Forbidden Fruit: Craving My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 1

Aria

“You actually did it!”  

Sage nearly bounced in her seat, grinning as she raised her glass. We tapped them together and each took a slow sip of the dark red wine.

“I still can’t believe it,” I said, my voice a little unsteady. “It’s really mine.”

After months of searching, I had finally signed the lease on the apartment I’d wanted for so long—completely on my own. Sage and I had been close since high school in Portland. When I moved to Chicago she was already living between cities, building her career as a stylist. She only visited a few times a year now, but every time felt like no time had passed. People had always measured us against each other. If I was being honest, they still did. Sage had always moved through life with a kind of ease I never quite matched.

It showed in the way rooms shifted when she entered them. Getting this place without anyone’s help had been something I needed to prove—to myself most of all.

The apartment wasn’t the only thing that was new. I’d also just opened my own little café.

And I’d finally left my mother’s house, where her voice had always followed me from room to room.

The only person I knew I’d miss was my younger brother, Leo. He would be fine. Our mother had always adored him. In her eyes he could do no wrong. I was the one who absorbed every complaint—about money, about my choices, about my friendship with Sage.

She had never liked Sage. She used to push me to cut ties with the entire family, Sage and her older brother included.

Her brother had never been someone I wanted near me anyway—loud, self-important, exhausting.

My phone lit up. My mother’s name filled the screen. My stomach dropped. I ended the call without answering and slid the phone facedown on the table.

“Your mom again?” Sage asked quietly. She already knew from the look on my face.

I forced a small smile and nodded.

Sage exhaled. “Maybe one last conversation wouldn’t kill you.”

“I already know every word she’s going to say,” I answered. “I’d rather not.”

She didn’t push. She understood better than anyone how those talks usually went.

“To new beginnings?” I offered, lifting my glass again.

She smiled and met it with hers. We drank.

The phone rang a second time. I groaned, expecting another round of guilt. Then I saw the name and everything in me softened.

“Julian?” Sage asked, already reading the shift in my expression.

I nodded, smiling before I even answered.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Can you meet me at the café? We need to talk.” His voice sounded tighter than usual, almost clipped.

I told myself he was probably just tired. Work had been brutal lately.

“Okay. I actually have something I want to tell you too,” I said, already picturing the way his face would light up when I shared the news about the apartment.

“Fifteen minutes,” he said, and hung up before I could say more.

“Sage—”

She was already setting her glass down. “I’ve got you.”

“Can you drive me? Please?” I gave her the look that usually worked.

“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing her keys.

I hugged her side as we headed out the door.

A short drive later we pulled up in front of the quiet café. Inside, Julian sat near the window. He glanced up and gave a small wave when he saw us.

Sage squeezed my arm. “I’ll be right over there if you need me.” She claimed a table close enough to watch without hovering.

I walked over and started to signal one of the staff for drinks.

“No need,” Julian said flatly.

I sat down anyway, confused. “Alright.”

He looked at the table. “You said you had something to tell me. Go ahead.”

I smiled, too caught up in the moment to notice the tension. “I signed the lease this morning. The apartment is perfect. You should come by tonight and see it.”

“That won’t be necessary either.”

His hands rested flat on the table. His jaw was tight.

That was when I saw it—his left ring finger was bare.

The words stuck in my throat.

Before I could speak he said, “We’re done, Aria.”

I stared at him, waiting for the punchline that never came.

“What?”

“I said it’s over.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I should have ended this weeks ago.”

“Weeks ago?” My voice cracked. “Julian, two days ago everything was fine. You called me every night. You said you loved me.”

“I know what I said.”

“Then what changed? What did I do?”

He finally looked at me. Something cold sat behind his eyes. “It’s not about anything you did.”

“Then what is it? Just tell me.”

He checked his watch like the conversation was already taking too long.

“Julian.” My hands were shaking. I pressed them against the table. “You don’t get to walk away without an explanation.”

“There’s nothing to explain.” He shrugged as if we were discussing a cancelled reservation.

“Nothing?” A broken laugh escaped me. “Seven years, Julian. You don’t just disappear after seven years.”

“Watch me.”

“Please.” Tears blurred his face. “I thought we were building something. I thought—”

He let out a short, ugly sound. “You’re embarrassing yourself. That ring never meant what you decided it meant. You’re not the kind of person I would marry. Let’s stop pretending.”

The words landed like a slap. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He was already standing, pushing the chair back, gathering himself to leave as if I had already become part of his past.

“Wait—” I reached for his hand without thinking.

He pulled away so sharply it stung.

“Don’t,” he said, voice low and hard. “Don’t make this harder. Just go.”

He adjusted his jacket, gave me one last unreadable look, and walked out.

I sat frozen, staring at the empty space he had left. I could feel other eyes on me. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me.

Sage was there in seconds. She crouched beside me, arms wrapping around my shoulders as the sobs finally broke free. She held me until the worst of it passed, then gently wiped my face with her sleeve.

“He’s not worth a single tea

r,” she said quietly. “He never was.”

Then she took my hand, slid the ring from my finger, and dropped it into the trash.