Page 45 of Win You Over
A wave of uneasiness twists my stomach. I hate Finn being around Theo when I’m not there to protect him. Not that Theo needs my protection, but I still worry.
Theo: If I knew you were pretending to date Remington. If I thought you had actual feelings for him. Where you grew up. Where your mom lived. I told him to fuck off.
That wave turns nasty, crashing down around me. Finn digging into my life feels…suspicious.
Me:I don’t know what his deal is.
Theo:Me either.
Me:Just don’t start an argument with him if you see him again, okay? I don’t trust him not to lash out.
Theo:I’ll be fine. And hopefully, I’ll never see him again.
Nadine is going to kill us. I rub a hand over the purple marks on my neck as I finish drying my hair. Remington is taking his turn in the shower, and I am dressed and ready for another day in paradise.
My phone ringing takes my attention away from the marks I have no chance of hiding from Remington’s family.
My mum’s face appears on the screen when I answer the call. She doesn’t usually video call unless my sisters want to see me.
“Hello my long-lost son,” she jokes. A twinge of guilt hits me. I haven’t been a very attentive son or brother lately.
I wave at the screen. “Hi Mum.” It took about a month after my dad died, once we’d had his funeral and packed away a lot of his things before I could speak to my mum again, as long as we were alone.
“The twins wanted to see you.” She squints at the screen. “What happened to your neck?”
Remington finds that exact moment to exit the ensuite, coming up behind me. He’s wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist and he hasn’t bothered to dry his chest.
My mum’s eyes widen.
“Um...Hold? Where are you?”
“Hi Mrs. Holden’s Mom.” Remington waves at the screen.
“Hi…um…Holden, you are going to have to help your old mother here.”
I run a hand over the back of my neck before picking up a discarded t-shirt from the floor and throwing it at Remington.
“I’m in Sardinia.”
“Sardinia?” she shrieks. “You told me you were going on holiday with a friend! You failed to mention it was a holidayacross the world!”
“No need to shout, Mum. I’m with…my friend.” I point to the smiling blond behind me.
“Ah huh,” Mum says, not convinced. “The twins want to say hi and then I’m going to go and you are going to text me thewholestory.”
She’s quiet for a moment before asking, “You’re okay?”
“I am,” I answer, no word a lie. I know my mum worries about me. She always has, and I have always hated that I’ve given her a reason to worry. It’s partly why I never told her the full details about this trip. Just like Theo, she’d have had concerns and may have tried to talk me out of it. I love my mum. She is one of the best people I know, but I need her to have a little faith in me. To not always see me as her broken child.
My twin sisters, Nola and Nelly, appear on the screen, filling my heart with genuine affection. They’re wearing matching yellow dresses and both have chocolate smudged on their faces. They take turns showing me their new teddies, one of them dashing off to collect the small, fuzzy bee plush that was once mine, but has been adopted by them. It’s looking a little worn now, its fur more patchy than fluffy, and with what I think is a paint smudge over its smiling face and once white wings. The twins talk over each other before they hang up, leaving me staring at a blank screen.
“Your mom likes me,” Remington remarks from where he’s stretched out on the bed, typing on his phone, an open bag of grape flavored candy bears on his chest.
“She doesn’t know you.”
“Meh, mere technicalities,” he shrugs. “She likes me.”
She probably will. Everyone likes Remington.
