Page 51 of Sacrifice
“Then it would be a dog. I don’t see the point in your analogy here.”
“Shut the hell up and listen. Let’s say you were going on a vacation or dying or something. Would you leave that puppy to me?”
“No.”
“Exactly. Because I’d forget to feed the motherfucker and it’d die. Right?”
I laugh, starting to feel exasperated.
“Right?” he asks again.
“Right.”
“Okay. So let’s think of Jules and Ever as Gage’s puppies. He’d want someone to take care of them and feed and water them.”
I nod cautiously.
“But he’d also want someone to love them—”
“Thin ice, Will,” I interrupt, my heartbeat picking up. I don’t need connections made that aren’t already linked. Ineedhim to shut the fuck up.
Will rolls his eyes. “Interrupt me all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m right. Gage wouldn’t want them to scrape along and be miserable. He’d want them to be happy, to smile. To be safeandloved, man.”
“But it shouldn’t be byme.The fact that you are even saying this is a million ways of fucked up.”
“I’m saying what’s written all overyourface. I’m saying what I’ve known sinceyoupussed out and went back to college, leaving her to fall in love with your brother.”
“Will . . .” I warn, but I can see in his face that he’s going to press the issue. His usual happy-go-lucky persona doesn’t leave room to talk about shit that matters, but tonight, that side of him isn’t present. I have the Will that thinks he knows things he doesn’t. I have the “I-invented-the-Internet” Will Gentry.
“Just listen to me. I don’t know why you left her behind. I don’t know why she hooked up with Gage, and I don’t know why that was fine with you. And honestly, I don’t give two fucks. It matters not to me. But things have changed, and I didn’t just walk in the front door and meet you today.” I bury my head in my hands, the conversation starting to make me sick.
“Gage trustedyou,” Will says, his voice without the edge from earlier. “You two had each other’s backs from day one. Don’t you think he’d want you to have it now?”
“I do,” I say, my voice rising with frustration. “I’m doing everything I can to take care ofhisfamily. I’ve moved his wife and kid in with me. What more can I fucking do?”
Will watches me, his eyes narrowed. “Do you think when Gage married Jules the fact that you dated her first was wiped from his brain? Because I assure you it wasn’t. I fucking guarantee you it wasn’t, man. He knew you loved her.”
“I still don’t see your fucking point and you better make it crystal clear quick.”
“He trusted you, Crew. Only fucking you. And I think if he could pick anyone in the world to take care of her,make her happy,it’d beyou.So you feeling guilty and having a conscious for the first time in your damn life is kinda dumb. If you’re going to become some philosophical badass, pick another topic because this one’s stupid.”
I burst up and take a deep breath.
“I don’t want to talk about this. This isn’t what I was saying.” I don’t look at him. What he’s just spewed is blasphemy. It’s fucking craziness and I don’t even want to think about it. I don’t want to consider it. It’s not the way things are fucking done.
The phone rings, cutting through the tension. I see it’s Julia and I grab it off the table, grateful for the interruption. “Hey.”
“Crew,” she says, her voice choking back tears.
“Jules? What’s wrong?” The hairs on the back of my neck stand. “Where are you?”
“I’m on my way home. I just got a call from Dr. Perkins’ office.” She pauses and I hear a slight gasp. “The therapy has been denied.”
“What?” I shout.
“Yeah,” she says, her voice trembling. “I shouldn’t have called you, but I just . . .”
“Why?”
