Twisted Hate (Twisted, 3)

There was one bright spot to the whole mess with the painting: I sold it to Dante for a shit ton of money. It wasn’t enough for me to retire on, but it was enough to pay off my med school loans, splurge on nice dates with Jules, and build a comfortable nest egg for the future.

I was pretty sure Dante had undervalued the art during our negotiations, but fuck it. I was just happy to be rid of the damn thing.

I pushed open the door to the clinic, my steps lighter than it had been in months. I’d just finished a nine-hour shift, but Jules only had a few weeks left at LHAC, and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before she started her job at Silver & Klein.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was the group clustered around Jules’s desk, oohing and aahing over something.

“Is this a workplace or is this a party?” I quipped, coming up behind them. “What’s going on?”

“It’s lunchtime, Josh.” Ellie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “We deserve a break. Right, Marsh?”

Marshall stared at her with a besotted expression. “Absolutely.”

Poor guy. He was so smitten with her he would’ve jumped off a bridge had she asked him to.

Then again, I felt the same way about Jules, so I wasn’t one to talk.

“Hey, Red.” I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and resisted the urge to kiss her.

Everyone at the clinic knew we were dating now, but we still kept things professional when we were in front of our coworkers. No PDA, though I couldn’t resist sneaking a kiss every now and then when we were alone.

“Hi.” She smiled up at me, and it should be fucking illegal how that one tiny thing made my chest swell.

“Hi.” I smiled back.

The air between us thrummed with electricity, and I wished, not for the first time, that we were alone instead of surrounded by a half dozen coworkers.

Everyone around us sighed—some with dreaminess, some with mock exasperation.

“I knew you would make a good-looking couple.” Barbs beamed, her eyes glinting with smugness. “No one believed me.”

When we broke the news of our relationship two weeks ago, she’d been so ecstatic she baked a giant blueberry pie and brought it in the next day. According to her, it was to celebrate her first love match at LHAC, even though she wasn’t responsible for us getting together.

Then again, she was the one who pushed me to see Jules in the kitchen during Jules’s first day here, so maybe she did deserve a little credit. If I’d found out about Jules working here another day, another way, I might’ve never offered a truce, and we wouldn’t be where we were now.

Plus, Barbs had been less insufferable than Clara, who gave me the world’s biggest shit-eating, I told you so grin when she found out.

“In that regard, I carry all the weight in the relationship,” I drawled, earning myself an elbow jab from Jules.

Barbs’s grin widened. “Funny, she said the same thing.”

“I’m not surprised.” I smoothed a hand over Jules’s hair. “Poor thing can be delusional.”

“Look in the mirror, Chen.” Jules sniffed. “That is, if it hasn’t already cracked from facing you every day.”

My laugh joined everyone else’s. “Touché, Red. Touché.” I leaned over her shoulder and looked at her phone. “What are you guys all staring at, anyway?”

“She’s showing us pictures from her friend’s proposal.” Barbs’s gray curls quivered with excitement. “Look at that ring! I’m surprised the poor girl didn’t topple over from the size of it.”

I shook my head as Jules scrolled through pictures of Alex and Ava’s proposal on her phone.

Alex had officially proposed over the weekend. The bastard couldn’t do anything halfway, so he flew Ava to London for a “special photography exhibit” and popped the question at the gallery where they reconciled.

Their wedding was scheduled for next summer, but preparations were already in full swing, with Jules, Stella, and Bridget as bridesmaids. Ava couldn’t decide who she wanted as her maid of honor, so she chose to forego one altogether.

“Now this one should be framed and hung.” Barbs leaned over and tapped on the screen when Jules reached the last picture.

In it, Alex knelt on one knee while Ava had one hand clapped over her mouth. Her eyes were glossy with tears. The entire gallery had been stripped and redecorated for the proposal—twinkling strings of lights clipped with Polaroids Ava had taken of the two of them together, a table set with candles and flowers in the middle of the room, and blue rose petals scattered over the floor. The blaze from the open ring box was blinding even in two-dimensional form.

It was also the only photo I’d ever seen of Alex where he looked visibly, wildly nervous.

I rubbed my hands together. Man, I couldn’t wait to hold this over his head the next time I saw him. A nervous Alex, immortalized for all eternity.

The universe loved me.

Everyone oohed and aahed over the picture a while longer before they finally dispersed to their desks, and Jules and I entered the empty kitchen to “get more coffee.”

The minute the door closed, I cupped the back of her neck and drew her to me for a proper greeting. She tasted like caramel and coffee, and I savored her sweetness for a minute before I pulled back.

“Hi.” My lips brushed hers with the word.

“Hi.” Jules’s smile settled in my chest like a ray of warmth. “Is this how you greet all your coworkers, Dr. Chen? Because it’s highly inappropriate.”

“Only the infuriating, pain-in-my ass ones.” I nipped her bottom lip lightly in punishment for her sass. “A kiss is the only way to shut them up.”

“Don’t let the nurses know, or you’ll have a mutiny on your hands. They’ll be pissing you off left and right.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not interested in any nurses. Besides…” I rubbed my thumb over the nape of her neck in small circles. “No one pisses me off like you do.”

Jules melted into my touch. “You’re such a charmer.”

“It’s one of my many excellent qualities,” I drawled. “Anyway, how’s the wedding planning going? Ava turn into Bridezilla yet?”

“Josh, she literally got engaged four days ago. She’s still in Europe.”

Alex had extended their trip so they could visit France and Spain after London.

“Hey, I’ve never been a bride. I don’t know how these timelines work.”

Jules let out a good-natured sigh. “It’ll be a while before we get into the swing of things, but…” A blanket of hesitation fell over her face. “Speaking of brides, we’re getting to that time in our lives. Bridget’s married. Ava is engaged.”

“Yep.”

“Do you…want to get married anytime soon?”

My thumb stilled on her skin. “Do you?” I watched her carefully for a reaction.

We’d only been dating for a few months, but now was as good a time as any to discuss our expectations for the future.

We stared at each other for a second before we blurted out our answers.

“No, I’m not financially ready yet—”

“I still have to finish my residency and take my boards—”

“There’s so much I want to do before—”

“So many places to travel—”

Our words jumbled together in our haste.

Jules laughed, covering her face with her hands. “Oh, thank God. Not that I don’t want to get married and have kids eventually, but now…”

“…Is not the right time,” I finished. “Totally agree.”

I already knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with, but marriage came with financial responsibilities neither of us was equipped to handle at the moment.

Besides, when we did have our wedding, I wanted it to be her ultimate dream wedding. I wanted our honeymoon to be fucking epic. Those things weren’t possible when I was constrained by my residency, and Jules was navigating her first years as an attorney.

“There’s too much of the world to see first.” I rubbed my thumb over her hand. “And I want to see it all with you.”

A blush of pleasure climbed up her neck and over her face. “Is that a promise, Chen? Because I’ll hold you to it.”

I smiled, wondering how the fuck I ever thought Jules was anything other than my perfect match.

“It’s more than a promise, Red. It’s a guarantee.”