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

Chapter 16

16

Wraith

I t felt like a bad idea having Melissa come stay with me. Even with Prez on board and the whole thing being about Xander, it felt a little like I was tempting myself. If I didn’t think it was necessary, I would avoid it completely. I preferred the relationship we had now. Constantly bickering with each other made it easier for me to suppress any unwanted feelings. I only wanted to see her as Prez’s little sister. Not as the kind and generous woman who was currently saving my ass.

“That’s not going to work. You need to go farther into the hallway and then back up into the room. The mattress doesn’t bend that way,” she called out.

We’d borrowed Butch’s truck, since it was big enough to move the mattress, but no one was pulling Butch away from his old lady and the kids unless it was absolutely necessary, especially after the shit that went down a few months back. Instead, Prez and Circus volunteered to help move Mel’s spare bed so she could stay with me and Xander and help with the transition.

“Geez, why do you have so many boxes up here?” I heard her complain again. I couldn’t see shit, since I was still halfway down the stairs with most of the weight of the mattress on my shoulder. She’d told us her guest room bed was lighter, but this thing was heavy. It made me wonder just how heavy her bed actually was if she considered this one light.

“Mel, stop complaining about his organizing and help us,” Circus demanded. “Where am I goin’?”

“Left,” she replied. “Oh, hold on. Lemme move that box.”

With Mel’s help, we eventually got the mattress up the stairs and into the spare room. It was smaller than the one I gave to Xander, and he’d offered to switch, but Mel wouldn’t allow it. Her stay was temporary, and she wanted him to get comfortable here. The frame was already set up and waiting, so we put the mattress down and pushed the whole thing into the corner to give her as much space as possible.

Circus flopped onto the bed with a heavy sigh. “Your furniture weighs a ton. Do you stuff cash into it or something?”

“Yep. I stash away all my gold coins in there because banks aren’t real and the earth is flat,” she replied blandly.

I heard a snort from the hallway and saw Xander peeking into the room. He looked better than he did at the party, less freaked out. I beckoned him with a wave of my hand, figuring now was a good time to introduce him to someone new.

“Have you met Circus yet?”

Circus lifted his head without sitting up. “Not yet. Hello, little Wraith.”

“Circus, get off my bed,” Mel carped as she came back into the room with a stack of sheets in her hand. Circus just chuckled, not moving an inch. Not until I moved him for her.

He let out a little yelp as I yanked him off the bed and back on his feet, forcing him away from Mel’s room and into the hall. “Stop being an asshole.”

“Dude, language,” Circus chided playfully.

“I’ve heard a lot worse,” Xander said quietly behind me.

That wasn’t really something I wanted to hear. I knew the whole story would come out eventually, and the physical proof was right in front of my face, but it tore me up inside anytime he mentioned some way he suffered by Jorge’s hand. I should’ve been paying better attention. I should’ve kept track of the old bastard to make sure he wasn’t reproducing again and putting some other poor kid in danger .

I turned to Xander with a frown. “You don’t have any other siblings, do you?”

He looked confused for a second, shaking his head. “No. My mom left when I was little. My abuela helped raise me, but after she died, it was just me and Jorge.”

“Still can’t believe that bastard got two women pregnant. How do they not recognize a creep when they see one?” Mel commented as she walked past again with the last of her things from the truck.

I couldn’t even guess. The only memories I had of the guy were of him in a stained wife beater and jeans, with a beer belly and an ugly scowl.

“He met her at a bar,” Xander said. “They were both alcoholics, and he used his disability to buy her booze. That’s how she got pregnant.”

When I looked over my shoulder at him, he almost looked defensive. My brow furrowed. “You said she left. Did you want me to find her?”

A part of me didn’t want to. I knew he was safe here, and I didn’t want to send him to a woman who knowingly abandoned him with an abusive dick. But if he missed her and wanted to live with her instead, I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t his parent.

Xander shook his head, his expression going blank. “I know where she is. She’s not interested in being a parent. I think I’m gonna go to bed.”

