My Girlfriend's Brother

Chapter 5

Everybody in the town knew who the Lion’s were.

In every town, there was that ridiculously filthy, rich family that probably had dark secrets and owned the biggest house in town.

They had been keeping a low profile and no one knew why. That was until Clark somehow stumbled upon the reason why.

Their son was missing.

Well, missing wasn't the right word. No, he had run away. And that would have been okay if he was a child. Well, not okay but you got what he was trying to say. But their son was twenty-four and he was currently crashing on Clark’s couch.

He wasn’t even sure how he got into this predicament. One day, he was taking a stroll in the forest, as he normally did, when he found the fool passed out.

So, against his mind yelling at him to leave the passed-out man alone because he could be dangerous, he hauled him back to his small apartment.

And when he woke up Clark learned two things. One, he heavily regretted it and should have let the man rot. And two, he was a rude little s**t.

“Illiyan! Get up!” Clark hissed at him as he threw a pillow on his face. The older man whined and turned over, pulling the duvet up. Clark groaned as he stormed over to his couch and yanked the pillow off of him. Illiyan groaned as he held on tighter. “You botch that I’m never home and when I am, all you do is sleep.”

He groaned as he sat up, his pale, pale hair stuck up in multiple places, Clark couldn’t help but snicker.

“I get it,” he whined. “My bed hair is oh so funny.”

“It really is.”

“Your couch hurts me.”

"Well, then, go the f**k home."

"No. I'd rather deal with your whiny ass than deal with my family," he replied as he yawned into the crook of his elbow.

Clark watched as he scratched the back of his neck and then rubbed his eyes.

“When did you get home?” Illiyan asked as a lay smile danced on his face.

“A while ago. I let you sleep because I felt bad, but this is getting ridiculous. Go find a hobby.”

“I watch TV.”

“That’s not a hobby.”

“Yes, it is.”

"Speaking of your family,” Clark said, eyeing the man.

He noticed how he had tensed up but Illiyan had been living with him for two months and he still knew next to nothing about why he was here and not going back. “You still haven't told me why you passed out in the forest in the middle of the night, wet too, I might add. When there had been no rain, that day or night. Or why you won’t go back?”

"It's a need-to-know thing," he said as he ran a hand through his silver hair. His dark blue eyes stared blankly at Clark.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Illiyan.”

Illiyan threw his legs around the edge of the sofa and stretched as he groaned before standing up. Clark couldn’t help but eye him down as he wore nothing but white, tight boxers that left nothing to the imagination. There were faint bruises still visible on his torso just above his loose-defined abs.

Illiyan grinned as he caught Clark staring but said nothing. A rough knock on the door had both boys eyeing one another before Illiyan, instead of going to the bathroom, went to the bedroom. Once Clark was sure he was out of sight, he walked over and opened the door to see an unimpressed Reece standing there.

Clark raised an eyebrow as he walked past and took a seat on the couch, the pillows and blankets still messily thrown about. s**t, he hadn’t had a chance to clean up.

“What’s up with you?” Clark asked as he sat beside his best friend eyeing his bedroom door. Illiyan could keep himself entertained, he had a few things in there he could do until Reece left.

Clark watched as Reece stood up and for a second he thought he was going to his bedroom, but he turned and went into the kitchen and came back with a drink in his hand. He slumped back on the couch and took a large swing. “Kiera needs to make better friends.”

“What did he do now?”

"Noah keeps stealing my food and then giving me sass. I'm going to murder his ass," he snapped. “Get your own f*****g food and he needs to stop sassing me. Do you know how many times I’ve thought of strangling him?”

“He might be into that.”

“Wrong brother.”

“Right,” Clark said, slightly unnerved by how Reece knew Cameron liked to be choked.

"Why have you got blankets out on the couch?" Reece asked as he smacked one.

"I fell asleep on the couch,” Clark lied.

He wasn’t even sure why he'd decided to let Illiyan crash on his couch, but it was too late to regret his decision, he had become slightly too attached to the boy to kick him out now.

"Have you got me that lighter?" Reece asked and Clark nodded as he stood up.

