Page 146 of The Winslow Brothers

Me: What was Flynn’s fortune?

Ty: Why the fuck do you want to know that?

Me: Just wondering. I know mine was like a bet or something. Yours was a secret. She didn’t finish Rem’s because he fucking hightailed it out there after the first part kicked him straight in the dick. But I can’t remember Flynn’s. Do you?

Ty: It was something about a pact. A wild night with a stranger and a pact.

I turn the screen of the phone to show Winnie.

“So, a bet, a pact, a secret, and poor Remy just got told his wedding wouldn’t happen?”

“He was out the door before she could say anything else.”

“He should’ve waited.”

I laugh. “Win, I’m sorry that this is a big inconvenience for you, but I can tell you, Rem didn’t look good when she said the wedding wouldn’t happen. Pretty sure he left because it was fucking with his head. Not because he wanted to inconvenience his baby sister over thirteen years later.”

A guilty smile consumes her lips. “Gah. Sorry. I just can’t help it! I want to know!”

All I can do is shrug. “Well, I did my best, sis. And now, you know, I’m kind of hoping we can get back to the whole reason I came here in the first place.”

She cocks her head to the side, almost like she fucking forgot why I’m even here, and then she sits up straight and blurts out, “Right! Right! Sophie!”

Just hearing her name, even from my sister’s mouth, brings everything right back to the pain. Back to the regret. Back to the reality that I might’ve lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“Fuck, Win, what am I going to do?”

She reaches out both of her hands and clasps them over mine. “We’re going to fix this. Together. That’s what we’re going to do.”

“But is it even fixable?” I question. “I mean, Win, I hurt her so bad. I was a total bastard.”

“That you were, but it’s because of all that Winslow baggage you’ve been carrying around.”

I want to tell her that’s bullshit, but even I know that’s a lie. All the crap I’ve seen my mom and Rem and even Winnie go through over the years when it comes to love and relationships has done nothing but make me put up some kind of wall or some shit. Out of self-protection more than anything else, I think.

“Just tell me this, Jude. How far are you willing to go for her?”

The Jude of the past, before Sophie, would’ve had a real prick answer to that question.

But the Jude of now? Well, his answer is easy.

“Anything and everything. Nothing is off-limits.”

Winnie’s eyes and mouth go wide. “For real?”

I nod.

Then her mouth quirks up into a grin, and she leans over to wrap her arms around my shoulders tightly. “I love you, Jude. And I promise you, everything is going to work out.”

God, I hope so. Because not even a week has passed, and life without Sophie is proving to be the most-painful, un-fun, miserable time of my existence.

Wednesday, April 11th

Sophie

My phone chimes loudly from my purse, and I snag it out quickly to put it on silent. But I don’t miss the name that glares back at me from the screen—Jude. He’s texted me at least twenty times since Sundayandcalled me another ten times on top of that, but I’ve made a point not to read any of his messages or, of course, answer his calls.

And I don’t really know why. Because the pain is still too raw? Or because I’m scared that the lure of simply being with him because I’m in love with him is still so strong that it could make me give in to something that will only end with more pain?

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