He grins at her. “Hi, Miss Sage,” he chirps, waving a little too enthusiastically as he leans too far back.
My heart nearly leaps out of my chest, and I step forward on instinct. My face smashes against the window when he nearly topples backward. A horrified shriek leaves Sage behind me before she exhales in relief when Jonah manages to catch himself.
I rub my nose and glare at him. Pain and initial panic aside, I’m glad the boy didn’t fall. “Jonah, enough. Now climb back down,” I snap.
Little shit is going to give me a heart attack. When his voice reaches my ears again, I turn as I watch him shuffle back to the drainpipe. “Mr. Andrei, I’m scared,” he whimpers. I roll my eyes as I watch him walk back to the window.
“You climbed up here, you can climb down,” I tell him as he clutches the drain pipe.
He shakes his head, looking at the ground. He places his foot on the drainpipe bracket, clinging to the pipe with his hands. The boy freezes and looks back at me.
“Climb down,” I repeat myself as I motion for him to go back down, but he shakes his head.
I can’t and don’t bother to hold back the growl of annoyance that leaves my lips. I was so damn close, so damn painfully close, and now, I have to deal with this. His little green eyes peer back at me pleadingly, and I roll my eyes at him.
“Fine, just hang on,” I growl, turn around, and stomp out of the bedroom, and down the steps. I unlock the door and march around to our bedroom window. Jonah is still clutching the drainpipe. I suppress the next growl that threatens to escape me.
I very much want to snap at the boy, at least for his recklessness. Didn’t he fucking think before he decided to use my house as his playground? He could get bloody hurt.
“Jonah, can you get down or not? That pipe will not hold my weight,” I warn him, shaking the thing gently. Maybe that will encourage him to get down. Worst-case scenario – he will understand how unsafe it is to cling to that thing and at least try to climb to somewhere safer.
Rushed footsteps echo behind me, so I look over my shoulder. “Jonah, I told you to leave the Alpha alone, what are you doing up there?” Malik growls at him.
“I’m stuck,” Jonah cries out, looking down at us. Malik facepalms himself right as a very frustrated sigh leaves his lips.
Me too, pal. Whatever you feel right now, I feel it too.
“I’m so sorry, Alpha. I told him to steer clear of here,” Malik apologizes.
“I wanted to tell Mr. Andrei about his packages,” Jonah whimpers, and by now, tears are rolling down his cheeks.
“Alright, that’s enough. You will be sitting in the naughty corner when you climb down!” Malik scolds, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
His head snaps in my direction. “What? That’s what my mother did. It is better than getting the wooden spoon on my backside,” Malik shrugs.
I chuckle, and shake my head, looking back at Jonah. “Jonah, you had enough of playing around, and now, you climb back down,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.
I can’t fucking believe it. The little shit is actually going to make me climb up there and get him down. I wonder where he is hiding that massive audacity.
“Ah, God damn it, just hang on,” I tell him.
I test the pipe looking at Malik, who is obviously judging me for the slip-up that escaped me. “Should hold,” he says.
“Feel free to volunteer,” I tell him, and his eyes widen in horror.
Malik is half of my body weight, if not less, so the chance of him getting up there uninjured is far bigger than mine. However, he is terrified of heights and would rather bite off his own leg than climb anywhere higher than a damn stool.
I mutter a slew of curse words under my breath, and Malik snickers as I clamber up the pipe. It shakes as I climb up, and the thin metal brackets groan under my weight with complaining creaks as I dig my toes into them, pulling myself up to Jonah.
Once I get close enough, I grab the back of his shirt. Jonah turns to look at me, with tears streaking his face, but he is quick to act as he turns his body and clutches my shoulders.
Sage watches me from the window, wearing nothing but that skimpy dressing gown of hers. If there has ever been a moment I hate seeing a little more of my mate’s skin, it has to be this exact moment. How am I supposed to save a life, or I don’t know, a few bones if I’m distracted by the view?
However, once I notice how concerned she looks, I push aside every lustful and filthy thought that is trying to run through my mind. I had my chance, she insisted, and here I am, climbing a darn pipe.
As I try to take a step down, the bracket snaps under my weight, and the pipe pulls away from the wall. I feel myself fall backward, as the rush of adrenaline hits me, and courses through my veins.
Acting on instinct, I let the pipe go, gripping Jonah and shoving him to the center of my chest. I have to fight my instinct to turn and brace my hands out to break my fall. Jonah screams bloody murder, he is so loud that my ears ring right when I smack into the ground, landing on my back.
The impact smashes the air out of my lungs while the little shit is winding me further as his knees smash into my stomach as he lands on me.
I blankly stare at the sky-everything aches. My entire body is experiencing some sort of pain, and I don’t know where it starts or ends. For fuck’s sake, I’m pretty sure even my skin is throbbing, which I thought was impossible before this accident. My head throbs to its own beat as I smack it on the grass.
“Oh,” Jonah murmurs as his face comes into focus. Something warm and wet puddles on my stomach before dripping across my abdomen and sides. Donnie howls in my head with laughter, and Malik snorts out a laugh. I glare at him as he leans over us. “I think I peed a little,” Jonah whispers.
Malik erupts with laughter while I am not only fucking sore, but also drenched in piss. Just to make matters way better, it’s not even my own. Hell, I’d rather piss over myself than experience this, the kid just marked his damn territory on me.