Page 45 of The MC's Little Brother

“Freaking brain freeze,” I murmured, swallowing the bite and pressing my tongue to the roof of my mouth to stave off the pain.

My phone chirped from my pocket and I fished it out, smirking at the group chat that Skylar must’ve made with me and Maggie.

Skylar:Boys are dumb

Mel:I second that

Skylar:Are you home safe?

Mel:Safe and sound with a big bowl of ice cream to keep me company

Maggie:Wraith?

I paused,considering how to reply. In the end, I settled with something vague.

Mel:Garage. Not ready to face him yet.

Skylar:I get it. If you need an excuse to come out, Ellie keeps asking for the nice boy. I think she wants Xander to come back to play.

Aw.I typed out another reply, huffing out a laugh at theresponse.

Mel:Video or it didn’t happen

Skylar:You think I don’t video literally everything she does?

She followedup with the video, where Butch was trying to get Ellie to sleep, and she kept asking for the nice boy. Butch looked seriously unhappy that his daughter was asking about boys so young. I snickered to myself.

Mel:I’ll let him know he’s got an admirer.

Texting backand forth with them helped a little. It kept me distracted. Distracted enough not to get a second bowl of ice cream, at least. It didn’t really stop me from wallowing over the fact that Wyatt ruined the one shot I had at the guy I always wanted. If it was anyone else, I would’ve put up a fight. Argued that my brother didn’t get to control my dating life, no matter who I chose to date. But it was his best friend. They’d been inseparable since we moved in next door and Wyatt noticed the little boy with the short black hair hiding up in a tree in his backyard. We thought he was just cool for being able to do that. It took a while for either of us to notice the bruises or that he always went out there when his dad started yelling a lot. It was harder to get to him up there.

I always admired him. That admiration turned to a tiny crush in middle school that slowly grew throughout the years. I never asked him if he was interested in me. I didn’t want to make things awkward since he and Wyatt were so close. But I always hoped I’d have a chance one day. Maybe when I was all grown up and had a good job helping people, he’d see me as more than Wyatt’s little sister. He’d see me as someone worth the risk.

I should have known better. One of the things I admired most was his loyalty. That loyalty didn’t apply to me.

26

Wraith

Idecided to clear my head by working on one of my projects at home. Butch handled most of the crew's maintenance, but I liked doing things on my own. Always had. I had two projects going, and I worked on them in my spare time to clear my head. Thor had a bed out here so he could stay with me, and I had music going in the background. It helped to have that time to myself, and I was more level-headed when I heard Mel and Xander get back. I thought they’d go straight inside, and I was okay with that, but a few minutes after I heard them go inside, there was a small knock on the door of the garage.

“Yeah?”

Xander poked his head in, a little apprehension on his face. “Uh… I brought you some ice cream. We picked it up on the way home.”

More of my bad mood faded away, and I beckoned him inside, wiping my hands on a cloth before accepting the bowl he offered. He had one of his own, and he sat on the stool I pointed at instead of heading back inside. Mel’s voice was in my head, reminding me to not being a stoic asshole around the kid, so even though I wasn’t a small talk kind of person, I asked, “How was Skylar’splace?”

He shrugged, frowning down at his bowl. “It was okay at first. The babies are cute.”

I hummed, leaning against my workbench so I could eat my food. “Gracie and Malcolm?”

He shook his head. “They weren’t there. I overheard them say something about gymnastics class.”

I nodded along until I noticed he wasn’t eating. Setting my bowl down by my hip, I put my hand on his shoulder and waited for him to look up at me.

“What is it?”

He looked reluctant, but eventually he admitted, “I don’t think I want to go back there. Not when that guy might show up again. He made me really nervous, yelling at Mel like that.”

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