Elijah #7
“As if a non-asshole could put up with him for long...and by the way, I don’t have a problem with it either.
Anyone with eyes can see you two morons were handcrafted for one another.
I’m just glad Eli did end up having a little bi in him or.
..something like that. Would’ve been a waste for you two to have to deal with other people when the perfect person was stuck on the other side of some sexuality line. ”
“I, uh...thanks.”
Mason glanced at Jace, smiling gently. “Softy.”
“Shut it,” Jace grumbled, but anyone could see his cheeks gaining color as he stared at the floor.
“I’m not understanding the total problem here,” Marty said, glancing between us.
Moira sighed. “Someone with an ax to grind revealed to the internet that these two are together. So pretty much all their followers, and the followers of anyone posting or talking about the video that was posted, or just...scanning TikTok, Instagram, and even YouTube casually, will find out because it’s practically exploded over the internet. ”
“So,” Marty frowned. “The whole world, potentially, knows about the two of you.”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh. “And the reactions have been...not great.”
“Because you’re stepbrothers.”
“Yes.”
“I see,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she looked around the table. “And who at this table knew about it before dinner?”
“There it is,” Dom said, obvious in how he scooted his chair closer to me.
“Every single one of them...except maybe Arlo,” I said, because I was done being in the spotlight, let someone else take the heat for a while.
“Really? Every single one of you?” Marty demanded. “And no one thought to tell me?”
“It wasn’t our business to tell,” Arlo said, and I pinched my nose because, of course, Arlo knew too.
The guy didn’t even use social media, and yet he knew.
That told me just how far-reaching that goddamn video was.
“It wasn’t our business to know until they wanted to tell us, but the world is full of cruel people, and the internet is their favorite weapon. ”
The way Marty’s anger deflated, I thought perhaps everyone else had been smart enough to let Arlo do the talking. The guy could be weird and morbid, but his logic and reason were impeccable whenever he decided to speak.
“Is that what made you disappear off the face of the Earth?” Dad asked.
Milo squirmed in his seat. “Yes. We...found out what was going on from Eli’s ex, and she showed us the original video.”
“Let me see that video,” Marty said, leaning forward.
“No!” everyone but Arlo and Dad exclaimed loudly, making Marty and Dad jerk back in surprise.
“Oh God ,” Milo groaned when he realized. “They’ve all seen it.”
“At least it didn’t show anything important,” I muttered, feeling my face warm.
“Showed more than any of us wanted to see,” Dom said and smirked when I shot him not one, but two birds.
“Okay, I don’t want to see the video then,” Marty said, gesturing toward Milo. “Go on.”
“I...freaked out...okay fine, I fucked up and completely flew the coop, alright? Both Eli and I were freaking out, and I was the one who bailed because I couldn’t deal, and I left him to deal with everyone freaking out on him, while I should have been there.
Instead, he had to have Raf and Marshall come and get me to make fucking sense again. ”
Mason stared at me. “You sent his ex after him?”
“I didn’t send his ex after anyone. Raf volunteered.”
“When did Raf find out?”
“About us? Uh, about the same time everyone else did.”
“So...he finds out Milo cheated on him and?—”
“I didn’t cheat!” Milo protested hotly. “I did some fucked up shit recently, but I didn’t cheat!”
“He didn’t,” I promised them. “I’m not going to go into detail about his and Raf’s relationship, but he didn’t break any relationship rules.”
“Still...he volunteered to go after Milo for you?”
“Yes,” Milo said with a grumble. “Because Raf is a good guy who cares, and he wanted to help. He’s an idiot for doing that for us, for me , but he did.
Both he and Marshall came for me and helped me.
Otherwise, I might still be in that shitty motel room, drinking myself stupid and feeling sorry for myself. ”
The part about Marshall was emphatic and aimed directly at Marty, who looked up and scowled at the mention of the name. Poor Marshall did not seem to enjoy the spotlight any more than I did when the whole family turned and looked at him in curiosity.
There was silence, and then Dad nudged Marty, giving her a frown. She glared at him before letting out the most indignant and offended huff I’d ever heard. She cleared her throat. “Marshall?”
