The Raving Love (Enemies To Lovers)

by Emma Vikes

  I let out a short laugh and shook my head. “Oh, you don’t know the extent of what I’ll do for my niece and nephews, Audrey. Milo always told us to make sure that we treat the little girls like queens.”

  “Why?” she asked and I could hear the curiosity in her voice.

  “So she’ll know her worth,” I replied quietly and I knew that Audrey would react to that and bring out what I’d done to Amber and other girls that I have dated when we were still in college.

  I waited for what she would say and then she let out a small chuckle, looked down for a moment and then fixed her steady brown eyes back on me. “Maybe you should get a 101 lesson from your brother. It just might make you a better man.”

  10

  Audrey

  Julian was going a little too extra about everything that he needed to get for his niece and to be honest, it was amusing to watch no matter how annoyed I was by his existence. Ever since he came to my house and brought me cinnamon cookies, I followed Amber’s advice and gave him the benefit of doubt. It didn’t mean that we were on good terms and we still argued 99% of the time but the job was a lot more tolerable now on my part.

  “Julian, we’re feeding a little girl, we’re not having a feeding program!” I exclaimed as he continued to toss baking ingredients into our cart, everything that wasn’t included in the list that he had programmed to send me this morning. Aside from the baking goods, we also bought so many candies earlier at a shop that I swear almost reached five hundred dollars had I not stopped him from splurging. “And I don’t think her parents will be happy by the amount of sweets you’re going to feed their daughter for five days.”

  He made a face but continued strolling through the supermarket with purpose. “I don’t think Megan would be pissed at me. She used to be very lenient with Vi on sweets when she was still just her nanny.”

  His statement surprised me and he noticed that I paused so he turned back to look at me curiously. “Your brother’s wife…she was your niece’s nanny first?”

  Julian cracked a smile, a half-smirk or a crooked smile, that seemed to make the girls go crazy about him but was ineffective with me. “Yes, she was. Violet’s mom died in an accident and when Milo had to move to Chicago, he couldn’t bring Violet’s original nanny so he hired a new one who was Megan and she moved with them to Chicago, they fell in love and got married. It wasn’t as easy as I make it out to be but that’s just basically the summary.”

  I nodded my head and smiled. “I think that it’s nice that your brother found another shot at love. It doesn’t really happen to most.”

  He looked at me and there was something about the way he stared at me that made me feel something that I wasn’t meant to. It’s been a week that I was his assistant and although we never saw eye to eye and we were vocal about our mutual hatred for each other, there were moments when sometimes even I forget that I hated him. It was in moments where he doesn’t see me staring at him or he would randomly burst in a song or dance during his photoshoots, it was the carefree way he carried himself that felt like a breath of fresh air for someone who lived life in a tight leash.

  But then Julian cleared his throat and in a snap, we were reminded that we didn’t really like each other but tolerated the presence of the other. “Yea, I guess it is. Anyway, I don’t think Megan would be mad at me for giving Violet a few sweets but I’m sure the kid won’t tell her parents. My brother’s a little overprotective and strict at times. Nowhere near how my other brother parents.”

  My eyebrows rose. I didn’t really know much about Julian even when I’d been working as his assistant for seven days and although I was certain that Amber talked about him and his background to me five years ago, it wasn’t as if I was interested to listen but now that I was working as his assistant- even just for a month- I think it would be better if I knew him a little more, even just the basics.

  “Three older brothers,” Julian said as we turned to the aisle where all the breads were located, “and I have two nephews and one niece which you’re going to meet later tonight. Leo and I have this sort of competition going on about being the best uncle for Violet. Obviously, Everett can’t join the competition because while Violet grew up, he was the uncle that she mostly saw around since she still lived in Irving back then and I think he also has the best uncle slot bagged with Max at the moment until I can help it.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “And Max is…”

  “Leo’s son. We didn’t know about him until last year.”

  “So he’s still a baby?”

  “He’s seven.”

  I blinked, thoroughly surprised by that. “So basically, your brother kept his son hidden from you all?”

  By now, we were in the cereal sections and he kept tossing sugary cereals into our cart and I kept taking out the ones that were a little too much for a kid as I walked beside him. “No, it’s not like that. It’s not like his mother kept him a secret from us because we didn’t really know her. Leo…I guess you can say, he was a little like me. Set on breaking hearts and leaving women.”

  I pursed my lips. “And he didn’t know he had a kid? What about the mom?”

  “He was in love with Eleanor. He just didn’t want to acknowledge it,” Julian paused for a minute and he looked thoughtful and then he turned to face me, “I think my brothers have a bit of an issue with commitment."

  His statement made me pause and I stared at him. “Are you sure they’re the only ones with commitment issues? You’re an Hudson too, Julian. Maybe you’re all commitment-phobes.”

  Julian took a step closer to me until he backed me up against the array of cereals but stopped before my back could be pressed against the shelves. He leaned his face close to mine and there was a flicker of emotion in his blue and gray eyes and the corner of his lips twitched as he gazed at me. “They tell me that there might be a girl out there that would make me want to reconsider but we both know that commitment is a choice and if you ask me, I’m doing rather well with this bachelor lifestyle.”