He slipped around us and disappeared into his room, shutting the door behind him.

“What’s up with him?” Circus asked, completely oblivious. Thankfully, Prez dragged him away before he pestered me into explaining. I heard the front door open and close. Prez would take back Butch’s truck for me.

Mel stepped closer, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. “How much do you want to bet he tried that route already?” she murmured.

I grunted in response. I wasn’t making that bet. If he was smart enough to find me, he probably looked at all his options first. Including his mom. Wherever she was, she turned him away when he came looking.

We both stared at Xander’s door quietly for a minute. I debated knocking and asking if he was alright, but he obviously wanted his space. I didn’t want to disturb him.

“Well, I’m going to get organized a little,” Mel finally said, waving a hand toward her room. “I’m close by in case he needs anything, so you don’t have to worry about him. Maybe take some time for yourself. You’ve been busy the past few days.”

I nodded and turned, heading back downstairs. There were boxes I had to deal with that had been stored in the room Mel was using. I didn’t want them just sitting around in the way.

After I cleaned up, I headed for my office. I believed Xander when he said he was the only one living with Jorge, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have more kids out there that we weren’t aware about. I had to be sure no one else ended up in shitty situations just because our piece of shit father only ever hooked up with women who couldn’t be trusted with kids.

I was up late searching for everything I could on our old man. It was slow going at first, but eventually I found him. In fucking Chicago. Xander still hadn’t told us how he got here, but I knew it wasn’t Jorge who dropped him off. So either someone gave him a ride, or he got all the way out here on his own. How would a twelve-year-old even manage that?

Since Xander was asleep, I had to push the question aside, but the next morning, when he came down for breakfast, I had to ask.

“How did you get here from Chicago?”

He froze midway to sitting in his seat at the table. When his head whipped up, I saw the panic there. It irked me just a little, I didn’t like how much I seemed to scare him, but I needed answers.

“Who said anything about Chicago?” he asked with a tremor in his voice.

“Don’t bother lying. I looked Jorge up. Found him living in the slums of Chicago. You lived with him. How did you get all the way out here? Did someone help you? How’d you get the money?”

The more questions I asked, the more he shut down. He wasn’t going to give me anything, and it was getting frustrating playing this game. I was trying to help him, and I couldn’t do that if I didn’t have all the facts. If there was someone out there helping him, I needed to know why and how. I didn't want anything like that being used against us in court .

“You can’t keep shutting me out. I’m trying to help and–”

“Why does it matter?” he snapped back. He glared at me, standing with his arms crossed defensively over his chest.

“Because it does. Does he even know you’re gone? Because if you ran, we need to–”

“He doesn’t care!” he shouted. “He kicked me out! He said he didn’t want anything to do with me! If I had anywhere else to go, I would’ve! I’m sorry I even came!”

“Xander!”

It was written all over his face that he was going to run. I couldn’t let that happen. However he managed to get all the way out here on his own, it wasn’t safe for him to be alone. But me reaching for him only seemed to freak him out, and he spun, darting for the front door. If Mel hadn’t come downstairs when she did, he would’ve gotten outside before I could catch up to him.

He crashed into her and my whole body tensed, worried he’d lash out at her like he had with me when I woke him up. He didn’t, though. Mel wouldn’t allow it. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close.

“Hey, hey… What’s going on down here?”

Frustrated, I ran my fingers through my hair. “He won’t tell me anything. He somehow got here all the way from Chicago and–”

“And you thought chasing him was the way to get what you wanted?” she asked, giving me an incredulous look. “Geez, Wraith. Hasn’t he been through enough?”

It felt like a kick to the gut and I took a step back automatically. I was trying to help. I just wanted to keep him safe. I couldn’t do that without all the pieces on the board.

A noise stopped me before I could say that to Mel. I didn’t know where it was coming from until I saw Xander’s shoulders shaking. He was crying, the sound muffled and his face hidden against her shoulder like he was trying to hide it. Guilt slammed into me so hard it knocked the wind out of me.

I just wanted to keep him safe.