Page 35 of The MC's Little Brother

I shot her a dirty look for that, but it made Xander snicker, and his shoulders relaxed a little. Rolling my eyes, I jerked my chin toward the second floor. “We’ll go up. Knowing those idiots, they won’t stick to one spot for long, so it’s better to have a vantage point.”

“I’ll keep them distracted down here. You two snipe the hell out of them,” Mel agreed, an evil grin on her face. The lights flickered in warning, so we split up, with Xander and me staying low as we hurried to the second floor and Mel disappearing around the obstacles. I would’ve felt bad about letting her go off on her own if I didn’t know her better. She was justas energetic as the three idiots we were teamed against. She’d be able to handle herself fine.

“There’s someone else up here,” Xander murmured, hovering near my back.

I followed his gaze toward where Vegas was scoping out the floor below us. He wasn’t paying any attention to us, so I beckoned Xander and found a spot that kept him in view but us out of sight. Until he figured out where we were hiding, he’d keep getting hit. It probably wouldn’t take him too long, all our vests were flashing with our team colors, but it’d be funny while it lasted.

“Ready for this?” I asked over the robotic countdown to the game starting.

Xander took a deep breath and nodded. I gripped his shoulder reassuringly.

“Remember. It’s just for fun. Even if we lose, no one is going to be mad. But if you can shoot Rooster at least a few times, I’ll buy you ice cream or something after this.”

He snorted, and his eyes darted toward the ledge that looked over the rest of the game area. “Which one is he again?”

I chuckled to myself. Maybe Mel’s idea wasn’t the worst thing on the planet.

21

Melissa

You’d think with a game that was technically made for kids, it wouldn’t be such a workout. But by the end of the first game, I was sweating. It took work to keep the attention on me and away from Xander. I didn’t really care if Wraith got hit, because it was for fun and he needed to loosen up, but I could tell Xander was nervous. I wanted to give him a chance to enjoy it. So I ran all out and made noise so the guys would keep coming for me and stay away from him. It was actually really fun, and everyone was smiling by the end of it.

We lost the first round, which wasn’t totally surprising. Xander was too nervous to go off on his own at first. He stuck like glue to Wraith. And since that was what I’d hoped for, I didn’t push for him to get out on his own. The second round, though, he started moving a little farther away from his brother, warming up to the guys’ teasing taunts and goofy antics. Whenever we passed each other, he gave me a high five, and he had a bright smile on his face.

“Oh, come on! How the hell is he doing that?” Rooster shouted over the loud music in the arena.

“Where even is he?” Circus demanded.

A noise made me spin around, but I relaxed when Xander popped up behind me, his face all red and sweaty. I was glad it wasn’t just me.

“Who are they talking about?” I whispered.

He pointed toward the top floor. “Mattias. He really is like a wraith. He keeps shooting them when they can’t see him.”

I snorted, leaning my head around the corner of the obstacle we were hiding behind to get a good look. I couldn’t see where Wraith was hiding, but I did see Vegas creeping through the obstacles, only to be shot by an unknown enemy. It wasn’t me and Xander, that was for sure.

The booming voice alerted us all that we were in the last minute of the round, so I turned back to Xander with a grin. “They’re all gonna look for him now. Let’s split up and come at them from both sides, okay?”

He nodded, a big grin on his face. It was exactly what I’d hoped for, and I was so glad he was having fun. He ducked away, staying low and out of sight. He was smaller than the rest of us, so it was easier for him to hide.

I gave him enough time to get in position before pushing to my feet and tiptoeing out of my hiding place. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another flashing red vest near the opposite wall. We moved together, taking out the guys from both sides, until the buzzer sounded and the lights brightened to indicate the end of the round.

Xander jogged over to join me, giving me another high five when he got close. We headed out of the door to meet up with the others, and I smiled to myself when I saw the score with us as the winners.

Rooster bemoaned his loss, his head dropped back dramatically. “It wasn’t a fair match! You can’t have Wraith and little Wraith on the same team. That’s cheating.”

“Not to mention energizer bunny over here,” Vegas said, giving my shoulder a friendly bump. “Seriously, you’d pop up one spot, then be on the other end of the room a second later. I could’ve sworn you were teleporting or something.”

Wraith stood quietly, watching the discussion. He didn’t look nearly as sweaty as the rest of us, but his eyes were softer than normal, and he gave Xander a supportive shoulder squeeze when he wandered closer.

“Okay, I vote next round that little Wraith is on my team,” Rooster demanded. “He’s like a ghost and there’s no way we can lose.”

“Ooh me too!” Circus shouted, throwing his hand into the air like a kid in school.

I made a face. “No way. You can’t steal Xander from us. Take the loss like adults and deal with the fact that our team is better than yours.”

When I looked over my shoulder to Wraith for backup, he nodded, crossing his arms in that way that intimidated most of the crew. “He’s my little brother. He stays on my team.”

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