The Raving Love (Enemies To Lovers)

by Emma Vikes

  I guess letting her have a day off wasn’t a bad idea. I didn’t want to give Audrey more ammunition to hate me. Before I could tell her that was fine, Violet butted in on the conversation. “Then you can come with us to Disney if you won’t work for Uncle Jules for the day!”

  She sounded so excited and Audrey stared at her wide-eyed with surprise at the words. “Err, I don’t think your Uncle Julian would be on board with that idea, Violet.”

  So maybe Violet hasn’t completely won over Audrey yet because Audrey was flashing me a look. Although I liked annoying Audrey and I honestly didn’t mind having an extra pair of eyes to watch over Violet if Audrey wouldn’t be able to get herself out of this situation. Plus, I just like teasing her.

  “Hmm, well, I don’t really mind so it’s really up to Audrey…”

  In a flash, Violet turned to Audrey with puppy dog eyes no one could ever resisted and I stifled a laugh as Audrey tried not to look. They’ve only met a few hours ago when Audrey and I picked Violet up from the airport but it was clear that Violet liked having Audrey around. Last night, she told me that it was crazy how pretty Audrey was and she wished she could be that pretty.

  I didn’t really agree with her.

  “Oh, please, Audrey! It’ll be so much fun! And I would really love to hang out with a girl for once.”

  I made a face. “I didn’t bring you here to LA for you to replace me with my assistant, Vi.”

  She turned to me quickly and flashed me an apologetic look. “I still love you, Uncle Jules, even when you won’t have tea with me and my dolls.”

  Audrey laughed at that and Violet turned her attention to Audrey again, looking expectant. “Please, Audrey?”

  She pursed her lips and looked thoughtful for a moment. I was certain that Audrey would decline but then again, Violet was flashing her puppy dog eyes and no one had ever been able to resist Violet when she did that. Finally, Audrey sighed and nodded her head. “Alright, I’ll come.”

  “Yey!” Violet cheered and then hopped out of the counter stool. “You’re also going to have to wear a matching sweater like us!”

  My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I hadn’t been informed of a matching sweater but Violet had already ran off to my room, Julio following close behind. “I was not informed of this.”

  Audrey made a face that told me she seemed disgusted with the idea of having to match sweaters with me. “I’m already agreeing to spending an entire day with you and not as your assistant. There’s no way I’m getting in that sweater thing too.”

  But Violet was already on her way back to us, wearing a white Minnie Mouse sweater and looking at the both of us with wide blue eyes filled with excitement. “Mom got matching sweater for the four of us but since they couldn’t come, she told me to convince Uncle Jules to wear it.”

  I grimaced. Megan knew I hated the idea of wearing clothes that wasn’t my style and that Mickey Mouse sweater was nowhere near the style of Julian Hudson. I was pretty sure that Megan had Violet brought it here because she knew I couldn’t say no to my niece.

  “I think that’s only something family should wear. I’m sure your uncle would be on board with that,” Audrey said, staring at the bigger version of the Minnie Mouse sweater that Violet was wearing.

  “Actually, Vi, I think you should save it for when you get back here again with your parents and Atlas. This is meant to be a family thing.”

  “But we would look really good in the pictures we’ll take.”

  “But I’m your uncle and Audrey’s your friend and…”

  Violet took the sweater from Audrey and with dropped shoulders, she slowly made her way back to the stairs while muttering something under her breath. I inwardly groaned and looked at Audrey for a moment who looked slightly guilty as she stared at Violet. With a sighed, I said, “and that’s why Audrey and I are willing to wear it as long as we make it on your wall of pictures, alright?”

  She turned back to look at me excitedly and handed me my shirt and Audrey the other one who stared at it with slight disdain that she quickly hid from Violet. “Great! You two can change now. I’ll go get my bag. C’mon, Julio.”

  Without saying anything, I stripped off my shirt and I heard a small gasp that made me look up at Audrey who had a faint blush on her cheeks. “You really have to stop stripping off in front of me.”

