by MJ Bockarie
I nodded and bit my lip. "Of course it is."
What was I doing?
Andy's eyes widened and Alec looked desperate. He looked around the room. I followed his gaze when his eyes landed on a utility knife sitting on Austin's desk right beside me.
"I'll be right back," Austin walked over and kissed my forehead before leaving the room. I stumbled over to Alec with the knife in hand and cut the rope. I did the same for Andy and they both looked at me sadly.
Alec shook his head, mumbling something through his gag. I took it out of his mouth. "What?"
"Don't do it, Princess," he pleaded, "Austin drugged you and now you're giving in. You know better. Don't do it."
Andy nodded in agreement. I put Alec's gag back in his mouth and headed back over to the chair, sitting down. The utility knife was placed back in its original spot.
A few moments later, Austin walked back into the room. He stared at his brothers for a moment before sighing. "I don't understand why you two must make everything so difficult."
Alec glared at his older brother angrily. Austin patted them both on the shoulder before walking over to me and kneeling down. He placed a hand on my upper thigh. "You ready, darling?"
I shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be."
A gun cocked and Austin froze. Alec sat in his spot on the bed, pointing a gun at Austin. Andy was doing the same.
"I swear to God, I will shoot you, you stupid son of a bitch." Alec said through gritted teeth. "Step away from the girl."
Austin chuckled and looked up at me. "You helped them, didn't you?"
I smiled. "Even if I'm in over my head, there's no way in hell I'd sleep with you."
"The drugs were supposed to work," he hissed.
"Guess they weren't strong enough," I shrugged.
Austin rolled his eyes and stood up, putting his hands up in the air. I watched as he and Andy stepped out of the room.
This was all one big game we were a part of. It was scary.
Alec put his gun down and rushed over to me. "You all right, Princess?"
I giggled. "I'm good. You know, you're kind of cute."
Oh fuck me.
"Thanks," he smiled, "let's get you to bed now."
I nodded. "That sounds nice."
NINE
My head was pounding the next morning.
I felt like throwing up. The drugs and the alcohol mixed together were flowing through my system and it didn't feel so good.
"Morning, Princess." Alec's morning voice almost sounded like music to my ears. After last night, I didn't want to see Austin's or Andy's face nor hear their voices for the rest of the day.
"Morning," I replied and tried to sit up, but my head started spinning so I just lay back down. Alec placed a glass of water and two pills on the night side table. He pulled up a chair and put a cold cloth on my forehead.
"You're burning up," he explained, "I've been coming in and out throughout the whole night to make sure you weren't passed out from heat exhaustion or something."
I gave him a half-hearted smile and placed my hand on top of his. "Thank you. That was thoughtful."
He shrugged. "Least I could do. I screwed up last night and almost got you... raped. I'm sorry."
"I forgive you," I sighed. I paused for a moment before looking up at him. "I'm scared, Alec."
"I know," he dipped the cloth in a bowl of cold water and squeezed it, then put it back on my head. "Andy and I are trying to figure something out. It isn't safe here."
"Yeah, no shit." I grumbled and he smiled.
"Hungry?" He asked and I nodded.
"Hungrier than I usually am," I commented and he chuckled.
"I'll be right back. I already made food." He said as he got up. I nodded and watched as Alec left the room, closing the door and locking it behind him.
I stared up at the ceiling as last night's events re-played in my mind. I was sick of Austin. I was tired of all these attempts to make me "fall in love" with him. I wondered if he knew that he was failing miserably.
I sighed and rolled over onto my stomach. My head was pounding and I felt like throwing up. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"Princess?" Alec's voice startled me slightly. "You all right?"
I shook my head. "I feel sick."
I turned to face him. A frown was on his face. "Just keep lying down. Want me to get some aspirin or something?"
"Sure," I nodded.
Alec rubbed my back for a while before getting up to go get the medicine. I couldn't help but smile. He was so sickeningly nice.
I sighed and closed my eyes. I was so tired. I wanted to go home. It was one of those moments where I desperately wanted my family.
I bit my lip to keep myself crying. I wanted to go home. I felt like I sounded whiny, but who could blame me?
"I'm back!" Alec whispered in a singing voice and I felt the bed dip beside me.
"Alec?"
"Hmm?"
"I want to go home."
"I know."
***
I woke up startled after a really good nap. The sun was brightly shining through the window.
Alec was lying on the floor, staring at his phone. The door was slightly ajar, and I could see Andy coming up the stairs. The sound of metal clanking together could be heard from downstairs.
