*4 Years Later*

"Eden, your mom is going to be amazing."

"Ryan, you don't know my mom," I run my fingers through my hair, anxious about my mother meeting my boyfriend from college. We have been together for a year now and he knows nothing about my home life except for the pretty parts I've told him. When we have visited in the past, I've insisted we stay in a hotel and had dinner at my grandmother's house. This time though, the hotel I wanted to stay at was booked and Grandma was out of town.

"Eden, every family has its problems so stop being all nervous." He takes my hand and I lean on his shoulder.

"It sucks that I'm not coming back to school with you. I just have to take care of my mom," Yep, I'm a college drop-out. I received a call from my mother saying she needs me and she is sick so of course, I am going to drop my whole life at Columbia and return home. I worked hard to get the hell out of here and yet a year later, I'm coming back with my tail between my legs like a little lost puppy. Ryan is only staying 2 days before heading back to the city to start summer classes. He is upset about me leaving, but I'm sure he will find some new girl to "study" with since we were never that serious anyway.

As the cab pulls up to my house, I freeze as the familiar tension washes over me, or maybe it's just regret. I take a deep breath opening the car door. Ryan grabs our luggage and as we are walking up the driveway, the front door swings open.

"Eden! I'm so happy to see you" She runs out to me pulling me into an aggressive hug, over squeezing me. I catch a whiff of alcohol on her, making my nose scrunch up.

"Happy to see you too, mom," I pull back.

"You remember my friend, Ryan" No use in calling him my boyfriend anymore.

"Eden, He is as adorable as ever," She reaches out pinching his cheek, winking at him and I groan. So embarrassing. She leads us into the house and it's as clean and classy as it always is. Everything is in the same place as if it has never been moved or changed. Almost like a shrine.

"I'm making lasagna for dinner so you two go get cleaned up," Her definition of cooking is always been throwing a frozen meal into the oven before putting it in a glass dish and calling it homemade. She goes into the kitchen picking up the glass of wine sitting on the counter. She couldn't even sober up for one day. All I want is one normal day back home.

I show Ryan to the guest room and he says he is going to shower which is perfect because I have to go see my guys. I lay my stuff in my room and leave out the front door, heading a house over. Jasper and Harper took it upon themselves to become close with me knowing my situation and all. They always texted and called while I was at school. If I needed anything and my mother wasn't mentally available, they would help me.

I knock on the door and no one answers so I walk in like I usually do when I'm here. "Harper, Jasper!" I call out but I don't get an answer. I run my fingers over the redwood walls as I look for them. As I round the corner to the kitchen, I am suddenly swept up by a pair of strong arms. I squeal.

"Harper! Put me down!" I laugh as he sets me back on my feet. I wrap my arms around him "I've missed you!" Harper is still the more playful brother, always making me laugh. Whereas Jasper is still the more serious brother. He is funny in his own way, but I know I can talk to him about more serious issues.

"I've missed you too, Kiddo," He kisses my forehead and I frown.

"I'm not a kid, I'm 19," I punch his arm and he acts hurt. He wraps his arms around me and starts scratching my back.

"So how long are you home?" My expression falls and I look down. Harper nudges my chin up to look at him.

"I'm not going back," I shake my head "She is getting worse."

I focus on his shirt, not wanting to look him in the eye. He always has on pastel-colored button-downs and Jasper opts for darker colors. Despite their differences, no one can ever say that they can't dress. Both believe in designers. Even if it's just button-downs and khakis which is what they both tend to wear when they aren't at their offices in the city.

Harper sighs hard, "Damn it, Eden, I'm sorry."

I force a smile "It's okay. Community college isn't so bad. I can enroll in online classes just so I don't fall behind. It's not a big deal." Harper pulls me into another hug knowing that I'm clearly lying my ass off about being okay and completely upset about this whole situation. I breathe in his cologne, he always smells like Burberry cologne and I like when it sticks to my clothes.

"Where is Jasper?"

