Page 141 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“Well, that certainly explains a lot,” Marty said after a few seconds of not exactly comfortable but not awkward silence.
“Not all of it,” I said with a sigh. “Our newfound infamy is another reason we wanted to talk to everyone.”
“Oh, I know it has to be hard having all those people giving you so much hell, but we already said we just want you two to be happy,” Marty said gently. “That’s what matters here.”
“Well...it’s not that simple,” I said with a wince.
“I don’t...oh,” she said. “They know your names?”
I wasn’t surprised that it was businesslike, knowledgeable, practical Moira who spoke up. “It’s not hard to find anyone’s name these days if you know where to start, and these two are so all over the internet that it wouldn’t be hard. So yes, they’ll know Eli’s name, and so know Marcus and your last names. They’ll know Milo’s, so they’ll have your last name. Which means they’ll be able to do basic searches and find out about every one of us...and our businesses.”
“And every bit of hate that we’re getting could and probably will come back and get every single one of you,” Milo added, and I would bet his heart was sinking just as heavily and swiftly as mine.
“Not mine,” Mason said with a smirk. “Are you kidding? My business thrives on weird, off-the-wall shit. If people find out my stepbrother and half-brother are together, they’re probably going to want to see what kind of shit I let go on in my club. You guys might have just brought me more business.”
“I anticipated there might be problems on my end, and I spoke to Mr. Dalton already,” Arlo said softly, referencing the owner of the funeral home where he worked. “He informed me that he trusted I would never allow personal business to interfere with my work, and that the grieving aren’t going to care about the latest internet drama. We’ve not had anyone approach me at work, but I was assured that I have every right to have any harassers led off the property, and he assured me there would be no problems from him.”
“Eh,” Dom grunted, and we looked at him as he leaned onto the back two legs of his chair. “MMA circles can still be prettyhomophobic, but I’ve talked about my family enough that no one really expects anything normal to come out of this family. If anyone brings it up in an interview, I can handle it. I thought it was going to be rough when they found out that my sister’s baby daddy had shown up again to shack up with our brother, but it turned out to be fun. I have a pretty good publicity face, so this is just another challenge for me if it pops up, not going to hurt my career.”
All of which made me feel a lot better until I turned and saw Moira frowning. The others could all deal with the issues, ignore them, or roll with them, but it was ultimately the hotel we had been most worried about. From the looks of it, Moira didn’t have a ready-made solution.
“The hotel is...probably going to take a hit,” she said and winced. “I know that’s not what you two want to hear. The connection between you and the hotel hasn’t been made yet, but I’d be shocked if someone doesn’t make it as the fuss starts to die down, just to generate more views. We’re going to field messages and comments on our accounts, probably get review bombed, and business...well?—”
“I see,” Marty said quietly. “And just as spring break season is picking up too.”
“And donottake that as me telling you two to feel ashamed or stop what you’re doing,” Moira added with a vehemence that took me off guard. “Jace is right, you’re both morons, but you’re morons who deserve each other.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the sweetest thing Moira’s ever said to us,” Milo muttered.
“Mmm, she was the one who said that if anyone could pull off making a living from social media, it was us, even when the rest of the family wasn’t so sure,” I reminded him.
Moira ignored us, rubbing her temples. “Have you come up with an idea of what to do about this?”
“We’re going to address it. We already know it’s a bad idea to downplay, hide, or ignore what’s going on,” I told her. “So we’re going to make a joint video addressing the whole thing, explaining that we’re not actually brothers, that this is genuine and done out of love, stuff like that.”
Moira’s nose twitched. “That will hurt more in the short term, but long-term damage is mitigated by honesty...if you have enough support. Do you have any other creators you can reach out to who might be willing to take a risk and support you?”
“There’s a few I’m sure would,” Milo said and then faltered. “Probably, and a few more that might if they don’t think it’ll ruin them.”
“You can probably recover after a few months on your own, and we can weather plenty so long as you handle your video well. But if you have help from others,” she said, glancing between us. “And can perhaps talk them into giving this place a shoutout at the same time, that’s less burden for everyone.”
Mason chuckled. “Moira is awful at making people feel better. What she’s trying to say is, you messed up, but it’s not the disaster you two think it is, and can be dealt with pretty easily. At least if you two get off your asses and try to fix things.”
“Really?” Milo asked Moira, who gave him a wry smile.
“It’s not as pretty and sunny as he’s making it sound, but yes...it’s fixable, after some time and some work,” Moira said with a sigh. “Contact people tomorrow, then contact me after eight. We might be able to cobble together a plan to make this better than we think.”
“Fixable, forgivable,” Milo muttered. “I’m swinging at air and still connecting...I love all of you.”
Moira rolled her eyes. “Don’t get too sentimental. I haven’t decided how I’m going to make you suffer for all the hassle yet.”
It was meant to take the wind out of his sails, but clearly wasn’t going to. Milo was practically grinning to the point itwas a miracle his face hadn’t split. It would take something catastrophic to negate the sheer relief and gratitude fueling him. And no one at the table was mean enough to upset him that much.
Before Moira could say anything, her phone lit up, and she answered with a sigh, turning the phone toward us. “You’re on speaker.”
Kayden’s voice came through clear, and I could tell he was grinning. “So, Moira tells me you two made an absolute mess of everything while discovering you were made for each other.”
“That is an…accurate summary of events,” I said with a wince.