  “What if you find that girl you talked about in the interview?” I wasn’t sure why I asked him that but Julian paused at the question and seemed to ponder about it for a moment.

  And then he pursed his lips and looked at me with a small smile on his face and for a second, he almost looked absolutely endearing. Almost. “Then maybe the stars will align differently and I’ll understand why my brothers seem to be unable to recover when they fall in love.”

  “Do you want to?” I whispered, caught in a trance by his blue and gray eyes, trapped in cloudy daylight where the sun couldn’t even sliver through.

  Julian’s face was so close to mine and at this close proximity, all I could see were his eyes and the tiny freckles that were on his face. I could see the streaks of green in the blue of his eyes and it reminded me of the ocean and along with the gray, Julian looked like the storm and as he stared at me, for a brief moment, I wondered where the course of his storm was.

  “Is that Julian Hudson?”

  “Oh my god, is she his girlfriend?”

  They were quiet whispers but they were loud enough to break us from the trance we were in. Quickly, Julian pushed me behind him to cover me so that his fans wouldn’t see me. “Would you like a picture?”

  He sounded so charming and I could hear the girls squeal with delight. I took it as my cue to leave and scurry into a different aisle, not far from where he was so he wouldn’t have the trouble to find me. Since I’d been his assistant, we’d never really bumped into any of his fans when we were out together and there hadn’t been any rumor going around that he had a mystery lady. Although I was certain that if there was, Julian would’ve squashed the rumors immediately, because there was no way he wanted people to assume that we had any kind of relationship.

  “I think we should have these checked out,” Julian said, approaching me as he pushed the cart to where I was.

  “Did they ask?”

  He shrugged. “I told them the truth tha
t you’re some girl desperate for my attention and stalked me despite the TRO I filed against you. And despite that, you continued on with your stalking ways.”

  I scoffed and punched him on the shoulder and he winced, gripping his shoulder and glaring at me as I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not funny, Julian. You’re not the one who’s going to be on the receiving end of malicious and hateful comments.”

  He chuckled and then pushed the cart as I followed him. “There wouldn’t be any, Audrey, because I told them you were my assistant and that we were discussing something serious which was why we had to be in close proximity so no one could hear us.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying and that there wouldn’t be any internet trolls sending me hateful comments on my social media accounts?”

  “How do you even know that they already know who you are?” he asked, making a face.

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, do not underestimate the stalking tendencies of fan girls, Julian.”

  Julian’s lips twitched into a smile, one that lit his cloudy daylight eyes and the sight of it made my heart flutter momentarily. He didn’t say anything and then reached for my wrist, tugging me forward as he pushed the cart so we could leave the supermarket and the part where his hand touched my wrist, it felt as if there was a chemical reaction because I could feel pinpricks of electricity, almost like bubbles in effervescence going through me.

  We paid for all the items that Julian brought, brought the cart to the parking lot and Julian unloaded everything into my car and brought back the cart to the front of the supermarket where the other carts were. Neither of us spoke as I slid in the driver’s seat and started the car and Julian strapped himself with the seatbelt. He was playing with the radio until he stopped to an old song, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5.

  “I don’t mind spending every day,” he was singing it so quietly at first and I could feel ripples of emotions in my stomach as I listened to his voice, my heart racing and I was biting my bottom lip as I subtly listened to Julian singing, “out in the corner in the pouring rain. Look for the girl with the broken smile, ask her if she wants to stay a while…”

  And I anticipated the climax of the chorus as the car slowed into a stop and I stared at Julian who had his eyes closed and his hands were flying in the air pretending that he was hitting an invisible drum set and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him so carefree as he broke into the chorus. I didn’t realize that I was so entranced by him singing that the stoplight had turned green and if the car behind us didn’t honk at me loudly, I wouldn’t have snapped out of the trance I was in.

  I caught Julian smirking but thank God he didn’t comment. We finally reached his house again and the two of us unloaded the groceries in silence. But during all of that, I could still hear Julian singing in my head, his voice ringing in my ears, as if I had put him on loop without even meaning to and every time I looked at him, it felt like I was seeing him with different pair of eyes and in a different light every time I heard him sing.

  “I need to start on the brownies because we need to pick up Violet in two hours,” Julian said as he started to pre-heat the oven and I stood there in the middle of the kitchen, in a battle with myself as I tried to get a hold of myself.

  Damn it, how come every time Julian sang, I lose a little bit of sense?

  “Audrey?”

  I looked up and met his eyes. “Hmm?”

  Julian smirked and then sauntered slowly towards me, carrying the opened flour in his hands, and I gulped because my brain was still a little cloudy with the remnants of how his voice made me feel and the way he smiled at me earlier at the supermarket and when he held my wrist.

  You hate him, Audrey.

  He was so close to me again and I could smell his masculine scent, like pinewood with a splash of Old Spice. “You’ve been a little out of it since we left the supermarket.”

  You hate him, Audrey.