  I couldn’t help but smirk as I hopped off the stool and approached her slowly. She was trying to turn her head away from me and focus on her phone. “You know you want to look at my body. Most girls always do.”

  She scoffed and then looked at me with narrowed brown eyes. “Jesus, Julian, I’ve seen bodies better than yours.”

  “Then why can’t you stare?” I asked, my voice lowering in a hushed whisper as I held her gaze. Something flickered in her eyes as her eyes travelled down from my face and to my body. I knew Audrey was trying to prove a point that she didn’t mind but there was something about the way she stared at me.

  There was something about the slow descent of her eyes as she travelled her gaze from my face and lowered to my body that made me feel like she was stripping me even more. It was as if her brown eyes were peering into my soul and it spread warmth all over me. I caught her fingers twitched, as if she was resisting the urge to touch me.

  “Are we leaving now?” Violet yelled from upstairs and whatever trance that Audrey and I were in broke as she quickly hopped off of the stool and pushed past me. I still caught the blush that had painted her cheeks though as she rushed to the comfort room downstairs to change into the sweater that Violet gave us.

  I stood there for a moment, trying in vain to calm my rapid heartbeat. I wasn’t sure why my emotions were all over the place whenever it was with Audrey. I would want to tease her and annoy her and if she retaliated, I would be the one exasperated by her but then she could leave me flustered when she wanted to.

  She turned me into a puddle of mess when I was the one who was meant to do that to her.

  “We’re using your car,” I informed Audrey when she walked back in the kitchen. I had already put on the sweater and was making sure I had my wallet with me. Violet was waiting for us by the door.

  Audrey held a hand against me and shook her head. “Oh no. I’m meant to be a guest on this trip.”

  I closed my eyes. My heart still hasn’t recovered from the moment we shared earlier. “I told you, Audrey, my brother and his wife would kill me if I take my niece on my motorcycle or in my car.”

  “Had Violet not invited me, what was your option?”

  Pursing my lips, I shrugged. If I needed a more of child-friendly car, I could always borrow one from the boys. Yesterday, I only took Audrey’s because she was my assistant and it just sort of made sense to me. Before I could answer Audrey’s question though, Violet called out attention, asking us to go now as she jumped up and down in excitement.

  Audrey narrowed her eyes at me but turned to my niece with soft eyes, no traces of her annoyance to me to be seen. The three of us made our way to her car and I was ready to take the keys from her but she looked at me as if I sprouted another head. “There’s no way I’ll let you drive my car, Julian.”

  I rolled my eyes and shrugged, heading to the passenger seat and settling in. “Let’s go, driver.”

  Audrey glared at me when I said that but turned on the car and we made our way to Disney. Along the way, Audrey turned up her stereo and connected it to her phone so she could play her Spotify playlist of Disney songs to hype up our mood and Violet. My niece and I sang along and I caught Audrey smiling from time to time when she thought I wouldn’t notice.

  We had all-access tickets in Disney and Violet wanted to try on almost every ride there was and head in every adventure there was. Audrey and I complied and didn’t really mind because Violet’s excitement was so contagious. To be honest, it felt incredibly freeing to wander around Disney without having to act cool or anything because Violet basically stripped me off of the rockstar swag that I usually had by making
me wear this ridiculous sweater.

  From time to time, there were fans that stopped me for a picture but I didn’t have to worry about Violet wandering around because she held onto Audrey. Maybe bringing Audrey along wasn’t such a bad idea. At least Violet had someone to be with while I tried to satisfy the fan’s need for pictures and selfies with me.

  “Well, look who’s back, Vi,” Audrey teased as I went back to them. I knew I must’ve looked dishevelled and a little tired and felt apologetic that I basically left Violet with her for nearly an hour. I tried to get away from the fans but had to explain why because some thought Violet was my kid.

  Violet laughed at me and then hugged me and I picked her up. “Sorry for that, Vi.”

