Page 19 of Enemies with Benefits
"Right."
"Mhmm."
"Jesus Christ," I muttered, rubbing at my face. "It's like they?—"
"Micah," Moira interrupted, giving me a dirty look. "Go."
"I'm going," he said with an air of exasperation, but unless something had radically changed about the kid since I'd last spoken with him, he wasn't going to push his irritation too much. He had won a victory over his mother, not realizing that she had conceded to his wishes to get him to leave as soon as possible.
Micah walked off, with a moment of hesitation before turning to head over to the host station to place his order with the host, who was already waiting patiently for him. All the staff, new and veteran, were fond of the little weirdo and kept a close eye on him. He was a pretty capable kid, to be fair, but he could get distracted and wander off if someone else wasn't careful to watch him.
There was a pause before Kayden cleared his throat. “So?—"
"Not now," Jace grumbled at him, pointing a finger at me. "That is your bike out front, isn't it?"
Okay, so apparently we were going to switch topics, completely miss the baby daddy drama that literally could have just revealed itself, and move onto a non-sequitur...so be it.
"That lovely piece of machinery?" I asked with a raised brow. "It might be, why?"
"Is it, or isn't it?"
"What're you, a cop?"
"Yes," Moira said with a sigh.
I blinked and stared at him as he continued to glare at me, clearly demanding that I answer his question without saying another word. "Okay, well...that doesn't change the fact that I'm not obligated to answer the question. Being a cop doesn't mean shit except that you need a warrant to make me?—"
I trailed off as I practically saw smoke rolling out of his ears as he stared at me, and I thought of my bike sitting out front, still in need of repair. A bike that, apparently, was extremely important to Jace, or more specifically, the ownership of the bike. A bike that he shouldn't have cared the slightest bit about, considering he wouldn't have known I was back in the city. There was only one reason I could think that would have made him drag his ass in here to talk to me for the first time since our parting fist fight shortly after graduation, to force a man with a mutual hatred for me to come in barking and growling.
A laugh rolled out of me, and I didn't bother to stop it. I did clamp my hand over my mouth, but that didn't do much to stop the wave of laughter coming up from my stomach. Holy shit, what were the odds that the cop I had evaded and pissed off was my former nemesis in high school? Of all the coincidences and general fuckery in my life, that definitely ranked up there as one of my favorites.
"Whatis so funny?” he demanded, even though he knew damn well what I was laughing about. Just like he knew I knew, and that was going to piss him off, followed by knowing that he knew that I knew that he knew, which was just going to create an endless loop of rage in his head.
"Look," I said, still chuckling as I eased back onto a bar stool. "You might be willing to reignite our old feud, but I'm too old for high school drama. And just because you're a big, bad cop now doesn't mean you're going to make me answer whatever random ass questions you have either. So, unless you're here on official business, have decided to try to talk to my sister years afterbreaking up, or want to entertain me with a funny dance, I've got zero interest in talking to you. Well, no, I actually have several things I'd love to say, but I promised my mommy I'd be a good boy. Something about karma in my next life."
"You…" Jace began with a step forward, but Kayden caught him by the arm and pulled him back.
"C'mere," Kayden said, looking around to see that attention was back on us, not least of which was Micah staring at us in open curiosity. "You, c'mere."
Jace glared at him, shooting me a filthy look before allowing himself to be pulled away, which left me with Moira, who was resolutely staring ahead rather than at anyone else. Clearing my throat, I prepared another drink, this one stronger than the last, and after pouring, I shoved one into my sister's hand. She didn't even glance at the drink or make a face when she took a sip and discovered it was mostly liquor.
"So," I began as I watched the two men talking in the lobby in low voices, with Kayden speaking carefully and Jace speaking rapidly, making sharp gestures. "Not that I necessarily think him being in your life was a good call?—"
"Don't," she said, finally turning to give me a hard look. "I know you can't stand each other, but that's between the two of you. And there's more to people than whatyoudecide they are, so...don't."
"Noted," I said, continuing to stare because I knew it was making her uncomfortable. It wasn't often my sister did something that she bothered to hide from people, which she most certainly had because, as far as I knew, she was the only one even to have a theory of who Micah's father could have been. "So?—"
"God, what?"
"So, you dated him, clearly slept with him at least once...how was he?—"
"Donot."
"Fine, fine. You had a kid with him, knew it was him, and just...didn't tell anyone? Not even him?"
Her gaze flicked over to Jace, her lips becoming thin lines. "There were...reasons."
"Good ones?"
