Alone Together [boyxboy]

Alone Together {6}

                The front door opened and shut. I heard someone kicking their shoes off, and then footsteps.

                “Oh, Jesus!” Ace cried, jumping back as he spotted me in the kitchen. “What the hell, Alexis?! It’s almost one in the morning!”

                I stood up. “Ace, I came home to Micah crying today.”

                “Oh shit,” he groaned, taking a step back and holding his hands up defensively. “Now, hold on a second. I can explain!”

                “I don’t like it when Micah cries,” I said. “And I don’t like it when he thinks I’m mad at him because you didn’t tell him I was going to be back late. I also don’t like it when I trust you to feed him, and then find out he hasn’t eaten.”

                “Wait, wait, wait!” Ace said. “Let me explain before you kill me!”

                “You better have a good explanation,” I said, glaring at him.

                “I got called into work early! And it takes me some time to bike there! So I had to leave right when I got off the phone! I didn’t have a chance to feed the kid!” he said. “And I guess it just slipped my mind to tell him you’d be home late…”

                I took a deep breath. Sometimes I almost needed more patience to deal with Ace than I needed to deal with the five year old.

                “I don’t get angry easily,” I said. “I will get angry when it comes to Micah being unhappy. You like to play with fire, Ace.”

                His hands dropped and a cocky smirk spread on his face. “Now, would I try to make you angry, Alexis?”

                “I’m going to bed. Goodnight,” I said, pushing past Ace.

                “Goodnight,” he said, and I could hear the cockiness in his voice.

                I went upstairs and carefully crawled into bed, pulling Micah into my arms. He had been exhausted, and was out cold. He cuddled against me, gripping a handful of my shirt and burying his face against my chest.

                I smiled at him and pulled the covers over us. I closed my eyes, feeling exhausted myself. It would be nice to just have a day off at the park with Micah tomorrow.

                                                                                                ***

                “Lex, wake up! Wake up!”

                I opened my eyes as Micah shook me. He had an excited look on his face, bouncing up and down on the bed.

                “Park today!” he said.

                “Yes,” I said, rubbing my eyes and sitting up. He crawled into my lap, beaming a smile up at me.

                “Park!” he said.

                “Park,” I agreed with a nod.

                I stood up, Micah in my arms. I carried him downstairs, where Christian and Ike were sitting. Christian was sipping on a cup of coffee and flipping through the newspaper. Ike had a cup of coffee in his hands and lounged against the counter.