The Handcuff Game

Chapter 17 - The Brother

"My feet are killing me." I whined when we finally got to his gaudy mansion.

"I'd carry you, but I'm running low on fuel. Someone didn't want me to eat today." He said, heading straight for the kitchen.

"That was your choice! I gave you food." I shot back.

"That was not food." He laughed and opened a pair of metal doors.

I thought we would have some fun cooking, until I noticed two chefs standing ready to prepare whatever Alec desired. That must be nice.

"Stephen, could you please prepare us-." Alec started.

"Stephen, we'd love to give you a break and cook for ourselves." I said sweetly.

The tall man with the pointed mustache was clearly confused, as was his colleague. They both looked to Alec who chuckled and waved them off, "Why not?"

They both smiled, almost gratefully and left the oversized kitchen. No one needed a kitchen of this size, especially a family of three.

I yanked Alec toward a cabinet and started searching for ingredients. You would think he would've taken the lead, but I had a feeling he knew this kitchen as much as I did.

I jumped up and down to grab a few spices and suddenly felt extremely aware of myself. It was that same feeling you get when you know someone's watching you. Was he watching me?

I turned to my side a bit and looked from the corner of my eye. It was quick, but I caught Alec's eyes glued to my body, lower than I was comfortable with.

"Can I help you?" I asked sarcastically.

He flinched a bit as he realized he was caught. "Shut up, Parker." He laughed and started helping me search through the cabinets. "I thought you said you didn't know how to cook anything besides that gross oatmeal." He scrunched his nose from the memory.

I rolled my eyes, "I can make pancakes too."

He smirked and snatched the flour from me, his hand grazing mine as he did it, "I'll do it. I know a thing or two about pancakes. Blueberries or raspberries?"

I rose an eyebrow at him, surprised he knew anything about cooking, "Ok cooking boy, show me what you got. And blueberries, please."

He laughed and I started helping gather the ingredients he needed. It was strange actually. Not once was I thinking about strangling him or even about getting these wretched cuffs off. I was just having fun...like I was hanging out with Surina or Luke.

There was still a lot of things to be confused about, but in this moment, I was content. None of it really mattered. I guess I was just getting used to this.

My mind lingered to his parents. I wondered if they had even tried to call him after the incident – if they did, I certainly would've heard if he picked up. Did they even care?

My thoughts suddenly turned to words, "Why do you think your parents didn't offer help after they saw the cuffs?"

He stiffened a bit, probably thrown off by my unexpected question. Then he just shrugged, "I've done worse. They know I'll fix it on my own."

"You've done worse than this?" I laughed, "This seemed pretty bad to walk in on without context."

He smirked, "Yep."

"And I doubt you'd care to share it." I remarked.

He flashed his brilliantly white teeth, grinning, "Nah, I don't think you can handle that."

I rolled my eyes, "As if I'd care." It did hurt a bit though. He obviously didn't trust me enough to tell me. I changed the subject, "So it's just the three of you living here?"

He nodded, "Yeah. My brother moved out a few years before he graduated." He went silent, as if he wanted to say something more, but couldn't.

So, I filled the silence myself, "A few years before? How old was he?" I started to get the feeling "moved out" really meant "ran away."

"Fifteen." He mumbled, and I swear on my life I saw his eyes get watery before he returned to his emotionless stare, "What about you?"

I shook my head, "Nope. Just me and my mom."

We slipped into an awkward silence after that, only the sound of the spoon hitting the sides of the bowl filling the room.

I wanted to ask him more about his brother, but, like a lot of things, it seemed like a touchy subject. Maybe that's why his parents were twisted – or maybe he ran away because his parents were twisted. I wondered if Alec knew the reason he left. Maybe he just couldn't take the pressure of being in a family like this? I mean, I wouldn't love having parents like that.

"He hated it here." Alec said, as if reading my thoughts, "He finally left after – after a pretty bad situation." He said it so matter-of-factly with a stone-cold expression glued to his face. I could tell he was holding in his emotions, but I didn't want to prod.

"I'm sorry," was all I could offer.

He stopped stirring, "That's what everyone says." He mumbled it so quietly, I wasn't sure if he had meant for me to hear it.

I smiled softly, "Well, now I say it's my duty to make you happy right now."

He cocked his head, "What do you-." His eyes widened as a puff of white dust hurled at him and hit him directly on his chest.

I started laughing and grabbed another handful of flour to prepare for my next launch.

"How would that possibly make me happy?!" He growled playfully.

Tears streamed down my face as I laughed, the flour sifting from my hand as I shook, "Your face!"

"Oh you think that's funny?" All of a sudden something pelted me in the stomach. I let out a small gasp as I looked down at the flour mark on my shirt.

I smirked, "Oh. It's on!" I threw what was left in my hand at him and he threw more back. I squealed and tried to pull away, but the cuffs tightened as I tried.

"Can't get away." He growled, throwing flour in my hair, "Might as well surrender!"

At that point, I was absolutely covered in flour, still, I shouted back, "Never!" I threw another handful with full force. Somehow, that little ball of miracle dust found its way to his off-limits zone and he chocked out a cry of pain.

He toppled over, bringing me with him. The only difference was, I was laughing my ass off while he was grumbling profanities.

"I-I'm sorry." I laughed, "Did I break anything?"

He glared at me as I pushed myself off of him, "That wasn't nice."

I smiled sweetly as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"We should probably clean this." I glanced around at the mess.

"The staff will do it." He said, "We do need to clean ourselves though."

My eyes widened, "No. Not again!"

He nodded with a devilish grin, "You need to clean your body every day, Parker. It's time. How else do you expect to get all of this flour off?" I groaned and he responded with, "And the towels here tend to fit me very loosely."

I squeezed my eyes shut, "Don't say that to me." I made a fake gagging noise.

He smirked, swooped me into his arms and started walking, "Payback."

I cringed and flopped around in his arms like a fish out of water, "Alec, no! I swear to God if you drop your towel agai-."

He laughed, "I won't."

I let out a sigh of relief, and I could practically feel my heartbeat slow down, "Thank you."

"Then again, I can't control it." He said as he banged the bathroom door shut behind us.