The Two Alphas of Rosewood Creek [MxM]

Chapter 11

The sharp sounds of my alarm clock probed their way into my ears, demanding I wake my ass up. I groaned as I muddled my way over to silence it's blaring tune, taking care to step over Kash sleeping on the air mattress. After a full month of him sleeping on my floor every night, Beth was now entertaining bunk beds for my room.

"Kash, wake up!" I said, jostling his shoulders a bit.

"Give me five more minutes," he complained, turning over to face the other side. He was always such a bum in the mornings, laying about like this at the start of every day.

"Come on man. If you don't get up, we'll be late for school," I pleaded.

"Fine," he grumbled, rising from his slumber.

We proceeded to get ready, taking turns using the bathroom to get our morning routines out of the way. It almost felt like having a brother or an extended cousin taken in by the family with Kash around nearly all the time. He fit in so well, melting seamlessly into the household dynamic.

"Kash! Remy! Y'all come down here and get to eatin' now!" Beth shouted from the kitchen. I could hear her lowered, continued muttering to herself, "Don't care how late y'all rascals are, least they can't say I ain't feedin' ya."

"Coming Mrs. Sinclair", Kash exited the room, leaving me the space to take my morning medications. I completed my ritual and hurried after him downstairs.

I found Kash already digging into some French toast, gobbling it down with the severity of a death row inmate during their last meal. A few amber droplets of syrup stuck to his face as he stuffed forkful after zealous forkful into his gaping maw. The sight of it made me chuckle, and I imagined the scene as some kind of postmodern gothic portrait entitled "Kash in the Nook."

What a weird kid.

"Here you go dear." Beth pushed a plate into my chest and dropped a few napkins atop the small mound of breakfast as I tried to prevent myself from dropping it all at my feet. "Hand Kash some of those napkins, would ya hun. You boys are already late. I don't need you showing up to school a hot mess, too."

She strolled to her place at our table and began eating her sensible two slices of toast at modest pace in between cautious sips from a piping hot mug of coffee. I could hear the mechanical clatter of Tina's keyboard from the other room, periodically interrupted by loud slurps from her own piping hot mug of joe sat dutifully beside her. All three of us enjoyed the quiet, average morning together.

Kash cleared his plate first, and I finished in a close second. We gathered our backpacks and gave our goodbyes before heading out for the day.

"Hey man, is this yours?" Kash asked as I closed my backdoor. I turned to see my black water bottle in his hand.

"Where did you find it?: I ask, shocked by its sudden reappearance. It had been a week since my encounter with the wolf. I'm pretty sure...

No, I know I left it in the forest that day!

"I found it right here." His finger pointing to the top step on the covered porch.

"Weird," I replied, taking it from his grasp.

I didn't tell Kash about the encounter. I figured it wasn't such a big deal since we live out in the country. There were plenty of wild animals in the forest nearby; and Kash, being a seasoned local, would've thought nothing unusual of the occasional wild wolf encounter. It made me wonder for a moment how common they were around these parts--and just how many wild animals in general roamed the woods of Rosewood at any given time of day.