BRUNCH

"Where the hell have you been?" EZ's voice yelled out to me the moment I stepped out of the car. "Do you have any idea what kind of hell I have been through because you were late?"

"Sorry, I overslept." I hung my head as I jogged to his side and where he was sitting on the wide front steps.

"Sorry? That's all you got for me?" He snapped at me.

"What do you want from me?" I sighed.

"I'll let you know later. The harpies are coming."

No sooner had those words passed his lips did the door open.

"JACY!" I heard the three of them squeal in delight when they saw me. I was older than two of them but since I only joined the family seven years ago I was considered the baby by all of them.

"Hey Saf, hey Ama, hey Em." I greeted them with their family nicknames.

"Our sister is finally here." They came and hugged me together.

They were all nice people, but they were also really girly. Something that had never been the way for me. Each of three of them were wearing a pretty sundress that seemed to match their names, blue, green, and purple. I was not the dress wearing, heels and pretty hair type. I wore makeup but not pretty makeup like them.

I knew how to doll myself up for work, but I was never comfortable like that. I wanted comfort more than anything. I was often called a failure as a woman.

"Come on in, little sis." Amethyst, the youngest sister who was just a year older than EZ and therefore six years younger than me, called out to me. Not to mention that I was six inches taller than she was. How was it that I was the little sis here? Only Sapphire was older than me, and she was the same age as Lucian.

I once toyed with the idea of setting them up, but she is not his type. Then again, who was I to make that decision for him? Oh well, too late now.

"Just grin and bear it." EZ whispered as he walked into the house ahead of us. He was very much a flamboyant, he loved men, and he loved fashion. But he was constantly telling his sisters that he was not a doll for them to play with. He loved them and all but he hated that they were constantly trying to dress him up. His style was not theirs either.

"JACY!" Mom, Laurell, ran to me with her arms opened wide. "Sweetheart, I thought you had been in an accident. You were running so late and you didn't even call."

"I'm sorry Mom." EZ's parents had insisted that I call them Mom and Dad, since I no longer had a family of my own.

"As long as you're here now, that's all that matters."

"You really did have us worried." Dad, Bechard, had been in the kitchen but he came out to greet me as well. "Ezekiel told us about last night and then you were late. We thought you might've done something regrettable after you left the station."

I felt my face drop. They had already guessed what I had done last night. That was another thing about EZ's family, at least his parents, they were sharp. And EZ took after them more than his sisters did.

"So, who was he?" Emerald asked me. She was just a year younger than me and had a family of her own, as did Sapphire. Amethyst was the only one not married yet, but she was just a year older than EZ now.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I tried to deny it but they all looked at me knowingly.

"Must have been good." Amethyst smirked. "To make you sleep in so much. I've seen you get fall down drunk and still wake up on time. The only time you sleep in is when you're 'satisfied'." I felt my face contort as a small amount of heat filled my cheeks. I was just glad I didn't blush bright like other people did.

"Nothing happened." I don't think they believed me, since I heard more than a few of them chuckle as I stormed into the dining room.

"Aunt Jacy." The only kids in the world that would be happy to see me. Sapphire's daughter Annaleise and Emerald's son Walker. They were the only kids I had ever known that hadn't been subconsciously afraid of me. Perhaps it was because they had been raised around me. They were only five and three respectively and good kids, if a little excitable, but that was normal for kids back home too so I guess it was the same with all kids.

The two of them ran toward me and leapt into my arms at the same time. I caught them effortlessly and spun them around while I gave them a hug. I liked kids well enough, they weren't my thing, but as long as I was able to send them back to their parents then all was good.

Sapphire walked over to her husband Jason. He was a good fit for her: tall, strong, and sweet. His black hair and naturally pale complexion went well with her red hair and they both had sapphire blue eyes too. And Sapphire's name was apparently picked out before they knew she had that shade of blue eyes. Annaleise was the spitting image of Sapphire.

As I looked around I saw that Emerald was also next to Oliver, who was Jason's younger brother. Funny what they did there huh. Oliver had dark brown hair and green eyes that didn't at all match Emerald's which were a bright blue. She did however have medium brown hair so that was a plus. Walker looked just like Emerald as well, strong family genes here.

Amethyst was standing next to her boyfriend when I looked her way. No, he wasn't Jason and Oliver's brother. He was their cousin.

Sebastian was the same age as Oliver, twenty-eight, and he was a nice guy as well. But talk about being close. Sebastian had a similar coloring to Oliver, light brown hair and green eyes, nothing to match Amethyst who had blonde hair and eyes that matched Sapphire's.

EZ looked the most like Amethyst. If they hadn't been a year apart in age, almost to the day, they would have been twins. They were both five feet four inches tall, which was fine for a woman, but not a man. But EZ didn't care at all.

All of Laurell and Bechard's kids were about the same height, and either had Bechard's light blue eyes or Laurell's dark blue eyes. Emerald took after Bechard in appearance with the dark hair and her squared jaw. The others all took after Laurell's soft, feminine face and blonde hair. Except Sapphire of course which had the exact same color hair as her grandfather.

They were a really tight knit family that loved each other dearly and I loved being around them so much.