Page 43 of Enemies with Benefits (Finding the Right Brother #1)

I watched him work it through his mind. He was pretty adult as far as kids went, but he was still ultimately a kid, not even nine yet, so his emotions showed on his face.

I could see the way it hurt him to think about it, maybe for himself, but for others too, because he was always considering other people.

I could see the confusion, probably wondering why it had to be that way, and that gave way to frustration, which made sense as well.

Finally, the sadness returned, and he gave a world-weary sigh that he shouldn't have mastered for at least another decade.

"I don't want to be sad right now," he said with a shrug. "I'm going to go look at more stuff. Maybe I'll think about that stuff later, or maybe I won't."

I laughed, ruffling his hair to make him give an indignant screech. "You're wise beyond your years, you little weirdo. Go have fun and worry about adult stuff when you're an adult. Life's more fun that way."

He gave me a look, rolled his eyes, and walked away, leaving me to watch him for a while as he perused another display.

It was funny, watching all that worry and concern he'd had a moment ago disappear, melting into rapture as he watched a starfish crawl slowly along the bottom of a tank.

I wondered when it was that we lost that youthful resilience.

Micah had accidentally come across a soul-crushing aspect of life and adulthood that he wasn't prepared for, and the weight of it had overtaken him for a moment.

Now it was like nothing had happened, and he was cooing at a creature that was about as interesting as a snail perched on a rock.

A presence at my side made me flinch, and I glared at Kayden. “How long have you been creeping there?"

"Long enough to hear...everything," he said with a shrug.

"Everything?" I asked, brow raised and a faint note of worry shooting through me.

"Well, the life lesson you tried to impart to him," he said with a chuckle. "I missed whatever caused it."

That was enough for me to relax. I didn't know if it was right to keep what Micah and I had discussed quiet, but right now, Jace was trying to be part of Micah's life while considering what role he ultimately wanted to play.

My sister, on the other hand, had tried her best to keep the revelation from Micah for a while, probably waiting until Jace made up his mind.

It made me a bit of a hypocrite, since I'd chided Moira for keeping her secret originally, but right now, everyone was trying to figure their own shit out without bringing Micah into the mix.

Hilariously, the eight-year-old had taken the news better than anyone had predicted, and I suspected he was dealing with the information better than everyone else had in the beginning.

"Kids," I said with a shrug. "Especially that one, they're weird."

"He is a little weird, isn't he?"

"Best you don't let Jace hear you say that."

"Heh, he is protective, isn't he?"

"More like overcompensating for not being here for Micah before, which isn't his fault, but it doesn't stop him from being an overly emotional bag of dicks."

Kayden glanced at me. “Your sister recently wondered if we should stop watching you two, and then you go and say shit that obviously means we have to watch you even more."

I eyed him. “When did she say that? When you were in bed together?"

He sighed, turning his eyes to the ceiling. "Does everyone know?"

"Jace definitely does. Mom asked me the other day when you two were going to stop sneaking around.

Dom never said anything, Milo wouldn't notice unless you made out with her right in front of him, and maybe not even then.

Eli has figured it out, but he probably won't say anything.

And since you two are definitely trying to keep it a secret from Micah as well as Jace, Moira should know better.

That kid is smart, and he pays attention. A lot more than we all think."

"Well...that's a pretty unnerving thought."

"Maybe you should bring it up to her at the next pillow talk session."

"By the way, you can't trick a trickster."

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong, that was a good tactic. Purposefully going for my secret to distract me from what I was trying to talk about. I'll give it a seven outta ten."

"Where did the other three points go?" I had to wonder because really, there was no point in pretending I wasn't trying to distract him.

"Well, it was effective and not immediately obvious, but it was a bit of a sledgehammer move, and considering everyone who's known you for at least five minutes knows you're bound to be up to some bullshit, you're going to get penalized a lot heavier for a lack of subtlety than your average person. "

"Wow. You put...a lot of thought into that scoring system. Did you already have it set up, or did you make it up on the spot?"

