Page 55 of The MC's Little Brother

Xander was practically hiding behind his menu. I assumed it was because of the way people were looking at us before and I felt bad about it. I should’ve thought to warn him.

“Would you rather eat at home?” I didn’t want people upsetting him and ruining his appetite. It was more important to me that he ate than us finishing this endless shopping excursion.

Xander looked up, surprised. “What? No. Why?”

Mel seemed to agree because she frowned at me. “Don’t let them get to you, Mattias. They’re misinformed and they’ll get over it.”

It never usually bothered me, but I didn't have anyone to look out for before except for myself. Xander was just a kid. I didn’t want him dragged down with club issues or isolated because he was related to me. But there was nothing I could do about that now, and I didn’t want to ruin their lunches. I let it go, since they both seemed to be fine with it.

“So, Xander. What’s your favorite subject in school?” Mel asked jovially.

He winced, frowning at his menu. “I’m not… great with school.”

“Neither was I,” I said as I took a sip of my water.

He looked surprised, whipping his head up. “Really?”

I nodded. “There was too much shit going on at home for me to be able to focus on studying. Pretty sure the only reason I passed high school was because I was basically living with Mel and Wyatt at that point. The less I went home, the more I felt like I could breathe and think about something other than–”

“Excuse me,” a rough voice interrupted. “We’ve received reports of a possible domestic abuse victim.”

Xander blanched and shrank in his seat.

“Officer, I don’t think you understand–” Mel began.

“I’m going to need you to calm down, ma’am. My first priority is to get the boy somewhere safe. Son, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

31

Melissa

Icould just see the shit hitting the fan. The officer who was glaring down at our table had that look on his face that said he already decided Mattias was guilty and was looking for any excuse to take him down. Slowly, I put my hand on Mattias’s arm. His shoulders were bunched, and he was already on the defensive. That would only make this worse.

“Officer, I don’t think you understand–”

He put up a hand to stop me. “I’m going to need you to calm down, ma’am. My first priority is to get the boy somewhere safe. I’ll talk to you in a minute. Son, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

Xander’s chair flew out from behind him as he launched to his feet, putting as much space between him and the officer as he could without all out running away. It surprised the man, and his hand immediately went to his hip. That set Mattias off and he moved like a wraith, putting himself between the officer and his little brother.

“Are you fucking serious? Are you gonna pull a weapon on a scared little kid?” he growled.

The officer startled when Mattias moved so fast and drew hisweapon. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me, and I was frozen, watching the ignorant cop pull a weapon on the man I’d been in love with since I was a teenager and the boy I cared about.

“Don’t move!” the officer bellowed. He used his walkie-talkie, requesting backup. Which meant this would only get worse.

With his focus on the brothers, he didn’t notice me pulling out my phone. I called Wyatt, putting it on speaker.

“Mel, not now. I–”

“Oliver.”

He went quiet at the use of our secret code. We made it up when we were kids when we wanted someone to back us up. As adults, it was a code to get the other to pay attention. No matter what was happening, if we used the other’s middle name, we had to stop and listen.

“Go ahead,” he said gravely.

“We’re at the mall. We’ve got an officer here pointing a gun at Mattias and Xander. Get here. Now.”

“Ma’am, hang up the phone!” the officer shouted at me. He didn’t pull his gun away from where it was trained on Mattias, but he looked pissed.

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