Page 7 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
“Yeah.”
“I know where they keep the key.”
The idea stirred something inside me, and I looked up slowly, cautious as the first thread of hope worked its way through me. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He grinned widely, practically vibrating now I was doing something other than screaming or trying to hurt him. “Mom says I can’t go unless I have an adult or Moira with me ’cause she’s old enough.”
“So is Mason,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but Mason is fun,” he said with a laugh, kicking his feet as if he had to move even when sitting. “Mom says he’s too much fun. Which is stupid.”
It did sound kind of stupid. How could you have too much fun?
“So...wanna?” he asked, eyes lit up with an eagerness that made me want to smile and jump into whatever kooky idea he had.
“Sure,” I said slowly, finding it nice to have something other than tired anger flowing through me.
That day had ended with Milo almost breaking his nose on the bottom of the pool and sending the poor front desk worker into a crying fit. It was the first time I’d seen Marty get mad, as she scolded Milo and set him to work with housekeeping for the next week. She hadn’t been mad about his nose, but the fact that he had been cruel to the poor woman whose only ‘crime’ was being scared of slimy creatures. I too had been put to work, but I hadn’t cried when I realized that I had upset the girl, that had been Milo. He was facing down the realization that his harmless ideas might actually hurt someone’s feelings, something Milo still tried to avoid.
Me though? I was too caught up in how much fun I’d been having with Milo, what it had been like to laugh with someone, and not to feel the hurt and anger that made me lash out. I had hung my head quietly when Marty had chewed me out, knowing what I had done was wrong and I’d hurt someone badly, but too caught up in the idea that fun could still exist, and that someone would...scold me. Everyone had treated me like a wounded animal for so long, to have someone, a mother figure no less, turn around and give me hell for bad behavior that wasnormalhad been a blessing I was too young to understand. Still, it had soothed something inside me that continued to heal from that day forward.
“And you’ll make sure?”
I blinked at Moira’s voice and tried to recall what she’d been saying before I’d checked out of the conversation without meaning to, and winced. “What?”
“I swear,” she said, fondness masquerading as irritation. “We can’t get Milo to focus on something unless it’s interesting, and we can’t get you to focus when you drift off into your own thoughts.”
I snorted. “Would it make you feel any better if I said I was lost in memory?”
“If you were Milo, I’d be afraid to ask. With you, I’m less worried.”
“Just got lost thinking about how much I started out hating the idea of having a new family, and now years later I can’t imagine having anything but you guys.”
“You mean Milo.”
“I meanallof you.”
“But mostly Milo.”
I laughed. “Alright, maybe he’s got a special spot, but it’s not like all of you aren’t important to me.”
“Shit, are you dying?” she asked, and I laughed again at the concern that was probably meant to be a joke but leaked genuineness.
“I’m allowed to be sentimental without a death sentence hanging over my head,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Now, if it were Arlo or Mason talking like this? Yeah, be worried.”
“God, tell me about it,” she grumbled. “I know Arlo loves us, but I don’t blame people sometimes for thinking he doesn’t like them. You remember Mom getting him tested for mutism?”
“He didn’t talk for like...half a year,” I pointed out, and she hummed in hesitant agreement. I was sure she was thinking the same thing; Arlo had been Mom’s best friend’s son, and apparently had been a pretty happy, outgoing kid, until both his parents had died on vacation, leaving him with no one. That was, except for Marty, who had taken him in and gone through the process of adopting him without hesitation. He hadn’t been there when his parents had died, but everyone agreed, expertand armchair professional, that the shock and grief of losing both parents so suddenly had caused a lockdown of sorts that he had only somewhat recovered from. “Which makes sense, now Mason?—”
She gave a puff of air that held more annoyance than the average person could manage in a full paragraph. “He was just born a jackass, and he’s always going to be a jackass.
If a stranger were to listen to her, they’d suspect Moira hated her twin brother, which couldn’t be further from the truth. For as long as I’d known him, Mason had been difficult, wily, smart-mouthed, and treated getting on another person’s nerves as a competitive sport. Of course, he was also funny as hell, driven, adventurous, and despite getting on everyone’s nerves, no one could deny his loyalty to the family. The man could have taken his wit and ambition and gone anywhere in the world, but he hadn’t gone far. He had done a bit of traveling, but he’d gone to Seattle to start a business rather than anywhere else, which kept him close to the family he visited often.
“He’s getting on your nerves again?” I asked with a shake of my head.
“Better to ask when he’s not getting on my nerves.”
“I take it that love hasn’t calmed him down?”
