Page 77 of The MC's Little Brother

“Movie time?” she asked innocently. Chuckling, I pushed off the ground and helped Xander and Malcolm up before sitting next to her on the sofa. Xander got comfortable on one of the armchairs, his legs thrown over one arm and his phone out. Malcolm tried the same move, but he was on the couch next to me and ended up squished against my arm to manage it. He didn’t have a phone yet, but he wiggled his fingers for the remote and I had no problem handing it over as long as he picked a movie everyone would like.

We weren’t far into it when Mel’s phone rang. She carefully handed me a sleeping Ellie and snuck out of the room so she wouldn’t disrupt the movie. That became moot when she loudly exclaimed, “Wait, what?”

All eyes swung her way, and we watched as she paced the hallway. “What’s her temp?” She tucked the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she pulled on her jacket. “No. I don’t have to hang up. It’s fine, Maggie. I–” She sighed heavily and looked at me for help.

Turning to Xander, I frowned at him. “Would you be willing to watch these three for like twenty minutes? That way, I can give Mel a ride and she can focus on whatever she’s talking about?”

He nodded slowly. “I think so? I’ve never watched little kids before.”

Malcolm was too distracted to get defensive like he normally would when someone called him little. He and Gracie both stared over the back of the couch at their aunt, worry clear on their faces.

“All you have to do is play the movie. We’ll bring Ryder with us. Ellie is already asleep and if she wakes up, Flash and Gracie know what to do.”

“Please, Xander,” Mel begged from the doorway. “She won’t let me talkto her and drive at the same time. It’ll be less than thirty minutes, I promise.”

He looked between us and I saw the change in his expression as he firmed up his resolve. He nodded sharply and tucked his phone into his pocket, giving his full attention to the situation and the scared kids who would probably ask him a dozen questions the minute we were out the door. I just hoped he could hold them off until we got back. Xander wasn’t a brash or uncaring kid, though. I trusted him to talk them down until I could get back.

I nodded at Mel, who quickly relayed the plan to the frantic parents. While she did that, I brought Ellie up to her bed and called Butch, relaying the change in plans. He offered to come back, but when I told him Xander would stay for the duration, he seemed alright with it. It was only thirty minutes. I snuck out and prayed like hell that she wouldn’t wake up. Two little kids were hard enough. A toddler was a bit much to ask for his first time babysitting.

Mel was giving the kids a quick pep talk as I came back down with Ryder in his car seat. Xander handed me my jacket, his eyes darting anxiously toward the door.

“Thirty minutes, right?”

I nodded. “Thirty minutes. You can do this. I trust you.”

His eyes jerked to mine in surprise, but I didn’t have time to talk to him about it. I pulled him into a hug, squeezed his shoulder supportively, and headed out with Mel on my tail. I really hoped I wasn’t screwing up all the steps he’d made to get better by leaving him all alone.

42

Xander

My head was spinning. I’d never babysat before, and suddenly I was watching three little kids without any instruction. Talk about jumping in the deep end. Mattias’s words filtered through my head, easing my anxiety a little.

“I trust you.”

No one had ever said that to me before. Jorge didn’t trust me to do anything. I was too young when my abuela died for her to reach the point of trusting me like this. I almost wanted to tell him not to. I hadn’t been fully honest with him when I arrived. Even now, I was still keeping secrets. Mel told me he’d be cool with it, but I was still scared. But he trusted me to watch over the kids. Maybe I was being too hard on him?

A little sniffle caught my attention, drawing me out of my head. Two curious kids stared up at me where I stood frozen by the door. I grimaced.

“So, full honesty, I’ve never babysat anyone before.”

The boy straightened a little and shrugged. “I’m eight. I don’t need a babysitter.”

I wanted to comment on that, but I decided against it. I was basicallytaking care of myself at that age. He’d probably be fine. His sister shoved her glasses up her nose, frowning at me.

“What’s going on?”

I shrugged. “No clue. Mattias will probably explain things when he gets back. Should we put on the movie again?”

Neither of them seemed interested, their eyes locked on me. “Was it Zoey? Mama said she was sick. Is she okay?”

“Why couldn't we all go? They brought Ryder.”

“Are Mommy and Daddy coming back now?”

They threw questions at me left and right that I didn’t have a clue how to answer. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, looking around for something to distract them. It was only a half hour. How long has it been?

The baby monitor Mattias had handed me on his way out suddenly lit up and I heard a cry from upstairs. Oh, come on.

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