Page 133 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“I think you’ll be fine. Dad is pretty chill. Probably balances out Marty pretty well.”
Milo came stomping back with a look of annoyance on his face. “Are you two gonna join us or leave me to deal with staring at everyone? I would have thought that you, of all people, wouldn’t want to walk in there by yourself.”
That last was directed at Marshall, and I snorted, running a hand along his head. “We’re coming, I was just making sure he knew he wasn’t going to walk into an ambush.”
“You’re still worried?” Milo asked in surprise, dropping his annoyance in a heartbeat.
“He is, but he’s being like you and trying to play it off with something else,” I told him, trying not to smirk when all Milo’s irritation and frustration disappeared in the face of someone else having a problem.
“Crap, sorry. Look at it this way, they’re going to be a lot more focused on Eli and me than on you by the time this is over,” Milo said and then grimaced. “God, why did I have to remind myself?”
“Because you love torturing yourself,” I said with a snort.
Milo sighed. “C’mon, otherwise they’re going to send someone to find us; we’re already late.”
Marshall shot me a look as we followed. “I guess some people just need the one who balances them.”
“What?” Milo asked over his shoulder as we walked.
I shook my head, and Milo shrugged, more distracted by his thoughts than his curiosity about what we could be talking about. Not that it would have been a big deal if he knew, because Marshall’s words had the effect of soothing my raw nerves as we entered the event room where our family waited. It was a nice, if brief reminder that I still had Milo even if everything went badly. He had disappeared on me, abandoned me when I needed him most, but he’d hurt himself in the process, because he had needed me as well. We weren’t perfect, but we always had a way of balancing each other, and that felt even more true than before.
“There we go,” Mason piped up as we entered the room. “About time you...holy hell.”
That drew everyone’s attention, and every head turned toward the three of us in confusion. I could see my siblings as they glanced between Milo and Marshall, forgetting I existed. Not that I blamed them, the first time I’d met Marshall, I’d been blown away by the resemblance between biological father and son.
“It’s like looking through a time warp,” Dom said, leaning forward to peer at them.
“Hopefully that isn’t a prediction of Milo’s future,” Marty said in a low voice from her place next to Dad at the head of the table, glaring daggers at the three of us. “Marshall.”
“Matilda,” Marshall said in a quiet, respectful acknowledgment. “And...Marcus, right?”
Dad looked around the room, reading the tension coming off his wife in waves, but he stood up anyway and shook Marshall’s hand. “I didn’t know we’d be having company; it’s a good thing I always order extra from the kitchen.”
“I...appreciate that,” Marshall said slowly, and I wondered what was going through his head. Not a single person in the room had any doubts about how Marty felt about Marshall, especially because there had already been a family dinner thathad discussed the topic. Yet here was my dad, getting up to greet Marshall cordially when I didn’t think Marshall would have blamed him for sitting there in silent agreement with his wife. “If that’s alright.”
Every head turned again, but their eyes were on Marty, who was still staring two holes through Marshall’s forehead. Unsurprisingly, there were a few glances toward Milo, who had also stepped forward to stare at his mother. I couldn’t see his face, but I could imagine the mixed look of pleading and stubbornness making his boyish features look hard and stern.
“Well,” Marty said in a stiff voice. “You’ve stuck around this long this time, I suppose we’ll see.”
Most of the tension in the room eased, though not hers. Milo huffed because that wasn’t even close to what he’d wanted from his mother, but he was smart enough to know that was as good as he would get for the moment. Maybe he remembered that not so long ago, he had done something to hurt someone important, and stuff like that didn’t just magically disappear. Even more so when those people had a complicated history like Marty and Marshall, and without the kind of resolution that Milo and I could have.
Moira was the first up from the table, setting a hand on Marshall’s shoulder and guiding him toward one of the three chairs. “Here, come sit next to me. If you sit closer to Mason and Jace, you’ll never get any food on your plate. We have manners down here.”
Jace scowled. “Don’t associate me with that animal.”
Mason gave him a side-long smirk. “Maybe you should have thought about that when you decided to share a bed with me.”
“Sex is probably the only reason he hasn’t killed you yet,” Dom said with a snort, gesturing around. “Sit down, idiots. Or do you need Moira to show you where your seats are too?”
I let Milo sit next to Moira, while I sat on Milo’s other side next to Dom. I looked around and frowned. “Where’s Micah?”
“He is staying the night at a friend’s house,” Moira said as she scooted closer to the table. “If all goes well, we might even see this friend of his here at the hotel next weekend. We’ll see.”
“Can you believe it?” Mason asked. “Little weirdo made a friend that wasn’t one of us.”
“Don’t call him that,” Jace grumbled.
“Look, he is weird, even you admit that.”
