Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

make lemonade and hang out with someone whose life gave them vodka. She
was one of the reasons I’d continued volunteering despite my crazy residency
schedule. The clinic staff had become my surrogate family over the years,
and even though I only had time to drop by once or twice a week in between
shifts, they kept me grounded.
“Wasn’t expecting to see you today.” Barbs tucked her pen behind her
ear. “A little birdie told me you just came off a night shift.”
I didn’t ask how she knew. Barbs was the most plugged-in person in the
Thayer Hospital system. She knew things about people before they did.
“Trust me, I’m going home and crashing soon.” I scrubbed a hand over
my face, trying to keep my eyes open. “I just need to grab my charger.”
I’d volunteered at LHAC so long I had my own desk. The bulk of my
work involved staffing its free health clinic for uninsured health patients, but
I also consulted on various legal cases that required a medical opinion.
“Before you do, you should say hi to our new research associate.” Barbs
nodded at the kitchen door down the hall. “You’ll like her. She’s feisty.”
I raised my eyebrows. “New associate already?”
LHAC had been inundated with new cases recently. Lisa, the legal
director, had been talking about hiring a short-term associate to help out until
the rush was over, but I hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
“Yep. Third year at Thayer Law.” Barbs’s eyes gleamed in a way that
sent my guard shooting straight up. “Smart girl. Pretty too, if a bit eager. She
started on Monday, and I found her waiting outside fifteen minutes before the
clinic opened.”

---

“Congrats, you just described half the girls at Thayer.” A majority of the
university’s students were Type A to a fault. “Don’t think about it,” I added
when Barbs opened her mouth. “I don’t do office romances.”
I had a reputation as a player, but I would never hook up with someone I
worked with, not even in a volunteer setting.
Barbs didn’t bat an eye at my foul language—she’d said and heard much
worse at the clinic—though her face did pucker in disappointment. She
fancied herself the hospital matchmaker, and she’d been trying to matchmake
me for years.
“Besides, if I did date anyone from the clinic, it’d be you,” I added
teasingly.
She maintained her frown for ten seconds before it melted into a smile.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“Me, lie?” I placed a hand over my chest. “Never.”
She shook her head. “Go. Take that charm elsewhere. You’re too young
for me. And come back to me after you’ve seen her,” she called after me,
laughing when I tossed her an exasperated look over my shoulder.
I grabbed my charger from my desk and pocketed it. Then, curious
despite myself, I headed to the kitchen to meet the new associate. I might as
well see what all the fuss was about.
I pushed open the kitchen door, my mouth curving into a welcoming
—What. The. Fuck.
My smile disappeared faster than candy at a kid’s birthday party.
Because sitting in the middle of the room, drinking coffee out of my
favorite mug and examining a stack of papers, was none other than Jules
Ambrose.
My blood pressure spiked.
No. Fuck no. I must’ve fallen asleep after my shift and entered a vivid
nightmare because there was no way Jules was the new research associate.
The universe wouldn’t be so cruel.
She glanced up at the sound of the door opening, and I would’ve taken
great pleasure in the way her face paled had I not been equally thunderstruck.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Our voices mingled in a discordant
melody—her words pitched high with stress, mine low with horror.
A muscle jumped in my jaw. “I work here.” I released the doorknob and
crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s your excuse?”
“I work here. You work in the ER.” Jules arched an eyebrow. “I see

---

you’re going senile already. That’s what happens when your brain uses all its
limited faculties on basic upkeep.”
Goddammit. I didn’t have time for this. I came here to pick up my
charger, and now I was stuck arguing with the she-devil when all I wanted
was sleep.
But it was too late. There was no backing down unless I wanted her to rub
getting the last word in my face until the end of time.
“Don’t project, it’s unbecoming. Just because you have lower than
average mental capacity doesn’t mean everyone else does.” A smirk touched
my mouth when her eye twitched. “As for the clinic, I’ve been volunteering
here since I was in med school.”
Translation: it was my space. I’d claimed it first.
Was that a juvenile way to look at things? Perhaps. But there were so few
places I felt truly at home. The clinic was one of them, and Jules’s presence
would smash that peace to smithereens.
“It’s not too late to quit.” I leaned against the wall, keeping my eyes
locked to hers in a silent challenge. “You’d have more fun spending your free
time elsewhere. I’m sure there’s a poor sap who’s willing to fill in the gaps in
your schedule if you’re bored.”
“I could say the same for you, Judgy McJosh.” Jules sipped her coffee out
of my fucking mug. “Or have you run out of women who’ll fall for your
bullshit? Unless you’re using the volunteer excuse to pick up women, which
is just sad.”
I closed the distance between us in three strides and slammed my hands
on the table hard enough to rattle the highlighters lined up next to her papers.
I leaned forward until our faces were only inches apart and our breaths
mingled in a cloud of animosity.
“Quit.” The word vibrated, taut and furious, between us.
Jules’s eyes glowed with challenge. “No.”
Her slow, precise enunciation ratcheted my blood pressure up another
notch.
My knuckles dug into the hard wood as I fisted my hands on the table.
My heart pounded so hard its drumbeat echoed in my head, taunting me.
I didn’t know why this one thing bothered me so much. Jules was the new
research associate. So what? I didn’t come into the clinic often, and I didn’t
have to talk to her if I didn’t want to. Plus, hers was a temporary position.
She’d be gone in a few months.

---

But the mere idea of her here, in my haven, drinking out of my mug and
laughing with my friends and filling every molecule of air with her presence,
made it really fucking hard to breathe.