Page 8 of Fever Dream
I lean back against the door and cross my arms, a motion she mimics as she cocks a hip. Her body language screams attitude. Right now, she reminds me more of the girl who gave me a condescending once-over than the terrified, combative one who woke up in my room.
“I don’t want to work with a Silva.”
She nods, lips pressed together as though she’s keeping herself from saying something she shouldn’t.
“Yes, well, as Mick Jagger once famously said, ‘You can’t always get what you want.’?”
My tongue pops to the side of my mouth as I glare back at Julia. “No.”
All she does is roll her eyes and let out a beleaguered sigh. “Listen, this is like a fucking dream job for someone who just graduated. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with my career. You are just a character on a reality TV show. I’m not partaking, which means you’ll be too busy to even notice me. So, can you like… I don’t know. Buck the fuck up?”
I blink once for dramatic effect. “?‘Buck the fuck up’?”
“Is ‘grow the fuck up’ better?”
My jaw drops ever so slightly. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t like my brother. My brother doesn’t like you. But I don’t care. You two are constantly after each other like little boys on a playground. It’s exhausting. You guys can go measure dicks, or whatever it is you like to do to each other, later. When I’m not present. This is a great opportunity for me, and I’m justdoing my job. Like a grown-ass woman with professional goals. Because”—she pokes me firmly in the chest with each word—“I. Don’t. Care.”
My chin drops as my gaze locks onto the offending finger. “We would never measure dicks. He already knows his is smaller.”
She smiles, reaching up to pat me on the shoulder condescendingly. “Guess that big dick of yours didn’t help you win the championship this year though, huh?”
My tongue pushes into my cheek as I refrain from responding to that dig. She’s right. I shouldn’t take my frustration out on her. So I retreat, reaching behind myself to open the door. “Go ahead. Go get the lay of the land so you and Theo can have a good laugh about it later.”
She moves to step into the house but draws up short, head tilting as she regards me. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Do what?” She smells fresh, like laundry soap.
“Disclose anything about this—about you—to my brother.”
I arch a brow in her direction, signaling that I don’t believe her.
“Did you tell anyone about that night?”
A pit forms in my stomach as I recall that night on the ship—like it always does. “No. Didn’t seem like my story to tell.”
Her eyes search my face as though she’s looking for something. The truth, perhaps. But thatisthe truth.
“Did you tell anyone?” I ask, curious. My head cocks as I recall an interaction. “Because once I asked Theo how you were doing. I genuinely wanted to check in. He told me to go fuck myself, though, so I got the sense he didn’t know.”
Her lips twitch as she carries on smoothly. “I told a counselor at the university. She helped me a lot. Other than that, it wasn’t something I wanted to rehash with my family or friends. Nothing happened. Onward and upward.”
I stare back at her, wondering if that’s the truth or just what she’s convinced herself of. Because it seems to me that something did happen. But I also understand not wanting to share every bit of trauma—God knows I don’t have a leg to stand on with that. So I settle on, “I’m glad to hear it.”
She nods once. “Well, this show doesn’t seem like my story to tell either. Plus, I’m under an NDA.” Then she pushes past me, her shoulder brushing against my arm as she murmurs, “So I guess we’re even now.”
Then, I watch her walk into my family home. My one safe space in the world. And while I’m not especially quick to trust, there’s something grounded about Julia that tells me she meant every word.
CHAPTER 4
Emmett
Two years ago…
OUR EYES MEETacross the bar. And for a beat they lock.
She lifts her black retro sunglasses up over her forehead with one hand to analyze me more closely. Her gaze roves over my bare chest, swim trunks, and down to the slides on my feet before meandering its way back up to my face. The music thumps so loudly through the open-air pool area that all I can hear is the heavy bass. The one that seems to beat in time with the blood rushing through my veins.
