her.
“What the fuck does this have to do with you anyway?” Mallory spat at me, her eyes blazing at me, “this is Hott and Rogers business, you have nothing to do with either.”
Streaks of anger vibrated through me at her nastiness. Who did this chick really think she was?
“And just where have you been for the last four years, Mallory? Your so-called friendship with Hendrixx finished the minute Noxx and Mack broke up. How much does Drixx actually mean to you, really? You had to know Daxx was Noxx’s before he did, yet you sat forty kilometres away and said nothing. You cut contact with the guys without a second thought,” I accused with more venom than I had used with anyone in my life, even that idiot Roberts didn’t piss me off like Mallory had in the last ten minutes. “This family has nothing to with me? Really? I have lived here my entire life after my father died the Hott’s took me in as one of their own. I know and care about this family more than you ever will.”
Mallory smirked at me, I could see she was enjoying provoking me, but I was too far gone in my anger to see her game.
“Oh yeah, you see them as your family do you? Taking it to a new level with Hendrixx, aren’t you?” Her smile was one of victory, like she hit the nail on the head, proved some kind of fucked up point. That Hendrixx and I were in an incestuous affair or something.
“You sick person. I may see Lillian as a mother figure, and Will might have punished me like one of his kids, and yeah, Nixx and Lenoxx are like brothers to me, but not once, never have I felt anything other than love for Drixx,” I maintained, my heart thumping under my tee.
“How about you concentrate on your own man rather than trying to cause trouble with me and mine. I love Hendrixx with every cell in my body, and there is no way I could or would carry on like you do with someone who was just a friend. What is it Mallory, you can only be friends with men because the women around here see you as a threat? Is that why you need to insert yourself in Hendrixx’s life by watching TV with him, getting him to rub your feet, so you can be that girl other women see as competition? Are you that twisted you think you are more important to Hendrixx than I am?”
Getting to my hands and knees, I crawled past the stupid woman, ignoring the look of shock on her face.
“Daxx, come on mate, we are going to feed Lancelot and Hercules,” I said to the little boy over my shoulder. Holding the crumpled papers in my hand, I crawled around the obstacle course of boxes and old furniture until I reached the large custom made manhole. Fenixx and Hendrixx still had just their heads and shoulders poking through the opening, both of their mouths gaping open and staring at me with wide eyes.
The manhole was larger than a standard one, Will had a new one installed with its own ladder that, when closed, sat on top of the door.
I heard Daxx rustling behind me, talking to his newly acquired action dolls. I remembered those figures when I was a
