Page 66 of Stepbrothers with Benefits
Oh, the son of a bastard...I was going to make him regret it.
Or I was going to make him love it.
Or both.
Whatever I decided to do, I wanted to do it right now, butfuck, my family was right there, and I was helpless to do anything but be at his complete mercy.
“Milo?” my mother asked, her voice light, but I could hear the concern.
“Yeah?” I asked faintly, fighting like hell to bring my attention away from the hand teasing me and onto my mother, who was frowning at me. “What?”
“I know our conversation wasn’t fun...but you look...are you okay?”
“Should I not be?”
“You’re flushed and almost sweaty.”
“I’m fine. It’s just a little warm in here, and I’ve been drinking, you know how it goes.”
“Apparently, I don’t,” she said, looking me over. “You don’t look good.”
“You already said that,” I grumbled. “I’m fine, alright?”
“Well, maybe you should stay here for the night. Just in case something is actually wrong. You do like to downplay things.”
Elijah chuckled next to me, and I felt his hand slip from my lap. “I’m sure he’s fine, but if it would make you feel better, I’ll make sure he doesn’t leave.”
“I am not a child,” I said, trying hard to give him a dirty look even though I was still rock hard from his teasing. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Ah, c’mon, it’ll be like old times. We’ll be at the far end of the hallway, where the family always put us because we made too much noise. We’ll stay up late, you can talk about boys, I can talk about girls, and I can kick your ass at games. Maybe sneak in another liquor bottle so Marty and Dad don’t find out.”
“As if we never knew,” Marcus said with a roll of his eyes.
“And like they don’t spend the night here every other week or so,” Mom said, and though I couldn’t see it, I would bet good money they were holding hands under the table.
“Let us pretend,” Eli snorted. “Plus, we don’t have to be traumatized by Mason and Jace being just down the hall anymore.”
“Thank God they stay at Jace’s place or in one of the actual rooms,” Dom muttered, shaking his head. “Let them scar the guests instead of the family.”
Mom sighed. “Can none of you behave?”
“Not in normal circumstances,” Arlo added lightly, but his eyes were on Eli and me with a thoughtful expression I wasn’t sure I liked.
I cleared my throat, glancing over as Eli’s hands fell into his lap, and though no one else would have noticed, I saw the way his hand shifted, adjusting himself. I hadn’t thought anything could affect me like Eli willingly touching me sexually in the hopes of teasing me. That was swiftly proven wrong as my mind ran headlong into the realization that not only had he been doing it, but he was also hard. That hadn’t just been a simple case of seeing what he could get away with, or learning what would work on me; he had been turned on the whole time.
Fuck, we needed to get out of sight, and fast.
“Everyone in this family is so funny,” I muttered, leaning forward to drain the rest of my drink and set it down. That allowed me to adjust my own hard-on so it wasn’t tenting the front of my jeans. Not that anyone would be looking at my crotch when I stood up, but it never hurt to be cautious. Probably an odd thing for other people to hear me say, but I also wasn’t normally toying with the idea of sleeping with my stepbrother. “I find myself suddenly tired...tired of the jokes.”
Dom rolled his eyes. “And you accused Mason of being dramatic.”
“I’m the one everyone expects to be dramatic,” I said with a sniff, pushing away from the table and knowing I had no choice but to stand up and hope I wasn’t about to make a spectacle of myself. Thankfully, my nerves were helping me for once, making me go soft. Normally, that treacherous part of my body liked to linger in the hopes of making its presence known at the worst moments, so I was grateful it was behaving.
My mother rolled her eyes. “By the way, if you’re really that hellbent on having Marshall in your life...and you trust him, bring him by one day.”
That stopped me at the door, turning to stare at her. “What? You want him around?”
“I won’t pretend I’ve been sitting around, waiting for him to show up, stars in my eyes and hope in my heart,” she said, because of course, she had to be the most dramatic of all of us; we got it from somewhere, and she was the master. “But...you were right. You’re an adult, and as much as I don’t want to see any of my kids get hurt, I have to be willing to let them make their own choices. I just hope he’s not one of the choices you end up regretting.”
