Enemies with Benefits, page 19
"Your self-awareness and evaluation do you so much credit."
"Fuck off."
I let him laugh as he pulled out his phone and began checking his messages, while I lapsed into thought that wasn't troubled, but wasn't peaceful either. Things between Mason and me had...leveled out, I suppose, was the best way to put it. We still couldn't help but butt heads constantly, and he still lived for getting on my nerves in an insanely childish way. Except now it was balanced by the fact that he also lived for doing far more enjoyable things with me...because seriously, the things that man could do with his mouth could put a professional hooker to shame.
After two months of dealing with him like that, I couldn't exactly claim innocence on my part either. I kept coming back; at first, it was aggressively reluctant, but now...now I didn't know what to call it. I might have privately come to acknowledge that yeah, I enjoyed what we were doing, and yeah, I would probably enjoy doing it with another guy if I ever found the courage to follow through on that. Except that idea was weird as hell to think about for too long, and I'd never expressed it, not even when Mason had casually asked if I'd branched out to really prove to myself that I was...bi I guess.
Not that I was going to give him the answer he wanted, even if I sometimes wondered just what sort of answer he wanted. Plus, it was a stupid thought in the first place. We hadn't gone any further than hands and mouths as it was, so why the hell would I branch out by trying things with someone else?
Not that I hadn't thought about us fucking...a lot. He still pissed me off, but damned if my new understanding of myself didn't make me aware of how good the guy looked...when he wasn't talking anyway. And that translated all the way to his ass. Well, his dick too, which was still weird to admit even if it was just in my head, but the idea of him using his dick on me was just....yeah, I couldn't help but pull back from that thought every time. It was still uncomfortable to think about fucking him, a sentiment he clearly didn't share, but it felt...safer somehow.
And goddamn tempting as well.
When we entered the hotel's lobby, we were met with chaos, which was something I’d come to accept as a fact of life for the Beckett family. I'd always been confused about their reputation in school once I'd started dating Moira and had shown up at the hotel occasionally. Now, though, I knew the peace I'd seen and been so confused about had been because I’d only dealt with Moira or their mom. When more than one sibling was around, chaos inevitably followed, and I sometimes wondered if Moira had engineered it so her brothers weren't around as often when we'd been dating.
If she had, she clearly wasn't doing that now, or maybe it was because it was Milo and Elijah that I was witnessing having a 'fight' on one of the staircases. Really, though, it was just a slap fight with cushions that had been taken from somewhere, and it was just Milo being the aggressor. Elijah seemed content to defend himself, perfectly innocent to all the onlookers who had stopped to watch the ridiculousness. That, of course, was just a facade, because from the few times I'd seen them over the past couple of months, Elijah was just as bad as Milo, but far more patient and cunning.
Sure enough, all it took as they reached the bottom of the stairs was for Elijah to take two steps down, encouraging Milo to follow him. I missed what happened next when I glanced up the staircase and saw Mason jogging down toward the lobby, not oblivious to his brothers, but used to their shenanigans. His eyes locked on me, and a ribbon of familiar heat curled in my gut when his lips twisted into a familiar smirk, his stride never breaking.
I was brought back to the 'event' as Milo cried out, jerking my attention back to him as the blond fell the last couple of steps and sprawled at the foot of the stairs. Elijah remained a few steps up with a small smile on his face, walking down the stairs and dropping his cushion over Milo before heading toward the restaurant with a wave at me. Kayden and I met Mason at the bottom of the stairs, who gracefully hopped over his brother and stopped.
"And that," Mason said with a roll of his eyes, "right there, is why I always take one of the rooms in the hotel when I'm staying here, and those two are around. Well, that and Milo loves finding ways into my room when it's locked. Even if I have company. You'd think being scarred once or twice would teach him, but you'd be wrong."
"How many times has this scarring happened?" Kayden asked, glancing down at Milo, who was still sprawled on his stomach, looking around slowly as if waiting for something.
