Page 37 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“I do.”
“So, do I have aunts or uncles? Or both.”
“Youhadan aunt and an uncle. Sophia died about ten years ago...I told her Derrick was going to kill her one day, but she never liked to be told what to do.”
“Oh shit, I’m?—”
“And Casey wasn’t much better. I told him that if he was going to play around with drugs, he shouldn’t go near certain ones, but of course, he just had to know. And I’ll say the same thing to you, if you’re going to play with hard drugs, avoid shit like meth and heroin. Both will ruin your life. Roll on Molly, snort those lines, whatever, but don’t touch the rest. Otherwise, you’ll end up a husk and freezing to death in a city park.”
“Jesus.”
“Oh, and your grandparents died when you were young, your grandfather to an industrial accident and your grandmother a year before Casey died, cancer that time.”
My chest ached. “Sheesh, no wonder you didn’t blink when I mentioned Arlo’s job. You’ve dealt with dead people enough.”
“I...yeah, I guess I have,” he said, looking at me in a mixture of confusion and affront.
I felt my face warm. “Holy shit, that was...the stupidest way to put that. I’m so fucking sorry.”
To my surprise, he tilted his head back and laughed. “No, I mean, you weren’t wrong, but most people aren’t quite that blunt about it.”
“I wasn’t trying to be blunt,” I whined. “It just...came out.”
“It’s alright,” he tried to assure me. “A harsh thing from a good place is better than a gentle thing from a bad place. It’s cliché as hell, but it taught me how short and precious life is. I’m just glad my parents died before they had to lose both their children; it would have broken their hearts to bury two children before their own time came. So I try to make the most of my life, enjoying it without destroying it. The results have been...mixed.”
I fidgeted. “There are worse cliches to fall back on. At least you still get to enjoy yourself. You didn’t let all that pain bring you down.”
His smile briefly said that the pain had done more damage than he was saying, but then it was replaced by a smile that was almost a dare. “Speaking of, I think we’re both owed a fun night if you’re still interested.”
“Am I ever. Are we going to drink ourselves stupid?”
“How stupid can you get?”
“Is that fatherly concern I’m hearing?”
“Ha, no. I could drink people under the table by your age, and have gotten even better at it since. Just wondering how careful I need to be.”
“I guess there’s only one way to find out, huh?”
Marshall grinned. “Alright, then why don’t you show me the good places to go when you’re looking to have fun around here?”
“That I can do,” I said and then winced. “That is, if you’re alright with getting hit on.”
“Your crowd might be a little young for my tastes, but you know.” He shrugged.
Oh God, he was open to the idea of people my age hitting on him, which was...I mean, it wasfine. It wasn’t like I hadany hang-ups about him getting hit on, or even hitting on them back...or getting laid, I supposed. Everyone would be legal adults, legally able to drink at that; I wasn’t going to start casting judgment. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been with someone much older than me, which required those older guys to be willing to be with a younger partner.
Still would be a little weird.
“The real question,” he said as he took another drink and smirked. “Can you handle it if someone tries to pick both of us up?”
“So long as that answer is a no, then I’ll deal,” I said with a laugh. “It’s only disturbing to hear it from my boyfriend’s lips.”
“Hard to argue with that,” he said with a snort, setting his glass down. “Alright, while we wait for the night to come to life, why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”
“What do you want to know?” I asked. I’d always hated these kinds of conversations. There were so many stories, and my interests were all over the place, but the minute someone asked, it was like someone erased the entire file in my head.
“Well, let’s start with what the hell possessed you to start a TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube devoted to the dangerous, weird shit you do,” he said, arching a brow.
