Page 41 of The MC's Little Brother

“I kissed Wraith.”

She startled hard, nearly dislodging me from her shoulder. “Oh!” She immediately turned down the heat on the stove, steering me to the table. “Hold on. Let me just–” She hurried out of the room, and a few minutes later, she came back with Skylar on her heels.

I made a face. “I thought you weren’t getting off the floor until Butch got home.”

She waved that away, taking the seat next to mine. “This is an emergency. So you finally told him how you feel?”

Blinking rapidly, I looked between her and Maggie. “Hold on. You knew?”

Skylar snorted, and Maggie pressed her lips together tightly to hide her expression. My mouth fell open.

“Since when?”

“I’ve known since I first got here,” Skylar said, raising her hand.

Maggie wrinkled her nose. “I figured it out pretty quickly, too. It’s kind of hard not to notice the way you look at him.”

I couldn’t decide if I was horrified or not. Embarrassed, sure. I didn’t realize I was so pathetic that people noticed my crush.

“Does Wyatt know?”

Maggie shook her head quickly and Skylar gave me a look that said I was being a little dense.

“Of course not. He’s a guy. They don’t notice things unless it's spelled out for them.”

I snickered, but my amusement was short-lived. Dropping my head onto the table, I groaned. Skylar put her hand on mine, and Maggie came around the table to hug me and rub my back.

“What’s wrong? Did it not go well?”

“No,” I said, sitting up. “It went great. Single-handedly the best kiss of my life. But then he got all in his head about it and said he wouldn’t go any farther until he talked to Wyatt. So now I just have to wait and see if I finally get the man I’ve dreamed about for years, or if my brother is going to be a jackass and ruin things before we even have a chance to start.”

24

Wraith

My blood was pumping after that kiss. I’d thought about it. Pined over her for years, knowing I couldn’t get near her. But the instant her lips were on mine, I lost my head. I couldn’t go back to pretending I didn't want her. She deserved more than that. I wasn’t blowing my one shot with the woman I’d been dreaming about since I was a teenager by doing something stupid, like pretending we were casual. And I wasn’t screwing with a life long friendship by sneaking around either.

I wasn’t the type to let nerves get to me, but pulling up outside the building that held Prez’s law office, I was definitely feeling the pressure. We’d been friends since we were kids. This was definitely crossing a line that I couldn’t uncross. It came down to if I wanted her enough to go up against Prez. I just hoped he would accept it.

With the amount of times I’d been to his office, both for personal reasons and to watch over Maggie when her ex was stalking her, it was second nature to get there. I didn’t even have to think about it. I focused more on what the hell I was going to say. I wasn’t looking for permission. We were grown adults and Melissa would go off if I asked someone for permission to date her. But I did want him to be okay with it. He knew me.He knew I’d treat her right. I rarely did hookups, and the few relationships I had were monogamous. I knew how to take care of a woman.

Standing outside his office door, I took a steadying breath before turning the handle and pushing inside. The office was a lot cleaner than it used to be, thanks to Maggie taking over as office manager. No more stacks of boxes and files everywhere. She was a miracle worker.

“Did you need something?” an irritated voice demanded.

I bit back a scowl. Prez’s law partner, Danielle, couldn’t stand the crew, and she wasn’t afraid to let us know. The feeling was mutual, at least on my part. She was a prissy diva who used to demand help from Prez without giving anything back in return. She tried the same shit on Maggie too, ordering her around like she was some kind of servant. In the days I spent in the office watching over her, Danielle threw so many fits, it was ridiculous. If she wasn’t so damn good at her job, I would’ve suggested to Prez that he boot her a long time ago. That, and she stepped up when shit went down with Prez a few months back. They were working together now on the case against the police department, which was a huge favor to our crew. That alone meant I had to be polite.

Uninterested in dealing with her, I went straight for Prez’s office, knocking and waiting for a response before coming in. He was alone, thankfully, but on a phone call. He beckoned me in, waving at the chair across from him.

“Yeah. I can look into that. No, I don’t think you need to worry about it right now. Just send me what you have and I’ll handle the rest.”

Sitting across from him, I waited for him to be finished with his call. He was a busy man, taking on legal cases in the surrounding area and several towns over. He was also helping me get custody of Xander and suing the police department for harassing our crew. If he didn’t have Maggie actively working to help him out, I would’ve been worried for him.

He hung up the phone with a sigh, shaking his head. “Sorry. Busy day. What’s up?”

For a minute, I wasn’t sure what to say. I was determined the whole way here, but facing my friend of over two decades, my mind went blank.

My being quiet wasn’t unusual and Prez didn’t bat an eye, flipping through the files on his desk and pulling out one in the middle of the stack. “If this is about the custody thing, I promise I’m working on it. It’s more orless out of my hands at this point. I filed everything. It just needs to go through the courts and CPS. I think you’ll be getting a visit from them soon to make sure Xander’s in a suitable environment. That won’t be an issue, seeing as he has his own room and stuff like that. Have you called the school yet?”

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