Page 18 of Enemies with Benefits (Finding the Right Brother #1)

She laughed softly, unafraid of my angry refusal to respond to the reminder. "Still raw, I see, understandable. All my children are pains in the asses, some more than others."

Mason leaned closer to Kayden and whispered loudly. “Pretty sure she's talking about me."

"You're just a prick," I growled at him.

"Well, you are what you eat," he said with a shrug, making me widen my eyes at the crude joke in front of his mother.

Only for her to eye him. “Wouldn't that make you a cunt too?"

"True," he said, completely unbothered and leaving me confused about what I'd just witnessed.

Kayden, however, looked delighted at the exchange. "Oh, this family is fun, it's like being home again."

I sighed, ready to reach out, grab him, and drag him out of the building before he got any ideas. “It was nice seein' you again, Mrs. Lincoln. But Kayden and I should get out of here."

Mason turned to look at me, eyes traveling from head to foot.

I was left with an uncomfortable swooping feeling in my gut as I could tell I was being appraised, but for what, I didn't know.

I hoped I could at least count on him not evaluating me for.

..some things at least. The guy hated me as much as I hated him, so there was no way he was considering anything sexual.

Which was good, because just the thought of him imagining what he could do with me made the swooping worse and tightened the bottom of my stomach.

Those were mental images I could do without, even though I knew my traitor brain was going to summon them anyway simply because I didn't want to think about them.

"Tell you what," Mason said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card and a pen, scribbling on it. He held the card out. “Your weekend free?"

"Yes," I answered before thinking and then frowned, eyeing the card warily. "Why?"

"So suspicious," he said with an amusement that always got on my nerves.

The man knew how to sound like he was mocking me with just about anything he said, and it always made me want to punch him right in the face.

"Let's just say I have an idea, and if you're available, say.

..around midnight on Saturday, meet me here. We'll...talk."

"Talk?" I asked, scowling at him. "Go to hell, Mason."

He snorted, handing the card to Kayden, who, since the man had zero sense of loyalty, snatched it with a grin. "Give it some thought. Maybe you might even get an update on the past few years and some tidbits about your...well, about members of this family. And a way to work off some stress."

"God," Kayden said with a laugh. "Coming from you, that sounds like a raunchy proposal."

"If I wanted to fuck him, I'd just say so," Mason said, his upper lip twitching. "You'll notice I didn't."

I yanked the card from Kayden's hand. “Dunno why you think you'd be doing the fucking, Beckett. Oh, uh...sorry, Mrs. Lincoln."

"Oh, don't you worry about me now," she said with a laugh. "I love a bit of banter, flirtatious or otherwise."

My face flushed, burning hot. "It's not...anyway. I should go. We should go."

"And I was having so much fun," Kayden said with a heavy sigh.

"That's the problem," I told him, looking at Mrs. Lincoln again. "I'll see you again, ma'am."

"That you will, and stop calling me ma'am. I told you that years ago, and it hasn't changed."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Honestly. Men. Can’t live with them, can't live without them."

With that, I turned and walked out, grabbing Kayden by the elbow and all but dragging him from the building.

I made a point to ignore Mason watching me closely as I left because it gave me the urge to snap at him to stop staring at me.

By the time we made it outside and down the block, I finally looked at the card in my hand, which had crumpled from my grip.

"Their mom was really cool," Kayden said.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"What's on there anyway?" Kayden asked, looking at my hand. "Huh, he's got some neat handwriting."

"I always used to say he wrote like a girl."

"Wow. We're attributing gender to handwriting now?"

"I was sixteen."

"You know that doesn't stop me from saying you used to be kind of a dick."

"Fine, whatever," I said, looking at the card. It had an address written on it, and below that, the word Endless. "The fuck does that mean?"

"No clue," Kayden said, looking it over once more before shrugging. "You gonna go?"

"No," I said, scowling when he snatched it before I could ball it up and throw it away. "Kayden, get rid of it. I'm not going anywhere that asshole wants me to go and?—"

"And you have vowed eternal hatred for him, so strong it will pass along the bloodline and continue into the afterlife," Kayden interrupted as he shoved the card away. "Look, the guy seemed to be genuinely making an attempt?—"

"Yeah, right. Not him."

"For the sake of his nephew, who he clearly dotes on? Yeah, I bet he is."

"Whatever."

"And for the sake of your kid, I might add."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks. I'll hold onto this card in case you change your mind, though."

"I won't."

"Yeah, but just in case."

"Don't bother."

There was no way in hell I was doing anything Mason Beckett wanted me to do.

No way.