Page 119 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
A knock on the door interrupted that plan, and I ignored it. I had a do not disturb sign on the door that I was sure the housekeeping staff at the motel were more than happy to observe.
The persistence of the knocking was new, though, and I frowned. It had to be a particularly insistent worker I’d missed in the past few days, but I continued ignoring them, turning up the TV so they’d get the hint. And if they used their key to get in, I had the chain on the door as extra insurance for my peace and quiet.
“Milo!” a muffled voice from the other side of the door said. “Come on, I can hear you turning the TV up. Let me in.”
“Marshall?” I wondered out loud before remembering I was supposed to be incognito. Even my hazy brain had to admit that was officially over because I’d opened my mouth in surprise and blurted out that, yes, I was in fact in this room. “Go away! I’m fine!”
“It’s been three days,” he called through the door, sounding exasperated. “Everyone is worried, and you can’t hole up in this room forever.”
“Hole up in this hole,” I said and then snickered. “Tell everyone I’m fine!”
I had turned down the TV to listen for sounds of him shuffling off over the shitty hallway carpet, but instead frowned when I heard another voice with him. It was when I heard the beep of the card reader and the door opening that I sat up in bed. “I said stop! How the fuck did you get a key?”
“It’s chained,” I heard Marshall say, and I cocked my head, trying to listen to who else could be talking, but I could only hear annoyance, not the words, nor could my brain make out a face that belonged to the voice, though it was obviously someone who knew me.
“That’s a fucking clue! A big ol’ hint!” I growled, swinging around and looking for shorts to throw on to yell at Marshall and whoever he’d dragged along.
“One we’re ignoring,” Marshall called back in a voice that was far too cheerful in my opinion.
“Who the fuck is we?”
“Us,” Marshall said, and then in a curious voice. “Huh, will that work? I never thought of doing something like that.”
My hunt for clothes froze when I heard the chain rattle, the door jiggle, and then the soft clatter of the chain again. Eyes wide, I watched as the door moved, and Marshall stepped into the room. He took one glance at me and immediately turned away with a grunt of surprise.
“And he’s naked,” Marshall said with a sigh, his back to me as he stared up at the ceiling instead. “That’s all you.”
“Who’s with you, and why are you breaking into my room?” I demanded without bothering to continue my search for clothes. Sorry, but if you break into someone’s private room, you don’t have the right to be horrified or indignant when you find them naked. If he didn’t want to face the moral and legalissues of breaking into my room, then he could deal with the consequences as far as I was concerned.
Only for my outrage to curl up in a ball in my throat, and lodge there along with horror and shame when it was Raf who walked around the corner to look at me. His expression was that of a man who was singularly unimpressed at what he was witnessing as he looked me over, and then his eyes scanned the room. They didn’t linger on any one thing, but they certainly took their time evaluating everything, and the shame was like bile in the back of my throat.
“Holy fuck,” I groaned, finding my pants in a hurry and yanking them on. “Why areyouhere?”
“Hunting you down,” Raf said casually, pushing past me to grab the remote and turn the volume down.
“How did you even find me? I have my phone off; I can’t be tracked. And I used my own card!”
“The answer to that question is the same as how I managed to get into the room,” Raf said, slapping the remote on the shelf next to a fallen can of beer.
“And what’s that?” I asked as I yanked on a shirt I’d left on the floor.
He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the shelves next to the TV, and smirked. “It’s a mystery. And if you weren’t busy pickling what few brain cells you have left, you’d probably be able to get them to work together long enough to figure out the answer.”
“Am I allowed to turn around now?” Marshall called over his shoulder.
“He’s decent,” Raf told him with a shake of his head. “Or, well, wearing clothes anyway. Whether or not he’s actually decent is still up for debate.”
Of all the people to find me, why did it have to be Raf? He was the one person I didn’t have the slightest chance of being angryat, let alone being able to muster the energy to fight him. I might not have violated any of the rules of our relationship, but I had still done him dirty, and if he didn’t know it, I certainly did. All I could do was wince as I sat on the edge of the bed, as Marshall crossed the room to drop into the chair in the corner.
“You’re braver than I am,” Raf told him lightly, looking around. “There’s not much in here I’m willing to touch without feeling the need to soak myself in sanitizer, including Milo.”
“Geez,” I muttered. “Not that I don’t deserve it, but ouch.”
“I meant because you’ve been saturated by whatever gross is in this room,” Raf said with a roll of his eyes. “But by all means, continue to feel bad for yourself; this pity party suits you.”
“I’ve had to stay in worse places,” Marshall said with a shrug. “At one point, even having a room at all, even a questionable one, would have been a luxury.”
“I’d say that’s depressing, but there was a point in my life after I got out of my parents’ house where it was the same for me,” Raf said with a shrug. “Doesn’t mean I want the reminder.”
