Page 333 of Wicked Brutal

“Oh, bug—“

“No.” Panic floods his face. “I don’t want her by herself.”

“She won’t—“

“She gets scared!” I start crying again. “She gets scared when she’s alone. She doesn’t like being alone when Daddy’s mad. I don’t want Mommy by herself!”

“She doesn’t have to be.” The voice comes from the doorway.

I look up. I don’t know when everyone started coming upstairs. Becca is crying beside Danny. Katya stands with Theodore. Clifford, Louise, Delilah. Cat and Kaiden. Thomas. Callum and Saoirse. Gideon and Alice. Penny. Iz. Arthur and Darla.

And Xander.

X lets go of Penny’s hand and walks into the room. He sits on the floor beside us. No hesitation. No speech.

He just gets down there. “Hey, little man.”

Tobias looks at him through swollen eyes. “I want my mommy.”

“Yeah.”

“Ally can’t fix her. She fixes everything. But she can’t fix Mommy.”

“Nobody can.”

Tobias starts crying again. “That’s stupid.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“I hate it.”

“You’re allowed.”

“I’m mad. And sad.”

“Be mad. Be sad.”

Tobias wipes his face with the back of his hand. “Walter says boys can cry.”

Something changes in X’s face. “Of course they can.”

“Daddy said boys don’t cry.”

X’s jaw tightens. “Your dad said a lot of stupid shit.” Tobias stares at him. X leans forward. “You miss your mommy, you cry. Anybody has a problem with it, they come talk to me.”

“You’ll fight them?”

“If I have to.”

Something flickers across Tobias’s face. Not happiness. Not even close. But he believes him. Of course he does. Tobias thinks Xander can fight anybody. Maybe today he needs somebody in the world who can.

X looks at him for another second. Then, quietly, “My mommy died too.”

Tobias stills. “Your mommy?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”