  She shrugged and kissed my cheek, leaving my cheek sticky with something and she grinned, her teeth covered in chocolate. “Now I forgive you but hold me up higher, Uncle Jules.”

  I grimaced but did as asked, lifting her up until she was sitting on my shoulders and Audrey laughed in front of us as she took out a tissue paper from her purse. But Violet was still in my arms so I couldn’t really wipe it off of me. “You seem to have a little bit of something on your face there, Julian.”

  Before I could react, Audrey held up the tissue and then wiped the chocolate off of my cheek with a small smile on her face. Her fingertips grazed my skin and as it did so, I felt a flood of warmth from that spot spread all over my body. I swallowed, my heart beginning to race, my hands feeling clammy and I couldn’t even begin to understand why Audrey Finch- of all girls- had this kind of effect on me.

  Audrey was so close to me that I could get a whiff of her vanilla and cinnamon scent and get a closer look at her brown eyes. Her eyes flickered and met mine and she sucked in a breath, a little startled as she registered just how close we actually were to each other but she didn’t take a step back. Instead, someone behind her pushed her closer to me and I could feel her body pressed against me.

  Her eyes widened as our skin touched but more than that, as she stumbled into me, our lips brushed but for a moment and it felt like I was on fire. Suddenly my body wanted more, the slight taste of her made me crave her. I wanted to put my niece down and grab Audrey’s head and crash my lips against her and it didn’t make sense because those were irrational thoughts.

  But Audrey was quick to step back and pretend like nothing happened.

  And in the instant, my lips met yours,

  My soul burst into flame,

  You’re addicting and satisfying and baby, I crave

  Stay with me right here in this moment,

  Stay with me in this lifetime

  I’ll be yours for how long you’ll want it

  Be it in this lifetime and even in the next one

  The lyrics came into mind in a fleeting instant and I stumbled back. It was then that I noticed the sun had set and the reason why we kept bumping into people was because we were trapped in the crowd waiting for the fireworks. On my shoulders, Violet cheered as the first fireworks burst into the dark sky and beside me, Audrey moved to look at it, swiftly turning her back on me so I couldn’t see anymore.

  My heart thumped wildly in my chest and the sound of the fireworks echoing it. “Oh wow, it’s so pretty, Uncle Jules!”

  I nodded, smiling thinly but my eyes were glued on the back of Audrey’s head. God, I wanted her to turn around. I wanted to see her face. I wanted to see her reaction. And I didn’t know why.

  There were Disney characters that burst out, waving at the crowd as the fireworks lighted the dark sky behind them. Then there was a quick pause as they pointed at the sky and I looked up as a number of shooting lights went up before bursting into an array of colors.

  “Oh wow!” Audrey exclaimed, clapping excitedly as she turned back to look at us with big brown eyes. She looked at Violet, grinning widely as she flashed my niece a thumbs up. Behind her, the cloud lit up in different colors, basking her in a red and orange hue for a split second.

  Holy shit, she looked absolutely beautiful.

  For a moment, I wondered if Audrey felt our lips brushed against each other because she didn’t look fazed. Rather, she seemed giddy for the fireworks and looked absolutely over the moon with it. She had a big smile on her face as she watched and as the colors continued to reflect on her face, the more my heart kept irregularly beating.

  I took a step forward so I was right beside her and all I could do was watch as she interacted with my niece, smiling so wide that I almost forgot that there was a scowl that took permanent residence on her face. I could hear the people around as ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ at the sight of the spectacular display.

  I couldn’t agree with them more.

  That smile sure looked spectacular.

  12

  Audrey

  Julian and I almost kissed and for the past two hours, I’d been pretending that it didn’t happen. We stopover at a pizza parlour for dinner on Violet’s request and were on our way back to Julian’s and neither of us had said a word to each other. Our lips brushing against each other’s was merely an accident because I was pushed into him.

  The desire that I felt for it to turn into something more, however, did not make sense to me.

