Alex pressed his lips together as his brain worked through the problem. "Do you want to leave?" That was the first question. If he wanted to leave, any other suggestions Alex might have were moot. They didn't need to worry about his father and they could just go off and be...free. If he even knew what that was.

"If you don't, we can figure something out. Get a cast on your hand until it 'heals' or something. I doubt dad would notice if what he did to you was permanent or not." He'd just been happy to punish Michael for his interference. Or maybe for touching Alex in the first place, it was hard to tell.

Just because Alex's family was crap didn't mean that Michael wanted to permanently leave Max and Isobel. Not something he would have thought of an hour ago, but an hour ago, he hadn't realized that Michael even had family.