by MJ Bockarie
"Look, we're here!" Alec pointed to the bank like a little kid arriving at a carnival.
Austin pulled up to the bank and the three of them pulled masks over their faces. I grabbed Andy's arm to stop him. "What were you talking about before?"
"Nothing." He shook his head and pulled his mask over his face. "Got a timer?"
I pulled out my phone. "Yeah."
"Five minutes," he said, "by two and a half minutes, start the car, you hear me?"
I nodded. He patted my shoulder before climbing out. Austin looked at me. "Up here, sweetheart."
I quickly transferred to the driver's seat. When I got seated, Austin poked his head in through the window, “Don’t forget sweetheart, I’ve got ways of tracking you and bringing you back here. It could be worse”
Austin glanced up. Alec and Andy were already at the doors. Austin looked back down at me. "Start the timer."
I did what I was told. I watched the three brothers enter the bank, and soon enough gunshots and screaming could be heard. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. I felt sick to my stomach.
I tapped my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. The timer hit 2:30 and I started the car, my foot on the gas. Twenty seconds later, the boys ran out with three duffel bags. They quickly climbed in and Alec ripped off his mask. "Drive, Princess, drive!"
I stepped the gas and sped down the road back in the direction we came from. I made some different twists and turns to make sure that the cops wouldn't follow us all the way back to the house.
"Pull over." Austin pointed to the side of the road. I pulled over and sighed, leaning my head back on the head rest.
"We did it!" Alec cheered. "We are actually fucking did it."
I looked in the review mirror at Andy. He looked horrified. "You okay, Andy?" I asked.
"No," he whispered, "I shot somebody."
"You've shot people all the time." Austin rolled his eyes.
"Not innocent people!" He hissed angrily. "I shouldn't have even agreed to this fucking mission! I don't know why I let you two drag me into this shit." Andy climbed out of the car. "Fuck you both."
Alec groaned. "He's been over dramatic again."
"He's always over dramatic." Austin muttered. "Back to the back, Mariana."
"Thank God." I grumbled. I took the mask off as I climbed out. Andy was pacing back and forth along the dirt road.
"Get back in the car, Andy." Alec said. "We have to get home so we can count all this."
"I probably killed them." Andy scoffed with a bitter smile. "And all because you told me to."
"They weren't cooperating; they were going to call the cops." Austin explained.
"Doesn't matter!" Andy hollered. "The cops were going to come regardless of whether or not they called! I didn't have to listen to you! I didn't have to shoot them!"
Alec started walking toward his brother. "Stop being a drama queen and get in the damn–"
Alec had been cut off mid-sentence. He looked like he had seen a ghost. I pulled my hands away from my ears. Smoke was coming from the gun Austin was holding, a hard facial expression on his face.
I put a hand over my mouth in shock. Andy was blinking furiously. I watched the blood drip from his side to the ground.
"Andy?" Alec whispered.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground with a thud, a huge dust cloud surrounding him.
ELEVen
"You're a fucking idiot." Alec growled angrily at Austin as he paced around in the hospital waiting room. Well, it wasn't really a hospital. It was some shady building that we drove to. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, but knowing better, I didn't question their actions.
Austin shrugged. "If I didn't do anything, he probably would've killed us all."
"He's Andy!" Alec exclaimed. "He was freaking out because he shot somebody, so you thought he was going to turn around and shoot us? How fucking stupid are you?"
"You're just being a baby." Austin rolled his eyes. "Grow up."
"Get a soul."
"Don't need one."
I scoffed. "You shot your baby brother, Austin. Have you no remorse for what you did?"
"There aren't any real feelings towards him." Austin sighed. "He's adopted."
"What?" I asked. Andy was adopted? Looking at the three of them, you would've thought it was Alec that was adopted. Both Andy and Austin had the sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes. Alec was the odd one out.
"My mother adopted him when he was three." He explained. "Then she remarried a year later and Alec was brought into the family."
"So none of you are actually blood, then?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. They're not family."
"You don't need to be blood to be considered family, Austin." I hissed.
"Why so bitter all of a sudden?" He smirked.
"Remember Joey?" I asked. His face dropped. "Yeah, he was my family."
With that, Austin left the room. I sighed and turned to Alec. He was slumped in one of the un-comfortable plastic chairs. He was staring off into the distance, jaw clenched and hands balled into fists.
I walked over and sat down beside him. "He's going to be okay, Alec."
"We don't know that." He whispered.
"Hey," I turned his face to make him look at me. His blue eyes were dull and emotionless. "Don't think of the negatives, all right? That isn't going to get him out of that surgery alive."
