Chapter 7
7
Melissa
X ander looked close to tears. Seeing that little boy struggling so much to look brave broke my heart. Wraith was right, there was no way he was fourteen. I wished I didn’t have to push him and could just let him be like Wraith planned on doing, but I couldn’t ignore the little flinches I saw when he moved too much. If I had to guess based on the bruising, it’d been a few days since he was last hurt, so there probably wasn’t anything life-threatening going on, but I wanted to be sure. With kids like him who aren’t as healthy as they should be, they might not be healing the way they should.
“I…” His voice cracked, and he swallowed hard before forcing himself to speak again. “I’m twelve. Almost thirteen.”
Well, that was progress. And I didn’t think he was lying. But twelve… God, he was so young. Too young to be dealing with all of this. I forced the sadness off my face and squeezed his hand gently.
“Thank you for telling me. It’s important to know, so we can help you. Is there anyone looking for you, do you think? Your mom maybe?”
He shook his head quickly. “She left when I was a baby. I don’t even know what she looks like. ”
That was something I could understand on a personal level. Wyatt and I, our mom walked away when we were just kids too. She didn’t feel like being a mom anymore and took off without warning. I was really lucky to have a wonderful dad to take care of me. Xander didn’t get that lucky. I didn't want to upset him more by bringing up things like that, so I moved on to things I needed to know.
“Do you have any allergies? Do you take any medication? If you’re diabetic, we really need to get you seen so we can get you the medicine you need.”
“No. I’m fine,” he murmured, frowning down at his empty plate. He’d inhaled the food Wraith had made him. That didn’t surprise me, since he looked like he was starved. I’d have to warn Wraith not to overfeed him until we knew more about how malnourished he was. We didn’t want to send his body into shock by letting him overindulge. Frequent smaller meals were best if that was the case.
Wraith came back inside, his mask back up and his expression blank. “Prez said we need a medical eval for him. It’ll help with the custody thing. Can you get him in tomorrow?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was being too pushy. It was only going to make Xander defensive. Sure enough, the boy straightened in his seat and glared at his brother.
“I said I’m fine.”
Wraith flicked his gaze to Xander. “Your face tells another story. We need proof he was abusing you if you don’t want CPS to send you back.”
The threat of being sent back to his dad quieted Xander’s complaints. He hunched in his chair, frowning at his lap. I could tell it was going to take a lot to get this kid to trust us.
Deciding to spare him a little, I clapped my hands gently. “Okay. How about this? It’s late. Let’s let everyone get some sleep. We can tackle medical appointments in the morning.”
Since my dad refused to downsize, despite both me and my brother moving out, he had two spare rooms for guests. I brought Xander upstairs and put him in Wyatt’s old room, grabbing some extra blankets from the hall closet while he looked around. It didn’t get too chilly this far south, but nights had a bite to them and Xander didn't weigh enough to have any body weight to keep him warm .
When I came back into the room, I found him frowning at a picture on the nightstand. He dropped it trying to put it back quickly, and flinched hard when it hit the ground. My heart ached for him, and when I came over to him, I was gentle when I touched his shoulder.
“It’s okay. It was an accident.” I leaned over, picked up the frame, and turned it to face us again. “See? Not even a crack.”
He looked visibly shaken, though he did his best to hide it. To help him settle a little, I tipped the picture so he could see it better.
“This is the crew. Well, the original one. Half of the ones in the picture are retired and have been replaced with younger guys.” I pointed to Wyatt, who stood directly in front of our dad. “That’s my brother. He’s the current president of the crew. He’s a lawyer. He’s probably already getting everything in order so he can help you and Wraith.”
Reaching out with a shaky finger, he pointed at Wraith. “Is that…”
“Yep. It’s a little creepy how he never ages, right? He’s almost like a vampire,” I teased.
That made him snort and for a split second, he looked like a kid, not like a hardened preteen who’d been through too much at such a young age. I smiled at him, handing him the picture.
“You’ll be alright, Xander. I promise. Just give us a chance to help.”
I woke up late, but that wasn’t surprising based on when we all went to sleep. Then again, I hated waking up in general. It was the smell of breakfast that woke me, and I blearily headed downstairs before I even fully woke up.
Dad snorted. “Told ya. Both my kids are like that when they wake up. Though Mel just needs a few minutes. My boy Wyatt would straight up ignore me when I tried to wake him in the mornin’. He gave me permission a few times to dump water on him so he wouldn’t miss important tests.”
I huffed out a laugh, accepting the coffee he offered me and taking a sip. “I remember that. He yelled at you when you did it, then turned around and thanked you after he got home.” Looking around, I saw Xander sitting at the table, a plate already half empty in front of him. I searched for Wraith, frowning when I came up empty.
“Where’s Wraith?”
“He went out. Had to feed Thor,” Dad said, nudging me toward the table. “Sit down and eat.”
I knew better than to argue. Dad had taken his role as a single father very seriously. If we didn’t let him feed us, he’d keep pestering us until we eventually gave in. Sliding into the seat beside Xander, I smiled at him.
“How’d you sleep?”
He lifted a shoulder uneasily. “Fine…”
“That’s good. I imagine it’s hard to feel truly comfortable in a new place. Sleeping in hotels is a nightmare, in my opinion. But strangely enough, I can sleep in the on-call room without issue if I need a nap on a long shift.” I shrugged. “I guess it’s my home away from home with how often I’m there.”
“What kind of nurse are you?” he asked timidly after a moment.
Delighted by the first little inkling of trust, I smiled brightly at him. “I’m an ER nurse, but I’ve done rotations in neonatal and pediatrics, too. Good on you for knowing there are different kinds of nurses. Most of the people assume nurse is an overarching term and think I work everywhere in the hospital. Including the janitorial staff, believe it or not.” I made a face. I loved our janitorial staff, but it didn’t stop me from getting offended when people assumed it was my job to clean up their messes. Unless you were a patient, I wasn’t there to clean up after you.
Dad frowned as he put his plate on the table. “Hey now. It was one time I got it wrong.”
I snorted. “You’re excused. You weren’t a jerk about it. I’m talking about loved ones at the hospital.”
Xander was quiet during the meal, listening to my dad tell stories of the old crew and the kind of shenanigans that ended up with them in the ER. It was the same for the crew now. I lost count of the number of times I had to treat road rash or a broken limb from the stunts they pulled. They were frequent fliers, but always polite and often went out of their way to make the staff laugh or smile. Everyone in the ER liked them. I wished it were the same for the rest of town, but we still had a long way to go on that front. At least Wyatt was dealing with the harassment issue with his partner. It got really bad a few months ago .
Wraith came back after we’d all finished, but he didn't hang around long enough to eat. He gave me an impatient look, and if I didn’t know the full story of why he was so determined to get moving, I’d be irritated with him. But this was about Xander and making sure he was safe. I understood the hurry.
Turning to Xander, I eyed him carefully. He wasn’t happy about the idea of being seen last night, but hopefully he’d be more on board now that he’d seen we were there to help him.
“Xander? Are you okay with coming with me to work? I promise I’ll get you in and out as quickly as I can.”
His face twitched and I could tell he didn’t want to, but he looked up at his brother’s stony expression and relented, dropping his shoulders in defeat. “Yeah. Alright.”
I resisted the urge to pull him in for a cuddle. He looked like he needed a hug. And I was used to getting all the cuddles I wanted from Skylar and Maggie’s kids. I couldn’t do that with Xander until I had his permission. But if he ever trusted me enough, I was going to make sure he got all the love he deserved. I was going to spoil the crap out of him.