Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

for months?” She pointed at Jules. “And you’ve been sleeping with my
brother for months? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me earlier!”
Jules gave a helpless shrug. “I never found the right time to tell you I was
banging your brother.”
The green tint on Ava’s skin deepened.
“You did the same with him!” I gestured toward Alex, who watched the
scene unfold with a bored expression. He didn’t even try to help. Traitor.
“You guys were dating for months before I found out. Don’t be a hypocrite.”
“That was different,” Ava growled. “We didn’t loathe each other with a
burning passion, then turn around and start making out.”
“I know this is a shock, considering my past…differences with Josh.”
Jules’s bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. “But with us working
together at the clinic and seeing each other so much, it just sort of happened.
We really hadn’t planned to keep it from you for so long. We just weren’t
sure it was even going anywhere, and we didn’t want to tell you until we
were. It would make things too awkward.”
“Right.” Ava closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Alex, bring me a
knife.”
I paled. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I held up one hand and drew Jules closer
to me with the other. “I’m your only brother. You love me. Remember when
I gave you the last of my Milk Duds at the movie theater? Good times.”
Ava ignored me until Alex returned with the requested knife.
I scowled at him. So this was how I was going to die. Betrayed by my
best friend again and stabbed to death by my sister. Julius Caesar had nothing
on me in terms of a shitty death.
My heart pounded as Ava grasped the knife, leaned forward…and opened

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the dessert box. She sliced off a piece of cake and took a bite.
Silence descended.
“Should we say something else?” Jules whispered.
“She still has a knife in her hand,” I whispered back. “Let’s wait.”
We watched while Ava finished eating with an unreadable expression.
But when she spoke again, her voice had lost some of its hard edge. “How
serious is this?”
Relief loosened the knot of anxiety in my chest. I recognized that voice.
She was coming around.
I wasn’t worried about her cutting us off forever because we snuck
around behind her back, but I also didn’t want to spend weeks on the outs
with my sister.
“I no longer want to kill her every time I set eyes on her, so pretty
serious,” I joked before sobering. “Listen, I know this must be weird as fuck
for you, but I promise, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious. You know
what I asked you when I found out about you and Alex? What you said?” I
flicked my gaze to Alex, whose bored expression gave way to one with more
interest. “I feel the same about Jules.”
“Ava.” I stared at her in shock, trying to make sense of a world that had
turned upside down. My sister and my best friend. My best friend and my
sister. Together. “Do you…love him?”
There was a short pause.
When Ava finally answered, her voice was soft but steady. “Yes. I do.”
Present Ava stared at me a second longer before she stood and tilted her
head toward the kitchen. “Let’s talk. Alone.”
Jules gave me a semi-nervous glance as I stood. I responded with what I
hoped was a reassuring smile before I joined my sister in the kitchen.
“Did you mean what you said?” Ava asked once we were out of the
others’ earshot. “About what you feel for her?”
“Yeah.” My face softened. “I love her, Ave. We may still fight and argue
sometimes, but at the end of the day…she’s it.”
I would take a thousand fights with Jules over a thousand easy days with
anyone else.
Because I didn’t want easy. I wanted her.
“Right.” Ava sighed. Her shoulders finally relaxed, and a smidge of guilt
passed over her face. “I didn’t mean to give you such a hard time, especially
since you were so understanding when I told you about Alex. But I know how

