Page 52 of The MC's Little Brother

Maybe. He only really knew part of the story. I wasn’t willing to share the rest.

The lady didn’t seem to want to answer my question. She just moved on, asking about my health and what Mattias was doing to make sure I was getting better. It felt weird that she was asking me all of that. Why wouldn’t she talk to him? He was the one who was putting in the effort to get me better.

“Who’s room is that?” She pointed to the room next to mine.

“Guest room,” I shrugged. “Mel is staying in there while I get used to things.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “They’re sleeping in different rooms?”

I made a face. I didn't know anything about what they’d do from now on. I didn’t know they were dating before last night. It didn’t feel like my business. I liked Mel and if they were sleeping in the same bed, it wouldn’t really matter to me, but I didn’t like this woman or the way she seemed tohate on Mattias. She seemed salty the minute she walked through the door.

She seemed to realize the conversation was getting off track because she cleared her throat, pointing to the boxes on the landing. “What are those?”

I shrugged. “No clue. They aren’t mine.”

She hummed, and I saw her step closer to one, but they were all sealed shut. She’d have to rip it open to look inside. She made a note in her little notebook and kept moving, heading for the bathroom next. Why she cared what the bathroom looked like, I had no clue.

We went downstairs and the social worker pointed at the couch, smiling at me. “Why don’t we have a seat?”

“He needs to eat,” Mattias said gruffly from the kitchen. “He’s still recovering.”

I stood awkwardly by the stairs, unsure where to go next. It was Mel who came to my rescue, coming to join us and waving me toward the kitchen.

“Go ahead. He’s right, you need to eat. We can pause, or Ms. Packman can join you in the kitchen.”

My eyes flicked to the social worker, who looked puzzled, but when she noticed me watching her, she masked the look and smiled at me. “Of course. Your health comes first. I’ll join you in the kitchen.”

We sat at the table, me and Mattias on one side and Mel and the social worker on the other. Mel was nice enough to offer the woman something to eat or drink, but she said no and started asking Mel about my health. It was whatever. I didn’t listen to most of what the doctor said that first day, either. I knew I was skinny. If I didn’t steal cash from Jorge’s wallet, we wouldn’t eat. He was too drunk to notice most of the time, especially because I kept some of his favorites around. As long as he had alcohol, he didn’t give a shit.

“So, Xander. Are you comfortable here with your brother? Is there anything you feel like you can’t talk to him about?”

I whipped my head up, startled. What the hell did she know?

Melissa

I did my best to reassure Mattias, but when the social worker came downstairs, I watched her a little more closely. He wouldn’t be making accusationslike that if he hadn’t noticed something. And she did look more suspicious than considerate. Social workers got a bad rap because they removed kids from parents, but I knew she was only here to help. I tried to keep an open mind, reassuring Xander with a smile when he looked at me with a deep frown.

He was pretty quiet while we ate, his focus on his food. I was okay with that since getting him as much nutritional food as possible was what was important now. It was too early to see any difference in his weight, but he looked less pale and sick after a few days of regular meals and good sleep.

From what I could tell, both brothers were uncomfortable, but resigned and answered Rachel’s questions without much complaint. It was Xander’s reaction to Rachel’s last question that made me frown.

“So, Xander. Are you comfortable here with your brother? Is there anything you feel like you can’t talk to him about?”

He jerked his head up and looked a little like a deer in the headlights. His eyes darted around and he barely seemed to notice his mouth was full of food. Why did he look panicked right now?

“I’m fine,” he forced out around the mouthful. Then he shoved another bite in his mouth, like he was trying to prevent anyone from asking him anything more.

Since she obviously struck a nerve, I saw Rachel make note of the reaction. I didn’t think Xander was uncomfortable around Mattias anymore, but maybe he wasn’t at the stage where he felt like he could share secrets yet.

“I’ve made a few phone calls and got them both into family therapy to handle this new situation,” I added. I wanted to help a little, but that only seemed to freak Xander out more. I was quick to reassure him. “It’s just to get more comfortable around each other. Like laser tag, but with more chatting.”

He didn’t look any more enthusiastic about it, so I shot Mattias a look to get him to chime in. He looked disgruntled, but he put his own food down, turning to look at his brother.

“I didn’t know you existed until a few days ago. Mel suggested talking to someone so I can do right by you. We’ve got little kids at the clubhouse, but you’re the oldest, and I don’t know shit about teenagers. If I want to do better than our asshole old man, we need to communicate better.”

Okay, we could’ve done without the overabundance of profanity, but ithad the desired effect. Xander settled a little and nodded. I was glad I thought to call and make an appointment with Addison right after scheduling the laser tag thing. She had a cancellation in her schedule that she offered to me. It would get them both in tomorrow to talk to someone. I think the laser tag helped a lot, and I had more ideas for fun things to do to slowly introduce the crew too, but making sure Xander felt comfortable talking to Mattias about important things was definitely a priority. It’d take longer than a few days, though, and I didn’t understand why Rachel was asking about it so soon.

“Well, if you feel like you can’t talk to him–” Rachel started.

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