The Changeling

Chapter 4

I can't get Bronx out of my mind, and it is frustrating as hell. I don't want to find him attractive, and I have a couple of wet dreams about him, too. Ugh, I hate this situation since I don't want to fall for this man. I have this feeling in my heart that he isn't truly showing people who he really is. I have no idea how I know this, but I know I am right, but I just can't explain how I know this. I have been trying my best to avoid Bronx again, and today is Saturday. Mum will be home from work at 2 this afternoon, and we will have dinner together tonight which makes Ari and I happy. 

"Alaska, I am so bored," Arizona whines as he flops down onto the grass next to me with an exaggerated sigh and body movements. 

Smiling softly at my little brother who is now haphazardly lying on his back as I ask; "Do you want to watch a movie until mum arrives?" 

"Yes! Can i pick it out?" he happily requests, his green eyes sparkling with excitement as he pushes his brown hair out of his eyes. 

Bronx wasn't wrong when he commented that Arizona and I do not look physically alike. I was adopted when I was nine months old. I was left at a fire station with no information about at all. The nun at the Catholic orphanage took a guess at my age, picked out a birthday for me, what my possible ethnicity was, and gave me the name of James Daniel while I was there. 

When mum and dad adopted me, they kept the name James for my middle name. I did an Ancestry DNA test a year ago with mum and Arizona's blessing to find out my heritage, and if I had any relatives that had also done this, too. My DNA came back as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Scottish, and of the Native American tribe of Blackfoot. Sadly, I didn't have any familial relation matches. 

Grabbing my drawing supplies, Ari and I head inside to watch whatever my brother chooses. For some reason, I look toward the fence when I shut the slider door, and I find Bronx sadly looking over at me. My insides burst into butterflies at the sight of him, but settle slightly at his sad expression. 

"What are we watching?" I ask, settling on the edge of the couch as Arizona stands upright from the movie shelf. 

"Um, I thought we could watch 'Five Feet Apart'?" he requests, bouncing on his feet with a huge smile. 

"Absolutely, that is one of my favorite movies," I reply, grinning at him as he puts the dvd disk into the player. 

We start the movie once we return from the kitchen we we grabbed snacks and drinks. By the end credits, mum has arrived home from work, and she looks exhausted. 

"Hi mum," Arizona and I greet her as she enters the house with a tired smile at us, and returns the greeting. 

She takes off her white nursing shoes before joining us on the couch in between my brother and I. She lets out a large yawn as she leans back against the couch. 

"How was work?" I softly ask as I put the blue throw blanket I had been using over her. 

"It was good, but way too damn long," she replies around another yawn. "How was your day, boys?" 

"It was good," Arizona replies with a smile, and I agree with his answer even though we were slightly bored today, but we will and would never tell mum that. 

Before anyone can say anything more, there are three knocks on the front door. Getting up, I answer the door since mum just got home from a twelve hour shift. Opening the door, I let out a loud groan of frustration at the man standing outside the door - Bronx.

"Hi Alaska, is your mum home?" he asks, and I cross my thin arms over my chest in irritation. 

"Why do you want to know?" I demand with a scowl.

Bronx sighs; "I would like to speak with her is all."

"Alaska, who is at the door?" mum questions as she enters the kitchen. 

"Our new neighbor, Bronx," I grumble in response as my scowl deepens at Bronx. "He said he needs to speak with you."

Mum stops walking to stand next to me with a smile at Bronx as she introduces herself, and invites him inside our home. She leads him into the living room, and mum and I sit back on the couch as Bronx sits on the recliner across the room from us. 

"So, what would you like to speak with me about?" mum asks curiously when Bronx doesn't speak for a couple of minutes. 

Bronx inhales deeply as his eyes flicker between the three of us, but his eyes linger on me the longest; "I need to discus Alaska with you."

"Why in the bloody hell would you need to discus me with my mum? I have done nothing to you?" I reply with another frown as I quirk my right eyebrow at him. 

Bronx lightly chuckles at me; "You mean more to me than you realize, Alaska. I know who you birth parents are."

Mum and Arizona don't say anything, their mouths hanging open in shock as I scoff at him with an eye roll at him as well.

"Yeah, okay," I grumble as I lean back against the back of the couch. "How would you know who my biological parents are? We had no luck in finding them, so how in the bloody hell could you?"

Bronx gives me a skeptical look before he shocks me by what he says next; "You were left at a fire station when you were six months old with no information."

"A lot of kids are left at fire stations when their parents abandon them," Arizona scoffs in irritation.

"Boys," mum softly scolds us, and we stop talking, but Ari and I both continue to scowl at Bronx. "What kind of proof do you have, and you are bold to do this to us if you are lying, or pulling a prank."

Bronx holds a manilla envelope out from behind his back that I hadn't noticed, and holds it out toward mum. She takes it from him with a shaky right hand, and opens it carefully to pull out a stack of papers, and several photos.