"Where he always is. Upstairs in the office," He pats my butt twice. "Go see him, kiddo, I'll be up in a minute."

"Stop calling me that," I groan as I head upstairs. When I get to the double doors, I tap lightly hearing him in a conversation. I open the door walking in quietly. When he looks up his stern expression doesn't change, but then again I'm sure he was born with that expression. I walk over to him as his eye follow me and he pushes his chair back so I can sit on his leg. Leaning against him, I wrap my arms around his neck as he talks about business on the phone. I gaze around his office and not much has changed since I was last here during Christmas except for the collection of autographed baseballs I got him as a gift. I ended up spending most of Christmas here while my mother slept off all the egg nog and vodka from a party she throws every year. I don't remember when the three of us became so comfortable. It just sort of happened overnight. Some may think of it as inappropriate, but I think it's hanging with my big brothers.

Jasper slams the phone down "Fucking idiot, can't even manage his own money," His arms automatically wrap around my waist "Always so angry, Jasper. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Kiddo," I roll my eyes "You too? Harper called me the same thing. I'm not a kid. I'm 19, very mature for my age. Practically an adult."

Jasper looks up at me and the corner of his mouth turns up slightly. "An adult who whines," He kisses my cheek and Harper comes, in sitting in the chair in front of the desk.

"I don't whine. If you are going to insult me, I can go home and spend time with Ryan," Immediately Harper and Jasper groan. "You brought that kid back. I thought you would have dumped him by now. He isn't your type, Eden," Harper is always first to express his dislike towards Ryan despite only meeting him once.

"He isn't that bad" I laugh and Jasper rubs my back "We just don't think he is mature enough for you."

I huff "Change the subject please," They always say guys my age aren't mature, yet I'm beyond my years. I don't get them sometimes.

Harper clears his throat "So, I think we should discuss the fact that Eden here is not going back to school"

"Damn it, Harper, I could have told him myself" I sigh and Jasper pinches my side for cursing and I flinch.

"No, you wouldn't have. You knew Jasper would be pissed"

Jasper took me getting into Columbia very seriously being a graduate of the school and all. He spent 6 months helping me with my admission essay and even wrote me a letter of recommendation after I worked at one of their buildings for almost a year. So Harper is right, the moment I made the decision, I knew Jasper would be more affected. I look at Jasper who is looking at me "Why?"

"My mom needs me. I can't just leave her alone," I go to stand up, but Jasper pulls me back down "Not done talking. You're throwing Columbia away for Kathy?"

I sigh, "She is an alcoholic, but both of you know that so I don't know what the problem is." I mumble, eyeing the picture on Jasper's desk and I can't understand why it's still sitting there. I hate my 9th grade class picture. Braces, acne, weird hair, definitely not my best days. Thankfully puberty was kind to me and the acne disappeared, my teeth straightened, and I got a flat iron. I'm no longer lanky and a freak. I have curves that I love and I thank Lacrosse for them everyday. By society's standards, I am considered "Hot", but at the same time, I kept my nose in the books so much that I rarely went to parties. The few I did go to lead me to be with Ryan.

"I'm disappointed, Eden. I pulled a lot of strings for you," Jasper says and I feel like I'm seriously letting him down. I look up at Harper waiting for him to say something funny or witty, but it never comes. "I'm sorry Eden, but I'm pretty bummed about it too"

"I don't have a choice. I can't just let her take care of herself. She is a mess. I'm sorry," I shrug feeling my eyes water.

Jasper frowns more than he usually does. "You're going back, Eden. I will drag you there myself," I feel his finger tapping against my back "I can't. It's over."

Jasper groans "Such a foolish choice, Eden. You're better than this."

I immediately feel irritated and judged, I stand up, "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do? Let my mother drink herself into her fucking grave? I thought you two would understand, but I guess not. Sorry I even came over" I storm out and Harper calls out for me. I ignore him and head back to my house. Before I walk into my front door, I look up into Jasper's office window and see him looking down at me. I roll my eyes and walk into the house. Sometimes they drive me crazy.

