Page 53 of Enemies with Benefits
"God. Look, I'm going to point out that you've actively, repeatedly, and gleefully been a dick to him for years. And no, I do not want to hear how he was an asshole to you first, or he was worse or...anything like that, alright?"
"Good news for you, I wasn't going to go there," I said in a superior tone that was completely unwarranted. Mostly because I couldn't remember at what point our feud had started, let alone figure out which one of us had started it. Too much time had passed for me to remember something that wasn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. The feuding had existed for so long, I didn't think it mattered who had started it, only that both of us had worked hard at keeping it alive the whole time.
"You don't even remember, do you?" Dominic asked, and I refused to look at him to confirm the smug look on his face, which he always had when he got one up on me.
"Does when and why it started even matter after all this time?"
"Sounds like something someone would say if they didn't remember and wanted to pass it off as no big deal."
"Sounds like you're just trying to be right."
"And it sounds like there's no trying at all, I am right."
"You know, for all the shit I get about being smug, I don't think you get told enough just how insufferable you can be."
"I learned from the best."
I rolled my eyes, stomach clenching when I realized Jace was pulling himself out of the water, distracting me for a moment. Then again, now that something treacherous had shifted in my brain, I would have been hard pressed not to be distracted by the sight of him dripping water, that damned suit sticking to him like a second skin. God, if I thought him capable of it, I’d accuse him of purposefully having chosen the thinnest material possible.
"You can practically see the veins."
Dominic grunted. “What?"
I stiffened, realizing my mouth had apparently taken that thought and decided it needed voicing. Which it most certainly didnot. "What?"
"You said something."
"Not that I'm aware of."
Dominic rolled over and stared at me. “But you did, I heard you."
"Fine, what did I say?" I challenged, heart giving a heavy thump. God, the last thing I needed was for anyone,especiallymy family, to come even remotely close to the truth of what was going on between Jace and me. As far as anyone needed to know, the two of us despised each other, which was true, and we were learning how to deal with each other's presence, also true, but there was nothing else of note.
Dominic opened his mouth but stopped when Jace reached us, snatching up a towel and giving me a dirty look before glancing over at Dom and nodding. “Actually getting any relaxation over here?"
"You don't relax around Mason," Dom chuckled, giving me another curious glance before sitting up. "Done torturing my nephew?"
Jace gave him a small smile, and I felt...something zip through me, disappearing before I could figure out what it was. Hell, it wasn't that great a smile, just the corner of his mouth twitching up, lips parting enough to show an unusually pointed canine, and little else. Not one damn thing special about it, and yet my body had...had what? That hadn't even felt like lust that was?—
"Torture? He's going to wear me out long before he gets worn out," Jace snorted, looking around and seeing that the only available spot to sit was on the chair next to mine, rather than Dom's. I watched him fight with the idea for a moment, with a twitch of his face and his jaw tightening, before he dropped into the seat, doing his best impression of being unbothered. Of course, being unbothered was a foreign concept for Jace, so it wasn't a convincing act.
"Yeah," Dom chuckled. "He's got a lot of energy. Most of the time, it seems like it's locked up in his head. Doesn't always get to let it out like this."
"Hmm," Jace turned his eyes toward the pool where Micah, no longer being thrown around like a toy, was working on...well, I didn't actually know what he was working on. I might have called it synchronized swimming, but that usually required other people. Maybe interpretive dance done in the water? Or maybe he was just doing whatever came into his head and felt good, which I'd seen him do before. "Has anyone tried to get him into some sort of sport?"
"Tried a couple," I said with a shrug. "They didn't stick."
"What did you try?"
"Why? Afraid we missed something?"
"Jesus Christ, Mason. It's just a fucking question."
I rolled my eyes. “Soccer, baseball, and yes, your glorious and ever-loved hockey."
"Oh, yeah," Dom piped up. "I forgot you were on the hockey team. Used to think you were built more for football, but then again, you took them to the championship, so I had to eat my words."
Jace shot him a grateful look. “It's always a little weird to remember stuff like that from high school."
