The MC’s Little Brother (Bikers and Babies #3)

Chapter 3

3

Wraith

I ’d known Melissa as long as I’d known Wyatt. If she asked to come along and play with us as kids, he always let her. She was our little shadow until she made some friends of her own and didn’t need us anymore. Wyatt loved his sister, and she came around the clubhouse a lot to visit the crew and the old ladies. She was a good person, a nurse who went out of her way to help people, just like her brother. She never said no to covering someone’s shift or helping someone in the crew with an injury. She didn’t hesitate to take in her old college friend when she called for help. She was practically a saint. And a huge pain in my ass.

Because she was raised around bikers, Melissa grew up not taking any shit. She would face down assholes head-on, despite them being twice her size, because she refused to let anyone treat her less than how she deserved. Tank taught her that. Wyatt encouraged it. I hated it.

Not that I wanted her to be weak or to rely on others to take care of her. But she was reckless. Her safety very rarely entered into the equation. When she worked shifts in the ER, she would come home with bruises because she would volunteer to help with drunk and belligerent patients alongside the doctors. She was tough, but not invincible, and I wished she’d put in even an ounce of forethought before charging into a problem. Hell, she pissed off a one percenter like it was nothing and didn’t look the least bit apologetic for it.

“You can stop glaring at me now,” she snapped. “What was I supposed to do? Let him get away with it?”

“You could’ve called for help.” It was a stupid suggestion, and I knew she’d never go for it.

She rolled her eyes hard. “I’m not a damsel in distress, Wraith. I can handle myself. And we were in the middle of a public area. Nothing was going to happen.”

I stopped her with a hand on her arm, giving her a hard look. “You don’t know that. Not every crew is as nice as we are.”

Yanking her arm out of my grasp, she glared at me. “I know that. I told you. I can handle myself. I don’t need help.”

No, of course, she didn’t. She never asked for help. She’d run herself ragged without complaining to avoid asking for help. I wasn’t sure when it happened that she started thinking she had to take the entire world on her shoulders, but she stopped letting people help her a long time ago. Not even Wyatt could get her to ask for help.

“Mel? Everything okay?”

Skylar and Maggie had just come out of the restaurant, the kids in tow and Rooster tagging along behind them. He had Ellie in his arms, his expression curious as he came to join us.

“What’s up, VP? Mel giving you gray hairs again?”

Melissa gave him a flat look. “Don’t you have a physical coming up soon? I can totally assign the most crotchety doctor to give you a rectal exam. If I tell him I’m concerned, he won’t even bat an eye.”

That made Rooster hesitate, and I had to bite back a laugh. Melissa’s punishments were creative, but I didn’t want her thinking I was going to let this go. She needed to act smarter.

Mel put as much space between me and her as she could, linking arms with Maggie. “There. I’m with my friends. You can go now.”

My eyes narrowed. Prez wanted more than just Rooster with the girls since Battle was around causing trouble. I wasn’t going anywhere without someone to take my place .

“Where’s Butch?” Skylar queried. By now, she was used to the way me and Melissa interacted with each other. She didn’t even bat an eye at our glares.

“With Prez. Had a run-in with an old acquaintance.” I didn’t want to scare her by mentioning the fact that he was a one percenter. The kids weren’t the only ones who struggled when Butch was gone. Skylar was on bed rest for a month until her blood pressure came back down. Melissa didn’t look inclined to mention it either and put a reassuring hand on Skylar’s arm.

“He won’t be gone long. Did you find someplace to eat?”

Skylar sighed heavily. “No. We’ve looked at menus, but Gracie is being picky.”

Gracie frowned, looking up at her mom. “It’s not healthy!”

A flicker of a smile crossed Skylar’s face. She looked like she didn’t want to encourage Gracie to be picky, but what parent was going to scold a kid for wanting to eat a balanced meal?

“There’s a Mexican place down the street. They have fajitas tacos. Lots of vegetables,” I suggested to Gracie. She pondered it before nodding obligingly. Skylar shot me a relieved smile.

“Thank you,” she mouthed behind Gracie’s back.

I acknowledged her with a nod and led back the way we came. I wanted to join Prez, I didn’t trust Battle on principle alone, but I wasn’t willing to leave the girls alone either. Rooster was serious when he needed to be, but even he couldn’t handle all the girls and the kids at once if something went down.

When he fell into step beside me, he lowered his voice so we wouldn’t be overheard. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“Battle’s here,” I grunted.