After showering and changing clothes, I go downstairs and see my mother showing Ryan my baby books. I join them on the couch and she slides my plate of lasagna across the coffee table to me. I sit there and act happy as she explains my so-called wild baby days. Too bad the book stops right when my dad left. Everything after middle school is in a box under the stairs.

I can tell my mother has been drinking by the way she keeps touching Ryan's arms and thigh. "Mom, I think that enough of memory lane."

"Oh stop, Eden, he is fine," she starts laughing and her hand lands dangerously close to Ryan's junk. He flinches and I sit my plate down grabbing her half-empty wine bottle and glass, walking off with it. "Eden, gimme that back!" I march into the kitchen dumping the wine in the sink. When I turn around she grabs my arm "You think you are in charge of me now! I'm still your mother!" The empty glass falls to the floor and glass scatters everywhere. Just great

I pull away from her, "You are drunk and making a fool of yourself!" Just then she pushes me and I fall to the floor bumping my head into a bar stool.

"You just want to hurt me, Eden!" She starts crying and I groan too used to this routine. "Mom, you are hurting yourself! You're the one who called me and told me you needed help. I'm dropping out of college for you! So who is hurting who?!" I start rubbing the back of my head.

My mom stops yelling and begins sobbing. She falls to her knees, crawling over to me, and pulls me to her "I'm sorry, Eden. I'm sick. I need you. I love you, Eden. You're all I have."

I sigh and reluctantly rub her back "It's okay."

"No, it's not. I'm a failure! I can't even get a good man in my life. You have Ryan. He is wonderful" Yeah, wonderful, right.

Stumbling to my feet, I pick her up off the floor, "Come on, let's get you to bed." I walk her upstairs as Ryan just sits on the couch in silence. Embarrassment consumes me at the fact that I have to put my own mother to bed, because she is wasted on wine or whatever else she drank today. Once I get her into bed, I throw the covers over her. When I look around her room, there are clothes all over the place. I pick them up tossing them into a pile. Even when I didn't want to take care of her I ended up doing it anyway. It's like a second nature to me.

I go downstairs and Ryan helps me wash dishes and sweep up the glass. I apologize to him 10 times for the scene, but he says that he understands. He is probably shocked at just how much baggage I have. When we finish, we go upstairs to my room and Ryan follows me wrapping his arms around me.

"You are amazing, Eden," He kisses the back of my neck and I turn around to face him "No, I'm not. My life is a mess."

Ryan cups my face, "You are. I don't know how you managed to make all A's at school knowing this is going on at home."

"Well, look where it's gotten me. I'm dropping out." I shrug and his hands snake up the sides of my shirt.

"Amazing, nonetheless." He leans in pressing his lips against mine. He quickly pulls my shirt from over my head dropping it to the floor as he begins unzipping my shorts. I pull his shirt off running my hands down his body.

"Don't go too far, okay?" I whisper and Ryan nods. I don't know why I never had sex with Ryan. I've wanted to on many occasions, but I just never let it happen. Ryan picks me up and carries me to the bed. His body hovers over mine and his mouth begins trailing over my jaw and neck. I moan and turn my head to give him better access. I feel a gust of cool air come in and my nipples harden. Ryan's hands grip them softly and he begins grinding against him. Ryan's hand slips down my underwear and I moan loudly as his fingers play around at my core. The room fills with my moans as Ryan eases his body down between my legs. I reach back on the night stand and click the light off.

After all the heavy petting, Ryan goes to sleep, but I stay awake thinking about how my life is going to be now. I'm dropping out of college and as much as I try not to be angry about it, I am. I hate my mother for making me make this decision even if she didn't directly say it. I sit up finally giving up on sleep and decide to go talk to Harper. I don't want to talk to Jasper, because I know he is still angry with me. In a pair of shorts and a tank top, I sneak out and go next door. I walk in through the back and the kitchen light is still on so I know they are awake. When I'm upstairs, I hear a moaning sound coming from Harper's room. Against my better judgement, I ease the door open and my eyes widen.

