Page 9 of Enemies with Benefits (Finding the Right Brother #1)

Hearing my name with such vehemence and with 'fucking' in the middle was...not an uncommon thing in my life. Then again, I would bet that anyone who knew me for long wouldn't be surprised by that little factoid. To be fair, I’d earned that particularly furious reaction from people, and in this case, it was also deserved. At the same time, there were those who used that name who’d earned my being a bit of a dick, and. ..that was the case as well.

"As I live and breathe," I said with a laugh. "Jace the Grace."

"That name was stupid when we were in high school, and it's even stupider now."

"Pretty sure it's just 'stupid', 'stupider' isn't really a word."

"Fuck you."

"Jace the Grace with the witty, and if I dare say it, graceful retort, as always."

"Jace with the mace more like it," he growled, hand going to his pocket.

The guy beside him let out a sigh. “Too soon, man, too soon."

"Not now, Kay," Jace snapped at the man.

"Aww, that your boyfriend?" I asked, a little surprised by how quickly I was reverting to my teenage self, and yet still amused to see how quickly he puffed up at the accusation—just like he had years and years ago. It never failed to get a reaction out of him.

And just like teenage Jace, fully grown Jace swelled and spat out, “He's not my boyfriend. But where's yours?"

I grinned, knowing full well what kind of reaction I was about to get. "Haven't had one for...a year now? Year and a half? Turns out club business and a recovering addict don't mix, who would have thought?"

As expected, Jace's expression flickered from anger to surprise. “What?"

"It's not the 2000s anymore, Jacey, my boy," I said, taking a sip from my beer. "I took a long, hard look in the mirror after high school and realized that a long, hard dick was something I enjoyed."

The guy next to him let out a strangled laugh and shrugged when Jace turned his furious gaze on him. “What? I don't know what your beef with this guy is, but he's fuckin' funny."

"Oh? A man of good taste?" I wondered, looking him up and down and finding that even if Jace couldn't see it, the guy was cute. "Just how good a taste?"

"Oh, no, no," he said with an easy laugh and then, to my delight, a wink. "You're handsome, but not my type."

"And what is your type?"

"Two X chromosomes."

I laughed. “Well, it would be a little hypocritical of me to say you have bad taste for liking women."

"Oh? Ohhhhh, wow, bi huh? Greedy."

"A common misconception about bi folks. But in my case, it's true."

"God, it's a shame Jace hates you, you seem like fun."

"Shut up, Kayden," Jace snarled and then jammed a finger at me. "Quit hitting on him!"

"He seems to like it," I said with a shrug.

"Because he's an attention whore," Jace snapped.

"Hey!" Kayden protested. "Just because it's true doesn't mean it needs to be said!"

"Wow," I said in surprise. "Jacey, you managed to make friends with someone I could actually like instead of finding annoying? I guess you have grown up a little...well, actually it looks like you grew a couple of inches...and out a few more than that. Compensating for something?"

Jace's eyes flashed. “I swear to?—"

"Oh my God , enough!" Moira barked, turning to smack me upside the head.

She whirled around to glare at Jace. “And if you don't shut your mouth, you're getting it too.

This is a bar in my family's hotel. If you can't stop arguing like petulant children, then so help me, I'm going to drag you both out by your ears and knock your heads together.

For God's sake, this feud between you two should have died at graduation.

You swore it was done and over with, Jace. "

It wasn't often Moira surprised me, but there I was, my brow shooting up as I turned to stare at my sister in surprise. “Excuse me? When the hell did the two talk to one another about that?"

Jace cleared his throat and took half a step back. “Sorry, Moira. Didn't mean to bring this up around you."

"That is not the point," she said, ignoring me, which she knew full well was telling. "You swore you were going to let that sh… nonsense go. Apparently, that was a lie then and still is now. So if you don't stop right now, I'm kicking you out of this hotel."

I spared a moment, surprised at how quickly Jace quailed under the force of my sister's angry and pointed words.

The Jace I'd known and had butted heads with repeatedly would have sooner headbutted a belt sander than let anyone talk to him with such command and anger.

Then again, the only one capable of giving a ‘mom scolding’ better than my mother was, in fact, my sister.

So perhaps there really were mommy issues locked up in that man's head that still hadn't been resolved because he was starting to look like a little boy who’d just been caught in some wrongdoing.

