Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

“Still hate me?” I whispered, lacing my fingers with Jules’s.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she squeezed my hand. “Always.”

“Regardless, I do not appreciate your rudeness toward my date.” Josh’s voice hardened.

“This is a work event, so apologize, walk away, and we’ll leave it at that. But disrespect Jules again, and I’ll put you in the emergency room myself.”

My friends and I were growing up. We were no longer the young, carefree students we once were. We hadn’t been in a long time, but somehow, Bridget’s wedding drove that fact home harder than her coronation had.

Gone were the days of impromptu weekend trips, late night spa sessions in our dorm, and weekly catchups over coffee and scones at The Morning Roast.

Now, Ava lived with Alex and was constantly traveling for her job. Bridget was a literal queen and about to get married. And Stella was so busy with the magazine and her blog I barely saw her, even though we were roommates.

But when we were together, it was like old times again, and I would never take that for granted

She was so fucking beautiful it made my chest hurt.

It was comforting to know that no matter how much some things changed, others will always stay the same

Every great friendship had chapters.

This was the start of our new one

I would take a thousand fights with Jules over a thousand easy days with anyone else

“In case it’s not clear, I fucking love you, Jules Ambrose, even when you drive me crazy.

“So, like I said…” Josh brushed away my tear. “I’ll wait. For as long as it takes.”

Because you’re it for me. Whether it’s today, tomorrow, a year, or decades from now, that’ll never change