"Tell us about yourself?" Ash's questions hangs heavy in the air and I bite my lip, part of me wondering how they will react, will they run, look confused, worried... walk away.

"Viri?" Raven pats my knee and I look at him, "Nothing you say will change what we think of you" he promises, with his words and his eyes.

My gut tightens nervously and I nod. "My family is not normal" I start, looking at their faces as I say the words. They look back at me and I can see their interest, their support and I freeze, what if someone overhears us.

"I can't do this, not here" I mutter out and see a flash of understanding on their faces as they too scan the room around us.

"Then don't, how about we have a nice meal and then you come home for a coffee and we can talk there" Raven suggests and I lean into him, relieved they are not pushing. I agree before really thinking it through though.

"Yes"

"You'll come home with us?" Raven double checks and I nod, knowing it was the best place for any talk, my dorm had the potential for as many interruptions as this place.

"Yes Raven, I will come home with you" I tell him clearly, enjoying the look of surprise on all of their faces.

"You trust us?" Jett queried and I nodded again.

"I Do"

We were interrupted by the arrival of the food, Raven immediately swapping our plates, causing the waitress to look a bit shocked, and the other laughed and pulled all the side dishes into the middle of the table for us to share.

The conversation for the rest of the meal was light banter between the brothers and the occasional comment relating to one of our classes, we stuck to water, though had progressed to sparkling bottled water which we shared amongst us.

I knew our table was under scrutiny and each time I looked around I would catch at least one person watching us. "Ignore them" Ash had murmured at one point but it was difficult.

We declined dessert and Grey paid the bill as Raven guided me back out to the carpark, Jett joining us in Raven's truck, earning a glare as he laughed at my hopping to get into the damn thing. Raven had growled at him before coming round and lifting me into the cab, as he had earlier. The sight of Ravens hands on my waist has shut Jett up and Raven had laughed at his brother mumbled curses that he should have lifted me in himself. I caught a glimpse of Ash and Grey getting into a low slung grey muscle car and following behind us.

The Steele house was at the edge of campus and my eyes widened as I took in the electronic gates and security cameras, the house was beautiful and old, not all all what I was expecting, but then these boys kept surprising me. "Its lovely" I murmured still looking at the house, when I felt Raven's eyes on me. "Do you live here alone?"

"Our parents sometimes visit but normally its just the four of us"Jett answers from the back seat.

"We have a caretaker and gardener a couple of times a week and they organise any other support" Raven adds and I nod again as Raven pulls up in front of a garage, pressing a button, he waits till the door opens before parking inside, the rumbling of another engine telling me Ash is doing the same next to us.

"Come On" Jett grins opening my door and reaching up to lift me out. Allowing me to slide down till my feet are on the floor, he chuckles and I poke him in the ribs "Hey!" he jumps back and I scowl up at him.

"Thats for laughing at me" I growl at him and he laughs again and I can't hold it anymore and i'm laughing too as Grey appears at our side and offers his arm to lead me inside.

The inside is as grand as the outside but its welcoming. Light and airy rooms with a lived in feel, this isn't a show home, this is their home... for now. "Come on through" Grey leads me into the lounge, and to the sofa, Raven taking one of the large armchairs as Ash and Jett, call out to see who wants a drink. I relax back watching them move with ease around each other and my curiosity kicks in.

"How long have you been brothers?" I ask and Grey drops down into the seat next to me before answering.

"Raven and I were the first to be adopted by the Steele's, we were five at the time, then Ash followed a year later and finally Jett the year after that, but we all knew each other anyway" he says and I blurt out.

"How?"

Raven chuckles "Our birth parents were all friends with the Steele's" he tells me and I try to understand what that means, but how did they all end up together?

Jett joined us and sat the other side of me, handing me a glass of something which I lift to my nose cautiously to sniff, he laughed. "Its just juice, I promise" and I take a small sip, smiling when the cool liquid hits my tongue.

I look back at Raven but its Grey that carries on for him. "Our parents all died in the same accident, The Steele's were our god parents and as Raven and I had no other family we went to them" he glanced across at the others.

"I had other relatives, an aunt and grandparents and went to stay with them but" he looks a little sad but continued "It wasn't the same, they lived in a remote area, my aunt hated ime being there and left soon after I arrived and they had no idea how to manage a grieving five year old, they tried for two years before my grandmother had a heart attack and then the Steele's stepped in and my grandfather signed away responsibility"

"Were the Steele's your god parents too?" I asked softly trying to understand and Jett nodded.

"They were, I think that's why gramps did it, that and he knew I missed the others" he answered.