I suppose that, despite everything, I hadn't really known much about Jace at all.

That thought was quickly shoved aside as I turned my attention to my sister, who, no longer having someone to focus her indignation on, was finally forced to look at me.

I raised my brow and snorted when she looked at me for a moment before darting her eyes away with the smallest grimace.

Alright, so apparently my sister was capable of keeping things from me.

That was, until some evidence was presented, and then she was going to fold quicker than my ex after a few drinks.

I turned to Jace. “You fucked my sister?"

Of course, that had the exact response I was hoping for, and Moira gave me a solid punch to the arm.

Now, anyone who looked at her slight frame and thought she couldn't do much damage would be in for a literally sore awakening if she decided to hit them.

She had grown up around nothing but brothers, one of whom was a professional MMA fighter, and our father had been a boxer.

Between our father's lessons when she was younger, Dominic's constant training for MMA, and just the experience of having brothers, she knew how to throw a punch.

She might not be able to put the force behind it that someone my size or Dominic's size could, but she could still make it hurt like hell.

"Ow," I said with a laugh, knowing I had successfully pulled her away from her real indignation and back to one that was more familiar and comfortable.

"Don't talk about her like that," Jace snapped, which marked not only the return of his normal attitude with me, but sparked my annoyance.

"When I need one of her former fuck buddies or, God save me, exes to tell me how to talk to my sister, I'll find anyone other than you," I told him with a snort.

"But that's my sister, not yours. I'll talk to her however the fuck I want, and I'll break the fingers of anyone who tries to do the same, got it? "

"That makes no fucking sense."

"Probably because you're an only child."

He could say whatever he wanted, but that was how things were.

I could call my sister a bitch, a whore, a cunt, whatever I wanted, and she could call me a prick, a bastard, a self-absorbed bastard who didn't know how to connect with other people, that was just siblings for you.

They were as brutal as they were loving, that was just a fact.

But if any outside party tried to do something like that, it would go from a fact of life to an intolerable disrespect that would end with wounded feelings or broken limbs.

My siblings and I hadn't gone through the treacherous gauntlet that was growing up together, not to know how to deal with the other swinging at them literally and proverbially, but neither were we going to tolerate anyone else taking such liberties.

Moira groaned. “Why, oh why couldn't I have just been a lesbian?

Then I could have moved to some women's only retreat in some far-flung part of the country and never had to deal with another man again?

But no, I had to have brothers, I had to be attracted to men, I had to find myself surrounded by stupid, testosterone-addled, ego-driven men! "

"You of all people should not be talking about ego," I scoffed.

"Yeah," Jace agreed, earning a mutually shocked look between the two of us, and then he blanched at whatever look Moira was giving him, and I was pretty sure I knew that look.

"See, that's the other fun part of siblings," I told him with a smirk. "You don't get scared off by them as easily."

She whipped a fierce glare at me. “Mason."

I smiled benignly. “I'm just letting him know, dear sister.

Now, how about we ignore this apparent ego battle between him and me, and talk about how you apparently were.

..involved, in some way, shape, or form, with the very man you knew despised everything about me, and I believe you once called a thickheaded, petty child. How about that?"

Jace snorted. “If you're trying to piss me off, you're gonna lose. She called me that when we were dating too."

"Dating?" I asked in a high, interested voice as I rested my chin on my fist and stared at my sister. " Fascinating ."

"I...damn it," Moira muttered, rubbing her forehead in frustration. "Why are you like this?"

"I was born like this, I think," I said in a lofty voice.

"Hold on, time out," Kayden interrupted, making a 'T' with his hands. "So let me get this right...you two used to date."

"Correct," Moira said with an air of irritation.

"You two are siblings."

"Yes," she said with an aggrieved air. I took no offense because...well, I'd earned that.

"You're twins, aren't you?"

Moira and I straightened in surprise, her cocking her head. “I...yes. How did you know?"

"Good question," Jace said, frowning at his friend.

"Hey, don't question it," Kayden said with a smirk. "Otherwise, I'll be forced to point out that you slept with one of them, which makes you some sort of cousin or Eskimo sisters with the guy you clearly can't stand."

"Kayden!" Jace barked indignantly.