Page 5 of The MC's Little Brother

Melissa gave him a flat look. “Don’t you have a physical coming up soon? I can totally assign the most crotchety doctor to give you a rectal exam. If I tell him I’m concerned, he won’t even bat an eye.”

That made Rooster hesitate, and I had to bite back a laugh. Melissa’s punishments were creative, but I didn’t want her thinking I was going to let this go. She needed to act smarter.

Mel put as much space between me and her as she could, linking arms with Maggie. “There. I’m with my friends. You can go now.”

My eyes narrowed. Prez wanted more than just Rooster with the girls since Battle was around causing trouble. I wasn’t going anywhere without someone to take my place.

“Where’s Butch?” Skylar queried. By now, she was used to the way me and Melissa interacted with each other. She didn’t even bat an eye at our glares.

“With Prez. Had a run-in with an old acquaintance.” I didn’t want to scare her by mentioning the fact that he was a one percenter. The kids weren’t the only ones who struggled when Butch was gone. Skylar was on bed rest for a month until her blood pressure came back down. Melissa didn’t look inclined to mention it either and put a reassuring hand on Skylar’s arm.

“He won’t be gone long. Did you find someplace to eat?”

Skylar sighed heavily. “No. We’ve looked at menus, but Gracie is being picky.”

Gracie frowned, looking up at her mom. “It’s not healthy!”

A flicker of a smile crossed Skylar’s face. She looked like she didn’t want to encourage Gracie to be picky, but what parent was going to scold a kid for wanting to eat a balanced meal?

“There’s a Mexican place down the street. They have fajitas tacos. Lots of vegetables,” I suggested to Gracie. She pondered it before nodding obligingly. Skylar shot me a relieved smile.

“Thank you,” she mouthed behind Gracie’s back.

I acknowledged her with a nod and led back the way we came. I wanted to join Prez, I didn’t trust Battle on principle alone, but I wasn’t willing to leave the girls alone either. Rooster was serious when he needed to be, but even he couldn’t handle all the girls and the kids at once if something went down.

When he fell into step beside me, he lowered his voice so we wouldn’t be overheard. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“Battle’s here,” I grunted.

His face hardened, and the goofy personality wiped away. “He makin’ threats or somethin’?”

“Not yet. Mel pissed off someone in his crew, though.”

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. Pissing off the one percent was asking for trouble. She was lucky we were around and Battle stepped in to stop the guy. I knew that help wouldn’t come without a cost, though, and I was eager to get back and check on them.

The restaurant I knew about was off the main street and lesscrowded than the ones right up against the rally. It meant there were enough tables for the entire crew if they wanted to join us and the kids wouldn’t have to wait long to eat. I texted Prez the location, sending a second text to Butch since I knew Prez wouldn’t check his messages while talking to Battle. Turning to Rooster, I jerked my chin at him.

“Text the crew to join us. The girls need more protection.”

He didn’t argue, pulling out his phone and texting one-handed while still bouncing Ellie on his hip. He loved being an uncle and wouldn’t put her down unless he absolutely had to.

A good portion of the crew showed up within minutes. They must’ve dropped everything to be here right away. This was why I loved my crew. We had each other’s backs. And there wasn’t a single one of them who wouldn’t show up to protect those kids. Most of them came to me first to get an update. Rooster mentioned Battle causing trouble, but he didn’t get into specifics over a text.

“What’s going on?”

I shook my head. “Could be nothing. Wait for Prez.”

I could tell it irritated some of them, but I wasn’t going to waste my time explaining while we didn’t have the whole picture. Prez would explain once he got away from Battle. And if he didn’t show up in the next ten minutes, I’d split the crew in half and send the girls back to the hotel while the rest of us went to back him up. I wanted to do it right away, but if Battle thought we were coming for a fight, he’d give us one and we weren’t that kind of crew.

Thankfully, Prez and the rest came in a few minutes later. He looked pissed, but not about to call us to arms or anything like that. When all eyes swung our way, he put his hands up to stall questions before they started.

“It’s alright. He just wanted to talk. We’re here to enjoy the rally. No more picking fights.” He directed his gaze to Mel, who shot him back a dirty look. At least she didn’t argue with him, and when Maggie and Skylar bent in close for the story, she ignored her brother in favor of relaying it to them. I stepped up to Prez, raising my eyebrow in question.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing. He asked us to merge crews, join his cause. It wasn’t the first time he asked, and it probably won’t be the last. He wants to expand his territory. I was firm about not being interested in their lifestyleand he let it go. For now.”

I heard that. For now was right. There was no telling when Battle would be back, but he wasn’t going to let go of his expansion deals for no reason. It’d take a fucking miracle to get him off our backs.

Battle didn’t approach us again that day, but I kept my guard up either way. We got approached by a few potential prospects, watched Circus do his thing, and met up with a few friends. It was getting late, the kids were already back at the hotel and parents were in for the night to watch over them. The rally was just warming up, though, and I wasn’t interested in going back to my room to sit around. My eyes were locked on Melissa, who hung out with Axel and Circus, talking about his stunt show. I wasn’t leaving until she got her ass in gear and headed back.

---