I looked at Ash scowling at the drink in his hand "You don't have to tell me anything" I tell him carefully and I can see the past pain in his eyes when he looks at me.

"I know... but I want to" he pauses, and we wait knowing this has to be said in his own time. "I had a sister Megan, she was just two when the accident happened, my uncle and aunt took us in and they were thrilled with her, me not so much, I was a difficult child, I wasn't happy at the new home I was thrust into, I wanted to be with my friends and I made their lives difficult because of that, Then Aunt Jenna got pregnant and Uncle John decided I was too much work for them both on top of her pregnancy, I went to my grandparents, they kept Megan" he paused again and my heart broke for him, he had lost his parents, then his sister and my gut was telling me there was more to come.

"My grandparents were busy people, they were running their company, had events and commitments that took up most of their time, so they provided for me the way they thought best, they got me tutors, a live in Nanny, gave me everything they thought I needed"

"What happened?" I ask him softly, watching the struggle on his face, a shiver of fear creeping up my spine as his expression blanked and his eyes looked vacant, whatever he was about to say he was distancing himself from.

"One of my tutors got too close, thought he could take advantage of me, touch me up" his voice was emotionless. "I told my nanny, I told my grandparents, they didn't believe me... He did it again, laughing at me and saying he could do what he liked as no-one would believe him, and he was right to some extent, my household did not believe me but Grant Steele did. I snuck out and phoned him, he came the next day and we set up a recording, caught the bastard trying to... Well after Grant had shared what had happened with my grandparents, he suggested I go with him as they couldn't look after me properly"

"He took you away from them?"

"They tried to keep me but I didn't want to stay, I knew with Grant I would be safe and back with my boys, so I demanded they let me go" he tells me.

"And your sister?"

"I see Megan a couple of times a year but we are not close, my aunt adopted her and she has her sister Bethany and a brother Joshua, she is happy with the way things are" his voice was more even now, more like him and I guessed from that his sister was not a bitter memory just a distant one.

"So the Steeles adopted you all, wow" I muse.

Raven laughs. "You've heard ours now tell us yours" he teases.

"My story is nothing like that, its no real secret and against what you've just told me sounds silly" Grey squeezes my hand and I grin at him.

"My secrets in all my name, my family names really, My dad is Augustus Waters, he's an artist, as is my mum, Elizabeth , they are relatively normal considering they are artists. Dad had changed his name to Waters to avoid any favouritism with his work, he wanted to be famous for his art not his name. So... my grandparents on my dads side are The Waltons and on my mothers side The Genovese Family, my mums sister also married into the Gambino family, my aunt and uncles on dads side married into Kennedy and Bush families, its a bit of a big power nest"

Grey laughs "Shit, so you're connected with an unbelievable amount of money and muscle behind you, mob, money and politics, what a background"

"Yes" I whisper out.

"That's not all is it?" Raven prods and I see his gaze assessing me.

"No, when I was a baby there were four kidnap attempts before I was five, my parents answer to reduce the risk was to move us as a family to one of the family estates at the base of the Rockie Mountains, the threat was there as I am sure it is with all families with our connections, they just couldn't work out of it was mums side of the family or dads side that the threat was coming from. So I was homeschooled till about three years ago when I finally got them to relent and let me go to the local college. I loved it but it was a learning curve" I paused this time, lost in my thoughts, till Ash cleared his throat.

"Now I'm here, I have no doubt there is security in place, but I wanted to do everything normal, be a student like all the others. They promised me I wouldn't see any interference from them"

Grey squeezed my hand as he laughed at my words. "Hell Viri, that's why you said your comment about them levelling the campus. Regardless, I don't think you could ever be normal, you stand out, YOU, not your family, but you"

I hear the murmurs as the others agree "Does it change things?" I ask carefully, not wanting what I have told them to push them away, but they needed to know, if they were going to spend any time with me. There was always a risk someone would try something, though I think I was probably the families best kept secret.

"No, it changes nothing with us, we like you, we've told you that" Grey looks at me "Does what we told you change how you see us?" he throws the question back at me and I shake my head.

"Good" he replies gently, lifting my hand to his lips.

"Silly question?" Jett asked watching us and I look at him. "Why don't you have a mobile phone?"

"I don't need one, I check in with my family once a week, if I had a phone they would be checking on me every day and I don't talk to anyone other than them. I know they know how I am doing, and I am sure they have eyes everywhere" I told him honestly.

"What if something happens to you and you need to contact someone?" he pushes and I groan, knowing what I am about to tell them will make my parents cross I shared the information and raise more questions with the boys.

"I have a bio tracker, it monitors my health and location at all times"

"A what!" Raven frowns at me.