My head still hurts pretty badly. I didn't take the aspirin before I fell asleep, and that's probably something I should've done.
"She awake yet?" Andy peeked his head into the room. Alec shook his head, not taking his eyes off his phone screen. Andy looked at me and gave me a smile, then turned back to his brother.
"You're a dumbass, Alec. She's awake." Andy rolled his eyes and fully walked in the room. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hey, sunshine. How you doing?"
"I'm okay." I nodded.
"Sorry, Princess," Alec groaned as he sat up, "I didn't realize you had woken up."
"It's fine," I said.
"You're so quiet," Andy pointed out, "everything okay?"
"Just tired." I gave him a reassuring smile.
Andy gave me an uneasy look and then looked at Alec. "Did you drug her again?"
"Nope," Alec replied, "why?"
"Her eyes are so red." Andy moved his face a little closer and examined my eyes. "You sure she isn't high off something?"
"Princess, did you cry yourself to sleep again?" Alec asked gently.
I shook my head. "No."
He sighed. "Don't lie to me, Mariana."
"Why does it matter?" I laughed bitterly. "Whether or not I cry myself to sleep isn't going to get me home, anyway."
Andy and Alec exchanged remorseful glances. "Mari–" Andy started.
I cut him off. "That's still Mariana to you."
"Right," he sighed, "sorry."
A beeping noise suddenly went off in the house. I gave the boys a strange look. "What the hell is that?"
"I'll be right back." Alec said before disappearing out the door.
"Austin probably set something off." Andy muttered. "The boy has been tinkering with appliances all day long."
"Why?"
Andy shrugged. "Beats me. I don't know and relatively don't care about what goes on in Austin's head anymore."
Alec came back in the room. "It's just the security system. Austin set it off somehow."
"Of course he did." Andy huffed with a roll of his eyes.
I lay down quietly as the two boys paid attention to their phones. A few noises came from Alec's phone, and eventually he gasped as his eyes grew wide. "Holy shit."
"What?" Andy and I chorused.
He looked up at Andy, "We're fucking broke."
This was the first time I was seeing him look worried about something that didn't involve me.
"Broke?" Andy scoffed. "No, there must be some mistake. We can't be broke! We got the girl, didn't we? The money should be in the account."
"That's what I'm checking for, and it isn't there." Alec said harshly. "He tricked
us."
"Who's he?" I blurted out.
The boys waved me off. "Don't worry about it."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Um, I kind of have to worry about it since I've clearly been involved."
"It's a long story, Princess." Alec sighed.
"I've got time."
Andy shook his head. "Right now we don't. We're broke?"
"Flat broke," Alec replied with a nod, "not a single fucking dime in that account."
"The son of bitch scammed our asses." Andy growled angrily. "Just wait till Austin hears this."
"He can't know." Alec shook his head. "The dude's already going insane. He's a ticking time bomb and this'll just set him off."
"So what do you propose we do?" Andy asked. "Because we have to pay rent in less than a week."
Alec thought for a moment. His eyes suddenly lit up and the oh-so familiar wicked smile made its way to his face. My stomach churned at the sight. He looked sinister.
"We can rob a fucking bank."
TEN
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?" I immediately sat up. "You are not going to rob a bank!"
"And who's going to stop me?" Alec challenged.
Andy raised up his hand. "Uh, I am? Dude, Mariana's right. You can't rob a bank. You'll either get caught or killed."
Alec rolled his eyes. "No, I won't. The cops are still looking for the guy who kidnapped Mariana. They aren't going to find him. The cops are going to be looking for the dude who robbed a bank. They aren't going to find him, either."
"You're insane." I shook my head.
Alec winked. "Insane is my middle name, baby."
"So who's going to be your entourage?" Andy raised an eyebrow. "Because God knows I'm not helping you."
"And that's where you're wrong, little brother." Alec ruffled Andy's hair. "You and my little princess over here are going to help me rob a bank right now."
I scoffed. "I must be losing my hearing. Did you just say that I was going to help you rob a bank?"
"Yeah, I did." Alec nodded.
I chuckled bitterly. "You're really out of your mind. What are you on?"
"Nothing," he replied, "I'll come up with a plan and once it's all good and done for, I'll fill you two in on it and we'll go. Deal?"
"No!" Andy protested. "No deal! Mariana and I are not helping you rob a bank just because we're broke. We can make up the money another way without Austin knowing. This is just ridiculous."
"Ridiculous is my middle name." Alec smiled evilly.
"I thought 'insane' was." I cocked my head to the side and Alec rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean." He said. "Don't worry. We'll be in and out in less than ten minutes."
