Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 73: Morning Switch

Morning arrived as soon as any other, Mallix stirred awake hearing a loud noise coming from outside of his room. At first the voice sounded similarly to a loud blur, but the more awake and conscious he became the clearer the voice became with it. Finally with better clarity, Mallix could hear it was Zander's voice yelling out through the cabin.

The boys shouts were loud but still impossible to make out. Groggily stepping out of his warm sheets Mallix walked out, following the voice into the living room where he saw Zander sitting on his bottom pounding his fists down on the ground repeatedly. Alex standing irritated above him with his arms crossed and a tired look sprawled across his face.

At first glance Mallix just assumed Zander was too hyper for Alex this early in the morning, but that soon was corrected. "Zander I'm not going to tell you again, stand up. It's time for you and Nina to go into town." Alex calmly said trying not to lose his temper.

"No!" The boy persisted yelling with annoyance slamming his arms and legs into the floor. He didn't want to leave Alex, especially when he found out he was going to be shopping for supplies with Nina.

"Zander now, Nina's waiting outside for you in the car. Go now before she gets tired waiting for you." He tried again seeing the large pout already growing on his little boys face.

"No! I don't wanna!" He crossed his arms throwing himself backwards until his back hit the floor rather harshly sending Alex panicking down after.

Kneeling besides Zander, Alex lifted him up and into his arms rubbing his back. "Now that's enough. I get you don't want to leave right now but throwing yourself on the floor like that isn't going to do you any good. Hurry and get up so we can head outside to Nina before I set you down in the corner for that stunt, and you can forget about all the nice things Nina said she was going to get you while you're out." Alex sternly said.

Zander clung to Alex wanting to feel his embrace as he rubbed his back gently. Feeling Alex pulling away Zander frowned but allowed himself to be lifted up from the ground. Taking Alex's hand they both walked away towards the front door leaving Mallix in the shadows of the hallway.

In a matter of seconds Alex came back empty handed finally seeing Mallix leaning against the wall with his eyebrow cocked as Alex passed. "What?" The friend asked.

"Seems to me like Zander's developing himself a headspace now." He chuckled.

"Just because he's starting to throw tantrums and have attachment issues, doesn't...it, no he's not...this is only the beginning..." Alex stopped himself with wide eyes and open mouth. "Oh my god Zander's developing a headspace!" A surprisingly large smile spread from cheek to cheek.

"He's definitely very fond of you Alex, he always has been, no wonder he's gotten himself attached so quickly. I'll say it's refreshing to see how safe he feels around you that he's able to start developing a headspace in such a short amount of time." Mallix grinned.

For a minute the two men shared a moment of joy. Getting lost in his proud moment before Alex heard a croaking sound from further down the hall breaking him from his blissful thought.

"We still have to deal with James." He reminded Mallix groaning.

The subtle smile noticeably turning upside down on his face breathing out heavily he spoke, "yeah I know." Taking in a few breathes to gather his thoughts he was determined to find answers. "I'm ready, I can't wait to get my hands on him again. I still can't get over the fact that he knew where my girls were this entire time Alex. The countless nights I've spent thinking about them, and how they all could've been prevented if he just said something." He confessed.

Resting his hand on Mallix's shoulder Alex sighed, "at least we'll be able to prevent that from happening in the future. That's why we're going to talk to him after all, is to see what other kind of information he knows and if they'll help us get Kaila and Lain back."

Nodding his head, Mallix cracked his neck while the duo walked over to Nina's room. With her door left open, both of them peered in seeing James still slightly unconscious but making inaudible grunts and groans.

They glanced at one another without saying a word, communicating through their stares Alex sent Mallix off towards the kitchen for a glass of water. After retrieving the glass, he passed it over to his buddy. Alex creeped into the room quietly hovering his hand with the cup only inches above James face.

Alex began twisting his hand as a steady flow of water began to drip onto James forehead. Letting the small stream turn into a larger flow further down his face, James woke from his daze gagging as water filled his nose. Coughing and trying to find air through his mouth, James eyes were bloodshot as they opened largely.

He yelled out agonizing his predicament as his first instinct was to tug against his restraints, angered when he realized that there was no escape from this without help. "Let me out of this you sick fu-" James yelled at Mallix in front of him before he was cut off by a hard punch clean across his face.

"Just stop talking for a moment James. Unless there's something you'd like to confess to me, there isn't anything else that you'll have to say." Mallix sadistically changed his tone.

Alex walked around from besides James's head towards his feet as he crossed his arms silently observing the brothers.

"I don't have anything to confess to you! I don't know what you think I did! But I didn't do anything! Now let me out it of this!" His voice cracked as he struggled against the restraints while screaming.

Mallix just huffed out, "ok I'll just say this one time and one time only," he paused looking away for a brief moment. When he glanced back at James with anticipation in his eyes, waiting to see what Mallix had to propose, his older brother closed in on him getting near his face. Grinding his teeth as he spoke Mallix's voice was deep and hallow, "tell me exactly what you know about my girls and their whereabouts before Alex and I have to get the information out of you."
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off