"On the spot."

"Nice. Full marks for that one."

"It's nice to have someone who appreciates at least one of my many talents," he said, beaming. "Jace pretends like he doesn't, and probably doesn't for most of them, but it's always…hey!"

"Damn," I said with a laugh. "I almost had you. Flattery after being busted on the first attempt usually works, people love it, but only if you're touching on something they're genuinely proud of or want to talk about."

"Sounding sincere helps too."

"If there's one thing about lying or faking, it's a lot easier when there's at least a touch of truth to it. That was impressive on your part, and I do give full marks."

"But that wasn't going to stop you from using it to your own ends."

"Nope."

"Despicable. You're as smooth as your sister is rough."

"Wow, I really don't want to hear about my sister's bedroom habits."

Kayden rolled his eyes. “Just...seriously. Be serious for a moment."

"I really don't want to know," I said with a snort and then sighed when he glared at me.

"What do you want me to say? He and I have never gotten along, and we're trying.

But trying doesn't magically wipe out years of despising each other on sight and going out of our way to get under the other one's skin, alright? We're doing our best."

He gave another sigh. “I tried asking Moira about you two, and she was just as unhelpful. No one wants to tell me what the hell the reason for this borderline blood feud is about."

At that, I laughed a little. “Let me guess, she said there never really was a reason. That we've hated each other from the start, and we've done everything we could to make that hate even stronger."

"Yeah, and Jace said the same thing."

"Because it's the truth."

"See?"

"Okay, no, look. That is the truth. I've tried a couple of times to figure out what our problem was, but it was just..

.us. We have always been like that with each other.

I can't think of one thing in the beginning that made me dislike him.

I mean, there are plenty of things I didn't like, but they aren't like.

..big things. He didn't sleep with my girlfriend, he didn't insult my family, get me in trouble with school or the cops.

There's no big event. We have always just hated each other. "

Kayden shook his head. “And you?"

"I never did anything like that either."

Kayden thought about that for a moment before nodding. “Alright. So you couldn't stand each other from the start."

"Right."

"And neither of you went out of your way to cause it, no big thing that caused it."

"Yep."

"And the only thing you guys did to fuel that hate was piss each other off, and fight each other?"

"Pretty much."

"So...despite all that supposed hatred you two had, neither of you ever crossed a line?"

"Uh...I guess?" I answered, confused about where he was headed.

"He never slept with your girlfriend or sister to get back at you. Get that look off your face, you can't say their relationship after high school was about you and him."

"Okay, true," I admitted with a snort.

"He didn't set you up or...I don't know, what fucked up things can high school students do to each other?"

"You're asking me? I'd think a cop would have a better idea."

"Ugh, anyway. Point is, despite all that, neither of you went for the throat. You battered and bruised each other, but you never went overboard, you never crossed any real lines."

"Is there a point to all this? We're supposed to be here for Micah, not to talk about Jace and I's respective issues with each other."

"Look, the guy is my best friend, and a damn good man.

You know about his parents, and look...I'm sure you've figured out that he doesn't have a whole lot of people in his life other than me.

Sure, a big part of that is his choice, but that doesn't change the fact that he doesn't have a lot of people.

Now he's...figuring out if he wants to come into this family, which has its pitfalls, and that's not even including the.

..complication of being around you all the time. "

Oh, if only he knew just how complicated things had become between Jace and me.

Not that Kayden didn't have a point, but it was so much worse than he thought.

There were times when I wondered if Jace and I sleeping together had made things easier for us, or was just setting us up for something worse down the road.

Not that it really mattered, at some point, whether it was from the moment we'd discovered our mutual attraction and acted on it, or one of the times we escalated things, we were already too deep to stop.

Wherever we were headed, we were going to get there one way or another, and all I could do was hope it didn't explode in all our faces.