There on the bed is Harper and some woman. Harper is pounding into the woman from behind and her face is down in the pillow as she yells out, gripping the sheets. My heart begins racing and I feel dirty for even watching. Out of the years I've known them both, I have never seen them with anything less than a shirt on. Something inside of me ignites and I doubt a bucket of ice water could put it out. Harper gently runs his hand down the girl's back the same way he does mine, cursing into the air "Fuck! You're so wet" His deep voice sending a chill down my spine. Feeling like I'm invading his privacy, I step back to leave, but I freeze when I see a naked Jasper walk up to the bed. Holy Shit.

He grabs the woman's blonde hair, yanking her head up and she immediately wraps her mouth around his large member as if she has been trained to. I bite my lip trying to suppress a moan dying to escape as he thrusts into the woman's mouth roughly. I exhale softly, feeling my panties become moist as I watch Jasper's hardened expression, full of dominance. I've never really been experienced in the sex department and Ryan is my first boyfriend, because I was too shy to date in high school, never trusting the intentions of teenage boys. The only time I've ever seen people have sex is on porn and it looked fake. Seeing Harper and Jasper having their way with the woman is something new to me. I decide I shouldn't watch anymore and when I step back again, I bump into the hall table making a thud noise. I gasp as Harper and Jasper's eyes shoot up seeing me through the small opening of the door. I look at both of them in shock before I turn around leaving quickly.

I rush back to my house and when I check my phone there is a text from Harper. I delete the text before even reading it just to save me the embarrassment of having to face the fact that I witnessed Jasper and Harper banging some random woman. It's not even the fact that they are brothers that bothers me, it's just that I always saw them as my brothers, rarely ever thinking of them in a sexual way and now...my God.

I slip back into bed with Ryan and he doesn't budge. Laying there, I spend the night hours playing the scene over and over in my mind detail by detail. I have to face the fact that it turned me on to see them both like that and a part of me wishes I knew what it felt like to be handled in that manner, but being a virgin really throws a damper on that idea. I have no religious ties or sentimental value to my virginity, I've just never felt like the moment was right. I don't want to just hand it over like my mother does to any guy who pulls out their black card or penis for that matter and it just never feels right with Ryan. He just seems to eager to get me into bed, not really taking the time to savor every inch of me. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic who is helplessly horny. At least someone got lucky tonight.

I finally doze off around 4am still in shock of what I walked in on. When i wake up, the sun is shining in my face and Ryan's arms is wrapped around me. I roll out of bed quietly, not waking Ryan. I grab the remote to the window shades letting them up. Standing in front of the window, I stretch and then anxiety consumes me when last night comes back to me. My arms fall to my side and I shake my head. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you" I jump turning around to see Ryan laying there smiling. I crawl back in bed to him and straddle him.

"I hope I didn't wake you" I brush his hair back leaning down to kiss him quickly. Okay, maybe I like him more than I let on, but there is no use in getting attached. He leaves later tonight. Ryan wraps his arms around me and I lay on his chest for a while just to soak him in.

After showering together and getting dressed, we head downstairs. It's 9:30 in the morning and I know my mother isn't awake yet. After a night of drinking she usually doesn't show her face until mid afternoon only to start drinking again. I make Ryan and myself some pancakes and bacon while we talk about my childhood in this house of horrors. I know I joke about my life, but it's the only way I don't lose my mind. Even up to moving out for college, my mom would still slap the crap out of me saying I was leaving her just like my dad did. She always needed someone to blame for her misfortune.

Ryan and I retreat to the back deck over looking a small lake to eat breakfast. I engage in conversation just so I don't have to think about Jasper and Harper for a little while, at least until I figure out what the hell i'm going to say when they confront me about it. It's not like I did anything out of the ordinary. I am used to just letting myself in, but it finally dawns on me that when I was younger there were a few nights where they would tell me that I couldn't come over. I just thought they needed a break from me to work. Hmph, they did work alright.