“Give me a second,” he replied. He walked over to his bedroom and opened the door enough for him to get in. The room was a decent size, albeit messy.

Illiyanw was sitting on the bed, a book between his hands as he had his legs crossed in the air.

"This bed is so small, how do you sleep on it?" he whispered, and Clark stared at him blankly.

"If you don't like it then get the f**k out. Now shut up and move."

Illiyan flipped Clark off and went as far as sticking his blue tongue out, he eyed the blue lolly in his hand and just sighed. Clark wasn’t sure when he had started bringing the lollies home. He had some in his pocket and Illiyan loved them, so now, it became a habit for him to pick up a couple every time he went out and in one of the cupboards was a bowl full of lollies.

"What the f**k are you doing?" he asked, as he peered over Clark’s shoulder.

Clark ignored him as he moved the duvet to one side and took off the lining. He felt around for the mattress and once he found the slit, he grabbed the knife and gently undid the slit and grabbed the modified lighter for Reece.

He wasn’t sure why Reece liked fire so much. But he would have rather him been with him than Reece do it alone, so every now and then, he would have to pick up a package from places all over and Reece would come to pick it up whenever.

Clark tested the lighter and a pillar of blue flame erupted.

"Oh, that's so cool!" Illiyan yelled.

Clark’s eyes widened, as he grabbed Illiyan, placing a hand over his mouth. He eyed the taller man and then looked around the room and winced when he heard Reece call for him.

“Clark! Are you okay!”

“Yeah! Give me a second.”

Clark turned around and now he noticed how close they were. Iliyan grinned as he wagged his eyebrows. Clark rolled his eyes as he moved away from him.

“Put my bed back together, let me get rid of Reece.”

Clark walked out and threw Reece the lighter and caught it.

“We have to go to school again tomorrow. I’ll pick you up in the morning,” Reece said, and Clark nodded.

He walked his best friend out of the apartment and locked the door. As he left, he exhaled a little, leaning back on the door. He was pushing it. He was aware Illiyan had said not to tell anyone he was here, but this was getting ridiculous.

He was aware he was acting shadier than normal, but he had to be secretive because if the others found out, Illiyan might leave and, well, let's just say Clark had abandonment issues. He went back to his room to see Illiyan had made his bed and was lying on the ground, a book in hand.

“I like this book,” he said, peering over at Clark.

“I have the whole series. Finish this one and I’ll give you the second one.”

Illiyan grinned as he went back to reading that lolly in his hand. Clark cleaned his room, working around Illiyan.

“Can I have something to eat?”

“You know where everything is,” Clark replied.

"Yes. But you can cook. I cannot. Unless you want me to die." Clark stared at him blankly. “Please?”

“Why hasn’t your family tried to look for you?”

Illiyan didn’t reply as he stared at Clark.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. I’ll make something, but tonight we are going out.”

"We are?"

"You've been locked inside for more than two weeks. Some fresh air will do you some good."

"Who is he?" Iliyan asked as he followed Clark out of the bedroom, the book still in hand.

“Who?”

"Reece. He's here a lot. But you don't talk much, well you do. But not about your personal life. I've heard the names Reece, Kiera, Ella, Noah, Mitchell and even Cameron pop up so many times, but you never speak about them."

"They're people, Iliyan. That's not the point. Go put actual clothes on."

"But, I'm warm," he whined, and Clark splashed him with some water.

"Yes. So am I, and so is everyone! But we're not walking around in our underwear!"

"But you're not me."

"Clearly, Iliyan. Now put on some f*****g clothes or I'll let you starve," Clark deadpanned, staring at the boy.

"I'm shaking," he said, as he went back into the room and came out a few moments later with a t-shirt and sweats on.

“Clark?”

“What?” he asked, as he gathered the ingredients to make cookies. Illiyan seemed to like them.

“Thank you.”

Clark froze as he stopped what he was doing, to stare at the older man. “What for?”

“For treating me like everyone else.”

Clark frowned. “If you live with me, you won’t get special treatment. Now, go sort the couch out, put the pillows and blankets back in the storage.”

Illiyan grinned as he gave Clark a two-fingered salute as he went into the living room.

