Avery (Alex's baby sister) ^

"You know what's fucked up?" I asked looking at Riley who raised his brow,"That no matter how much I try to get my brothers to back off and no matter how much my parents and Ryder tell them to back off, they won't listen. But whenever Brian is home from Afghanistan they're little angels and act like they were never assholes."

We were currently driving to the carnival that was only a ten minute drive from my house. Ryder had driven Andrew, Casey and Matt and we agreed to all meet up there. Riley brought his twin sisters Isabelle and Arabella. They were identical twins the only difference between them was that Isabelle had light brown hair while Arabella had dark. They were both about an inch taller than me at 5'5. They're very pretty with petite built.

"Your brothers, no offense Alex, are total douches. They need to back off. It's not healthy for them to be this protective of you."Arabella said from the back seat and I looked over at them to see Isabelle nodding her head in agreement

"Trust me I know. It's like whatever we say goes in one ear and out the other but when Brian is home they listen to him which is ridiculous if you ask me." I said and they nodded

"Kenny and Mattie used to be like that back in the day with Riley. Remember big brother?" Isabelle asked and Riley nodded

"They were always on my back no matter how much I asked them to back off. It was always don't do anything stupid or don't you dare hang out with those people. It came to a point where I light told them to fuck of that they were nothing to me. I don't speak to them for almost 3 months if I remember correctly." He said and I looked at him shocked

"Seriously?" I asked with a gasp and he chuckle but nodded his head making a turn and not long did the bright lights of the carnival came into view making me stare out the window with a grin. It's been ages since I came to the carnival. I don't even remember when the last time I came was.

"Come on, let's go find your brothers before they send the police to search for you." Riley said as he turned the car off once he parked the car beside Ryder's car. I rolled my eyes and wanted to tell him that they wouldn't go to that extreme by then remembered who he was talking about and said nothing.

The open field where the carnival was taken place was packed with people from families to group of friends to couples enjoying the night out together. We heads to the booth to get our tickets for the rides, and as I was about to pull my wallet out, Riley pushed my hand away and shook his head

"I got them," he said when I gave him a questioning glance and I went to object but he had already turned around bought those bracelets that gave you unlimited turns on any ride you wanted instead of having tickets that would run out quickly as each ride could requiere two or three tickets each.

"Come on," he said once we got our bracelets on. We walked through he crowded field and went in search of my four older brothers. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and took it out to find d a text from Ryder asking where we were.

🏆

We just got here. We're near the ticket booth where are you?

🏆

Were near the pirate ship

🏆

Okay we'll be there in a bit

After getting a reply from him saying okay, I lead Cordelli siblings to my brothers' location.

"So what rides are you guys getting on?" Isabelle asked as we rounded the corner and just like Ryder said, we found the four near the pirate ship and they weren't alone. They were accompanied by Vanna, Allie, Jared and Jensen.

"Hey," I greeted three when we were only a few feet away and they all looked over to us the girls smiling while the guys nodded their heads in reply

"You guys know Riley, these two here are his sisters, Isabelle and Arabella. Girls meet my friends Vanna, Allie, Jensen and Jared." I said to them and they exchanged greetings before the twins eyes landed on my brothers

"And those four are my brothers, Ryder, Casey, Andrew and Matt" I said and the girls nodded

"Nice to meet you all" they said in unison and my friends smiled

"It's nice to meet you too." Allie said with a smile

"Is Molly here also or is it just you four?" I asked

"She went to get us sna-there she is" Vanna began to say only to point behind us and we looked over and sure enough Molly was making her way towards us with a bag that most likely had the snacks Vanna was saying.

"Hey guys you made it." She said with a beaming smile before her focus went to the twins

"Arabella and Isabelle meet Molly, Molly meet Rileys twin sisters" I said introducing them

"Hi, nice to meet you" Isabelle said and Molly grinned

"Nice meeting you too, so have you guys decided what rides you're going on yet?" Molly questioned our group and they nodded with Allie pointed to the pirate ship. So with us all agreeing, we climbed the ship with milky leaving the bag behind with the ride operator.

