Page 8 of Dead Serious with Benefits
Emotional intelligence was precisely what people like Moira and Mason had. However, they didn’t have a lot of empathy, compared to people like Milo and Dom, who were empathetic but lacked the emotional intelligence to read it appropriately. Of my siblings, only Eli seemed to possess both, though it was harder to detect because of how subtle he could be, unlike his partner in crime, who could be read as easily as a toddler’s book.
“She knows him better than anyone,” I affirmed.
Dom glanced at Moira with a grin. “Think we should go find out?”
“Really? As if we don’t have enough drama going on?”
“You’re really going to pass up the chance to rag on Mason?”
Moira’s expression froze, and then she grimaced. “Damn it, you’re right. That would be stupid.”
I smiled. “Even Mason would admit it would be stupid to pass up a prime opportunity to get him good.”
Dom grinned. “Wanna help?”
“I’m not sure what good I would be,” I said.
“Are you kidding?” Moira scoffed. “He’ll smell Dom’s bullshit a mile away, and he’ll...senseI’m up to something.”
“Twins,” Dom said, giving her a cheeky grin.
“Shut up,” she said. “It’s not some mystical sharing a womb bond.”
“Right, sure. Because we haven’t known you two for years or anything?—”
“We’ve been together since before we left the womb. Of course, we can read each other. It’s intuition. And there’s nothing mystical or psychic about intuition. It’s your mind noticing things you’re not because your brain can’t always be that cluttered. His is just highly developed...especially with me. His point,” Moira continued, giving Dom a dirty look to make sure he shut up. “Is that Mason won’t suspect you.”
“No one ever suspects you,” Dom said with a chuckle. “And don’t worry, we only need you to keep him distracted.”
“How?” I asked, warming to the idea a little. Jokes and gags weren’t typically my thing, but I had to admit that if anyone deserved to be pranked, it was Mason.
“I don’t know, don’t you two like to talk about clubs?” Moira asked.
“Which is still weird, you going to a club...and you never ask anyone along,” Dom said with a shake of his head.
“It’s...something I like to do,” I said with a shrug. They were my siblings and loved me, but that didn’t mean they understood everything about me. Clubs and parties weren’t necessarily my thing, but like visits with my family, they were a good contrast from my professional life...and perhaps my private life as well. Noise and life weren’t natural in the life I led, but they were important to have...in small doses anyway. It was hard to explain that to others, mainly because people had difficulty understanding it.
Which was why, with a smile and a shrug, I agreed to their plan. Love was something we should hold tight to for as long as we had it, because one day it, or you, would be gone.
WARD
“Hey, hey!” I called over the music. A few heads jerked up, and I jabbed a finger at the two screwing around near the table. “Don’t go fucking that up!”
They followed my gaze to the tray on the table in front of them and blanched. That was a few hundred dollars of premium good powder. I could afford it, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see perfectly good cocaine go to waste because some idiots decided to start messing around. I gestured toward them with a double-handed shooing motion. “Go get horny and felt up somewhere else.”
The guy shrugged and grinned sheepishly before he pulled the woman he’d been groping away. She gave me a pretty unimpressed look. I’m sure she was thinking the same as I had, that I could afford the loss. I could, but that wasn’t the point. They were here because I wanted them to be, and that could be changed real fast. I was all for debauchery and hedonism, but wasting the stuff that had them flying high and horny was stupid.
Fun stupid was entertaining, but stupid stupid was just...stupid.
I leaned back into the huge couch and looked at the barely controlled chaos unfolding around me as I grabbed my drink and took a sip. The bartender I’d hired for the night was spectacular, and I had to remember to keep her in mind for the future.
“Someone has earned themselves one hell of a tip for the night,” I said with a chuckle as I swirled the glass. I could almost hear the clink of the ice sphere, but alas, the music and conversations were far too loud.
Beside me, someone leaned over, smiling and looking at my glass before she spoke. When I raised a brow, tapping my ear, she leaned in closer with what was supposed to be an inviting smirk but was a little too sloppy to be appealing. “Something interesting in there?”
“Where?” I called, frowning as I realized the music must have been turned up without my noticing. It had not been this hard to hear people earlier, and as much as I was all for making sure the music was loud, I still wanted to talk to someone without bellowing. It was precisely why I preferred having these kinds of ‘gatherings’ in my penthouse or a VIP room at a club with soundproofing.
She leaned over and tapped my glass. “In there...you were staring.”
