Page 31 of The MC's Little Brother

“No, you just skip it yourself like a hypocrite,” I pointed out as I turned to head for the kitchen. I was pretty sure I had everything I needed for the meal she suggested. And since I was cooking for little kids last time, I smothered it with cheese so I wouldn’t get any complaints on the amount of vegetables in it. Only Gracie really cared about eating healthy.

“I do not!” Mel argued, stomping after me.

I raised an eyebrow at her over my shoulder and she scowled, throwing her hands in the air. “It’s not my fault I can’t cook! I’ve tried learning! It’s hard!”

Xander looked like he was trying not to laugh. It was an improvement from this morning. I was sure I made the right choice, inviting Mel to stay for a while. Even if it meant a little torture for me being so close to the woman I wanted, but could never have.

Xander was wary of dinner,but he seemed to like it, and he was polite enough to offer to do the dishes afterward. I didn’t want him doing all the work alone and neither did Mel, so we all worked together to clean up. After we were through, Mel flopped onto the couch with a groan.

“I feel like it was a bad idea to come stay here. I’m going to get fat.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling, sitting on the far end of the couch to keep my distance. Xander chose the floor so he could cuddle with Thor, and I turned on something mindless while everyone came out of their food coma.

“When do you work tomorrow?” I asked, glancing at Mel. I did a double take and snorted. “Nevermind.”

Xander looked up with a frown. “What?”

I tipped my head towards Mel, who was out like a light. Xander made a face.

“She works really hard. She barely sat down all day. Even when things were slow, she found something to do.”

That sounded like her. She and her brother both had a serious issue with working too much. Not that I had much room to judge. The only reason I didn't work all day like they did was that I had to have a case assigned to me to do my work. When I didn’t, I had more time to relax and work on my bikes.

Since I didn’t want her to get a crick in her neck, I got up and pulled her into my arms. Xander followed after me, helping me get her door open so I could put her to bed. While I took off her shoes and tucked her under the covers, Xander turned on a machine on the dresser. It surprised me at first, I thought the noise was too loud and would wake her, but he explained in a bare whisper, “It’s a sound machine. She told me she wakes up a lot if it's not on. She doesn’t like the quiet.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise me. Mel was always loud and boisterous. She worked in a hospital that was probably always noisy in some way. She spent her time with the crew or with her friends and all their kids. The quietmust have felt weird for her. I studied her face for a moment, taking in her peaceful expression. She was too gorgeous for words sometimes. I gave into the urge to touch, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. In another universe, I wouldn’t be able to resist her. Only the reminder that she was my best friend’s sister gave me the strength to pull away.

19

Melissa

“Mel?”

It took a minute to jostle my brain enough to open my eyes. I blinked a few times, frowning at the dark window at the foot of my bed.

“What time is it?”

“Uh… I didn’t look… Sorry, I can go…”

Sitting up, I shook my head, waving a hand in the general direction of Xander’s voice. “Nope. I’m awake. What’s up?”

My eyes finally adjusted enough for me to see his shadow shifting foot to foot just inside my door. It seemed like an anxious gesture, proven by him jumping when I heard a cat yowl outside over the sound of my sound machine. Poor thing.

“What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?”

“I was, but…”

I had to use context clues because he wasn’t giving me much. “Did you have a nightmare?”

I barely caught the nod in the dark. Scooting over, I lifted the blankets. “Come on, then.”

“Really?”

“Believe it or not, sleepovers with any of the crew kids always end up with at least one of them in my bed. Once, it was all four. I don’t mind sharing. If I could, I’d steal Thor to sleep up here, but I’m pretty sure Wraith would pitch a fit.”

It was cute how he let his dog sleep in bed with him, but that didn’t make it easy for me to steal him for sleepovers. Wraith always picked him up before lights out, no matter how many kids I got on my side to whine at him. He was selfish with his dog.

After a moment of hesitation, Xander tiptoed to join me, crawling into bed. He kept his distance, but I could feel him relax after a minute, burying himself deeper into the blankets.

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