  “You didn’t realize the light turned green earlier,” he drew his face even closer and I could see those specks of green in the blue of his eyes and a little closer, our lips would brush against each other.

  You hate him, Audrey.

  “Tell me, Audrey, do I affect you in some way?” he whispered the question and he held himself still in front of me, in that close proximity and I couldn’t really think straight anymore and his voice continued to echo in my mind and all I knew was that I need to get away from him immediately and I reached for the nearest object that I could get my hands on which happened to be the flour that was between the two of us that he was holding.

  Without thinking straight, I dipped my hand into the package of flour and took a handful and then threw it all over Julian and he sputtered, his eyes widening in surprise at the sudden turn of events and it was only then- thankfully so- that I returned back to my senses and took a step back, smirking at Julian and crossing my arms over my chest, feeling a sense of victory.

  “What the hell?” Julian exclaimed, glaring at me as he tried to dust off the white flour on his black shirt. “You do realize that you’re going to be the one who’s going to wash this because you’re my assistant?”

  And just like that, my victory did a complete 180 and I clenched my fists in annoyance. Julian could’ve retaliated by throwing me a handful of flour but no, he immediately thought of me washing his shirt for him. I let out a huff of annoyance and I was ready to make my way to his room to get him a shirt to change into but to my surprise, Julian didn’t hesitate on stripping off his shirt, leaving him topless in front of me as he moved around the kitchen to get the apron hanging on the side of the fridge.

  My eyes were glued on him in an instant as I stared at his body. Lean and built, not too muscular, but I allowed my eyes to take in the sight of his abs and my fingers itched to run my hand on them, to feel his warmth, press my body against his. I let out a shaky breath as I tried to stop my mind from going into a direction that I didn’t want it to.

  And then Julian turned around and saw me staring and I immediately looked down, cursing myself for staring the way I did. I waited for him to tease me or anything but Julian approached me and I felt his forefinger under my chin and he brought my face up to look at him and I could see his blue and gray eyes, could smell him this close, could feel his breath on my face.

  Then his lips curled into a smirk and amusement danced in his blue and gray eyes and it was then that I remembered he was Julian Hudson.

  And I hated him.

  Jesus, Audrey, you hated him.

  “I didn’t think I needed to remind you of number 17 on our agreement,” Julian said as he stared right into me and I could feel his eyes peering into my soul.

  Don’t fall in love with me.

  I scoffed and took a step back, flipping my hair and grabbing his shirt from his hand roughly. “Save the reminder, Julian. There’s no way I would even fall for a heartbreaker like you.”

  But Julian had the upper hand in this one because he caught me staring at him in a way that I wasn’t supposed to and in a way that I didn’t even know why I did. “I don’t think I believe you.”

  I had the urge to suddenly turn the situation around because I hated how Julian had the advantage and with a blast of courage, I took a step towards Julian and drew my hand to his face, my thumb caressing his cheek and I slowly- ever so slowly- lowered my hand so I could touch his body and Julian sucked in a breath at the sudden burst of confidence and I leaned in close to him, inhaling his scent and my breath tickling his neck but Julian stood rigid in front of me, as if I had frozen him in place.

  I stood on my tiptoes, on hand splayed flat on the side of his neck, thumb caressing his jaw as I whispered in his ear. “Believe me, Julian, I will never fall in love with a guy like you.”

  And when I pulled away, Julian was clenching his jaw and was staring at me, eyes narrowed into slits and I couldn’t help but smirk because that was my effect on him. “Oh, and for the record, Julian, don’t you dare fall in love with me.”

>   11

  Julian

  For the record, don’t you dare fall in love with me.

  There was something about the way she said those words, the confidence in her tone and the way she looked at me with her brown eyes that made me feel as if she was challenging me. But it was weird because why would Audrey Finch want to challenge me in terms of love when I was number one person in her hate list!?

  Granted, it could merely be her echoing the same sentiments I told her last time. I was teasing her, knowing that those words would annoy her simply because I had the audacity to request for her not to fall for the first person on her hit list. But when Audrey said it and the way her thumb caressed my cheek, the way her breath kissed my lips when the words came out of her mouth…

  It made me feel something and I wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Here’s your morning coffee and I got pretty Violet here hot chocolate from Starbucks.”

  Maybe they should change the phrase into: think of the devil and she shall arrive.

  Audrey wasn’t in her usual get up which consisted of power suits and clothes that basically screamed she was a CEO. Today, she was merely dressed in faded blue jeans and a white shirt that had a flower pot design on the side and words I could barely make out.

  “I didn’t think you had other clothes available in your closet,” I mused as I dipped my coffee slightly in her direction. Beside me, Violet was eating the waffles I made her and she giggled at what I said. She met Audrey yesterday and I could tell that my niece would turn Audrey into her new BFF in the short amount of time she was here.

  Audrey flashed me a tight-lipped smile as she slid on the available counter chair beside Violet. She rubbed my niece’s back and then turned her attention to me. “Considering that you’re planning on taking her to Disney, I thought I could take the day off since I never took one since I began working as your assistant.”