"I have lost count," Mason said with a shrug.
"I feel like after two, maybe three times, it stops being scarring and becomes enjoyable," Kayden said with a shake of his head.
"Dude, gross, that's my brother," Mason protested.
"I thought he was adopted," Kayden said in confusion.
"Milo is his and Moira's half-brother," I explained with a shake of my head. "Same mom. Arlo and Dominic are the adopted ones. Elijah is Marcus' kid, so he's everyone's step-brother."
That was all well and good until I noticed the two of them staring at me, and I felt perfectly justified in glaring back. "What?"
"Even I still get confused once in a while," Mason said slowly. "You rattled that off like it was nothing."
Kayden sighed. “He does that on the clock too. I can forget something you told me thirty seconds ago, whereas this jerk only takes notes in interviews because the captain told him he has to, even though everyone knows it's not necessary."
"I pay attention," I grunted, feeling uncomfortable. "Try it sometime."
Kayden rolled his eyes. “Why are you like this?"
Mason snorted. “Tell the guy he's tough, and he'll practically stroke himself off, tell the guy he's good at remembering things about people, and he suddenly turns modest."
It was my turn to stare at him. “What?"
Mason didn't falter under the attention like I did. “What? It's true. Give you a manly compliment and you're all about it, but God forbid anyone thinks you actually have a caring bone in your body. Then suddenly you're all grumpy and pissy because... Actually, I don't know why."
"Because he's thickheaded," Kayden offered, because he knew there were too many witnesses around, saving him from being murdered. Well, that and if he died, too many people would start sniffing around my doorstep, so there was no way I was going to get away with it. Still, one of these days, I might consider it worth it.
"I would have gone with a stubborn ass, but I guess I can play nice today," Mason said with a smirk.
"Is anyone planning on helping me?" Milo cried out from the ground, having rolled himself over to glare up at the three of us.
Mason glanced down at him in mild surprise, as if having forgotten he was there. "You're able to move on your own. Plus, Mom is right, if you're not going to learn and be smart, then you might as well be tough. Just think of this as toughening you up since you aren't going to learn that Eli is always going to get the better of you."
"It's a bad day when Mason starts talking sense," I said, looking down at Milo, who was now looking at me hopefully. "Fuck no."
Milo turned his eyes to Kayden, blinking. "You're as nice as you are cute, right?"
"Seriously?" I sighed. "Why are you bait for every gay man?"
"Bi," Mason corrected.
"I'm gay," Milo answered helpfully, clearly forgetting he was supposed to be injured and in need of help. "And I have good taste."
"You do," Kayden said with a grin. "And I appreciate that. But I'll have to pass. I'm still holding out hope that one day, you might learn."
"That's stupid," Mason said with a weary sigh. "A hopeless case."
"What can I say? I'm an idealist," Kayden said with a shrug.
I glanced over as Moira's clicking heels foretold her arrival. "Oh, you two are here. I wasn't expecting you to…why is Milo on the ground?"
"Because he's Milo," Mason said with a shrug.
Moira's brow furrowed before her eyes rolled to the ceiling and snapped back to us. “Anyway, if I'd known you were coming today, I would have told you not to bother."
"Why?" I wondered.
"Because Micah isn't going to be back until later tonight. Him and Mom went upstate to join Marcus for a bit of shopping and some...festival."
"It's about sea otters," Mason explained at my confused expression.
"Oh...that makes sense," I said in understanding. Micah never settled on one interest from what I’d heard, but when he did find one, he apparently latched onto it with surprising tenacity. Over the past month, he’d become obsessed with marine animals, and it made complete sense to me that if there was somewhere with the enthusiasm for sea otters to have a festival about them, then Micah was going to want to be front and center.
"You know, I've been around enough to wonder why I’ve never seen your stepdad," Kayden wondered, glancing between the siblings. It helped to think of them as simply that, because thinking of them as twins meant I had to acknowledge their similarities. It also meant I had to acknowledge that I had been with Moira and now I was...doing things with Mason. That was a mental load I really didn't want to take on now or, hopefully, ever.
