Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

Here it was.
I curled my hands into fists and braced myself for what he had to say
next.
“You owe me. I took the fall for you.”
“What do you want, Max?” I didn’t point out that he had, in fact,
committed a crime and took the fall for himself. There was no point. “I’m
sorry you got caught. Truly. But I can’t give you those seven years back.”
“No,” he said, the picture of reason. “But you can do me a favor. It’s only
fair.”
Needles of dread pricked at me. “What kind of favor?”
“It wouldn’t be any fun if I told you now, would it?” Max smiled. “You’ll
see. I’ll let you know when the time is right.”
“I’m not having sex with you.” The mere idea turned my stomach.
“Oh, no.” His laugh bounced around the hallway and scraped against my
skin like nails on chalkboard. “After how well-used you must be after all
these years? No, thanks.”
Heat rushed to my face, and I resisted the urge to stab him in the balls
with one of my stiletto heels.
“Although you have always been enthusiastic in the sack, so you have
that going for you.” My stomach hollowed when he pulled out his phone. “I
even have evidence.”

---

He pressed a button, and my stomach churned when past me’s moans
filled the air.
“Right there,” onscreen me gasped, sounding disgustingly sincere even
though I’d hated every second of what I’d been doing. “That feels so good.”
“Yeah, you like that?” The man’s rough voice sent a wave of nausea
crashing through me. “I knew you were a fucking slut the moment I saw
you.”
The video was grainy, but it was clear enough to see both our faces and
his cock as he pumped in and out of me. I’d barely known the guy, but Max
had convinced me to sleep with him and capture it on camera.
I’d been such a fucking idiot.
“Turn it off.” I couldn’t stand the sound of my fake moans. Each one
drilled into my brain and dragged me back to the dark days when I’d craved
approval so much I would’ve done anything for it, including have sex with a
man twice my age just so I could steal from him.
“But we haven’t gotten to the good part yet.” Max’s smile widened. “I
love it when you let him fuck you in—”
“Turn it off!” Cold sweat drenched my skin. “I’ll do your fucking favor.”
The video finally, blessedly stopped.
“Good. I knew you were smart.” Max pocketed his phone. I wasn’t dumb
enough to think stealing it would do anything except piss him off. He must
have backups of the video stashed somewhere. “After all, you don’t want to
lose your job at Silver & Klein, do you? A fancy law firm like that probably
wouldn’t react well to one of their employees having a sex tape floating
around online.”
The bile churned harder. “How do you know about that? How did you
even find me and get my number?”
Max shrugged. “It’s not hard to track you down when pictures of you
with a queen are splashed all over the internet, especially with the royal
wedding is coming up. Once I discovered your new name, it took only a
simple Google search to turn up what I needed. Jules Ambrose, member of
the Thayer Law Review. Jules Ambrose, recipient a full-ride scholarship to
Thayer Law.” His smile turned bitter. “You’re living a good life, J. As for
your number…well, those things aren’t exactly classified. Paid some cash to
an online service and voila. Done.”
Fuck. I’d never considered the consequences of having my connection
with Bridget be so publicized. But I never expected Max would look for me

---

after all these years. I’d feared it, but I hadn’t expected it.
“And Hyacinth? How’d you know I would be here?”