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you are with women, and I know how Jules is with guys. You both hate
commitment. I just don’t want you breaking each other’s hearts. I love you
both, and I can’t choose a side if that happens. That being said…” She jabbed
the blunt edge of her knife into my chest. “If you hurt her, I will murder you.”
“What makes you think I’d be the one doing the hurting? I could very
easily be the hurtee.”
Was that a word? If it wasn’t, it was now.
“Murder. You,” Ava emphasized with additional jabs.
“Fine.” I grinned. “So, does that mean you’re okay with us dating?”
“I guess,” she grumbled through a burgeoning smile. “My brother
brought to his knees by my best friend. Good job, Jules.”
Another scowl replaced my grin. “She did not bring me to my knees. At
least, not figuratively.”
This time, Ava’s smile was the one that disappeared. “Okay, one rule.
Don’t talk or make innuendos about your sex life. Ever.” She mimed
gagging.
I laughed and pulled her into my chest for a hug. I ruffled her hair the
way I did when we were kids, earning myself a muffled protest. “I won’t, but
the rule applies to you, too.”
“Fine.” Ava batted my hand away and smoothed her hair with another
grumble, but her annoyed expression soon melted into something softer.
“Seriously, I’m happy you’re happy. I know things have been hard with…
everything. I’ll always be here for you, but I’m glad you have someone like
Jules by your side. She can be a bit…dramatic sometimes”—we both let out
knowing laughs—“but she has one of the biggest hearts I know.”
A ball of emotion formed in my throat. “I know.” I squeezed Ava tighter
and dropped a small kiss on the top of her head. “Thanks, sis.”
Even though we annoyed the hell out of each other sometimes, I was
lucky to have her as my sister. Before I met Alex, she was my sounding
board for all my problems and vice versa. We didn’t confide in each other as
often now that we were all grown up with our own lives, but there would
never be a day when we didn’t have each other’s backs.

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55

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JOSH
A
FTER
WE
RETURNED
TO
THE
LIVING
ROOM
, A
VA
WHISKED
J
ULES
AWAY
FOR
what I assumed was a similar conversation to the one we had, minus the
sibling stuff. However, instead of staying in the apartment, they decamped to
a nearby bar so Ava could quote unquote try and forget she ever heard the
phrase banging your brother.
Personally, I thought they left the apartment so they could secretly plan
how to gang up on me in the future—I know how they work—but I was so
relieved by Ava’s acceptance of my and Jules’s relationship, I didn’t care.
After the girls left, I joined Alex by the wall of windows, where he stood
with a pensive expression.
“I’m surprised you didn’t go with them.” I came up beside him and stared
down at the city laid out before us. Dusk transformed the skies into a palette
of soft pinks and purples, and lights flickered on in the sea of buildings until
they resembled a carpet of tiny jewels. “You’re usually glued to Ava’s side.”
Alex had been paranoid about Ava’s safety since his uncle kidnapped her;
he even hired a bodyguard for her until she chafed at the constant shadow.
They got into a huge fight over it before Alex caved and dialed back on the
protection detail. 
“We’re working on that.” A hint of disgruntlement colored his voice.
“She says I’m too paranoid.”
“You are. And I say this as her brother, someone who’s very invested in
her well-being.” 
He let out a small rumble of irritation but let the issue drop. “There is
another reason I stayed behind. I need…I want to tell you something.”
My eyebrows climbed at his uncharacteristic stumble. “Okay. As long as

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it’s not another confession about a seven-year lie, because I swear to God…”
“Now who’s the paranoid one?” Alex rubbed a hand over his jaw, his
brow knitting in a frown.
The longer he hesitated, the more my curiosity spiked. Alex rarely
struggled for words. Except for Ava, he didn’t give enough of a shit about
anyone to care how his statements were received.
“I’ve never had much of a family,” he finally said. “As you know, my
parents and sisters were murdered when I was a child, and my uncle was a
psychopath.” 
Only Alex could deliver such brutal facts with such unflinching honesty. 
“I didn’t have many friends growing up either, and that was fine. I dislike
a majority of people I meet. I had my business and side projects, and that was
enough.” His throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “Then I met you and Ava.
You were both quite irritating in the beginning, with your insistence on
adhering to social niceties and your determination to see the best in people,
no matter how foolish an endeavor that is.” 
I snorted, but a strange tightness gripped my chest.
“But…” Alex hesitated again. “You also saw the best in me. You’re the
only people who’ve ever seen more in me than a bank account, a status
symbol, or a business connection. We may have different views on life and
the way we approach things, but you and Ava…” His voice softened.
“You’re the closest thing I have to a family.”