Clark began making the batter but he couldn’t help the fact that his mind would wander to the man who was putting the stuff away, singing a song horribly off key. He smiled as he heard him laugh when he failed to reach a high note.

Illiyan would always complain that Clark didn’t speak to him about anything, his friends or family. His family was a s**t show, so he didn’t even want to speak to them, let alone about them. And his friends, well, they were also a s**t show, but they were all going to f**k everything up if things continued going the way they were going. And how was he even supposed to tell him that?

“I’m finished!” he said as he popped his head into the door. Clark had just finished making the batter and he stared up at the boy.

“What?” he asked when Illiyan had been staring at him a little too long.

“You have batter on your nose.”

He wiped his nose and Illiyan grinned as he walked over, and using his hand he wiped the batter off of Clark’s nose. Clark looked up at him, and he could feel his heart in his throat and Illiyan held eye contact as he liked the batter and made a face.

“This tastes good.”

Clark exhaled a little as he stepped away, he really was attached.

He thought back to the second week of their little arrangement when Illiyan had disappeared and Clark thought he’d left. But then he reappeared that night covered in bruises and scratches. He didn’t leave the house after that.

At night, Clark would drag him outside because he needed fresh air and there was only so much he could do in his tiny apartment,

Clark frowned a little as he poured the cookie dough into little circles as he waited for the oven to preheat. Illiyan complained about how hot he was. Annoyed, the shorter boy stormed over to his fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water and he placed it on his leg.

Illiyan let out a little squeal as he moved away and Clark looked up at him, smiling. “Is that better?”

“Yes,” he deadpanned and Clark rolled his eyes.

“You’re an ass.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I’m gay,” Clark said.

"That's nice. When will the cookies be ready?”

Clark ignored the older man as he slipped the tray into the oven and he found his little timer and turned it on.

“The cookies will be ready when the timer goes ding.”

Clark focused on cleaning while the cookies baked and Illiiyan did nothing but watch TV. After vacuuming and putting a laundry load on, washing the dishes and airing out his apartment, he made himself a cup of coffee. He groaned as he took a seat beside Illiyan and he turned the volume up to whatever show was on.

~*~

"Clark! Wake up, Clark. Clark!"

Clark groaned as he peeled his eyes open and the first thing he saw was silver hair and deep, dark blue eyes. Illiyan was squatting beside him as he smiled. Clark frowned as he smacked his hand away. Illian smiled as he stood up, his bones cracking,

“You fell asleep. I let you sleep because I’m nice. The cookies were amazing. I ate a lot. But it’s midnight and you said we could go out. So can we?”

Clark stared at him through bleary eyes. He was too tired to focus on anything that had just come out of his mouth.

“Illiyan,” he said, frowning, and Illiyan groaned as he sat down beside him.

"Oh, come on, you promised!"

"You're old enough to go out by yourself," Clark deadpanned and he frowned.

"Yes, but I wanted to go with you. Come on, it's a nice night out too!"

"I had a cup of coffee," Clark said, eyes widening as he realised the coffee cup was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, that you would have spilt on yourself if I hadn't grabbed it at the last second."

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep again.”

"It's fine you can make it up with McDonald's."

Clark scowled as he stood up and stretched, a small groan escaping his lips. "You want to go to McDonald's, do you know how risky that s**t is?”

Illiyan frowned. "I haven't had McDonald's in ages.”

"You're paying,” Clark deadpanned and he smiled to himself when Illiyan’s face lit up.

“Deal."

"Wait here. Let me get changed.”

Even though he had done one load of laundry, he had been a little too busy to keep up with laundry and a lot of his clothes were dirty. He eyed a shirt on the bed and grabbed it, slipping it on. He looked down and realised how big it was on him, so he had either one, lost a lot of weight in a nap or two. This was Illiyan’s.

He shrugged as he slipped some jeans on and some sneakers.

"That's my favourite shirt,” Illiyan said, as he eyed the shirt.

"And now it's on my favourite body."

Clark grabbed Illiyan a hat, mask and some tinted glasses. He could be one of those idiots who wore sunglasses at night if it kept him safe.

