Chapter 20
20
Wraith
M elissa was up to something. She had this mischievous little smirk on her face whenever she thought no one was paying attention. She didn’t say anything outright, but she made a few vague comments about going somewhere before lunch and needing company. If she wasn’t doing her best to help with Xander, I’d call her out on it. But he trusted her, and she was obviously doing something right, so I decided to just go with it. Whatever she had planned couldn’t be that bad.
“Let’s boogie,” she called from the door, bouncing on her toes impatiently.
I reached for my helmet automatically, but she smacked my hand to stop me and waggled her finger. “Nope. You don’t know where we’re going. You can handle being in the car for one day.”
Making a face, I reached for my patience. “Not in your car. It’s too small.”
“So scoot the seat back,” she suggested with a shrug. “It’s not far. Suck it up, buttercup. Xander? You coming?”
She ignored my irritated noise, looking up the stairs. I looked too. Xander had gone up a while ago to get dressed for the day, but he hadn’t come back down yet. Mel and I both shot each other questioning looks, but neither of us seemed to know what was going on.
When he didn’t come downstairs or acknowledge us, we headed up together to check on him. We found him on the floor of his room in front of his duffle, his legs hugged to his chest and a deep frown on his face.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Mel asked, moving to squat beside him.
He shook his head, burying his face against his knees. While Mel tried to get him to talk, I looked around the room for clues. He hadn’t done much to the space yet, but little things were out, like the laptop I got him on his desk and the deodorant on the dresser. Even stuff he must’ve brought with him, like two well-worn books lying on the nightstand. The only thing that wasn’t put away was the bag full of clothes that he’d brought with him. When I looked at the bag and saw the stained baggy clothes inside, I made an educated guess. He didn’t unpack them because he didn’t like them. We hadn’t gone shopping for new clothes yet. And he hadn’t asked to wash them either.
Without a word to the other two, I headed downstairs. He was too small to fit into my clothes, but too big on him was better than dirty, ripped, or stained. I grabbed one of my t-shirts, a pair of sweats, and a sweatshirt, bringing them back upstairs to Xander’s room.
“Here.”
Mel looked curious, and nudged Xander to get him to look up, too. He frowned at the stack in my hand, taking it uncertainly.
“I’ll get you new stuff after whatever Mel has planned.”
He shook his head rapidly. “You don’t have to–”
“Yeah, Xander. I do. You should have clothes you like. It’s no problem. I can afford it.”
It still didn’t look like he was any closer to agreeing, but Mel was quick to swoop in, hugging his shoulders. “Why don’t we just look? I love shopping and wouldn’t mind an excuse to look around. Maybe we can find something for this one that isn’t all black.” She tipped her head toward me, smirking at him.
He still looked uncertain, but he reluctantly agreed and when he came out of his room wearing my clothes, he at least looked a little less like he was swimming in his clothes. I was a lot taller than him, but his clothes had to be xxl to fit him like they had. Maybe they were Jorge’s before Xander got them.
I grimaced when we got outside, and Mel waved for me to get in her car. It was a tiny little sedan, and I was 6’4”. I was going to end up scrunched in the thing.
“Just get in,” Mel carped. “Big baby.”
Scowling, I got in the front seat, shoving it all the way back to make room for me. It was a good thing Xander was smart enough to sit behind Mel, because there was no room for him behind me.
“Do you always ride a bike?” he asked quietly. He was fidgeting with the strings on the sweatshirt, his expression cautious. I saw Mel shoot me a look out of the corner of my eye. He was trying to talk to me, and I needed to not be such a stoic dick about it.
“If I can help it, yeah. Have you ever been on one?”
He shook his head, but I could tell he was curious. I made a mental note to pick him up his own gear. Butch’s kids rode with us sometimes. They had their own helmets and gear and everything to keep them safe. If Xander wanted to ride, I didn’t see a problem with it. As long as the doctor said it was okay, anyway.
The place Mel drove us to was closer to the college, and not somewhere I was familiar with. The dread I felt earlier only compounded when I saw who was waiting for us outside. I murmured a curse under my breath and Mel snickered beside me.
“Don’t be that way. You don’t even know what I have planned yet.”
“It involves Rooster, Circus, and Vegas. It can’t be good.”
Xander leaned a little closer, frowning as we pulled into a parking spot next to their bikes. “Are they dicks or something?”
I couldn’t help but snort. “No. They’re troublemakers. They love to play pranks and generally make life difficult. I’ve lost count of the amount of times they’ve been picked up for doing stunts on their bikes in public spaces.” I didn't want Xander to be nervous around my crew, though, so I followed up with, “They’re good guys. Just stupid. Don’t let them convince you to get involved in their idiocy. They do that enough with Flash.”
