"You performed a miracle for me, Bay. I’ll always owe you for that."
He leans in again, but I reach out and touch his lips gently with my fingers, stopping him.
"Alex, I think you should go back to your bed," my voice comes out strangely tight, like something is closing around my throat, and honestly that’s exactly how it feels.
Silence fills the room for a moment. Alex nods slowly, and I know he feels rejected.
"Sure," he whispers.
He turns off the phone and darkness settles again.
I feel the blanket lift when he slides off my bed, then the soft shuffle of his knees against the floor as he crawls back across the room. The springs on his mattress creak softly when he climbs in, and for a moment everything grows still.
I lie there for a long time, staring at the drifting shadows on the ceiling, listening to the wind nudging the branches outside the window.
I can’t explain what happened today, not even to myself. Maybe I don’t want an explanation? I don’t need anotherdilemma weighing me down. I squeeze my eyes shut and eventually I manage to fall asleep.
???
The next days of my stay with Alex at Uncle Van’s place pass fairly quietly, my hands heal after five days, and the cuts and scratches weren’t deep enough to keep me from enjoying the vacation activities.
At the very end of the stay, the day before we leave, Uncle Timothy arrives, he's Veyron’s father, and is supposed to drive him home. I always liked him, because he has this positive energy and talks to us, taking us seriously, like we’re adults. He is the youngest brother of my father, who is the oldest of the three siblings. Timothy has always been a kind of joker and clown at family gatherings, and Veyron inherited part of that cheerful nature.
Timothy and Van sit together for a long time, talking animatedly, and Uncle Zenith sets up a barbecue, the atmosphere is warm and easy, and at some point the conversation drifts to the fact that Uncle Van used to do a bit of arm wrestling when he was young.
Since Timothy is fifteen years younger than him, he probably feels confident enough to challenge Uncle Van, sixty-two, to a match.
Of course Alex, me, my brothers and cousins gather around them in an excited circle as they sit down for the match.
Timothy is pretty massively built, just like my father, and he clearly thinks he has a chance, I see it in his face, but it doesn’t take Van long to pin his arm with a kind of dramatic flair, he clearly knows a lot about technique.
"Still got some strength in these guns!" Uncle Van laughs, and Uncle Zenith rolls his eyes.
Timothy seems disappointed, his handsome face, very much like my father’s, tightening slightly.
Of course the boys pick up the idea, and soon everyone starts arm wrestling, but Storm beats them all, which isn’t surprising since he is a purple alpha, even though he is almost three and a half years younger than me. In the end he also challenges me…
I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Alex so at first I refuse, because how would it look to be beaten by a twelve-year-old? No matter how big he is! But Alex nudges me lightly and says in an excited whisper,
"Try it, try it."
"You’ll laugh at me if I lose to my younger brother?" I ask with a crooked smile, but he shakes his head.
"No way, I know he’s a purple alpha; they have strength."
Alright, fine, so I sit down with Storm, who is grinning, and we lock hands while Uncle Van helps us position our grip so we don’t hurt ourselves during the match.
"Afraid to lose, big bro?" Storm smirks.
I clench my jaw but don’t respond. Alex stands next to me and softly strokes my shoulder, which is nice.
"Alex, maybe you could give him a hand? You guys have the same aura colors, you could try to join forces against me… and still lose!" He chuckles.
Alex rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out at Storm.
In the meantime, Van adjusts our elbows so they’re planted firmly on the table, tells us to keep our wrists straight, and warns us not to twist or pull, only push sideways. He even checks whether our shoulders line up, because apparently that matters more than people think.
I can tell immediately that Storm will go straight for speed, he wants to beat me with a quick strike and catch me off guard so I won’t be able to resist.
