Unethical by Jennifer Blackwood Page A

exasperated grunt and smacked the sink with my palm. Today was officially deemed shit on Payton day. I grabbed the battery from the floor and popped it back into my phone.
    “Are you okay?”
    I shrieked and dropped my phone again.
    Damnit!
    Seriously. Could I do something right? Tears tracked down my face as I slid down the wall.
    Jules picked up my phone and sat next to me on the floor. “What’s wrong?” Man, I must have looked like a complete wreck if she subjected her designer jeans to the bathroom floor.
    “It’s my dad.” Snot ran down my chin to complete this new trendy neurotic-chic look. I sniffed and wiped my nose with my sleeve. I needed to tell her. Out of anyone, I trusted her the most, and if I didn’t tell someone soon and get this off my chest, I would go into self-destruct mode.
    She grabbed my non-snotty hand and massaged my palm. “What do you mean? What happened?”
    I took in a ragged breath and readied myself for her reaction. If she wanted me to move out by morning, I wouldn’t blame her. Not many people would want to live with the daughter of a killer.
    “My dad is Dr. Cooper.”
    Her brows furrowed as she took in what I said. “But your last name is Daniels.”
    “That’s my mom’s last name.” My mom was an established lawyer by the time she met my father and didn’t want to take his name. “I legally changed it when I moved to Florida two years ago.”
    “Oh.” She pushed her bangs out of her face and tucked them behind her ear. “Well, shit. Let’s get out of here.”
    The pressure in my chest lifted a millimeter. She wasn’t kicking me out. In fact, she didn’t even look disgusted or terrified to be in the same room as me. She looked like normal Jules, minus her butt rubbing against all the bathroom floor germs.
    “I need to get my backpack first.”
    Jules turned and picked up something beside her. She held up my backpack and dangled it in front of me. “You mean this?”
    “I love you.”
    She kissed the top of my head and ruffled my hair. “I love you, too. Now let’s get some coffee.”
    After a few hours of studying, we went to figure drawing. I’d convinced Jules to switch out of her Pilates class after her instructor got a little too handsy with his demonstrations.
    Jules dropped her backpack onto the ground and slumped into her seat. “I don’t know how you talked me into this. I can’t draw worth shit.”
    “It’s beginning figure drawing class. No one knows how to draw in here.”
    A tall, blond-haired guy with high cheekbones and a sculpted bod untied the black sash from his robe, took it off, and hung it on a coat rack by the door.
    Jules straightened in her seat, eyes brightening. “Ah. This is why I agreed.”
    I elbowed her in the side. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you.”
    “And deprive me of this hot-guy mecca?” She waggled her brows. “This is so much better than Pilates.”

Chapter Six
    Blake
    “What do you wanna do tonight?” Jules nibbled my ear and gently squeezed my leg.
    I shifted to move farther away on the bed. “How about a movie?”
    What the hell, Hiller? She was all over you.
    “Hmm.” She stuck her bottom lip out into a pout. “We just watched a movie.”
    “We could go to the drive-in. It’ll be fun.” And it bought me time to try and figure out why I hesitated every time she brushed against me. Maybe I just needed to get to know her better, and then my mind would be on the same page as the rest of my body.
    “Oh! That sounds like fun.” She bounced next to me, her hand grabbing my thigh. With the way she kept touching me, she expected me to make a move. But I couldn’t, because my stupid schmuck self kept thinking about someone else.
    “Great, I’ll check out times.” I pulled up the movie app on my phone.
    Jules put her hand on my arm as I scrolled through movie times. “Do you think we could invite Payton and Andrew?”
    “Uh.” How could I say when hell freezes over nicely? I didn’t want to