Xander shot a look to Mel through the rear-view mirror. She shrugged. “He’s not wrong.”
Like he wanted to prove our point, Rooster draped himself over the hood of Mel’s car like she’d run over him. I rolled my eyes, but that only ever encouraged him. When I got out, he beamed and winked, waiting long enough for Xander to get out before he started moaning like he was dying.
“Goodbye cruel world. Tell my niblings I’ll always be their favorite.”
“I’m gonna tell Butch you said that,” Mel teased, looping arms with Xander. He looked wary, but not scared, and when I moved to stand on his other side, he relaxed a little more. We might not be comfortable around each other, but it felt good that he trusted me enough to feel safe around me.
Rooster bounced to his feet and pouted. “Mean. He doesn’t take the truth well.”
Vegas and Circus snickered behind him. They all knew what Butch did whenever Rooster acted like Butch’s kids liked him more. I was pretty sure the only reason Rooster wasn’t more afraid of him was because Butch didn’t want to upset his kids by hurting their uncle. Permanently anyway. He was a lot more docile now that he had a family, but I wouldn’t consider him gentle with the crew.
“So, who’s ready to have fun?” Mel asked, distracting Rooster from his pouting.
The guys looked enthusiastic, so they obviously knew what we were doing here. It looked like a massive arcade, which was tame enough and I could handle that for an afternoon, but from the looks on their faces, it wasn’t just that.
“What exactly are we doing?”
“You’ll see! Come on, Xander. Let’s have some fun.”
I stared dumbly at the plastic gun in my hand. Mel had shown Xander around the place, pointing out a few games she was good at. There were a few I’d be willing to try too, and Xander looked excited, but she didn’t stop going until we stopped in front of a counter in the back.
Laser tag.
If it wasn’t for the look on Xander’s face, I would’ve outright refused. I was too old to be playing games like that. But Xander was wide eyed and hopeful, and I worried if I backed out, he would too, out of embarrassment or something. Which is how I found myself wearing the stupid vest and holding the plastic gun, only half listening to the attendant explain the rules. We had the place to ourselves since most people were at work or in school, which was at least one positive.
“Okay, so teams are split by color. You also have a name on the back of your vest so you can see your individual score at the end on the screen by the desk. We’ll give everyone three minutes to get themselves set up and devise a plan, then the game will start,” the bored attendant explained, gesturing to the door behind him. Circus, Rooster, and Vegas all went in first, giggling like little kids. It was them against me, Xander, and Mel. We went in second, and I took a good look around before glancing at Mel. I figured she’d be the one with the plan since this was her idea, but she was too focused on Xander.
“If this is too much…” she murmured, her hand supportively on his shoulder.
He looked apprehensive, almost like he wanted to back out. Even though I wanted any excuse to not have to do this, I didn’t want Xander to hold back. He was just a kid. He deserved to have some fun.
Gripping his opposite shoulder, I waited for him to look at me. “We’ll stick together. I need someone to watch my back.”
He nodded rapidly, then shot Mel an apologetic look. She smiled softly at him.
“Good idea. Wraith’s too slow to keep up with me anyway. He needs someone to look out for him in his old age.”
I shot her a dirty look for that, but it made Xander snicker, and his shoulders relaxed a little. Rolling my eyes, I jerked my chin toward the second floor. “We’ll go up. Knowing those idiots, they won’t stick to one spot for long, so it’s better to have a vantage point.”
“I’ll keep them distracted down here. You two snipe the hell out of them,” Mel agreed, an evil grin on her face. The lights flickered in warning, so we split up, with Xander and me staying low as we hurried to the second floor and Mel disappearing around the obstacles. I would’ve felt bad about letting her go off on her own if I didn’t know her better. She was just as energetic as the three idiots we were teamed against. She’d be able to handle herself fine.
“There’s someone else up here,” Xander murmured, hovering near my back.
I followed his gaze toward where Vegas was scoping out the floor below us. He wasn’t paying any attention to us, so I beckoned Xander and found a spot that kept him in view but us out of sight. Until he figured out where we were hiding, he’d keep getting hit. It probably wouldn’t take him too long, all our vests were flashing with our team colors, but it’d be funny while it lasted.
“Ready for this?” I asked over the robotic countdown to the game starting.
Xander took a deep breath and nodded. I gripped his shoulder reassuringly.
“Remember. It’s just for fun. Even if we lose, no one is going to be mad. But if you can shoot Rooster at least a few times, I’ll buy you ice cream or something after this.”
He snorted, and his eyes darted toward the ledge that looked over the rest of the game area. “Which one is he again?”
I chuckled to myself. Maybe Mel’s idea wasn’t the worst thing on the planet.