The Bet (Winslow Brothers 1)

Fuck. I put my head in my hands.

“So, was I hearing things when you were at my door, or did you say that the fortune-teller was gone?”

I sigh and look up at her. “Her shop is now a fucking Wendy’s.”

“And how, exactly, do you know this?”

“Because I went there first.”

Her head jerks back. “But I thought you didn’t believe in shit like that?”

“I didn’t. Until I made a fucking bet that led me to a woman named Sophie Sage, and I’m now sitting here like a miserable bastard at your kitchen table at one in the morning.”

“So, the infamous fortune-teller from Rem’s bachelor party was right?”

“About me?” I shake my head on a harsh laugh. “Apparently, she hit the future-predicting nail right on the head.”

“What did she say about Rem, Flynn, and Ty?”

“I already told you this last summer. It was thirteen years ago. I don’t fucking remember.”

“Well, you need to think about it, Jude. Because this feels pretty damn important.”

I groan. “Winnie, just because it came true for me doesn’t mean it will for the rest of our brothers.”

She eyes me knowingly. “You mean it came true for you and Remy.”

Well, shit.

“Seriously, what did she say about everybody?” Winnie asks again, and when I just sit there, trying to recall what happened that night, she gets impatient. “Jude? What did she say?!”

“I’m trying to remember!” I answer back. “You’ll have to excuse me for the foggy head, considering I ran to your place in the rain because…you know…I feel like I’ve made the biggest mistake of my fucking life. But no big deal.”

She nods, but she doesn’t give it up. “I get that, Jude. And I promise, we’re going to fix all that. But right now, I need to know what else that fortune-teller said.”

“You’re so stubborn, you know that?”

“I do,” she retorts and reaches out to tap the side of my head. “So, think with that brain of yours and figure it out.”

“Damn, sis,” I complain and pull away from her annoying finger. “Just give me a minute here…” I pause and rack my brain for what Cleo the fortune-teller told the rest of my brothers. It’s all hazy at best, like trying to figure out the time on an hourglass that’s aged a hundred years in the dirt.

But eventually, a few things do pop up in my mind.

“I think I remember Ty’s,” I announce, and Winnie stares at me, her eyes damn near trying to pry it out of my head by sheer force. “It was something about him taking a bite of forbidden fruit and a big secret that he’d have to keep. A secret that would cause turmoil or some shit.”

“That doesn’t sound too good.”

I shrug. “Well, she did tell Remy his wedding wouldn’t happen a week before his wedding was supposed to happen, so I don’t think Miss Cleo gave a flying fuck about giving people bad news.”

Winnie snorts. “And what about Flynn?”

I shake my head. “I can’t remember his.”

“What?” she questions, her voice rife with disappointment. “But you remembered Ty’s!”

“Barely.”

When Winnie just sits there, looking at me like a woman who won’t move past this whole stupid thing until she knows, I decide to give it one last shot.

“I’ll text Ty,” I say and pull my phone out of my still-damp pants. “Make the fucking professor use that big brain of his for something that doesn’t revolve around getting into someone’s panties.”

Me: Remember that fortune-teller we went to at Rem’s bachelor party?

His response comes in a minute later.

Ty: Of course I fucking do. That woman was insane.

Maybe not as insane as we originally thought, I think to myself, but I also keep that to myself.

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.”