JOSH
I rubbeda reassuring hand over Jules’s back as we stepped off the elevator and straight into an apartment that looked like it’d been lifted from the pages of Architectural Digest.
Light gray walls, black marble floors, gold fixtures. It screamed bachelor pad, but unlike two years ago, feminine accents now added a softer touch: a bouquet of white lilies here, a watercolor painting there.
“We’ll be fine,” I whispered to Jules.
We’d both fucked up in our own ways, but we could finally move on from the past together…after we cleared our last hurdle.
“Easy for you to say,” she whispered back. “You’re a blood relation. I’m not.”
“She loves you more than me.”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
My laugh died when Ava met us at the private elevator entrance to the apartment she shared with Alex. I quickly dropped my hand from Jules’s back.
We’d finally scrounged up the courage to tell Ava the truth a week after we made up, but all that courage died in the face of my sister’s expectant smile, which melted into suspicion when she saw Jules standing by my side.
I’d called to tell her I was coming, but I’d left out the part about bringing Jules. I didn’t want her piecing two and two together before we told her ourselves.
Then again, that might’ve been a smarter move. Let her get the shock out of her system before we saw her.
Dammit, Chen.
Well, it was too late now. We had to face the music as it came.
I pasted on my most charming grin. “Hey, sis. You look absolutely ravishing today. Here.” I shoved a box containing her favorite Crumble & Bake red velvet cake at her. “I brought you a gift.”
Ava didn’t take the cake. Instead, her eyes roved between me and Jules, who stood next to me with an overly bright smile of her own.
“What are you doing here together?” Her suspicion visibly deepened. “You’re not going to ask me to mediate another argument, are you? Because you’re both grown adults.”
Jules and I exchanged a quick look.
Maybe we should’ve come up with a better plan than bring Ava cake to butter her up.
Alex came up behind Ava and notched an eyebrow when he saw the Crumble & Bake box.
Really? That’s your plan? He didn’t have to say the words for me to hear them, loud and clear.
I glared at him. Shut up.
He replied with a smirk.
Asshole.
He seemed to have forgotten that he once snuck around my back to date my sister.
“Let’s talk about this over cake,” Jules chirped. “Nothing like red velvet to start the night right.”
Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “I need to sit down for whatever you’re about to tell me, don’t I?”
“Maybe. Probably.” I cleared my throat. “Definitely.”
The four of us settled in the living room—Ava and Alex on one couch, me and Jules opposite them. It was near sunset, and the dying rays of light streaming through the windows spliced the room into half shadow, half golden warmth.
The cake box sat on the coffee table between us, unopened.
“So, the reason we’re here together is because, uh, we came together,” Jules said.
Alex sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“And the reason we came together is because…” C’mon man, it’s a Band-Aid. Rip that fucker off and deal with the consequences later. “We’re dating,” I finished.
Ava stared at us with a blank expression.
“Romantically,” Jules clarified.
“Boyfriend and girlfriend,” I added.
More silence.
Ava hadn’t moved since we started talking, which wasn’t good.
A bead of sweat trickled down my spine.
It was crazy. I shouldn’t be scared of my little sister. But chatty Ava was normal; silent Ava was kinda terrifying.
Then, she did the last thing I expected. She burst into laughter. She covered her face, her shoulders shaking, while Jules and I exchanged another, worried glance.
Fuck, did we break my sister?
“Good one,” Ava gasped in between breaths. “You almost had me.” She tried to straighten her face only to collapse into laughter again a second later.
“Uh…” Of all the ways I pictured this conversation going, Ava losing her marbles wasn’t one of them.
Jules knocked her knee against mine. “She thinks we’re joking,” she hissed.
“I know.” I cleared my throat. “Ave…”
“Honestly, I’m impressed you guys put aside your differences long enough to come up with this plan.” Some of Ava’s mirth had finally subsided, though her grin remained.
“Ave…”
“Is this payback for Vermont? Because that was months ago, and I had no idea there’d only be one bed.”
“Ava, we’re not joking!”
My declaration rang through the room, followed by thick, stunned silence.
My sister’s grin disappeared. “You’re not…” Her eyes darted between us again, taking in our tense expressions and the way our thighs touched. Horror dawned on her face. “You’re actually dating? How is that possible? You hate each other!”
“Welllll…” I dragged the word out. “Not anymore.”