He stared at me for a moment before grabbing my face and kissing me. I was taken aback for a moment, but kissed him back. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "Dammit, Princess. Stop fucking with me."
I pushed him away. "Stop doing that."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Doing what?"
"Kissing me!" I exclaimed. "Nothing can happen, Alec. It's wrong. I'm supposed to hate you."
"But you don't."
I shook my head and turned away from him. He was both right and wrong. I hated him, but I didn't, and that only caused me to be even more frustrated.
"Can we go home now?" I sighed.
Alec nodded. "Sure."
***
Alec and I walked into the house in silence. We had forced Austin to stay back and hear what the "doctors" would say about Andy.
"I'm so fucking tired." Alec grumbled as he plopped down on the couch. "I'm going to sleep."
"On the couch?" I asked.
He shrugged and draped his arm over his face. "Doesn't really make a difference, does it?"
"I suppose it doesn't." I sighed. "Well, sleep well."
As I turned to head up the stairs, I heard Alec sigh. "Princess, wait."
"What?"
"The kiss."
"What about it?"
I heard footsteps pad behind me and soon felt Alec's arms wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him. "You can't say you didn't enjoy it."
"I didn't enjoy it."
He sighed. "Okay, maybe you can."
I turned to face him. His eyes, they were so blue. They were like an ocean. I could literally stare into them forever.
I shook my head and gently pushed him away. "I'm sorry, Alec, but I can't."
"Why not?" He growled.
"Because!" I waved my arms around like a crazy person. "Have you forgotten how I arrived here? You kidnapped me, Alec! How am I supposed to love you if you're my kidnapper?"
"So you're admitting you love me, Princess?" He raised an eyebrow.
I sighed. "I'm not admitting anything, Alec. I'm telling you this here and now: nothing will ever happen between us. Whether I get out of here or not."
Alec didn't say anything. I felt uncomfortable standing under his gaze. He looked angry, disappointed, and frustrated.
"You really like screwing with me, don't you, Princess?" He chuckled bitterly.
I rolled my eyes. "You can't tell me that you've actually grown feelings for me, Alec. Nothing's supposed to happen between us."
"And you think I don't know that, Mariana?" Ale
c yelled, and I took a step back. He tugged at his hair. "Every night I try and convince myself to get over you because I know that it'll never work!"
"It's been two weeks, Alec!" I exclaimed. "Barely! You can't say you're in love with me or whatever the hell you want to call it. It's too soon."
"I don't care, Mariana!" He walked over and grabbed me by my shoulders. His grip was tight and forceful. I winced and wriggled my shoulder a little.
"Alec," I whimpered, "you're hurting me."
Alec threw me down to the ground and I groaned in pain. He leaned down and put his lips by my ear. "Good."
With that, he got up and walked away. I stayed on the ground for a bit, trying to let the pain subside before attempting to stand up.
The pain wouldn't go away and I was tired of lying on the ground, so I forced myself to stand up. I could hear Alec coming back into the room, so I spun on my heel and jogged up the stairs to my room.
I closed the door and slid down to the ground, tears welling up in my eyes. The whole time I had been here, Alec had never laid a hand on me, but I suppose love makes you do crazy things.
Who was I kidding? This wasn't love. That wasn't love. I didn't really know what to call that. Anger? Jealousy? Obsession? Whatever it was, I didn't like it and I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant if that's how Alec was going to be acting from now on.
I let out a breath and wiped my tears away. Who was I crying over? Alec wasn't worth my tears. None of these boys were. Worrying myself over something that wasn't going to happen was simply a waste of everybody's time.
TWELVE
"Wake up." I felt someone flick my forehead. I opened an eye and saw Austin staring down at me. "Get up, birthday girl."
"Really?" I croaked.
He nodded. "Happy nineteenth."
"Oh," I mumbled and sat up, "thank you. What time is it?"
"Noon," he replied. "I need to go see Andy. You're going to stay here with Alec. Do me a favor and please try not to rip his throat out?"
I shrugged. "No promises."
And for the first time in a long time, I saw Austin give me a genuine smile. He put a hand on my shoulder, winked, and then left the room.
I sat there, dumbfounded. What was going on with the boys? Alec basically hated me and Austin was smiling at me again? It's like things were going back to the way they were when I first arrived.
Truth be told, I liked being Alec's friend. I liked talking with him and laughing. He made me feel comfortable.
Austin, on the other hand, I was fine arguing with that boy. I was fine with not being associated with him. His attempts to make me fall in love with him made me anxious.
I sighed and rolled out of bed, standing up and stretching. I cracked my back, winced at the noise, and walked out of the room into the hallway.
I could hear things clanging around in the kitchen. It was either Alec or Austin attempting to cook.
