Page 67 of The MC's Little Brother

She gave Xander a sympathetic smile. “I think that’s an excellent idea. You can sign him out in the main office and sign him back in if he returns. If he can’t, just give me a call and I’ll let the office know he’ll be back in the morning.”

“Thanks.Xander? You ready to go?”

Throwing his backpack over one shoulder, he didn’t answer outside of getting up and following me out. He kept his eyes down and refused to speak to anyone until we got outside. Putting my arm around his shoulder, I squeezed tightly.

“You’ll be alright. Let’s get some food. Somewhere dog friendly, I think. Do you like tacos?”

37

Melissa

Xander climbed in back for the drive, his arms wrapped around Thor’s neck the second he was buckled. The sweet dog seemed oblivious to Xander’s upset, stepping on his legs to stick his big head out the window when I unrolled them a little more. I heard Xander grunt in surprise and when I looked at them in the rear-view mirror, I laughed.

“Alright back there?”

“He’s heavy,” he croaked, pushing Thor off him. That only made Thor switch windows, putting his butt right in Xander’s face. No amount of pushing would get him an ounce of breathing room. Either he was squished or in the danger zone for one of Thor’s rancid farts. As we stopped at a red light, I beckoned him with a laugh.

“Quick, move up here while we’re stopped.”

He unbuckled and climbed over the center console, buckling himself again just as the light turned green. He looked disheveled from Thor climbing all over him, but lighter than he’d been when he got in the car. Thor had that effect on people.

I didn’t pester Xander during the drive. Mattias liked to give him time tocool off before talking things through, and I agreed with that parenting strategy. I let him pick music on my phone, telling him about the lesser known bands on the list that I’d seen during rallies or at music festivals with my college friends. Slowly, his shoulders came down and by the time we were seated and ordered our food, he was ready to talk to me.

“I don’t know what happened. I was trying to take the math test, but I didn’t know half of what it was talking about and I kept thinking about how stupid I was and how disappointed Mattias would be. My heart was pounding so loud in my ears, I didn’t even notice I was breathing funny until I got really dizzy and the teacher came over to check on me…” he admitted quietly.

Putting my hand on top of his, I raised my eyebrows at him. “That’s called a panic attack. You got nervous and started to spiral and because you didn’t recognize the symptoms, you couldn’t do anything to stop it. Believe it or not, that’s normal. Everyone has moments like that at least once in their lives. But I promise you, no matter what grade you get or how well you do in school, Mattias will never be disappointed in you.”

He made a face that said he didn’t believe me. That’d take time, though. He’d moved on from distrusting Mattias. Now he was desperate to make him proud, to make the sacrifice Mattias made to take him in worthwhile, and until he and Mattias talked about that, he’d keep spiraling.

“Xander, have you thought about individual therapy? Someone to talk to when things get rough like this?”

He frowned at his hands, his lips pressed together. I wasn’t expecting him to agree, not right away. I just wanted to plant a seed.

“Can’t I just do that with you?” he finally asked.

My heart melted at his sweet words. Ugh. Why were the Ruiz brothers so determined to completely wreck me? I just wanted to gather him up and hug him senseless.

Biting back a smile, I nodded. “You can talk to me whenever you want. About whatever you want. I promise, unless you ask me to talk to someone for you, I won’t share anything. I’m a nurse. I’m good at keeping secrets.” I winked to ease the tension a little and his shoulders relaxed again. I was glad he trusted me, and I knew trusting adults wasn’t easy for him. If he preferred to talk to me instead of a professional, I’d happily take on that role.

Our food came out, and I rubbed my hands together eagerly. This wasone of my favorite restaurants, and it had patio seating to allow dogs, too. They even brought out a bowl of cold water for Thor, and he was laying comfortably in the shade under the table by our feet.

“You like tacos?” Xander asked with a grin.

“Don’t judge my taco obsession,” I snarked. “I was raised here. Good Mexican food is on every corner.”

He huffed out a laugh, so much like his brother. They both kept their emotions close to the vest unless they were overwhelmed or with people they were comfortable with. Xander was comfortable with me, but he looked around every once in a while, checking his surroundings. He’d be more open at home.

“So, tell me about these tests. Were they expecting you to get a certain score?”

He shook his head, chewing his food before answering me. “They said it was to see where I was at. I didn't know what that meant. If I do bad, will they send me back a grade?”

I made a face. “Probably not. But they won’t want to shove you into the deep end and expect you to keep up if you’ve struggled before. They might start you on review material instead. That way you won’t be doomed to play a desperate game of catch-up.”

“Won’t I just fall farther behind if they did that?”

Tipping my head from side to side, I said, “Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how well you pick up the material. It won’t be like before. You’ll have me and Mattias to help you study and get back on track. Try not to panic before we know how things will go. Like when you moved in with Mattias, you need some time to get settled and into a routine at school. Let them know that the test was confusing and start slowly getting back on track. We’ll make sure you catch up. I’ll have you know, I am amazing at science. I even made my genius older brother look bad. I can help you with that.”

He frowned. “You really think I can catch up?”

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