Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

to lose, she mouthed.
It did. I hated losing. But I couldn’t even be mad because what she just
did? Fucking genius.
I rubbed a hand over my mouth, unable to hold back a laugh of grudging
admiration.
Jules Ambrose was something else.

---

17

---

JULES
T
HE
FINAL
SCORE
IN
OUR
GAME
? S
IXTEEN
NUMBERS
FOR
J
OSH
, 
TWENTY
-
SEVEN
for me.
“You cheated.” Despite his declaration, the gleam in Josh’s eye told me
he was more upset he hadn’t thought of my idea first than by my
unconventional strategy.
“Can’t cheat if there were no rules.” The thrill of victory added an extra
bounce to my step.
We’d left the bar after tallying our numbers and were currently walking
home from the Hazelburg metro station. Maybe it was the alcohol or the body
heat radiating off Josh as he walked beside me, but I was roasting in my coat
even though the early evening temperature hovered in the low fifties. I didn’t
feel like carrying it though, so I kept the coat on.
“Should’ve known you’d find a loophole.” Josh angled his chin toward
my bag, where I’d stuffed the dozens of napkins with men’s numbers
scribbled on them. “You gonna call any of them?”
“Maybe. Couldn’t be worse than trying to find someone on a dating app.”
My smile dimmed when I remembered my encounter with Todd. He had
some nerve, approaching me like that. Then again, men possessed nothing if
not audacity.
“Hmm.”
The disgruntled sound settled into my bones and caused my pulse to
spike. Was Josh…jealous?
No. That was ridiculous. To be jealous, he had to like me, and while we’d
developed a grudging mutual respect, we didn’t like each other. I still wanted
to punch the cocky smirk off his face every time I saw him.

---

“And you? Are you going to call any of the numbers you got?” I asked
casually.
“Maybe,” Josh said. “Haven’t thought about it.”
“Hmm.”
Shit. The sound slipped out without thinking. Now it sounded like I was
jealous.
“What’s the deal with you lately, anyway?” I added quickly in an attempt
to draw attention away from my slipup. “You used to go through a different
girl every week, but I haven’t seen you with someone in months.”
“You’re exaggerating, and I didn’t go through them. I made my
intentions clear from the start. I wasn’t interested in a committed relationship,
and they all knew it before we did anything.” He slid a glance in my
direction. “You understand.”
I did. Our approach to sex and relationships was one of the few things we
had in common. Like Josh, I’d never been interested in long-term dating.
There were too many goals to reach, too much of the world to see, and too
much of life to live without being tied down to one person.
Besides, after my only experience with a serious relationship, I wasn’t in
any hurry to jump into another one.
“You want to attend law school?” Max grimaced. “Why?”
“I think I’d make a good lawyer.” I twisted the hem of my shirt around
my finger. It was a new piece I’d bought with my allowance from Alastair, my
stepfather. After years of threadbare clothing, I couldn’t stop touching it to
make sure it was real, that I was really wearing a designer shirt that cost
more than my old monthly budget for food. “It pays well if I go into
corporate law, and I can help—”
A loud laugh cut me off. “Oh, come on, Jules.”
“What?” My brow creased with confusion and a touch of hurt.