Page 32 of The MC's Little Brother

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

At first, he shook his head, but I could tell he wasn’t ready to go right back to sleep yet. Lingering effects of the nightmare, probably. I got the feeling if I was patient, he might be more willing to open up to me.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of quiet, he started talking. “My dad… He wasn’t usually home when I went to sleep. He always came home late and was usually in a bad mood.”

Typical for drunks. I’d dealt with so many in the ER. They were either happy, handsy, or pissed. Sometimes a combination of the three. Living with one was an awful way for a kid to be raised.

“I eventually learned to sleep in the closet or the tub. Somewhere he wouldn’t immediately look when he was drunk. If he found me, he’d hurt me. He blamed me for his life being so shitty. Said if it wasn’t for me, he’d be happy.”

I heard a sniffle, and he curled in a little more on himself, until he was practically a little ball. My heart ached for him, but I stayed quiet, listening to him let the hurt out.

“I tried to apologize, but he never listened. I couldn’t sleep well staying with him. I still can’t sleep well now. I don’t know why. He’s not here. But I can’t sleep.”

“Oh, honey.” I reached for him, pulling him in for a real cuddle. The tears that I knew he was holding back finally broke free, and he quietly sobbed in my arms. It explained a lot. Like his reaction when Wraith tried towake him. After who knew how long being woken up by harsh hands, he trained himself to fight and flee first, and ask questions later.

“It’ll take time for your subconscious to accept that you’re safe here. But you are, Xander. You’re safe here. Wraith is protective to a fault. It’s annoying sometimes, actually. He hovers, even when I don’t need a babysitter. He’s not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

“He doesn’t–”

“Yes, he does,” I insisted, cutting him off. “He wants you here. I know he doesn’t show it well, but he does want you here. Every time he upsets you, he looks gutted. He’s just not the most emotional guy in the bunch. He’s known for only talking when he feels like he has something important to say. I’ll have to teach you how to speak caveman. Grunts and mumbles are more his style.”

He let out a watery laugh, which was an improvement. It broke my heart to see him crying so much. He deserved to be happy. No kid should live their life afraid to sleep.

Xander was still asleepwhen I woke up. It took some serious ninja moves to crawl out of bed without waking him. Luckily, I had practice with Ellie. She only went to bed with someone in the room with her, and I had to sneak to get out without her waking up. I crept out of the room, bumping into Wraith in the hallway. He looked half asleep, a towel thrown over his shoulder and a bleary expression on his face. His hair was an absolute mess, which was unfairly adorable, and he had pillow lines on his face. I felt a smile tug at my lips.

“Sleep well?”

He grunted. Caveman.

I was going to slip past him and use the restroom downstairs, but he stopped me with a hand on my elbow, giving me a questioning look as he jerked his chin toward my room. I sighed.

“He had a nightmare. I’m not going to tell you everything because it'shis story to tell, but apparently he’s having trouble sleeping. I think it would be a good idea to get him into therapy. I know he probably doesn’t have insurance yet, but–”

“I’ll handle it. Whatever he needs,” he murmured.

I nodded, glancing back in the room where Xander was back to being curled into a little ball. When I looked up at Wraith, he had the same sad resignation in his eyes that I felt in my chest. We couldn’t take back what happened to him. We could only help him move on.

“Penny mentioned you seeing someone, too. Just until you guys understand each other a little more. You’ve been thrown a lot in a short amount of time and–”

“Okay.”

My mouth fell open, surprised. “Okay? Just like that?” I couldn’t help but give him a concerned look. “Are you sick? Is something wrong with you? That should’ve been a lot harder to convince you.”

He rolled his eyes at me, but his response was even more shocking than his initial agreement. “You’re a good nurse, Mel. If you think it’s a good idea, I’d be stupid not to listen to you.”

I was floored, and I didn’t know what to say to him. Which was a first for me, honestly. I wasn’t the kind of person to go speechless.

He huffed, and one of his rare smiles pulled at his lips. “You’re acting like I told you the sky was purple.”

I glanced over my shoulder toward the window. “Is it? Because that would explain a lot. Somehow ending up in an alternate dimension would be more likely than you saying anything to me that didn’t have a layer of snark to it.”

His smile faded almost as quickly as it came, but he didn’t look pissed. He looked… contrite.

“I’m sorry. You’re doing a lot for me and my brother. I’ll try to be less of an ass.”

I was seriously starting to consider that I was dreaming or something. The Wraith I knew would’ve shot back some kind of snarky response. I not so subtly pinched my arm to be sure.

That got him to roll his eyes, and the smirk came back. I snickered and shrugged.

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