"Literally just bad timing," Mason said with a snort. "He was here a couple of days ago while you two were off working your double or whatever it was. He travels a lot."
"Doing what?"
"Interim medical...administration? Something like that. Really, it's just a fancy title that amounts to his being a substitute co-administrator for hospitals up and down the coast. He works in six-month intervals and travels a lot. Six months on, two or three months off, six months on."
"Oh."
"Yeah, it's not exciting, but it pays the bills, and as a bonus, it means he can make sure Mom gets the best care. Which is totally going to keep her on this side of the grave," Mason said brightly. Moira shot him a look while Kayden looked unfazed. It made sense, since he had always dealt with people's oddities well, and had told me that when it came to death and dying, he was not going to judge someone for their reaction. I, however, could only look at him and wonder if the brightness in his voice seemed a little...tinny, too forced to be believed even when it was coming off as flippant.
"They'll be back tonight, or tomorrow. Either way, Micah's going to be going straight to bed if he gets back tonight," Moira said, eyes lingering on her brother before turning to me. "So you can have the night to yourself."
"What? We're going to let him mope around his apartment all day?" Kayden scoffed.
"I don't mope," I seethed. "You ass."
"I distinctly remember how good you were at brooding," Moira said with a chuckle.
"Is there a difference?" Mason asked.
"It's more manly," she threw out with a wink in my direction. "We can't describe him as anything that isn't manly or he'll start pouting, I mean, brooding."
Mason nodded. “Ah, right, of course."
"I'm sure I can figure out something to do with him," Kayden said, but I didn't miss the way he glanced at Moira quickly, eyes darting away just as fast. Clearly, he’d been hoping to have some time with her tonight, considering that meant she wasn't going to have to be in Mom mode. The thinning of her lips was the only thing to show that she probably had the exact same thought, and I knew right then and there I had to say something to stop it in its tracks. No way in hell was I going to be the reason they weren't going to have some time to themselves.
Before I could open my mouth to tell him to stop acting like my babysitter, Mason stepped up. "How about I take him off your hands?"
Kayden glanced at him in surprise. “Wait, what?"
Mason shrugged. “We haven't had our designated duking it out this week, why not tonight? That way, you can have your fun without having to make sure he's being properly taken care of and not pouting in a corner somewhere."
"Brooding," Kayden corrected.
"I'll tell it how I want to," Mason said with a grin.
"Fuck both of you?" I growled. "I'm just fine on my—"
"And you," Mason turned to his sister. "You already worked this morning, which means you should be off already, having your own fun. So, how about you both get out of my face and go do...whatever. I don't care. Learn how to stitch, join a circus, have a wild night on the town, and wake up in a shallow part of a canal somewhere for all I care."
I didn't miss the sharp look Moira shot his way, but if Mason noticed, he was doing a damn good job of pretending he didn't. "I guess I could use a drink or two."
"Then go get one," he said, waving her off. "Kayden?"
"What?"
"I know you've got to be annoying and stubborn if you've managed to be friends with Jace this long."
"Not sure how that's a compliment, but sure, okay."
"Which means you're more than prepared to make sure my sister doesn't try to get back to work when I'm not looking. Because she'll definitely try to give me the slip if I make her have fun, go get her a drink at the bar, make it a double, and see if you can't convince her to have fun somewhere."
"Sure?"
"Cute and willing, gotta love that combination."
"Yeah, Jace is right, you are kind of an ass."
"And a damn fine ass it is," Mason said casually. "Shoo."
"Christ, I really do need a drink after this conversation," Moira said with a roll of her eyes and strode off toward the bar. Kayden glanced between her and Mason, hesitating before deciding to follow her, immediately chattering away when he reached her, and I watched as the tension in her shoulders slipped away.
"Wow," Mason said with a sigh. "Those two really thought they were fooling everyone, didn't they?"
