Twisted Hate

Josh sits at the Bronze Gear bar with his friend, Clara, an ER nurse at Thayer University Hospital, where he’s a third-year resident specializing in emergency medicine. He’s come out tonight to avoid weekly letters from his father, Michael, who attempted to kill his sister, Ava, twice after learning she’s not his biological daughter. Clara notes Josh and Jules’s sexual chemistry, but he brushes Jules off as his sister’s annoying friend from college. He changes the subject to his upcoming vacation to New Zealand. A blond woman interrupts their conversation, and Josh contemplates a casual hookup, but ultimately declines. He finds life boring lately. When he exits the bar, he spots Jules in a nearby alley with a gun to her would-be robber’s head. Josh waits with her until the police arrive.

Josh and Jules head to the metro after questioning from the police. Jules doesn’t respond to Josh’s barbs as usual, prompting his reluctant concern. She claims she’s fine, but the doctor in him notices her shaking hands. He wonders if he should walk her home, but then she simultaneously insults him and reminds him of Ava’s surprise birthday party. After walking away, Josh secretly turns around and watches Jules make it home safely.

Jules’s friend and roommate, Stella Alonso, asks about her date. Stella assumes Jules’s mood is due to being stood up, but Jules is still shaken by the robbery: “The sensation of being helpless, even for a few minutes” (26) brings up memories of her dark past in Ohio with her vain mother, Adeline, predatory stepfather, Alastair, and manipulative ex-boyfriend, Max. She agrees to a movie night with Stella after her shower. While in the tub, she fights off traumatic memories by reminding herself of her new life. Jules reminds herself of the money, freedom, and security her law career will give her once she passes the bar exam.

Ava’s birthday party proves an effective distraction for Jules. Ava is happily in a relationship with Alex Volkov, her brother Josh’s ex-best friend. Josh and Alex are civil but tense around each other. Josh’s mood affects Jules’s mood, which is why she initially considered not inviting him. However, Jules is elated by the arrival of her friend Bridget von Ascheberg, the queen of a small European kingdom called Eldorra, and her fiancé and former bodyguard, Rhys Larsen.

Stella mentions that she and Jules are looking to move out of Hazelburg and into DC after their lease ends in April. Talk of real estate reminds Ava of a ski resort opening in Vermont during the last weekend of March that Alex—the CEO of the Archer Group, a top real estate company—has four tickets to. Stella, Bridget, and Rhys are busy that weekend, so the invitations are extended to Jules and Josh. Ava thinks the trip will be fun, so Jules politely accepts. Josh politely declines because he’s scheduled to work, but Ava mentions the resort has a difficult trail—a triple black diamond—to appeal to his love of risky activities. He agrees to come along, despite him and Jules dreading spending the weekend together.

Later, Alex approaches Josh. Josh is tense around his ex-best friend, whom he hasn’t forgiven for “lying to get closer to [his] father, whom Alex thought had been the one behind his family’s murder” (38). Alex lied and used him for seven years before his own uncle, Ivan Volkov, was revealed as the murderer. Josh remains civil out of respect for Ava, but when Alex says she misses her brother, Josh snaps at him to stay out of their sibling bond.

Jules finds Josh at the Bronze Gear, and when she flirts with the bartender, Josh calls her pathetic—which provokes her to call out his failed relationship (specifically, his friendship with Alex). Josh, thinking Jules is talking about a woman, assures her that he has no interest in relationships. Jules clarifies that he needs to repair his friendship with Alex, so his hostility doesn’t ruin the ski trip for everyone. When he snaps at her to stay out of his relationships until she understands what it’s like to be betrayed by a loved one, she reveals that she already has been. Josh is intrigued, because he doesn’t know much about Jules’s past before her time at Thayer University. After she leaves, he questions who could have betrayed her. The bartender mentions his attraction to Jules, which Josh sabotages by telling him to refer to her as Jessica Rabbit, a hated nickname.

Jules is offered a temporary research associate position at the Legal Health Alliance Clinic (LHAC), “a medical-legal partnership where doctors and lawyers worked together to provide care to underserved communities” (47). Meanwhile, Bridget’s fiancé, Rhys, schedules a private showing of the Mirage’s luxury apartments for Jules and Stella; their dream apartment requires $7,500 a month. Upon learning the apartment is outside the women’s budget, the director of leasing, Pam, speaks to them condescendingly. Pam is interrupted by Christian Harper, the owner of the Mirage and CEO of Harper Security, the security firm that Rhys worked for as Bridget’s bodyguard. Christian is attracted to Stella and accepts the women’s monthly budget of $2,500. After scanning the lease for red flags, the women sign off and celebrate their luck.

Josh’s last week at the ER before the ski trip has been chaotic, but he thrives on “the thrill of coming into work every day and not knowing what challenges lay ahead” (58). After work, he visits the Legal Health Alliance Clinic (LHAC)—which he volunteers at once or twice a week—to retrieve his backup phone charger. Barbs, LHAC’s self-proclaimed matchmaker, urges Josh to meet the new hire— Jules. From now on, Josh and Jules will have to consult each other on cases requiring medical and legal opinions. Josh feels territorial over LHAC and lashes out, implying a position at LHAC will not offer wealth or prestige for Jules to take advantage of. The insult hurts Jules and Josh regrets it, blaming his issues with Michael and Alex for his behavior. He apologizes and suggests a truce.

After a few weeks at LHAC with Josh, Jules isn’t pleased at their forced proximity: Suppressing “her knee-jerk instinct to insult him the second [she] saw his face” (68) proves difficult, but not impossible. He brings cupcakes one day, and Jules is surprised that he included a caramel one for her. They come together to finish a case before their ski trip the following day. The case involves an injured mother, Laura, who has no insurance to cover bills and can no longer work to provide for her two children. The details remind Jules of her own childhood: “Cold nights. Empty stomach. The incessant itch of anxiety crawling over [her] skin” (72). She knows what it’s like to face being unhoused, except that Laura is trying, whereas her own mother, Adeline, spent her money on shopping instead of bills. Jules and Josh find solutions for Laura, and Jules begrudgingly admits they make a good team.

At the airport the following day, Jules presents Josh with a blueberry muffin, as repayment for the caramel cupcake because she “doesn’t like owing people” (77). She admits that Josh is a good brother for coming along because Ava wants him to, despite his personal issues with Alex. Secretly, Josh hates himself for failing to protect Ava from Michael and Alex, who both lied and hurt her.

When the group arrives at the ski lodge in Vermont, the suite that Alex reserved has been overbooked. While Alex arranges for another suite, Jules exchanges flirtatious looks with a male staff member across the lobby, and “irritation curled in [Josh’s] stomach” (81). The room they’re given is smaller than the original, with two bedrooms and one bed each. Josh rooms with Jules, because the alternative is sharing a bed with Alex.