Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

a goddamn boner 
Though it might be too late for that.
Jules: Coward 
Josh: Tease all you want, Red
Josh: I’ll remember every word next time I’m fucking you 
I shoved the phone in my pocket before I did something stupid, like bail
on the game, drive to her house, and make good on my threat.
On second thought...
“Who’s the girl?” Alex’s words threw a bucket of cold water over my X-
rated fantasies.
Baseball game. VIP suite. Reconciliation with Alex.
Right.
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, trying to hide the lingering
effects of my texts with Jules. “How the hell did you know it was a girl?”
“Your face gives it away.” Below us, a collective groan erupted in the
stadium when the Dodgers scored another run. “So, who is it?” Alex faced
me, a touch of curiosity warming his cool green eyes. “You looked
disgustingly besotted while texting.”
“I did not look besotted.” I finished my beer and reached for another one.
Was it my fifth or sixth? I wasn’t sure. My tolerance had jumped, and it took
a lot to even get me buzzed these days. “Besides, you’re one to talk. Next
time Ava texts you, I’ll take a picture of your face so you know what you
look like.”
Instead of taking the bait, Alex tipped his head to the side. The curiosity
sharpened into knowing. “It’s not just sex. You’re dating her.”
Motherfucker. “I never said that.”
“You implied it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
I released an aggravated sigh. 
Man, fuck having a best friend. They were overrated know-it-alls.
“Fine. I may be dating someone.” Trying to outargue Alex was like trying
to nail jelly to a wall—futile and a waste of time. “You don’t know her.”
“Don’t be too sure. I know a lot of people.”
“You don’t know her.” If I told him, he would tell Ava, and I would
rather guzzle a gallon of filthy Potomac River water than have that
conversation with my sister. 

---

Now I understood how she’d felt when she’d been dating Alex behind my
back.
“Hmm.” He leaned back in his seat, his eyes piercing through my skin.
“Josh Chen dating seriously. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“Sometimes, people change. And sometimes, they meet people who make
them want to change.”
“And sometimes, people sound like a human fortune cookie.”
Except for a few rare gems, Alex’s advice swung from wildly disturbing
—like the time he suggested I blackmail a professor who had it out for me
because I’d corrected him in class—to irritatingly vague. 
“Speaking of change…” I hesitated before continuing. “Michael’s been
sending me letters. I haven’t opened any yet, but I might visit him soon. In
prison.”
I hadn’t even told Ava yet, and I wasn’t sure I ever would. She’d finally
moved on from what Michael did; I didn’t want to drag her back into that
mess. 
However, that meant Alex was the only other person who might
understand the significance of what I was saying.
He stilled, his features hardening until they appeared carved from stone.
Michael may not have murdered his family, but he had tried to murder Ava.
It was an equal offense in his eyes. 
“I see.” Zero inflection. “When are you visiting him?”
“I don’t know.” I stared at the field without really seeing it. “Next day I
have off, maybe. Don’t even know what I’ll say to him.”
So, how’s the food in prison?
Hey, Dad. Did you always want to grow up to be an attempted murderer,
or were you inspired by the true crime shows Mom liked to watch?
You’re a piece of shit and I wished I hated you as much as I should.
I rubbed a hand over my face, exhausted just thinking about it. 
I needed to talk to him, but that didn’t mean I wanted to. 
Alex was quiet for a long moment before he surprised the fuck out of me
by saying, “Maybe you should open his letters.” 
A startled laugh escaped my throat. “Are you shitting me? I thought you
would try to discourage me from seeing him.”
“He’s a piece of shit, and I would happily watch him bleed if I could,”
Alex said coldly. “But he’s your father, and as long as you avoid confronting

---

him, he’ll always have a hold on you. The bastard doesn’t deserve it.”
It sounded disturbingly close to Jules’s advice. 
Intellectually, I already knew I needed closure, but hearing Alex lay it out
in such stark, unsentimental terms hit hard. 
“Yeah.” I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, giving up any
pretense of watching the game. “Is it bad that part of me wishes he had a
good excuse for doing what he did? I know nothing can excuse it, but…fuck.
I don’t know.” I rubbed my hand over my face again, wishing I could
articulate the turmoil eating away at my insides. 
“Ava had complicated feelings toward him, and she was the one he tried
to kill.” Alex’s eyes darkened. “When someone raises you, it’s hard to let that
go.” 
“That apply to you too?”
Alex’s uncle had been the one behind his family’s hit, and he’d died in a
mysterious fire soon after that revelation came to light. 
I never asked about the fire, because I was sure I didn’t want to know the
answer. When it came to Alex, ignorance was bliss. For the most part.
“No.”
I shook my head, exasperated but unsurprised by the curt answer. “You
think I should visit Michael?”
“I think you should do whatever you need to do to put him behind you.”
Alex shifted his attention back to the game. The Nats had closed the score
when we weren’t looking; they were now down by only one. “Don’t let him
ruin your life any more than he already has.”
Alex’s words ran through my mind for the rest of the game. 
They were still echoing in my head when I returned home and opened the
desk drawer. A thick pile of letters nestled against the dark wood, waiting for
me to pick them up.