Page 4 of The MC's Little Brother

“Oh no. I’m not a child. I don’t need an escort,” I argued.

He ignored me, as did the rest of them. Vegas actually chuckled, like what I said was funny. “Honey, you just made enemies with a one percenter. You need a damn leash,” he grinned.

“He’s right,” Wraith agreed. He didn’t say much, but when he did speak, it was like it was his goal to annoy me.

“No one asked you.”

The first hint of a smile crossed his face, just the slightest smirk on one side, but it made my stomach flip. Why the hell did he have to be so pretty? Pretty and rough, and the dichotomy wasn’t lost on me. The man was an enigma, and I almost wanted to follow him around the rally like a lost puppy. Apparently, old feelings weren’t as buried as I hoped.

Spinning around, I hoped to avoid them by walking away. It wasn’t like I’d be alone the whole time. I’d be with Skylar and Maggie, and they were never alone for long. But Wraith’s hand shot out to block me, and from the look on his face, I wasn’t going anywhere without someone following me.

“Wraith–”

“Just take the escort, Mel,” Wyatt snapped. Then his voice gentled, and he gave me that stupid older brother look that worked more times than I could count. I just had to get the kind of older brother who actually cared. “Please.”

With a heavy sigh, I relented. “Fine. Someone can follow me the entire block and a half back to where Skylar and Maggie are. It’ll be a wild adventure. I bet we’ll be battling our whole way there.”

Wyatt rolled his eyes, but he had a smirk on his face, and when he tossed his arm over my shoulder, I came willingly, leaning into him for a second. Irritating he may be, but I did love my brother. He never did that annoying older brother thing where he was too cool to hang out with me. He always watched out for me. And he didn’t let being president of the motorcycle club get to his head. It was the overprotectiveness that bothered me, but after Maggie and I were attacked a few months back, I figured I should relent a little.

“Wraith. Go with her. She listens to you better.”

Ugh. I take it back. I seriously disliked my older brother.

Of course, Wraith didn’t argue with orders and dipped his chin once to acknowledge him. While the rest of the crew who had been there to protectme followed Wyatt into the bar, Wraith turned to face me and raised an eyebrow when I didn’t immediately scurry off.

“I don’t like you.”

“I’m aware,” he murmured.

If only he knew how I actually felt about him.

3

Wraith

I’d known Melissa as long as I’d known Wyatt. If she asked to come along and play with us as kids, he always let her. She was our little shadow until she made some friends of her own and didn’t need us anymore. Wyatt loved his sister, and she came around the clubhouse a lot to visit the crew and the old ladies. She was a good person, a nurse who went out of her way to help people, just like her brother. She never said no to covering someone’s shift or helping someone in the crew with an injury. She didn’t hesitate to take in her old college friend when she called for help. She was practically a saint. And a huge pain in my ass.

Because she was raised around bikers, Melissa grew up not taking any shit. She would face down assholes head-on, despite them being twice her size, because she refused to let anyone treat her less than how she deserved. Tank taught her that. Wyatt encouraged it. I hated it.

Not that I wanted her to be weak or to rely on others to take care of her. But she was reckless. Her safety very rarely entered into the equation. When she worked shifts in the ER, she would come home with bruises because she would volunteer to help with drunk and belligerent patients alongside thedoctors. She was tough, but not invincible, and I wished she’d put in even an ounce of forethought before charging into a problem. Hell, she pissed off a one percenter like it was nothing and didn’t look the least bit apologetic for it.

“You can stop glaring at me now,” she snapped. “What was I supposed to do? Let him get away with it?”

“You could’ve called for help.” It was a stupid suggestion, and I knew she’d never go for it.

She rolled her eyes hard. “I’m not a damsel in distress, Wraith. I can handle myself. And we were in the middle of a public area. Nothing was going to happen.”

I stopped her with a hand on her arm, giving her a hard look. “You don’t know that. Not every crew is as nice as we are.”

Yanking her arm out of my grasp, she glared at me. “I know that. I told you. I can handle myself. I don’t need help.”

No, of course, she didn’t. She never asked for help. She’d run herself ragged without complaining to avoid asking for help. I wasn’t sure when it happened that she started thinking she had to take the entire world on her shoulders, but she stopped letting people help her a long time ago. Not even Wyatt could get her to ask for help.

“Mel? Everything okay?”

Skylar and Maggie had just come out of the restaurant, the kids in tow and Rooster tagging along behind them. He had Ellie in his arms, his expression curious as he came to join us.

“What’s up, VP? Mel giving you gray hairs again?”

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