Alone Together [boyxboy]

Alone Together {13}

                                                                                ***Jonas's POV***

It had been a week of babysitting Micah, and things were going well. He was a good kid, and easy to watch. He got excited when I took him anywhere, and loved car rides.

The only times it got hard to watch him was when he got tired. Alexis always worked late, and Micah still refused to sleep without Alexis there.

I had tried several different things. I had tried putting on a movie while we laid in Alexis's bed. But when he got tired, Micah would get cranky and turn the movie off, getting out of the bed so he wouldn't fall asleep.

I'd tried bringing some old books from home. I'd allowed Micah to snuggle as close as he was comfortable with to me, and read to him. His eyelids had started to close, but then he snapped them open, told me he didn't want to hear any more stories, and stubbornly paced the hallway until Alexis came home.

Another time I'd tried taking Micah to the playground and on a scenic walk to tire him out. But he'd just been dirty and crankier than ever, crying when I tried to put him to bed. Alexis had gotten home and I felt awful, because he had to wrestle Micah into the bathtub while both of them were exhausted. But Alexis had told me it was a good idea on my part, and that he wasn't mad about it.

The guy had infinite patience, that was for sure. The others around the house, not so much.

Sometimes they would get home earlier. I refused to leave Micah alone until Alexis got home, so I'd have to deal with Alexis's friends.

Jer was the meanest, and had no filter on his mouth. He got impatient with Micah quickly, once even telling him to "shut and quit your bitching" when Micah had cried about Alexis being later than usual.

Christian rarely came to the house, but when he did, he tended to hide in his room. When he was out of the room, though, he made Micah nervous.

Ike would sigh in annoyance when Micah got in his way or when Micah cried, but he never snapped at him. He still made Micah scared, though.

And then there was Ace, who was the nicest to Micah. But Ace usually worked as late as Alexis did, so it wasn't often that he was home to help me take care of Micah.

Even now, Micah was cranky and pacing the hallway, waiting for Alexis. I sat on the stairs, wishing I could do something to calm Micah down and put him to bed.

"Micah, why don't we wait upstairs?" I offered. "We can play a game."

"No," he said stubbornly, eyes watering.

"God, you're still awake?" Jer said as he came through the hallway. "Stubborn brat. You're going to drive Alexis crazy."

Micah shrank into the corner as Jer passed. I moved out of his way so he could get up the stairs.

"You should just force him to go to bed," Jer said to me. He clearly didn't like me, but he had seemed to accept that I needed to be in the house while Alexis worked. "At least get him to stop crying."

"I've tried," I said. "He wants Alexis. He's just scared. He's only a little boy."

"Ask Ace what his dad would've done if he gave that lip," Jer said before heading upstairs and into his room.

Micah stayed curled in the corner, his sobs silent. I stood up and very slowly approached him, hating how he flinched as I did.

"I want Alexis," he whimpered.