Alice's Book Club

Interrogation

Jared

After dropping Alice and Bruce at their apartment, I sped through the city on my way to my own home, ready to meet with the man who caused me three weeks of stress. I parked in the garage attached to my building and practically sprinted to the elevator. On the long way up to 13th floor I began to unbutton my suit jacket and loosen my tie, this wasn't my first time dealing with people invading my privacy, but I was going to be sure this was the last. It was one thing to have pictures of me and some model dining out, hell they wanted the publicity, and I needed the advertisement, but what I have with Alice can't be tainted by scum like paparazzi. I finally got to my apartment and opened the door to see my Brother sitting on my couch with a tied up bald man sitting next to him. "Bout time you got here," Kyle said not bothering to look over at me; I eyed his laid back position in envy wishing I could be that calm. I chuckled at the irony all our lives I had been praised for being the level headed brother while Kyle was constantly chided for being too brash. Kyle had always been my opposite if it weren't for his hair and eye color many wouldn't know we were related. He was a tall, stern Navy Seal, you could tell by his buff build that he was definitely military. "So Jared, meet Dave" He gestured to the bald man sitting on my couch. "Dave is the man that has been taking all those invasive photo's for People's magazine." He explained not breaking eye contact with the TV. "That can't be, I dealt with them years ago" I replied taking off my suit and tie. "Well Dave didn't get the memo," Jared said taking a sip of beer. "Are you guys going to kill me?!?" Dave asked sounding like he was going to piss himself. "No" Kyle

sighed; Dave had probably asked this a lot. "Night's still young, and your life depends on your answers" I replied walking over towards the scared little man, he gulped in response. "So first, who told you to take those pictures?' I asked, looking straight into Dave's eyes daring him to lie. "He said his name was Bryce Novic" He replied with pure terror in his voice. " Bullshit he retired years ago" I punched him in the head. "Now lie to me again," I said gaining eye contact once more, something told me this would be a long night.

Alice

Something told me this was going to be a good night, I thought to myself as I tidied up my messy apartment, or at least I tried it was pretty hard with toy's thrown everywhere on the floor and a child who doesn't quite grasp the concept of organizing your area. "Bruce, this is the last time I'm going to tell you to put your toys in your room" I warned Bruce, who was still trying to put everything together for his Gallery. "But mommy, I'm trying to finish my gallery." He whined "Well you can finish it after you clean up your toys, now don't make me tell you again" I placed my hands on my hips letting him know this warning was final. "Yes, mommy" He began to pick up his toys and take them to his room "And don't just throw them in there put them away properly" I added watching him walk to his room "Yes mommy" he called back. Once I had gotten the living room clean, I moved on to the kitchen ready to prepare a meal fit for a billionaire, until I realized I had no idea what billionaires eat. "s**t," I said to myself realizing I was in over my head, I was so excited when Jared said yes, that I hadn't thought what to make. I panicked and called Charity, she was a terrific cook and could make anything taste like it came from a five-star recipe. "Hello" I heard Charity's voice and felt relief, "Charity! Thank God you picked up I have a problem?" I said searching in my fridge for anything that looks appealing. "What's wrong?" she asked politely "Well, I invited Jared over for dinner tonight, but I have no idea what I'm going to make, and I'm freaking out," I said in a rushed tone while tossing a box of fish sticks back in the freezer. " Calm down, what meats do you have?" she asked "Umm I have Chicken Nuggets and Fish sticks, and before you judge I had all intentions of going grocery shopping tomorrow" I replied. "Well, you're going to have to go grocery shopping today then" she sighed "I can't I got three hours before he is here and Aldi is 20 blocks away," I said, feeling my heart race. "s**t, fine what vegetables do you have?" she asked, I searched my Vegetable crisper and found Asparagus, Tomatoes, Celery, and one odd ear of corn. I listed what I had to her and told her of the canned corn I had in the cabinet. "So...?" I asked worried she couldn't be the savior I needed. "Well this is going to be the most ghetto dinner I ever helped create, but here it goes." She began to explain how I would have to make the dinner look expensive by serving Fish sticks and vegetables in a five-star restaurant way. Once the dinner was prepared, I had just enough time to fix my hair change my clothes and gets Bruce to look decent, all the while dodging his questions of why we were dressing nicely for dinner. I tried to answer as best I could, the last thing I wanted to do was lie to my child, but it was far too soon to let him know about me a Jared.

Alice

KNOCK.KNOCK. I sprinted to the door and greeted my sexy Boss, it's amazing how the man made such a casual look of light denim jeans and a White turtle neck look so damn good. "Hi" I stuttered out looking him up and down, "Hi, you look great" he replied, I tried to play modest but I had put a lot of effort into making my dark denim skinny jeans, and off the shoulder, purple sweater looks good. "Thanks... umm come in dinner's almost ready." I showed him to the couch where Bruce was watching old Justice League re-runs. "Hi Mr. Maverick" Bruce greeted with a huge smiled; he took my whole 'be polite' speech and ran with it. "Hello Bruce, watching Justice League?" Jared replied and began to converse with Bruce about his favorite subject, Heroes. I got the plates ready I the way Charity described and let Bruce's stay the same simple way it always was. I took a moment to look at the two boys talk and felt my heart swell, Bruce never really got any male influences, I didn't, so no man has gotten close enough for me to let them meet the most important person in my life. I had a quick fantasy where this was a part of everyday life, and Jared could be the man that my son looks up to. However, that fantasy came to a halt when Jared put an arm around the back of the couch, and I saw the bruises all over his hands.