Page 69 of The MC's Little Brother

When I turned around, he shrugged, frowning at the floor. “I’m behind on a lot of stuff. They might end up holding me back if I can’t catch up.”

I could tell that thought bothered him. Coming to the couch, I satbeside him, pushing Thor away when he tried to lick my face. “Knock it off. Attention whore.”

Xander snorted, peeking up at me. Since I had his attention, I took the opportunity to reassure him. “If you need another year, then you need another year. No one is going to hold that against you.”

“Don’t count yourself short yet!” Mel called from the kitchen. “You’ve never actually studied before!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered under his breath, but it lacked any venom. If I had to guess, she said that to him earlier, but because he was bringing it up to me, she felt the need to remind him.

“She’s right. Learn how to study first and see how it goes.”

His face screwed up in confusion. “Learn how to study? What does that mean?”

I shrugged. “Everyone learns differently. I have to take a problem apart and learn why before I can copy it. It makes me good at coding. I have to define each step to get the machine to do what I want.”

“Whereas I do better with the “see one, do one, teach one” method,” Mel said as she came to join us. “Pizza’s on the table, by the way.”

We all headed for the table while Xander asked Mel to explain her method of learning. I remembered her doing that. She ended up teaching me and Wyatt a lot because it helped her memorize shit if she explained it to someone else.

“So… it’s not just taking notes and stuff?” he asked with a frown.

“Nope,” Mel replied. “Everyone learns in their own way. We’ll figure out what works best for you and I bet school will get a lot easier once we do. Did they give you any homework tonight?”

He lifted a shoulder uneasily. “They gave me some practice sheets. They said if I didn’t understand, I didn't have to do it, though.”

That seemed like a solid approach to me. Less pressure on the kid. “We can go over it together if you want.”

He shrugged again, but I didn’t expect much enthusiasm from a preteen faced with homework. We ate dinner with Mel doing the heavy lifting in the conversation department. That was her, though. She was an outgoing person and liked to talk. I liked to listen to her. It worked for us.

“Am I allowed to ask what you went to pick up?” She tipped her head,her expression open. She didn’t look like she’d be upset either way, but I didn’t see the harm in answering her. It wasn’t anything special.

“I was picking up new devices for my coworkers. They needed upgrades, but they have to go through me first. I make sure they can’t be traced back to who they belong to and put in some features so we can shut it down or wipe it from a distance. There are a few programs I created that need to go on with it too. I’ll add those later. I don’t trust the mail with things like this. I don’t want them stolen. It’s easier to make the drive.”

“Was it hard? Getting into the FBI?” Xander asked curiously.

“Yes. I had to train and study a lot. But all the good jobs make you do that and it's worth it. Melissa had to do nursing school. She used to practice taking vitals from me and Wyatt.”

“And my dad,” she said with a nod. “That’s how I found out he has high blood pressure. I marched him straight to his primary and found out he hadn’t been there in over a decade. He now goes to regular checkups or faces my wrath.”

Xander stayed curious, asking us both questions about our work. I suggested he ask the guys, too. There was a big variety of jobs in our crew and Xander had been getting to know them little by little. Our last outing, we went out with Nova and Deek, who both work with Butch. Xander was a little devil at air hockey. He was undefeated when we went to the arcade. Once he got comfortable enough, he could ask them questions about their work, too.

Pushing out of her chair, Mel sighed heavily. “Well, off to work I go. If there’s an interesting case, I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.” She bumped fists with Xander and I walked her to the door, helping her into her jacket as she got ready to leave.

“Do you want a ride?”

“As fun as that sounds, I think I’ll spare you from the early morning wake-up to come get me. I’ll be home around 7:30.” She blinked a few times. “Not home. Back. I’ll be back. Sorry, I–”

Swooping in, I silenced her rambling with a kiss. She let me, leaning into me, and when she pulled away, she smirked.

“I feel like I should be complaining about you shutting me up like that, but I just can’t find it in me.”

I ignored her tease, leaning my forehead against hers. “If I thought youwere ready, I would’ve already asked you to move in. But I’m not going to push. So when you’re ready, just tell me.”

She looked stunned, but it was the truth. I wanted her for decades. I told her my intentions when we started this. Whether she moved in tomorrow or six months down the line, it didn’t matter to me. I had no problem waiting for her to catch up to me.

After Mel leftand Xander ate most of an entire pizza on his own, we sat down with the worksheets the teachers sent him home with. He looked reluctant, but I wasn’t going to harp on him or anything. I just wanted to see if I could help.

“What are we working on?”

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