"Did you just...annoy your sister into taking a night off and going on a date?" I asked, both in shock and a grudging acknowledgement of his skills.
"See, the way to get away with something with Moira is to annoy her so much she would rather be anywhere but around you," Mason said with a wink. "Literally the opposite of you."
"Don't fucking start," I growled at him.
"What?” he drew out innocently. "Seems like the more I annoy you, the more you stick around. I might have even been tempted a time or two to think that you enjoy being pissed off."
"I'm going home," I said with a roll of my eyes. "I'm not going to stand around and listen to your shit if I don't have to."
"You've never had to, Jace. But you've always chosen to stick around anyway. I wonder why?"
Before, I couldn't tell him why. Now? Well, we both knew what kept bringing me back to him, which was precisely what he was trying to rub my nose in without being obvious. Even he was at least conscious that it wouldn't be good to broadcast what was going on between us, especially with total strangers. It was nice to know he had some self-control and shame, but really, it was nice to know that I probably wasn't the only one struggling to deal with the reality of what we were doing.
I jerked when a blond head popped up, Milo grinning as he leaned on his brother. "So, we all know that those two are fucking, right?"
"That is, in fact, known," Mason said with a shake of his head. "And it's nice to see you've recovered from your dire injury so that you can join the gossip circle."
"I'm not participating in any gossip," I pointed out before either of them got the wrong idea.
"Of course, of course," Milo said brightly, and then his smile took on a tone that set alarm bells off in my head as he glanced between Mason and me. "But what I really want to know is...how long have you two been fucking?"
It felt like the bottom of my stomach disappeared and dropped to my toes. It wasn't a question on Milo's part, he had said it with the complete confidence of someone prepared to present a file on why he was right. It was like getting slapped in the face with an icy hand, and I could only stare at him, my lips parting in surprise as I went rigid, wondering what we were going to do to make sure the mess didn't spill over into the rest of our lives.
Mason blinked and turned his head to look over at his brother. “Milo?"
"Yesssss?"
"Have you been getting into Dom's romance books again?"
"I...what does that matter?"
"Because real life isn't a book. Two men who can barely stand each other aren't automatically fucking just because you want it to be so."
"Oh, c'mon," Milo complained, gesturing between us. "Two guys who are....well, one is smoking hot and the other is my brother. A history between them, sure, it's a bad history, and it's got a lot of blood and fighting, but a history! Suddenly spending all this time together, managing to bicker but without immediately turning it into a fight."
"Smoking hot?" I wondered aloud.
"I'm thankful that from the context, he was talking about you," Mason said with an arched brow.
"Well, yeah, of course I was talking about him. Why would I mention you like that?"
"I don't know, man. You and Eli have always had this weird thing between you, so forgive me if I get a little worried sometimes."
"Oh fuck off!" Milo huffed, his good mood disappearing in a flash. "It's not like that and you know it!"
"Mmm," Mason hummed. "Hey, Milo?"
"What?” his brother snapped.
"You really should have learned your lesson with Eli."
"Huh?"
I watched as Mason stepped back, leaving one foot in front of Milo's, and giving his shoulder a shove, sending the blond flying to the ground in a crumpled heap again. “Because really, it's just too easy at this point."
I couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter. “Jesus, you're both morons."
"Clearly it’s in the blood," Mason said as Milo twisted to get up, somehow managing to tangle his limbs. "Now let's get out of here before he actually gets up and decides to do something else incredibly intelligent."
"I don't need a babysitter," I repeated, glaring at him.
"Mmm, fine. I'm going to go back to my room then," he said quietly, shrugging as he turned back toward the stairs. I couldn't prove that he had purposefully turned away, so his ass would be facing me dead on as he mounted the stairs. Just like I couldn't prove he had been doing it for the express purpose of making sure his ass moved from side to side. What I knew full well was that it was exactly the sort of thing he would do, knowing my eyes would find their way to his ass as if I were that goddamn easy to manipulate.
