Page 79 of The MC's Little Brother

He put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “Thank you. I forgot to mention what to do if she woke up. You did good.”

Tears burned in my eyes, and I dropped my gaze to hide them. I wished I would’ve found out about him sooner. Maybe if I mentioned it to Jorge, he would’ve sent me to Mattias the minute he got his money. Maybe he would’ve accepted me from the start…

“I…” I wanted to tell him. He was the best brother I could ask for and I wanted to tell him the truth, but whenever I tried, it got caught in my throat and I couldn’t get it out. Telling Mel was hard enough. But she was a nurse. She dealt with all kinds of people. Out of everyone, she felt the safest to tell. Mattias was a biker in a crew and a badass with tattoos and leather and all that. I didn’t want him to hate me.

“Hey.” He gripped my shoulder, rocking me a little. “I know I sprung it on you last minute, but you handled it like a champ. I’m proud of you, Xander.”

I needed to get out of here before I started sobbing like a baby. He was saying things I always wanted to hear from Jorge, but it was tainted because I was lying to him and I hated myself for it.

“Can… Can I go for a walk?”

I could practically hear him frowning at me, but I couldn’t look up. I was afraid if I did, he’d see it on my face.

“No, it’s late, and that’s not safe. But if you need a minute, you can go into the backyard. It’s fenced off.”

“Can I go too?” the boy asked.

“No, Flash. Let Xander have a minute. Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

He led me outside with a hand on my shoulder and squeezed again to get my attention. “I’m not far if you need me, alright?”

I nodded and looked away, begging him in my head to go away. The door barely shut before I broke down. I wrapped my arms around myself, sobbing. Why couldn’t I be normal?

43

Wraith

Something was up with Xander. Something he wasn’t telling me about. I wanted to push, but we had an audience and I didn’t think he was ready. He shut down when I found him singing to the girls. I should’ve waited in the hall, pretended I showed up after he was done. I didn't realize it’d freak him out so much for me to hear him. I wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t like he was a bad singer. Vegas was god awful and Ellie covered his mouth whenever he tried singing to her. Xander held a tune better than most of us could.

“What’s wrong with him?” Malcolm asked. He kept glancing toward the back door and up at me again.

“He’s had a long few weeks since moving here.”

I wasn’t sure how much Xander had told him, so I kept it vague. One of the boundaries he set up in therapy was not discussing his past with anyone unless absolutely necessary. I wasn’t going to disrespect that.

“Why’d you leave?”

Leading him away from the door, I headed for the living room again. It was messy since we’d left in a hurry and I still needed to clean up the diningroom, too. “Zoey isn’t feeling well. Maggie decided to bring her to the doctor and Mel went with her. She’ll be alright.”

From what I’d overheard, she spiked a fever and it wouldn’t go down with meds. Mel was concerned, but not too worried. Kids got sick and sometimes they needed better meds than what they had over the counter. She promised to call with updates throughout the night.

“Do you think Xander would come to the clubhouse to play? I’m almost as old as him, and it could be fun.”

I noticed he was hovering around Xander a little. Since the only other boy in his age group was Ryder, he was latching on to my little brother. The age gap wasn’t much, but four, almost five years, was significant to kids Xander’s age. I’d have to check with him if he was willing to hang out with little kids.

“I’ll ask him. He’s busy with school right now. He fell behind a little because of the move, so we’re working on catching up.”

He screwed up his face, his tone sympathetic. “Yeah, it must suck moving in the middle of school. We moved right before school started, so it wasn’t bad.”

I hummed, gathering ice cream bowls to bring to the kitchen. Flash was kind enough to help, though helping was a nice word for it. He grabbed the blankets we’d been using and stuffed them into a basket without actually folding them and when he grabbed cups from the dining room, he spilled a bunch of water on the floor. Thankfully, it was only water. If he grabbed the plates and spilled spaghetti sauce, Skylar would’ve been pissed.

Xander stayed outside alone for the rest of the night. Malcolm asked several times to join him, but I redirected him every time. When Xander needed space, I always gave it to him. Forcing him to take care of three little kids without any notice must’ve freaked him out. I wasn’t going to make him put up with Malcolm’s energy while he was taking time for himself.

I had just started the dishwasher when my phone rang. Wiping my hands on a towel, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, you,” Mel murmured, her voice hushed like she didn’t want to wake someone.

“How’s it going?”

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