Page 54 of Enemies with Benefits

"God," I groaned. “Now you've gone and puffed up his ego."

"I could point out that there are other things about him worth puffing up," Dominic said with a grin.

"Hey!" I said in annoyance, then quickly added. "Gross."

Jace peered at Dominic and then at me, brow furrowing and nose wrinkling. "Are there...any straight people in your family?"

"Hmm," Dominic said, thinking it over. "You've got Moira. Mason and I swing for both teams. Milo is as gay as it gets, and Arlo is a mystery to anyone and everyone, not even sure he's even had sex, if I'm honest. Oh, wait, yeah, Elijah! How'd I forget that?"

"Elijah is straight," I affirmed. "And Arlo is Arlo. Oh, and Mom is straight...pretty sure."

Dominic glanced at me. “I'm still holding you to it."

I rolled my eyes. “I'm aware. If there's one thing I can count on, it's that you'll never miss the chance to prove me wrong."

"It is a great feeling," Dominic grinned.

Jace arched a brow. “What...are you holding him to?"

"Our bet," I answered with a shake of my head.

"On?"

"On the fact that Elijah is actually not as straight as he thinks," Dominic said, sounding strangely proud. "I was so sure that he and Milo?—"

"Well, that didn't happen," I told him. "And you've got...another year before you have to pony up."

"There’s a time limit?" Jace wondered, sounding more and more confused. "And what about Milo?"

"Of course, there’s a time limit," I said with a snort. "Look, if he is into guys and figures it out, then that side of the bet wins. But if he's not, then there's no way to prove it, so there's got to be a time limit to make sure the other side of the bet wins."

"Oh...that makes sense."

"Exactly. And...the Milo thing is that some people think those two have always been...close."

"Right, even I knew that."

"Very close."

"Okay, and…oh, they'rebrothers!"

Dominic snorted. “By what standard? Milo is Mom's and whatever guy she was with back then. And Elijah is Marcus's son and no blood relation to Mom. They're like...half-stepbrothers."

"I've tried to tell you that sounds like they're still blood related," I said with a pleading look at Jace. "Please tell him I'm right."

Jace thought about it for a moment and sighed heavily. “I need you to understand that I absolutelyhateto say this, like with every fiber in my being, but...he's right. It does sound weirdly like they're half-brothers who somehow are stepbrothers, like through some weird, convoluted web of getting pregnant and marriage."

Dom scoffed. “How would that even work?"

"Mmm, like if they both had the same Dad. And the Dad wasn't with one of the women but was raising the kid he had with her, then married the other woman, who then had their kid."

"What the hell, that doesn't...shit, that does kind of work, doesn't it?"

"Huh," I said, looking Jace over. “Who knew that you could do weird logic leaps. Maybe you should hang out with Milo more."

Jace grimaced. “I remember him arguing with Elijah that tomatoes shouldn't be considered a vegetable or a fruit, but an herb because people use them to season food rather than as an actual ingredient."

"That...sounds about right," Dominic said. "A little tame for him, though."