"It'll be too late, then." Austin walked into the room, a disapproving look on his face. "You need to be in and out in less than five minutes."
"You're encouraging him!" Andy was baffled. "Are Mariana and I the only sane ones here? We can't rob a fucking bank, you guys!"
"Sure we can," Austin shrugged, "I knew about us being broke, anyway. City Central doesn't have very good security, but it's got all the dough. It'll be quick and easy."
I looked at Andy. "I don't want to be involved."
"Ooh, sorry, babe." Austin let out a dramatic sigh. "You're either inside helping or in the car ready to drive like your life depends on it."
"Um," I thought for a moment, "how about neither of those and I stay home, handcuffed to this bedpost as I wait for you psychos to get back?"
Andy leaned back and put his hands up in defense. "Please don't associate me with those two."
Austin rolled his eyes and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small gun and cocking it. He pointed it at me. "Either you pick an option or I shoot you in the fucking head here and now."
"What happened to being madly in love with me?" I asked.
"I have other plans for you." Austin shrugged. "So what's it going to be, sweetheart?"
I glared at him. "I'd rather have you shoot me."
Austin placed his finger on the trigger. Alec stood up and blocked his brother's view. "Are you crazy, Austin? You can't kill her."
"Why the hell not?" He growled.
"Because you-know-who still wants to buy her at the you-know-what and we are going to fucking die if she dies." Alec whispered harshly.
"Buy me?" My voice cracked as I looked at Andy.
His facial expressions softened as he shook his head. "You can't know anything. Not yet."
I put my hand on my forehead and sighed. "I'll be the getaway driver. Just... get out. All of you."
Austin's eyebrows furrowed together angrily. "Who the fuck do you–"
"We'll leave." Andy smiled gently at me before shoving Austin out of the room. Alec turned and looked at me.
"Princess—" he began.
I scoffed. "So you were planning to sell me all along?"
Alec sighed. "Not for a while."
"I trusted you." I whispered.
He gritted his teeth. "Yeah, and whose fault is that?"
***
"Pick up the pace." Austin shoved me down the path to the car.
It was 6:00pm. The bank would be closing in an hour, but that huge time window didn't matter to us. We had five minutes to get in, take the money that was needed, then get out and away.
Austin currently sat in the driver's seat, Alec, in the passenger's seat, then me and Andy in the back.
"Remember what you're doing, Mariana?" Austin asked as we started driving.
"I sit in the driver's seat and wait. Set a timer for five minutes and start the car when it hits two and a half minutes. When you guys come out, I should have my foot on the gas and be ready to go." I recited.
"Good," he nodded.
Alec turned around and gave me a thumbs up. "You're going to do great, Princess."
I looked at Andy, who was glaring at Alec and Austin. "You both are seriously fucking crazy."
Alec grinned. "Well, at least we won't be crazy and broke."
Andy looked back at me and shook his head. "I'm so fucking over this."
"You barely have to do anything," I mumbled, "if we don't get away because of me, we end up in jail."
"You won't." Andy mumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
He shook his head. "Never mind."
"Ugh, fuck." I grumbled.
Austin sighed. "Are all the cuss words really necessary?" He looked at me and Andy in the review mirror.
Andy raised his middle finger and flashed his brother a pearly white smile. "Fuck you."
Alec laughed and pointed his finger at Austin. "Ha-ha, loser."
"Yeah, and fuck you too, Alec."
"Aw."
I chuckled and looked out the window. I felt someone staring and turned to see Andy with a smirk. "You know you want to laugh, Mariana."
I rolled my eyes. "Piss off."
"Come on!" Andy whined and poked my stomach. "I want to hear you laugh so hard that you actually do piss yourself."
"Leave her alone, Andy." Alec shook his head.
"Why?" Andy smirked. "You jealous?"
"Nope." Alec replied, popping the 'p'.
Andy let out a guffaw. "I seriously doubt that, you big box of All-Bran."
"Oh fuck me," Alec puts his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, "please don't do this again."
I giggled. "Please do."
"You fucking piece of pasta!" Andy reached over and smacked Alec on the head. "I'm lasagna, bitch!"
I was bent over laughing, my arms clutching my stomach. Alec grabbed his head and whipped around to glare at Andy. "What the fuck did you–"
"I'm a margarita and you're a glass of water." Andy continued on. "Not even in a glass; you're in a Styrofoam cup."
Austin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at Alec. "What the fuck is going on?"
"I really don't know." Alec mumbled. I just listened quietly as Andy continued making more food comparisons.