  I still hated Julian and for almost two weeks of catering to him as his assistant, I did not find anything about him that made me hate him less. There were certain traits that made him endearing like how he liked cooking and baking but that was just it. Those were things that didn’t make me see him in a different light.

  Well, at least, that’s what I was telling myself.

  “Audrey.” His voice broke me out of my reverie and I almost jumped in my seat. We’d been driving in silence for too long since Violet fell asleep after talking to her Mom on FaceTime. She probably had spent too much of her energy today which exclaimed why she fell asleep so easily.

  We stopped on a red light and I turned to Julian, making sure my features were smoothened into a blank one. There was no need to play nice now that Violet was asleep but a part of me knew I wasn’t playing nice to Julian simply because of Violet. Since he had come over to my house with cinnamon cookies, I had been a little kinder to him. A little.

  “Yea?” My voice sounded so muffled and raspy, as if I hadn’t spoken for such a long time.

  “Thank you.”

  Out of all the things that I expected him to tell me, saying thank you was nowhere near the list of things I had in mind. I expected him to bring up the moment we shared earlier, my lips brushing against his, and I expected him to tease me about it. But Julian looked at me with soft eyes and for the first time, I couldn’t see the familiar storm in them.

  “Why?”

  He chewed on his bottom lip and then shrugged. “You agreed to join us today. I knew you couldn’t say no to Violet since she’s probably grown on you as she does to everyone she meets-,”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement at that. “You’re not wrong about that.”

  But Julian continued on. “And I didn’t really anticipate the fans that would take me away from her with the pictures in all. I’m just thankful that there was someone who was willing to accompany her in my absence.”

  My lips twitched into a small smile as I pressed lightly on the gas when the light turned green. “It’s not like we would just stand there and wait for you for an hour on your impromptu meet and greet.”

  He chuckled and leaned his head against the window and I wondered if he had anything more to say. Julian let out a long sigh and then closed his eyes. “Vi’s always been such an angel, you know. It’s not that hard to love her. Maybe that’s why I and my brothers are head over heels for her.”

  I remembered what he said earlier, about how they always meant to treat Violet as a queen so she was aware of her worth. “This comment might cross the line but it’s not like we ever bothered with it anyway.”

  Julian let out a small laugh and nodded his head. “Go ahead and ask.”

  “You treat Violet like a queen because y
ou want her to be aware of her worth yet you take advantage of women and break their hearts without remorse.”

  When I glanced at Julian, he was biting on his bottom lip. “If this is about Amber again…”

  But I shook my head. “It’s wasn’t just Amber and you know that, Julian. You were the notorious heartbreaker during freshmen year of college and even after you dropped out of the university. There were girls you screwed with and hearts you’ve broken and you didn’t even think twice when you did it.”

  He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if he was thinking of an answer to my question but we had already reached his house. His house that seemed to be alive with loud music and there were people in the front yard with red cups and I was certain that the music came from the back. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, remembering how José had mentioned he was having a party.

  But then again, Julian had told him to change the venue of his party which was why neither of us expected this crowd. “Stupid José.”

  When I looked at Julian, his eyes were back into its shade of storm as he jumped out of the car and rushed inside. He was fuming, that much I could tell with his body language as he marched into their front door and ignored those who were calling him. I winced when he literally pushed Dylan to the side and I caught Dylan pursing his lips, aware that they basically just pissed of Julian.

  I wanted to get out of the car and see what would happen. I’d seen Julian pissed off at me but he never really acted upon it and would just retaliate at me verbally. There hadn’t been any rumors that he was violent when he was angry but Julian was tired and I had a feeling he just wanted to crawl into bed after the day we had.

  I saw Julian and José head out from the house, Carlos and Dylan following closely behind. Julian was making exaggerated hand gestures and I could see that he was incredibly pissed off at José while the latter tried in vain to explain. I wanted to come between them because it seemed like Carlos and Dylan weren’t doing their jobs as referees.