Page 12 of The MC's Little Brother

“You’ll be alright, Xander. I promise. Just give us a chance to help.”

I woke up late,but that wasn’t surprising based on when we all went to sleep. Then again, I hated waking up in general. It was the smell of breakfast that woke me, and I blearily headed downstairs before I even fully woke up.

Dad snorted. “Told ya. Both my kids are like that when they wake up. Though Mel just needs a few minutes. My boy Wyatt would straight up ignore me when I tried to wake him in the mornin’. He gave me permission a few times to dump water on him so he wouldn’t miss important tests.”

I huffed out a laugh, accepting the coffee he offered me and taking a sip. “I remember that. He yelled at you when you did it, then turned around and thanked you after he got home.” Looking around, I saw Xander sitting atthe table, a plate already half empty in front of him. I searched for Wraith, frowning when I came up empty.

“Where’s Wraith?”

“He went out. Had to feed Thor,” Dad said, nudging me toward the table. “Sit down and eat.”

I knew better than to argue. Dad had taken his role as a single father very seriously. If we didn’t let him feed us, he’d keep pestering us until we eventually gave in. Sliding into the seat beside Xander, I smiled at him.

“How’d you sleep?”

He lifted a shoulder uneasily. “Fine…”

“That’s good. I imagine it’s hard to feel truly comfortable in a new place. Sleeping in hotels is a nightmare, in my opinion. But strangely enough, I can sleep in the on-call room without issue if I need a nap on a long shift.” I shrugged. “I guess it’s my home away from home with how often I’m there.”

“What kind of nurse are you?” he asked timidly after a moment.

Delighted by the first little inkling of trust, I smiled brightly at him. “I’m an ER nurse, but I’ve done rotations in neonatal and pediatrics, too. Good on you for knowing there are different kinds of nurses. Most of the people assume nurse is an overarching term and think I work everywhere in the hospital. Including the janitorial staff, believe it or not.” I made a face. I loved our janitorial staff, but it didn’t stop me from getting offended when people assumed it was my job to clean up their messes. Unless you were a patient, I wasn’t there to clean up after you.

Dad frowned as he put his plate on the table. “Hey now. It was one time I got it wrong.”

I snorted. “You’re excused. You weren’t a jerk about it. I’m talking about loved ones at the hospital.”

Xander was quiet during the meal, listening to my dad tell stories of the old crew and the kind of shenanigans that ended up with them in the ER. It was the same for the crew now. I lost count of the number of times I had to treat road rash or a broken limb from the stunts they pulled. They were frequent fliers, but always polite and often went out of their way to make the staff laugh or smile. Everyone in the ER liked them. I wished it were the same for the rest of town, but we still had a long way to go on that front. At least Wyatt was dealing with the harassment issue with his partner. It got really bad a few months ago.

Wraith came back after we’d all finished, but he didn't hang around long enough to eat. He gave me an impatient look, and if I didn’t know the full story of why he was so determined to get moving, I’d be irritated with him. But this was about Xander and making sure he was safe. I understood the hurry.

Turning to Xander, I eyed him carefully. He wasn’t happy about the idea of being seen last night, but hopefully he’d be more on board now that he’d seen we were there to help him.

“Xander? Are you okay with coming with me to work? I promise I’ll get you in and out as quickly as I can.”

His face twitched and I could tell he didn’t want to, but he looked up at his brother’s stony expression and relented, dropping his shoulders in defeat. “Yeah. Alright.”

I resisted the urge to pull him in for a cuddle. He looked like he needed a hug. And I was used to getting all the cuddles I wanted from Skylar and Maggie’s kids. I couldn’t do that with Xander until I had his permission. But if he ever trusted me enough, I was going to make sure he got all the love he deserved. I was going to spoil the crap out of him.

8

Wraith

It was hard to sleep the night before. I kept getting distracted looking up custody laws and parental rights on the internet. I’d stayed on Tank’s couch because I wanted to be around in case Xander decided to run again, but I think I only got two hours of sleep at most before I headed out to go for a ride. I stopped by home to feed Thor and take him for a walk before going back to Tank’s. Prez said we’d need to document everything so the judge would know without a shadow of a doubt that it wasn’t safe to send Xander home. I also needed to pull all my documents, so they’d know he was safe with me. I owned my house outright, had a good-paying job, and was close enough to the school that Xander could walk if he wanted. I’d offer him a ride because it got stupidly hot some days, but he had options on that front.

It took some convincing to get Prez not to come back early. The rally was important. We needed new members. And I needed the day to gather everything he needed anyway. He’d be back tonight, and we’d file for temporary emergency custody first thing Monday. Then it was a long process of getting Jorge’s rights taken away and Xander put in my care instead. Fromwhat I looked up, it wouldn’t be a simple thing, but I would bet good money Jorge wouldn’t fight me for custody.

Tank offered us his truck for the ride to the hospital, but I didn’t get into a cage unless I had to. Instead, I followed behind them and parked on Mel’s side in the lot. Xander eyed my bike curiously, but stayed quiet as he dutifully followed Mel inside.

“I’m heading upstairs for a bit. Got someone I gotta check in on,” Tank said when we were passing the elevator bank. I shot him a questioning look, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Never you mind. Go make sure your brother is okay.”

I could make guesses on who he was visiting, but he was right. I needed to focus on Xander. Mel led us past the elevators and down a few hallways to the emergency room. It was quiet for a Sunday, with only a few people in the waiting room. Mel skipped right past that and used her badge to head into the back. She waved at one of the nurses behind the big desk in the middle of the room, coming to stand in front of her with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Janelle.”

The older woman gave Mel a teasing smile back. “I told them you wouldn’t last an entire weekend. You’re a workaholic, Melissa.”

Mel rolled her eyes, but didn’t refute that. “Yeah, yeah. Listen, who’s on call today?”

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