His face hardened, and the goofy personality wiped away. “He makin’ threats or somethin’?”

“Not yet. Mel pissed off someone in his crew, though.”

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. Pissing off the one percent was asking for trouble. She was lucky we were around and Battle stepped in to stop the guy. I knew that help wouldn’t come without a cost, though, and I was eager to get back and check on them.

The restaurant I knew about was off the main street and less crowded than the ones right up against the rally. It meant there were enough tables for the entire crew if they wanted to join us and the kids wouldn’t have to wait long to eat. I texted Prez the location, sending a second text to Butch since I knew Prez wouldn’t check his messages while talking to Battle. Turning to Rooster, I jerked my chin at him.

“Text the crew to join us. The girls need more protection.”

He didn’t argue, pulling out his phone and texting one-handed while still bouncing Ellie on his hip. He loved being an uncle and wouldn’t put her down unless he absolutely had to.

A good portion of the crew showed up within minutes. They must’ve dropped everything to be here right away. This was why I loved my crew. We had each other’s backs. And there wasn’t a single one of them who wouldn’t show up to protect those kids. Most of them came to me first to get an update. Rooster mentioned Battle causing trouble, but he didn’t get into specifics over a text.

“What’s going on?”

I shook my head. “Could be nothing. Wait for Prez.”

I could tell it irritated some of them, but I wasn’t going to waste my time explaining while we didn’t have the whole picture. Prez would explain once he got away from Battle. And if he didn’t show up in the next ten minutes, I’d split the crew in half and send the girls back to the hotel while the rest of us went to back him up. I wanted to do it right away, but if Battle thought we were coming for a fight, he’d give us one and we weren’t that kind of crew.

Thankfully, Prez and the rest came in a few minutes later. He looked pissed, but not about to call us to arms or anything like that. When all eyes swung our way, he put his hands up to stall questions before they started.

“It’s alright. He just wanted to talk. We’re here to enjoy the rally. No more picking fights.” He directed his gaze to Mel, who shot him back a dirty look. At least she didn’t argue with him, and when Maggie and Skylar bent in close for the story, she ignored her brother in favor of relaying it to them. I stepped up to Prez, raising my eyebrow in question.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing. He asked us to merge crews, join his cause. It wasn’t the first time he asked, and it probably won’t be the last. He wants to expand his territory. I was firm about not being interested in their lifestyle and he let it go. For now.”

I heard that. For now was right. There was no telling when Battle would be back, but he wasn’t going to let go of his expansion deals for no reason. It’d take a fucking miracle to get him off our backs.

Battle didn’t approach us again that day, but I kept my guard up either way. We got approached by a few potential prospects, watched Circus do his thing, and met up with a few friends. It was getting late, the kids were already back at the hotel and parents were in for the night to watch over them. The rally was just warming up, though, and I wasn’t interested in going back to my room to sit around. My eyes were locked on Melissa, who hung out with Axel and Circus, talking about his stunt show. I wasn’t leaving until she got her ass in gear and headed back.

My phone rang while I was taking another heavy swallow of beer. I recognized the number but frowned. Tank didn’t normally call me unless it was important. Since he was watching over Thor, I felt my stomach clench uncomfortably. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if something happened to my dog.

“Hello?”

“Wraith,” Tank said amiably. He didn’t sound stressed, but there was a hint of tension in his voice. “Found someone wandering around lookin’ for you. I think you’re gonna need to talk to ‘em.”

My brow furrowed. “What? Who?”

Most of the people I spent time with were here at the rally. The only ones who didn’t were my work colleagues. We weren’t that close that they’d come to visit me. None of them even knew where I lived, aside from my boss.

“Here. Lemme hand over the phone.”

He didn't wait around for a reply before passing off the phone. The line was quiet for a moment, but I could hear someone breathing unsteadily on the other end, and then Tank encouraged the person to speak. I frowned to myself as I set my beer on the bar and headed out the back. It was quieter out there, and I could hear better.

“Who is this?” I prompted once I was outside.

“Uh… Is this… Is this Mattias Ruiz?”

The voice was too young to be work-related. I considered it was a prank, and I was going to hang up, but that wasn’t really Tank’s thing. And something about the tremble in the kid’s voice made me pause.

“Yeah? Who is this?”

“I, uh… My name is Xander. We… We’re brothers. And I need your help.”