“What is wrong with you! You have never acted this way before when it comes to who I date. I don’t even recognize you right now.”
Cam scoffed and waved his hand around the room. “Yeah, well, I’ve never walked in on my sister fucking my coach before, have I? Pretty big deal, if you ask me.”
"But I didn’t ask you! Cameron, do you hear yourself right now? I have spent my entire adult life being whatyouneed, being whereyouneed me to be, doing whatever I could foryourcareer. Hell, I've even dated women who were only with me to be closer to a celebrity so I do not need to justify my feelings for Frankie to you. I've finally met someone who makes me feel like for the first time in years, maybe even for the first time ever, I can be Jules.JustJules, not the sister of a hockey player."
"But out of all the women in this city, it had to be my coach that you started fucking behind my back? I know I said you should start dating again but come on, Jules, Frankie? Of all people?"
His voice was laced with vitriol and Jules didn't know what else she could say to make him understand, to make him see that what she felt for Frankie had nothing to do with him, that he had no right to stand there and make her feel bad for finding something, finding someone, that made her so happy. She had given up so much for him and it hurt that he couldn’t see why she’d been so happy and what the reason for it was.
Frankie stood up then and Jules stepped aside as she crossed the room, coming to a halt a few inches away from Cam. At nearly the same height, Frankie stared him down and he stumbled back slightly, as if he wasn’t expecting her to stand up to him, to challenge him the way she was.
It wasn't the right time to acknowledge it but Jules couldn't deny the attraction she felt for Frankie at that moment. No one had come to her defense like this before, no one had chosen her to fight for and all she could do was stand there and watch it happen. Her brother and the woman who had flipped her world upside down facing off against one another all because of her?
File that under things she never saw coming.
“Clarke," Frankie said, her voice low and demanding. "It is in your very best interest right now to show your sister some respect because if you continue speaking to her the way you are right now, you will regret it. Our relationship, whatever it may be, is none of your business just as she told you and if I were you, I would walk out of here right now and get ready for the game you have to play tomorrow. You are the captain and your team is relying on you. Am I clear?”
Cam's gaze flicked back and forth between Frankie and Jules before his stare settled on Jules.
"Clarke," Frankie repeated. "Am I clear?"
He glared at Jules expectantly for a few seconds, watching her, waiting for her to give him an apology, to say something to puthimat ease, but he had no right to demand that from her. Jules knew he wanted more, wanted to hear an explanation that made sense in his mind but she'd already said what needed to be said and if he couldn't accept that? It was something he needed to handle on his own.
She held his disappointed stare for as long as she could before she looked away and a disbelieving laugh fell from his lips.
"Wow," he muttered, spinning on his heels and walking back to her door.
She and Frankie had become friends, then they’d become more and now…well, now Jules was in love and she would not apologize for it.The sound of the door slamming echoed around them and Jules hugged herself. Frankie was at her side in seconds, her strong arms wrapping around Jules' smaller frame to hold her, to comfort her in whatever way she could.
“It’s okay,” Frankie said, stroking her back. “Just give him some time to cool down and it’ll all be okay.”
“You don’t know that.” Jules pressed herself against Frankie and shut her eyes, wanting to erase the way Cam had looked at them, wanting to rid her memory of the anger in his voice, the way he regarded their intimacy like some sort of deliberate betrayal. “But hey,” she said with self-deprecating laugh. “At least he knows now, right?”
She leaned back and looked up at Frankie, at the woman who'd walked into her life that morning in the gym and reminded her that it was okay towantmore for herself.
Before Jules could question it, before she gave herself any time to second guess it or fill with worry that Frankie didn’t feel the same way, the words she'd known to be true for weeks now fell from her lips.
“Iloveyou.”
And she meant it. She knew in her heart that what she felt for Frankie wasrealand it wasrightand she didn't want to hold it inside any longer.
Frankie’s eyes widened but never lost their softness, and then she smiled. It was the kind of smile Jules had only ever seen on her face when they were together and she didn’t need Frankie to say it back to her to know she felt the same way, not when it was written all over her face.
Jules could see it in the way her eyes crinkled in delight, could see it when Frankie bought her flowers and filled the fridge with the drinks Jules liked, when she trusted Jules with the stresses of her job and leaned on her when she neededsupport she’d never allowed herself to truly have with anyone else. And Jules did the same.
“I know that this is an absolutely a crazy time to tell you,” she said, nervous to be laying her heart out in the open this way despite being so sure of it all, “and I know it’s fast but I just need you to know how I feel. It’s okay if you’re not ready to say it back yet, if you don’t-”
“Jules. Feel this.”
Frankie linked their fingers together and brought their hands to her chest like she’d done the night they first slept together. Jules opened her palm, flattening her fingers over Frankie’s heart. She felt it beating, felt everything Frankie kept there just for her.
“It might be a crazy time for me to say it back, but, I love you too.”
“Really?” Jules swallowed hard and her bottom lip trembled. “You’re not just saying it?”
“Do you really think I’d say if I didn’t mean it?” Frankie questioned, her voice barely above a whisper. “Of course I mean it.”
The world around Jules went hazy and rose coloured as the confession sunk in. Suddenly it all made sense; everything in the songs she listened to, in the movies she watched, and in the cheesy sapphic romance books she loved so much. It had to be some kind of magic.