"If you're hiding, we don't need anyone recognising us. And your eyes and hair are not exactly forgettable." He nodded and put them on.

The duo silently walked to McDonald's in silence and Clark didn’t seem to mind. He had only been awake for fifteen minutes and his brain hadn’t started functioning yet. Well, that was until Illiyan spoke up.

"Where are your parents?"

"Away," Clark replied. Illiya tried to pry a few more answers out of him, but Clark didn't speak. His family was a s**t show. He moved here because none of them was here.

When they arrived at the fast food joint, its neon lights jarringly obvious in the dark, Clark turned to face him. “Are you coming inside or waiting outside?”

He looked around the crowd before smiling weakly. “I’ll stay here.”

"Do not move. Do you understand?”

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I f*****g understand."

"Good." Clark patted his shoulder as he walked past him and inside where he was hit with the warmth and the smell of fast food and sweat. It was not a very good combination.

He avoided people who were drunk, loud teenagers, so the majority of the people he went to a kiosk and paid on his card. He waited in silence, his eyes glued to his phone as he replied to a text from Reece until his number was called.

He squeezed past, grabbing the to-go bag and squeezing his way out of the place. Arriving outside, he frowned when he realised Illiyan wasn’t where he had been standing when he went inside.

A deep rush of panic coursed through Clark’s body as he spiralled. So, many things could have happened. Could he have been hurt? What if he had been kidn*pped?

Clark darted around the area, holding his drinks close to him until he heard Illiyan’s voice echo through an alleyway near the place. “How about you shag a dog?”

His eyebrows shot up as he followed the older man’s voice. He found Illiyan sitting on the ground, with three people, one woman and two men with their backs to Clark. He slowly put the food down and watched the scene play out in front of him, warily.

“Illiyan,” the female said, sighing. She had dark hair and was also in a tight leather suit. Clark raised an eyebrow at her fashion choice but said nothing. “Your parents are worried sick about you. Let’s drop this nonsense and let us take you home. You’re not a child, you need to stop acting like one.”

"Oh sure. My parents," he said as he narrowed his eyes at the two males and three females.

"Iliyan!" One of the men snapped.

He sighed as he took the mask and hat off, revealing scratches on his face and, from the terrible lighting, it looked like a bruise was going to form near his jaw.

He was hurt.

“Illiyan,” Clark said. “I’ve been gone for fifteen minutes.”

“They started it,” he whined, pointing at the trio.

Clark stared blankly at him and he groaned as he stood up, wiping the dirt off of him. Clark tensed as Illiyan walked over to one of the men and punched him. That seemed to be the cue as the four of them began fighting.

The younger man sighed as he impatiently waited for Illiyan to finish his fight. He winced a little when a sickening c***k echoed throughout the alley. Illiyan walked over, grinning. The only one left standing was an east-Asian man, the other two were on the ground.

There was blood splattered on his face and Clark reached up to wipe it away.

“You’re not hurt, right?” he asked, as he scanned the taller male.

“I’m fine. It’s not my blood,” he said, smiling. “You know, I’m beginning to think you were right about me being unstable. I’m a f*****g walking disaster.

"Are you a f*****g masochist?" Clark hissed.

He froze when Illiyan laughed, but it wasn't his normal cherry laugh, it was much more forced. Clark eyed him warily before placing a hand on his arm, frowning. “Are you okay?”

Illiyan looked around the alley and his eyes landed on the to-go bag and the drinks. “You got food!”

He leaned down and grabbed the drinks and bag and handed him his food, placing the to-go bag in a bin they walked past.

“Follow me, I have somewhere I want to take you.”

Clark ignored how Illiyan had avoided his question. Was this him pushing him away? Like f**k he would let that happen. He came into his life, and completely f****d it over, in a good way, and now Clark was too heavily attached to let him go.

He recognised the woods near Noah’s house and he frowned when he realised Noah was at home, and his curtains were open and he could see the younger boy pacing back and forth.

“Illiyan, wait,” Clark said, eyebrows furrowed.

Illiyan frowned as he watched Clark, but said nothing.

He watched as Noah ran his hands through his hair before he wiped his face. Clark pulled his phone out of his pocket and rang the boy. He watched as Noah found his phone. He wiped his tears and hesitated a moment before answering his phone.