After breakfast, we go out to the lake and get on my paddle boat. Ryan rows out to the middle of the lake and we just lay around for the day. I drape my arm over the edge of the boat letting my fingers flow through the water and I find myself analyzing everything about last night. I look behind me and Ryan has his hat pulled over his eyes and is snoring lightly. I flick water at him and he smiles.

"I will throw you over board" he mumbles.

"I dare you" I smirk and he peeks from under the hat.

"Come here" he whispers and I slowly move over to him. I hover over him and he cups my face "I'm going to miss you, Eden."

His light blue eyes soak into mine and I smile "I'm going to miss you too." I press my forehead against his chest and he kisses the top of my head.

Suddenly, i'm being pushed out of the paddle boat. I splash into the water and when I come up, Ryan is jumping into the water over me. He comes up and his hands are around my waist. I lean in and kiss him wrapping my arms around his neck.

Just as we are having fun, I hear my name being yelled. I groan against his mouth and when I turn around my mom is standing on the back deck. "Eden!"

"Fun's over" I mumble swimming back over to the boat. We climb in and Ryan paddles back to the dock. We walk back dripping wet and as we get closer I can tell she isn't happy. I step up on the deck and tell Ryan to go in. After he is out of view, my mother pulls me into the sun room. "Eden, what the hell were you thinking? The neighbors can see you"

I frown "So, I was swimming in the lake like everyone else does"

"Everyone else isn't a slut. How dare you act like that out in the open? Kissing and crap for everyone to see" she begins pacing around and I don't understand why she is so angry. Compared to what she does in the privacy of her bedroom, my display of affection is like child's play.

"Mom, it's not that serious" I roll my eyes and out of nowhere she hits me across my temple. "Don't you back talk me!"

I touch my temple and I feel a sting right by my hair line. I pull my hand back seeing a tinge of blood. I look down at her hand and see her wearing her wedding ring again which explains the cut on my forehead now.

"I can't do this anymore" I go to walk past her and she grabs my wet shirt yanking me down to the floor.

"You're nothing, but ugly whore, Eden. I know you two slept together!" she takes a vase from the side table and pulled the flowers out of it, dumping the water over my face. I choke on the water as I try to get up and she slaps me again. I yell out as she begins draggins me across the floor by my shirt. "Let me go, mom!"

"Shut up!" She screams back, pulling harder. She drags me into the kitchen and comes down on me. She grips the necklace I got for my 10th birthday ripping it from my neck. Tears stream from my face and suddenly I hear Ryan's voice yelling for her to let me go. I look up and he has his arms around her pulling her back. Right before I'm out of her reach she grips my hair, pulling it with all her might. I scream out and she let's go, but not without some still in her clutch. My mom wiggles out of his grip and she storms off pushing Ryan against the wall.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" He runs over to me laying on the floor "Eden, are you okay?" His hand hovers over my head not touching me, but I feel the warmth off his skin. My whole head is throbbing and the steady flow of tears hinder me from seeing clearly.

"Take me next door please" I sob and suddenly i'm being picked up and carried. He carries me to the back of Jasper and Harper's house and slides the door open with his foot.

"Help!" He yells into the house and I hear Harper's voice "What the hell happen?" I hear him run over to us.

"She just attacked her for no reason" Ryan mumbles passing me into Harper's arms. I bury my face into his shoulder and my whole body is shaking. "It's okay, E. I gotcha" Harper calls for Jasper as he lays me on the couch. He tells Ryan to go to the hall closet and get towels as Jasper comes down stairs. He kneels over me and when he is about to touch my head, I flinch, pushing his hand away. I can tell Jasper is beyond angry. His face is hard and red.

"Her mom nearly ripped her hair from her scalp. I was upstairs, but came back down when I heard screaming" Ryan says coming back with towels. He throws them over me.

"I'm so sorry, Eden" I can tell Ryan is in completely shock and I honestly don't blame him. If I were on the outside looking in, I would be shocked too wondering how the hell anyone could live like that.