We rode nearly all the rides at the carnival and everything as going according to plan aside with Casey, Matt and Andrew ignoring Riley and his sisters only talking with our friends and Ryder while also giving me disapproving looks.

~~~~

The sound of gun fire filled the air and the crowd went into a frenzy. They were running and screaming as the gunshots continued to sound. I felt a hand tug mine and I looked up to see Riley pulling at me to get away. We were the only ones left behind. My brother, his sisters and my friends had already ran to find a safe place to hide or to get out of the crowd. I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as likes over my shoulder to see a man with a mask covering ghost face shooting at anyone and everyone that was in his way.

"Don't look back, Alex" Riley hissed as he picked his speed and I fell and he didn't notice. He kept running and fear crept over me as I did the one thing he said not to do, I looked behind me and saw the shooter staring at me with his gun pointing in my direction. I could hear sirens approaching and Riley's voice screaming my name. The male shot his gun and I closed my eyes waited for the impact but instead I felt a body land over me and opened my eyes to stare into the familiar green eyes of Riley. How the hell did he get to me that fast? Was he actually closer than I thought he was? I saw pain cross his features making me heart stop.

"Riley?" I whispered and he gave me a small pained filled smile as blood began to dribble down the side of his mouth.

"Shh," he murmured and I felt my eyes fill with tears. No, no.

"Please no." I whimpered. He only cupped my face as we laid there on the ground with Riley's bleeding body over mine. I could hear police shouting at the shooter to put his weapon down.

"It's okay,Alex" he whispered, his eyes still locked on mine. He had tears rolling down his face as he scrunched his brows at the pain he in his back. I chocked on a son as his body slumped over mine. Please, please no, you can't take him please you can't take him I cried as I laid user him ignoring his weight crushing me. He was ultimately pulled off of me and placed on a gurney by paramedics.

"You have to save him please" I cried as I was taken to an ambulance as they loaded him onto another.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure he's okay, I need to check you to see if you're not injured." The paramedic said but I shook my head

"I'm okay, he shielded me before I could get hit." I murmured. I heard my name and Riley's names get called and looked over to see our friends and siblings running towards us. The girls going to Riley's ambulance while my brothers and friends came to mine.

"We were terrified that you were hurt during the shooting." Ryder said pulling me into a hug and I clung to him

"I'm fine. Riley isn't though" I whispered tears rolling down my face.

"What do you mean?" Allie asked

"He got shot. I fell while we were running and Riley didn't notice at first but then everything happened so fast and then he was over me taking the bullet. I don't want him to die Rye." I whimpered looking at my brother and he shook his head

"And he won't. From what I can see, Riley's a strong kid and he'll pull through" he assured

"He's better off dead. Means he won't be a bother to us anymore" Casey said and I stared at him in shock and things just went sour.

"That's fucked up dude. We get you don't like him but to wish that he doesn't make it? That's just fucked up" Jared said with a shake of his head. Allie stared at him shocked that he'd say something like that

"Are you fucking serious right now Case?" She asked absolutely disgusted that her boyfriend would ever say something like that

"I hate you. I hate you. You're nothing to me. I never want to speak with you" I snarled at him and his eyes grew wide as he stared at me shocked. Andrew and Matt looked just as shocked.

"A-" Andrew began but I glared at him

"You three have been nothing but fucking assholes to him since day one and I've had enough of it. Riley is fucking fighting for his life right now and instead of wishing he makes it you want him to die? You're disgusting pieces of shit to even think of that." I snapped before turning to the paramedic who was hearing the whole thing and gave him the blanket he had thrown over me earlier

"Thank you for everything, I'm good." I said and he nodded.

"Come on A, let's get you to the hospital so we can see how Riley's doing" Jensen said and I nodded before realizing that Riley's car was going to be left here

"Uh, excuse me?" A new voice said and we looked over to see the paramedic from before walking over to us,"I'm looking for Alex?"

"I'm Alex" I said and she smiled

"I was given these keys to give to you" she said handing me Riley's car keys, "Thank you"

With a nod of her head, she climbed the ambulance I was in previously before it drove away

"I'll drive it" Ryder said handing his car keys to Jared who took them from him,"Riding with me?"

"Yeah"