“Hi, Clark!” Noah’s cheery voice said down the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Clark frowned. “I was just checking up on you. Reece said the other two are with his sister, all having meltdowns.”

“Aww,” Noah said. “Aren’t you cute? But, yes, I’m fine. Just studying.”

“Are you sure? If you’re overwhelmed, I can text Reece to come to pick you up so you can study with them.”

“That’s sweet, but I’m grounded. I’m probably going to head to bed soon, anyway.”

“Okay,” Clark said, eyebrows furrowed. “Make sure you get some sleep, Noah.”

“I will do! Bye Clark.”

“Come on,” Illiyan whined as he dragged Clark away. Who was still frowning at what he had witnessed? “Who was he?”

“Reece’s sister’s boyfriend. Where are we going, Illiyan?”

Illiyan didn’t reply as he continued dragging Clark through the forest. Clark frowned when he got t an area where the trees were not as dense, huh, he was sure he knew this forest like the back of his hand and he had never seen this area before.

"Holy s**t," Clark whispered.

They had come to a clearing. The moon was shining down on a small natural lake, where large stones surrounded the area with a small waterfall leading to the bottom. There was a light breeze causing the trees to rustle and Clark had no words,

"I know right, I came here all the time when I was a kid, and I still do."

"Oh! This would explain why you were wet when I found you.”

Illiyan scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "About that, sorry."

Illiyan dragged Clark to a large flat rock and grinned. “This is our chair.”

It was just at the base of the waterfall on the right-hand side. The two sat in silence as they finished their food and Clark couldn’t stop staring at the scene in front of him. Then he looked at Illiyan, who looked so pretty in the moonlight and he felt his heart in his throat. Clark smiled as he looked at Illiyan.

“I’m glad you came into my life, Illiyan,” Clark whispered, looking at him. “I’m sorry, I don’t spend as much time with you as I want to.”

“It’s fine. You’re a busy person. I’m glad I came into your life too, Clark.”

"When did you find this?"

"I don't really remember. I was small and bored and I wandered outside and into the forest and I stumbled upon this place."

"How do you remember the way?"

"I just do.”

“Who were those people?” Clark asked as he looked over at the scratches on Illiyan’s face.

"Can we talk about something else? Anything else?" he whispered, and Clark didn’t want to. He wanted to know who those people were. But he noted how uncomfortable he looked, so he nodded.

"Done, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Your friends."

"Next!"

"How about we don't talk and we swim?" he said and I shook my head.

"Or you can swim and I'll just watch?"

"That sounds pervy," he said, grinning, and Clark smiled as he rolled his eyes.

"Very mature, Iliyan."

"Very mature, Clark," he mocked as he took off his shirt and then grinned as he took a sip of his frappe.

"You've just eaten! I'm not sure that's a —" but it was too late. He had already run and jumped into the pool.

Clark waited for him to come back to the surface, but when he didn’t his smile faded. He waited for another few moments before he stood up. “Illiyan?”

“Illiyan!”

Panic seemed to swallow Clark whole as he didn’t hesitate to jump into the water, he let out a scream as he felt hands around his waist. He swam to the top and Illiyan surfaced a few seconds later, behind him, laughing his ass off.

"God, you're an asshole!" Clark screamed. "I thought you'd actually drowned!"

“I’m sorry.”

"I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do. I hate you,” Clark said, as he swam to the rock and climbed up, shivering a little.

He hadn’t even taken his clothes off and now he was soaking wet and he hated the feeling of having wet clothes sticking to him.

"No, you don't," he said, grinning. His silver hair was sticking to his forehead and the moonlight made it appear to be lighter than it already was.

"I hate you,” Clark repeated.

Illiyan grinned as he swam back into the middle of the little body of water. “I love you too.”

Clark didn’t say anything as he watched Illiyan swim around, smiling at himself.

He was an ass, he reminded himself.

No matter what, he was an ass.

No matter how annoying or hot he was.

An ass for life.

That's what Iliyan was.

An asshole . . . That he may or may not have slowly started developing feelings for.

~*~