“Yes?” he responded, probably trying not to sound like he was expecting a gunshot, but you could hear the wariness in his voice.
“Thank you for helping my sons and talking sense into one of them,” she said, and although it sounded pained, I had to give her credit; she sounded like she meant it.
“Yes,” Dad said, sounding amused. “Thank you for helping our sons, including yours.”
Marty looked like she’d swallowed a lemon dipped in sour powder but said nothing.
It was an absurdly lovely gesture on my dad’s part, not only thanking Marshall for what he’d done but also specifying that Milo was also Marshall’s son, even if the man had missed out on so many years.
Perhaps it could, and was even meant to be taken as an acknowledgment that Marshall would stick around in Milo’s life instead of disappearing again.
“Of course,” Marshall said stiffly. I felt Milo shift next to me and smiled when I saw him take Marshall’s hand, smiling when Marshall gave him an uncertain, wobbly smile.
“Well, that certainly explains a lot,” Marty said after a few seconds of not exactly comfortable but not awkward silence.
“Not all of it,” I said with a sigh. “Our newfound infamy is another reason we wanted to talk to everyone.”
“Oh, I know it has to be hard having all those people giving you so much hell, but we already said we just want you two to be happy,” Marty said gently. “That’s what matters here.”
“Well...it’s not that simple,” I said with a wince.
“I don’t...oh,” she said. “They know your names?”
I wasn’t surprised that it was businesslike, knowledgeable, practical Moira who spoke up.
“It’s not hard to find anyone’s name these days if you know where to start, and these two are so all over the internet that it wouldn’t be hard.
So yes, they’ll know Eli’s name, and so know Marcus and your last names.
They’ll know Milo’s, so they’ll have your last name.
Which means they’ll be able to do basic searches and find out about every one of us. ..and our businesses.”
“And every bit of hate that we’re getting could and probably will come back and get every single one of you,” Milo added, and I would bet his heart was sinking just as heavily and swiftly as mine.
“Not mine,” Mason said with a smirk. “Are you kidding? My business thrives on weird, off-the-wall shit. If people find out my stepbrother and half-brother are together, they’re probably going to want to see what kind of shit I let go on in my club.
You guys might have just brought me more business. ”
“I anticipated there might be problems on my end, and I spoke to Mr. Dalton already,” Arlo said softly, referencing the owner of the funeral home where he worked.
“He informed me that he trusted I would never allow personal business to interfere with my work, and that the grieving aren’t going to care about the latest internet drama.
We’ve not had anyone approach me at work, but I was assured that I have every right to have any harassers led off the property, and he assured me there would be no problems from him. ”
“Eh,” Dom grunted, and we looked at him as he leaned onto the back two legs of his chair.
“MMA circles can still be pretty homophobic, but I’ve talked about my family enough that no one really expects anything normal to come out of this family.
If anyone brings it up in an interview, I can handle it.
I thought it was going to be rough when they found out that my sister’s baby daddy had shown up again to shack up with our brother, but it turned out to be fun.
I have a pretty good publicity face, so this is just another challenge for me if it pops up, not going to hurt my career. ”
All of which made me feel a lot better until I turned and saw Moira frowning. The others could all deal with the issues, ignore them, or roll with them, but it was ultimately the hotel we had been most worried about. From the looks of it, Moira didn’t have a ready-made solution.
“The hotel is...probably going to take a hit,” she said and winced.
“I know that’s not what you two want to hear.
The connection between you and the hotel hasn’t been made yet, but I’d be shocked if someone doesn’t make it as the fuss starts to die down, just to generate more views.
We’re going to field messages and comments on our accounts, probably get review bombed, and business. ..well?—”
“I see,” Marty said quietly. “And just as spring break season is picking up too.”
“And do not take that as me telling you two to feel ashamed or stop what you’re doing,” Moira added with a vehemence that took me off guard. “Jace is right, you’re both morons, but you’re morons who deserve each other.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the sweetest thing Moira’s ever said to us,” Milo muttered.
“Mmm, she was the one who said that if anyone could pull off making a living from social media, it was us, even when the rest of the family wasn’t so sure,” I reminded him.
Moira ignored us, rubbing her temples. “Have you come up with an idea of what to do about this?”