Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

You’ve gotta be shitting me.
I kept my expression neutral, but my muscles locked with tension as the
movie’s opening scene unfurled.
“Why are you so quiet?” Jules slid a sidelong glance in my direction.
“Don’t tell me you don’t like this movie either. It’s a classic.”
A dozen excuses sat on the tip of my tongue, but the truth swept past all
of them and spilled out before I could stop it. “This was me and my dad’s
favorite movie,” I said shortly. “We watched it every year on my birthday.
Tradition.”
Jules’s face softened for the first time that night. “We can watch
something else.”
“Nah, we’re good. It’s just a movie.”
Onscreen, Marlin the clownfish pursued the boat that had captured his
son Nemo to no avail.
It was ironic that a movie about a role model parent was the one that
reminded me most of Michael, considering he was the exact opposite of a
good parent.
“Finding Nemo is fish propaganda,” Jules said out of nowhere. “Did you
know real-life fish are terrible parents? Most fish species are happy to

---

abandon their newborns to fend for themselves. It’s not worth the energy and
risk for them to try and protect their offspring.”
A startled laugh escaped me. “How do you know that?”
“I did a report on it in high school. I got an A,” Jules added with pride.
I suppressed another smile. “Of course you did.” My leg brushed against
hers when I shifted positions, and a tiny electric zing shot up my thigh before
I yanked it away. “What does your dad do?” I asked, trying to cover up my
knee-jerk reaction.
Part of me was also genuinely curious. Jules never talked about her
family.
She shrugged. “No idea. He left when I was a baby.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.” Way to step into it, Chen.
“It’s fine. From what I hear, he was an asshole anyway.”
“Children of asshole fathers unite,” I quipped, earning myself a small
laugh.
We fell into a comfortable silence as we watched the movie. I only half
paid attention to what was happening onscreen; the other half was busy
gauging Jules’s reactions to my favorite scenes. Her laugh when Marlin met
Dory, her gasp when the shark started chasing the pair, her humming along to
Dory’s famous just keep swimming mantra.
She must’ve seen the movie already, but she reacted like it was her first
time. It was oddly charming.
I dragged my eyes back to the screen. Focus.
It was only when we neared the end of the film that I realized the rain had
stopped. I checked on Jules to find her passed out with her head nestled
against the throw pillow on her other side.
One of our rules was no sleepovers, but she looked so peaceful I couldn’t
bring myself to wake her up.
It was only one night, and the weather had forced her to stay over. It
wasn’t like we were going to make a habit of staying over each other’s
places.
Just one night. That’s it.

---

24

---

JULES
I 
WOKE
TO
THE
SCENT
OF
BACON
AND
COFFEE
, 
MY
FAVORITE
SMELL
IN
THE
world. Individually, they were amazing, but combined? Utter perfection.
I was surprised Stella was cooking bacon, though. She only ate meat once
in a blue moon. Now that I thought about it, she didn’t drink coffee, either,
just tea and her criminally grassy green smoothies.
Weird. Maybe she was entering a new coffee and meat phase.
I opened my eyes and stretched, ready to bask in the glory of my beautiful
new room at The Mirage. Instead, I was greeted with the world’s most
hideous painting. The mess of brown and green looked like a herd of cats had
vomited on it.
What the hell?
I shot up straight, my heart pounding with panic until bits and pieces from
last night slowly came back to me.
Hyacinth. Max. Josh. Storm.
I must’ve fallen asleep during the movie, and Josh must’ve moved me
into his room sometime during the night.
My heart rate slowed. Thank God I wasn’t in some psycho murderer’s sex
dungeon, though I wasn’t sure sleeping over Josh’s place was much better.
I looked around his room, taking in the simple wooden furniture, navy
comforter, and light gray walls. Atrocious art aside, it looked like a regular
guy’s room, though the faint scent of citrus and soap lingering in the air was
so delicious I wanted to bottle it up for future enjoyment.
My eyes landed on the digital clock on the nightstand. 9:32 a.m. Shit. I
should’ve been long gone by now.
I climbed out of bed and quickly washed my face and rinsed my mouth in

---

the bathroom across the hall before I walked into the kitchen. I opened my
mouth, ready to bid Josh a hasty goodbye, but my words died at the sight
before me.
Josh was cooking. Shirtless.