The Replacements

5. Stranger Danger

Chapter 5

Stranger Danger

"You take a piss at us for roughing em' up and then you drive like a maniac slamming them around," Caden complained from the back seat glaring at Kayla.

What? Opening her eyes slowly Nadia was greeted by Adler staring at her intently, his hand and feet tied together. It must've been a weird dream from whatever Kayla did, Nadia did her best to shake the weird glow from her thoughts and study the vehicle.

She looked to her left and saw the back of Caden's head. The backseats were pushed up to give them more room in the back but leaving no leg room for Caden so he lounged with his legs covering all three seats. Reese was sitting shotgun and Kayla was driving, The Rubens 'Hoops' blared through the speakers.

The back wasn't too uncomfortable as they had a leather cargo mat underneath them. Reaching a hand up to rub her head she realized her hands were tied as well. Glancing at Adler she raised a thin brow, his pale blonde hair was dishevelled and stuck out at odd angles covering his face partially. Someone had wiped the blood from his nose and the swelling had gone down tremendously, his nose still slightly crooked but much straighter than she had ever seen it.

Meeting his eyes, Nadia wiggled her nose like a rabbit and pointed her chin towards him. He shrugged slightly and wiggled his nose back without wincing. She furrowed her brow and gestured towards Caden's head before looking back at Adler.

Flipping his large hands so his palms were towards the roof he shook his hands slightly, American sign language for 'What?'

Nadia signed to the best of her ability with tied hands asking if Caden knew Adler was awake. Adler stared at her blankly for a second so she pointed at Caden's head which was bobbing along to the music and then at him. Adler nodded his head deciding sign language was too hard with tied hands.

So that meant Caden knew that Adler was awake. They both learned sign language when she first met Adler in order to speak with each other. Adler would get anxious about his English skills and not speak, and Nadia didn't speak German so she suggested they both learn a new language together instead of using his brother as a translator.

She spotted something green in Adler's hair and stared at it, reaching over with both hands she reached up and pulled a leaf out of his light blonde hair. His blue eyes followed her in confusion as she leaned forward before widening comically once she showed him the leaf.

Biting her lip, Nadia let out a snort and Adler quickly covered her mouth with his hands. Glaring up at him she licked his hand and he stared at her for a few seconds before wiping his hand on her face. Glaring at him she saw Caden watching them in amusement from the corner of her eye.

Scowling she whipped her head towards him and glared at him, Adler followed ensuite and Caden grinned wider, deepening their scowls.

"G'morning sleepy heads, so, how'd ya' sleep? How ya' doing?" he was talking as if this was just some normal Friday evening.

"I was doing pretty good 'til I saw your face. Now my relaxing kidnapping weekend getaway is ruined," voice dripping with sarcasm Nadia turned away to watch the trees fly past the window.

"Ouch, your words wound me," he grinned before realising she wasn't going to answer again and his face fell.

"Come on, don't be that way, I'm bored," his tone was similar to that of a five-year-old demanding attention.

"Reecey, they won't talk to me," he whined to his brother.

"To be honest, I wouldn't either if I weren't your twin," Reece turned back to tapping out the songs beat on the dashboard. Nadia and Adler both let out a snort of laughter as Caden's jaw dropped.

"Kayla, sweetie,  you love me right?" Caden turned toward her now, his fingers crossed. Kayla glanced at him in the mirror before reaching forward and turning the music up and keeping her eyes on the road.

"That's it. I'm moving back to Wales, screw you all," he huffed crossing his arms over his chest before remembering there was one person he hadn't annoyed yet.

"Adler, what about you big guy? You haven't spoken since ye woke up," he directed his attention towards the back again much to the disdain of the occupants. Adler's ears went pink.

"Come on, you see how mean they are to me, why won't you talk to me?" he took the lack of answer as an invitation to continue.

"Stranger danger," Adler joked weakly and looked the other way, cheeks red.

"How am I a stranger danger?" shouted Caden indignantly.

"We met you in a dark alley, a mysterious older man, you got your friend to do some weird magic knockout drug I've been trying not to think about so I don't panic, and now we're tied up in the back of your car," Nadia finished watching as shock and realization washed over his features.

"I'm not that much older than you, Adler's probably older than me, he's what, 25, 26," the way he said it turned out more like a question than a statement by the end.

"Adler turned 18 last month, I'm 19. You, sir, just kidnapped a pair of technically teenagers from a dark alleyway,"

He took in Adler's muscular frame and height of 6'3, Adler was looking the other way, pale face and neck completely red now, feeling uncomfortable. His dad had been close to 6'4-6'6 and he was muscular as well, it didn't hurt that Adler had been on the wrestling team and did fights at the pub.

"Well, I'm going to go cry now and do my best to mend my broken ego," Caden turned away sulking.

Nadia wasn't sure what he was so upset about, he and his brother were in pretty good shape. Maybe it's because his nearly identical twin is taller than him and now he's shorter than an 18-year-old. Nadia smirked and started planning how to use her new discovery when he got too annoying.

"Look out!" Nadia was ripped from her scheming by Reese shouting and the jeep violently swerving to the right sending her and Adler flying into the wall on the opposite side. A tree branch had knocked in the back window when they swerved the back end into it sending some tinted glass shards over Adler and Nadia. Kayla stepped on the gas speeding away as quickly as she could. Nadia peered out the broken window and her eye's widened in amazement.