Chapter 374/Touching a Friend’s Sister
Chapter 374
Julie’s point of view
I cut him off instantly, my voice slicing through his words with sharp, defensive fury. **"Steve, please don’t listen to this bastard’s absolute bullshit! You know Mike personally, he has always been exactly like a brother to me."**
Jake scoffed bitterly, shaking his dark head. **"I highly doubt it looks that way in his head, sweetheart."**
I launched a glare dripping with pure, unadulterated hatred from my green eyes, snapping coldly, **"Fuck you, Jake. Why don’t you stop working as the devil’s advocate for one solitary second of your goddamn life!"**
Steve burst into a loud, booming laugh that echoed through the kitchen. He turned to Jake while sliding a perfectly golden pancake onto a plate. **"Yeah, man! Julie is absolutely right about that one!"**
But Jake’s harsh expression didn’t soften for a second. Instead, his blue eyes narrowed with a dangerous, unsettling seriousness as he pressed Steve directly. **"Do you seriously trust Mike that much, Steve?"**
Steve set the plate down in front of me, letting out an impatient sigh as he shot Jake a reprimanding look. **"Jake, drop the bullshit, please. Mike has been our close friend for years. What the hell is wrong with you, and what has suddenly gotten into your head about him?"**
Jake shifted uncomfortably, his gravelly voice tight as he scrambled to justify his erratic behavior. **"Think about it... why haven’t I ever gone out to have a private dinner with his sister, Stella?"**
Steve poured the hot coffee nonchalantly. **"I don’t know... and honestly, what’s stopping you if you wanted to? Stella is a sweet girl."**
Jake puffed out his chest, his tone dripping with an unshakeable, arrogant pride. **"She’s my best friend’s sister, Steve. I could never pull a cheap, unprincipled stunt like that. A friend’s sister is a definitive red line!"**
In that exact split second, my entire body froze. I stared at his face in absolute, suffocating shock and deep disgust. *Damn him...* I looked at him as if he were a deformed, utterly monstrous hypocrite. Had his sick, twisted mind completely blocked out the fact that he had forced himself on me before, entirely against my will? Had he not thought for a single fucking second that I am Steve’s sister? His absolute best friend’s sister?!
I ground my teeth together so hard my jaw ached. I locked my eyes directly onto his, hurling a question coated in pitch-black, scalding sarcasm. **"Oh, so a best friend’s sister is always completely forbidden and off-limits to you, Jake?"**
He didn’t even blink. He lifted his chin with a repulsive, artificial honor, stating firmly, **"Exactly. I could never touch a friend’s sister, under any circumstances."**
My lips twisted with profound bitterness as I muttered under my breath, **"This is absolute fucking madness."**
Steve chimed into the conversation seriously, taking a seat right next to me and nodding his head in agreement. **"Jake is actually right on this point, Julie. A friend’s sister is strictly off-limits."**
Jake violently slapped his palms together, a sickening, triumphant smirk ripping across his features. He glared at me with pure, mocking satisfaction, gloating loudly. **"See that?! See it with your own eyes?! Even Steve completely agrees with me on this!"**
**"This is mentally unhinged, for Christ’s sake,"** I muttered with deep disgust, aggressively cutting into my food.
Steve’s tone suddenly grew deep and fiercely protective, his gaze staring straight ahead. **"If Mike is looking at you as anything other than a sister... honestly, I wouldn’t tolerate it for a second."**
The burning jealousy flared right back into Jake’s eyes, and he snapped decisively, **"I am telling you, I’m completely certain he thinks of her in that dirty way."**
Steve issued a cold, dark threat, slamming his heavy palm onto the table as he looked directly at me. **"Even Jake... if he ever dared to cross the line and lay a single finger on you, I obviously wouldn’t stand for it. I would make his ass regret it bitterly."**
Right at that exact microsecond, Jake had aggressively stuffed a massive piece of pancake into his mouth. The moment Steve’s lethal warning left his lips, Jake’s jaw locked in total, paralyzing shock and he violently choked on his food!
His face turned a deep, alarming shade of crimson within seconds, a violent, hacking cough ripping through his throat in rapid succession. Panic immediately took over Steve. He leaped up from his stool, violently slamming his broad palm against Jake’s massive back to save him from suffocating, yelling in sheer terror, **"Jake! For Christ’s sake, man, what the hell?! Breathe slowly, buddy! Breathe!"**
Jake hacked violently, his face flushing a deep, dangerous crimson as the sudden blockage cut off his air, threatening to completely suffocate him. Steve kept raining heavy, rapid blows against his broad back, desperately trying to clear his throat. I stared at him with absolute, unyielding chill. Lifting the hot mug of coffee to my lips, I took a slow, deliberate sip, entirely enjoying the sheer panic and structural collapse written all over his features all triggered by my sweet brother’s lethal words. *Damn him.* The absolute terror of being exposed was violently tearing through his insides.
After a few agonizing moments, Jake managed to swallow the lodged piece with immense, painful effort. He stood there, planting both of his massive palms flat against the edge of the table, panting heavily as he intentionally avoided meeting Steve’s eyes.
"Are you good now, man?" Steve asked, the lingering panic evident in his voice as he sank back onto his stool. "For Christ’s sake, you almost let a single goddamn pancake punch your ticket!"
Jake cleared his throat, his gravelly voice dropping into a raspy, strained pitch. He yanked at the collar of his shirt with a restless, frantic motion, desperately trying to piece together whatever remained of his shattered composure. He turned his head, shooting a burning blue glare charged with pure malice straight at me before clipping out coldly, "I’m perfectly fucking fine. It just went down the wrong pipe, there’s no need to make a goddamn federal case out of it."
My lips twisted into a dark, razor-sharp smirk. I shifted my gaze back to Steve, letting my voice drip with pure, unadulterated malice. "It looks like Jake suddenly remembered the fatal consequences of crossing the line with a best friend’s sister, Steve... Fear has a very funny way of choking a person right up."