Page 51 of The MC's Little Brother

Mel stepped in, her voice calmer and more understanding than mine. “No. Not currently. I’m a nurse and when Xander first showed up, we thought it was better for him to be checked out before rushing him into the ER while he was already scared and overwhelmed. Xander and I connected pretty well, and he felt comfortable with me, so I volunteered to hang out for a bit while the brothers got to know each other. Yesterday was a real bonding moment, wasn’t it?”

She winked at Xander, and he gave her an uneasy smile back. He was slowly edging closer to me, and I could tell this whole thing was freaking him out.

“What happened yesterday?” Rachel asked, though her tone was more demanding than necessary. I let Mel answer her, since my annoyance would be in my tone if I spoke up.

“Laser tag!” Mel said brightly. “I figured it’d be a fun way to ease the awkward tension, since they were both a little unsure of each other. I think it helped. Right?”

She shot a questioning look at me and I nodded to back her up.

“I see…” Rachel said, her brows furrowed a little. She almost looked confused, though I couldn’t even guess why. “Well, that sounds nice. How about you show me around, Xander? Then we can talk a little more.”

The refusal was written all over Xander’s face, and I wasn’t going to force him, but Mel came to join us, putting her arm around his shoulder and rubbing supportively.

“She’s here to help, I promise. A social worker’s whole job is to make sure kids are safe and as happy as possible. You can talk to her. And we’ll be right down here if you need us, okay?”

He hesitated for a moment longer before relenting. He trusted Mel and took her at her word. With a decidedly uncomfortable frown on his face, he gestured to the stairs. “My room is upstairs.”

After they trooped off, Mel raised an eyebrow at me. “Doing okay? You look like you’re ready to blow your lid.”

“She’s biased,” I murmured, leaning in so the social worker wouldn’t overhear us. “She’s looking for reasons to take him away.”

Mel’s expression softened, and she touched my arm gently. “I know it can feel that way, but I promise she’s not. She just wants to make sure he’s in a good place. After everything he’s been through, it’s good that someone is checking to be sure that he didn’t go from one bad situation to another, right?”

Maybe. But my first impression of her wasn’t good. And if she tried to take my brother from me, I wouldn’t stop until I got him back. It was my job to protect him. I wasn’t letting anyone take him away from me.

29

Xander

“So, how long have you been here?”

She probably knew the answer to that if she looked at my medical stuff. I bit back a comment. She could take me away from Mattias, and I didn’t want that. I felt okay here. He actually seemed to care, and the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to stay.

“A few days,” I mumbled, stopping outside my room. I gestured half heartedly towards it but didn’t invite her in. It bugged me. It was my space and Mattias was always careful to knock first and didn’t come in without permission. I didn’t want her in my safe space.

Surprisingly, she didn’t push past me to get inside. She peeked in, nodding her head, but stayed in the hallway.

“So, you have your own room?”

I nodded. She raised her eyebrow like she was prompting me for more, but I didn’t know what she wanted me to say. I was good here. She didn’t need to come.

“What about privacy? Do you feel like you’ve got plenty of that? Do you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way sleeping here?”

I made a face at her. “Why would I?”

She pressed her lips together tightly. “It’s a question I have to ask, especially now that we are alone. If you’re afraid of making your guardian angry?—”

“I’m not afraid of Mattias.”

And I wasn’t. He was a good person. A little closed off, but he actually gave a shit and did what he could to make me comfortable. Even last night when he was obviously distracted with Mel, he came to tell me where they’d both be, so I’d be comfortable. I felt okay with Thor around, but it was a nice gesture.

I might ask for some noise-canceling headphones, though. I played youtube videos on my phone to drown them out, and they weren’t purposely loud, but I caught a few things I just didn’t need to hear.

“And what about your brother's friends? Have you met them yet?”

My attention snapped back to her, and I frowned. “Why?”

There was nothing wrong with Mattias’s friends. They were good people. At least the ones I’d met so far were. Rooster was funny. And super nice to the little kids. Even when the baby got rough and pulled his hair, he was gentle in redirecting her and he didn’t yell or get mad. Just nicely told her no. He made me feel a lot better about being around the crew. If they were all as nice as him, then I had nothing to worry about.

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