I sat at the top of the stairs and rested my head in my hands. I was tired and in pain. My head and back were still throbbing from my altercation with Alec yesterday.
I didn't want to be in the same house with him. I'd rather sit in a car with Austin for an hour and a half and drive to the "hospital" where Andy was than stay in the house for who knows how long alone with Alec.
The noise suddenly stopped. I lifted my head up to listen, but the noise didn't start up again. "Alec?" I called out.
No response. I crept down the stairs and peered into the kitchen. Alec was bent over the counter with a man holding a gun to the back of his head.
"Where's the girl, Alec?" He growled angrily. It surprised me that a man dressed in a suit and tie could possibly be the one to take down big bad Alec.
"I don't know!" Alec exclaimed. His face was pressed up against the counter. "I don't have her!"
"Bullshit!" The man hollered. "I've seen her pretty little face all over the news. I know you're the one who's got her."
"No, I don't!" Alec cried. "Let me go, you stupid, son of a bitch!"
The gun cocked. Alec's eyes widened and the mystery man leaned down and whispered something in his ear.
He let Alec stand up and he put the gun down. "Go get the girl, Alec."
Alec sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Mariana!"
I didn't reply. Alec gritted his teeth and sighed again. "Mariana, get your ass down here now!"
I raised an eyebrow at his attitude, but nevertheless straightened myself up as much as I could before slowly heading down the stairs. I got a better look at the man who was attacking Alec.
His honey blond hair was slicked back nicely, and his green eyes were shining with mischief. He held out his hand as he approached me. "Nathaniel Woodrow."
"I've heard of you." I smiled politely as I shook his hand. "I'm Mariana."
"The pleasure is all mine, darling." Nathaniel grinned and kissed my hand. I took a step back and looked at Alec.
"What's going on?" I asked. "I saw your little... disagreement, if that's what you’d like to call it."
"Oh, that?" Nathaniel chuckled and wrapped an arm around Alec. "That was nothing, really. Alec and I were just having a discussion, that's all."
Discussion, my ass.
"We have a little deal that needs to be carried out." Alec said. "There's an auction coming up next week, and Mr. Woodrow here is going to buy you. You are going with no one else but him."
"And what if someone outbids him?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
Nathaniel scoffed and gave me a reassuring smile. "Nobody will. I can guarantee that, Mariana. I promise."
I sighed. "If you say so."
"Nathaniel will just be leaving now, I suppose." Alec clapped his hands together. "I mean; we do have a birthday to celebrate."
"Oh, really?" Nathaniel asked. "Is it your birthday, Mariana?"
I nodded with a small smile. "Nineteen today."
"Well, happy birthday, sweetheart." He flashed me a smile. "I will be leaving now. Have a good birthday, Mariana, and remember what I told you, Alec."
Alec snapped his fingers. "Gotcha."
Nathaniel nodded at the both of us before leaving. I sighed and turned to Alec. "So, uh, I'm going to–"
"You're not going to do anything." Alec grabbed my arm. "We need to talk about last night."
"Yeah, and what about it?" I hissed angrily and ripped my arm away. "You don't want anything to do with me, Alec. That's fine. I won't provoke you or tease you or whatever the hell you thought I was doing. Last night showed me that everything I thought we had was fake."
"And what did we have, Mariana?" He growled. "What did we have?"
"I don't know!" I exclaimed. I sighed and started pacing around. "I don't know what we had, but I thought there was something. We were friends. Fucked up friends, but nevertheless friends. After yesterday, I realized I'm nothing more to you than the girl you ripped away from her life."
"Why do you always make living here seem like a bad thing?" Alec asked.
"Because it is!" I cried. "I could be out there in the real world right now. I could be with friends, having relationships, and enjoying my life! But no, I'm stuck here with you three idiots, living my life in fear every single day because I have no fucking idea what's going to happen to me! Hell, I would kill to be at home busting my ass to make sure my family was happy and satisfied."
"You're with me, Princess!" Alec grabbed me and pulled me close to him. "You're with me. I'm not going to hurt you, you know that."
I scoffed and pushed him away. "You're not going to hurt me? Really, Alec? If you would have said this yesterday before you did what you did, maybe I would've actually believed you, and then never trusted a single word that came out of that mouth of yours."
***
Alec pushed open my bedroom door, a cupcake with a candle in hand. He was mumbling the words to the Happy Birthday Song. I couldn't help but smile. He was such a cutie.
"Happy birthday, Princess." Alec handed me the cupcake. "Sorry it isn't special."
<
br /> "It's fine." I shrugged.
"Make a wish, then." He smiled. I thought for a moment before blowing out the candle.
"What'd you wish for?" He asked.