Sweet Twins For My Brother's Best Friend: An Enemies To Lovers Romance (The Sweet Twins Collection)

Chapter Twenty

Christopher

I arrive just a few moments before Julie, as I want to see her reaction when she enters the restaurant and sees the space I chose, a cheap little chicken place despite its fancy name.

My leg jiggles as I watch the door. Finally, it opens, a bell tingling over her head, and she scans the room before settling her eyes on me. They narrow sarcastically and she waves from the door.

She crosses, the small heels of her shoes clacking on the floor. She sits down across from me and crosses her legs, a piece of her tan thigh flashing from under the table.

“Hey Chris,” she tells me, her voice bubbly as she suppresses a small smile. “Nice place, this. Interesting choice.”

“I thought it was what you deserved,” I respond, my eyes flitting to follow her movement as she tosses her hair to the back, exposing her neck.

I roll my eyes and clear my throat. I pick up the menu. “So. Fried chicken or grilled chicken?”

“How about we just make this quick? I can tell you don’t want to be here,” Julie smiles tightly, folding her fingers together.

“Sure, works for me. Go ahead.”

I drop the menu back on the tabletop, running my hand over the plastic sleeve.

“Hannah showed up at my brunch today.” She waves at a nearby waitress.

“Water please. With a plate of lemons on the side.”

“How did she know you were having brunch?” I ask her tactfully, as the waitress sets water down for both of us, smiling as she does so.

I smile back thinly and watch as Julie picks the slimy, oval seeds out of her lemon slices.

Julie drops her shoulders in a gesture of exasperation.

“I don’t know exactly. But if I had to guess, I think the poor thing probably looked me up on social media. Bless her heart, I know what it’s like to worry about someone’s ex, but still, totally inappropriate, you know?”

“Sure.” I lean back in my chair, placing my hands behind my head, and keep my eyes on her. I can’t help but let a smirk slip onto my face, and she looks at me sharply when she sees it.

“I feel like you aren’t taking me seriously, Chris. She was really unhinged today, and it made me feel unsafe.”

“Oh, did it? Tell me about that. In what ways did that 25-year-old make you feel unsafe?” I grin at her and flick my straw in her direction across the small table, my wrist sticking to the plastic, checkered tablecloth.

Julie sits up straight and looks down her nose at me, her big brown eyes glowing with anger.

“You’re going to say “25-year-old” like that? Aren’t you fucking her? I wouldn’t think you have a right to be dismissive of her because of her age.”

Her fingers tent on the table, and she leans her body forward in an intimidating posture.

I almost laugh. “Is that what this is about, Julie? You’re jealous? God, that’s sad. You left me. At least be confident in your decisions, huh?”

Julie crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, too.

“Jealous. That’s a good one. You’re right, Chris, I did leave you. Maybe you should remember that.”

I sip my water, swish it around, and tip my head at her. “Do you think so? That I should “remember” that? So Julie, when Hannah showed up, what did she say?”

“She was being totally insane. She showed up asking me about Noodle. It was so weird, and I was with my friends, too. Everyone thought it was completely worrying. If you’re not worried, then forget it, I guess.”

She shrugs as if she doesn’t care and sips her water.

“She was asking about Noodle, huh?”

“Yes.”

“So is all of this because you feel guilty? And instead of saying you’re sorry, then what? Trying to make her out to be crazy or unstable or something? That’s a bit much, Julie.”

Julie sits for a moment, gulping water down, her eyes over the rim of the glass.

She sets her drink down too noisily, making a clank that she cringes at, and leans forward toward me. She places her hand over mine.

“I never said she’s crazy. I just think she’s young. She probably doesn’t know what to do with all those feelings. I get it, actually. Still, it’s a bit much, you know? She had to find me on social media to know where I was. Unless she was following me for even longer than that. It’s scary. Obsessive.”

I process her words slowly, skepticism mounting. I try to picture the Hannah she’s painting. Obsessive, unhinged, showing up to Julie’s brunch after following her all day. It doesn’t make any sense. She isn’t even that obsessive about me, let alone Julie. I can’t imagine it.

“That doesn’t really sound like her…” I trail off, sliding my hand out from underneath hers.

Still, I can’t say it didn’t happen. How else would Julie even know that Hannah and I are close?

“Oh, Chris, you’ve always been so na?ve, so unaware of the effect you have on women. She really likes you. If you thought you’d have a little one-off tryst with Hannah, well, I think you underestimated how she feels about you. That’s all.”

I look into her face.

“Julie. All due respect, I don’t think she’s jealous. She knows I don’t talk to you. I think it’s possible I piqued her interest talking about Noodle, but that’s it.”

“So you were talking about me.”

“I told her I saw you, yes.”

“You need to be careful with what you say to a girl like that. She could hurt you. Or me. I mean, you don’t want me to get hurt. Why did you bring me into it?”

“Because, I mean, she isn’t a one-time thing. I like her. A lot.”

“Chris, what are you thinking? Tyler is going to lose his shit when he finds out you’re fucking his baby sister, you know?”

She pinches the bridge of her nose like the weight of the knowledge physically pains her.

I inhale heavily through my nose and tighten my shoulders.

“When he finds out? Do you plan to tell him?”

“Maybe I should.”

Suddenly, a deep concern that Julie will tell him just to be nasty slinks its way into my mind, settling like a cat sunbathing in front of a window, a cat with waiting claws.

I look into her eyes and see a person I don’t recognize anymore, someone who would hurt me easily, who is maybe considering hurting me now, just for the hell of it.

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Well.” She crosses her legs in the other direction and pulls her shoulders back, sitting up straight. She looks down at my outfit. “You ran here, didn’t you?”

“Mhm,” I answer warily.

“You’re so good about that, exercising. I never had your discipline. Maybe I could drive you home and we could talk more about it.”

It sounds more like a demand than a suggestion.