Page 72 of The MC's Little Brother

Xander came back down, his nose screwed up in a grimace. “It was under a wet towel. That’s gross.”

My shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. It still amused me that Mattias was just as messy as I was. Xander was the clean one out of the three of us. His room was surprisingly organized and in the two weeks he’d been here, I never even saw a sock left out on the floor.

“I’ll clean up when I get home. Come on, you’ve got school.” Mattias smacked a kiss to my lips and stepped back, grabbing his helmet from the bench beside the door. Xander gave me a hug, and I squeezed him until he laughed and squirmed for freedom. Then my two favorite people left for the day while I headed to bed. I didn’t even remember my head hitting the pillow.

My phone buzzed,dragging me out of a sound sleep. Sliding my hand across the bedding, I searched for it, smacking around until I found it plugged in on the nightstand. I didn’t remember doing that. Dragging it to my ear, I answered the phone with a mumbled, “Hello?”

“Oh. Crap. Did you work the night shift last night?” Skylar asked, regret in her tone already.

“Mm. What time is it?”

“It's just after noon. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. You’ve been busy lately, and I lost track of your schedule.”

True. I’d been neglecting my friends a little. With my new relationship and taking care of Xander, I was busy. When I was more awake, I’d figure out a way to do better.

“Did you need something, or were you calling to chat?”

The bed dipped behind me as Mattias joined me. He cuddled against my back and I felt my eyelids grow heavy. He was so warm.

“Well, I was going to ask a favor, but now I feel bad. It’s fine. Go back to sleep.”

“Skylar.” My tone had a warning to it, but not much. I was too tired to put in the effort to make it convincing.

She sighed heavily. “We were going to ask if you’d be willing to babysit tonight. Zoey has a cold, so Wyatt and Maggie are out and most of the guys are going to some kind of special event at Vegas’s casino. Butch and I haven’t been out in forever, and I miss it.”

Putting my hand on the phone to muffle it, I looked over my shoulder at Mattias. “Do you mind if we put our date on hold for a night? My aunty powers are needed.”

Muffling didn’t work that well. Either I was too loud or too tired to actually cover the mic like I was supposed to because Skylar heard me and immediately started backpedaling.

“Oh, you’ve got a date tonight? I’m sorry, forget I asked. You should go have fun and–”

Rolling my eyes, I put the phone to my ear again. “Mama Bear, do me a favor?”

“Huh?”

“Take a few deep breaths for me.”

She did as I asked, taking some deep breaths to calm down. I knew most of the panic was exhaustion-related. She was out of sorts and still not used to asking for help with her kids. The crew always showed up when they needed a hand, but she raised Malcolm and Gracie by herself for six years. It’d take more than the year and change they’d been a part of the crew to get past that mentality.

“Better?” I asked when she calmed down a little.

She hummed and when she spoke again, she sounded a little less frazzled. “Sorry. One reason Butch wants to take me out is because I’m so exhausted. I need a break.”

“That’s normal. I agree with Butch. Some time off will do you good. So go out tonight and enjoy yourself. I’ll watch the kiddos.”

“What about your date?” she asked, her voice tremulous. She was going to cry any minute. Sleep deprivation was no joke.

“It’s one night. It’ll be fine.”

“I feel bad,” she murmured. I could almost imagine her coming up with a dozen excuses to stay home already, and this was just one more.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, I fully plan on making Butch service my car for free the next time the dashboard lights start popping up again.”

“Deal!” I heard him shout in the background. I snickered. How’d I know he was listening? He came home for lunch or they joined him most days. They were the cutest little family ever.

It took some extra reassuring to get Skylar to accept my help, but eventually, she agreed and hung up. I melted back against Mattias, looking over my shoulder with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry. She’s adorable and exhausted and I couldn’t say no.”

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