Page 40 of No Way Home
“You can’t tell Griff,” Bowen said, in the same acid-infused tone he used whenever he wanted to wound me.
I kept going, my lungs leaden.
“Please don’t tell Griff,” he rasped, stripped of all the armor he’d worn seconds ago.
I turned to face him, unprepared for the sight in front of me.
He blinked back tears, hands on the top of his head like he’d start ripping his hair out if I didn’t agree. This man was one of the most popular people on the grounds of UVA. Girls whispered his name as he walked past. I’d heard it. Many times. But right now? Even with his bulging biceps, wide shoulders, strong jaw, and eyes that stole the hearts of women everywhere he went, he looked like a helpless little boy.
I didn’t understand. Not fully. I hated myself for wanting to shield him from the very heartbreak he’d given me. But I couldn’t cause him pain, no matter how much he’d caused me. It simply wasn’t in my nature.
“I won’t,” I promised. Then I climbed the porch stairs and escaped into the house.
When the door closed, I jumped. Sophie was standing there. She must’ve been watching through the sidelights.
She held her jaw tight, like she was afraid that if she loosened it, something she shouldn’t say might slip out. “I don’t know what Sole Mates is or what happened that night, and I know you’re mad at him for the way he’s treated you…but you don’t have the whole picture.”
My forehead furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I love both of them,” she said. “You know that, right?” There was a tightness in her voice that told me this was herdisclaimer before she dropped a truth bomb that would leave me standing in emotional rubble.
I hugged myself, gearing up. “Of course.”
“It’s not my place to tell you, and they’d both be really mad if I did. So I’ll only say this…” She hesitated. “There’s a reason Bowen rolls over to make Griffin happy. A good one. And I would bet money that Bowen didn’twantto be mean to you.” She pressed her lips together as if afraid to say more.
“If he didn’t want to be mean, then why was he? He had a choice. No one put a gun to his head.”
“It’s not that easy.” Her eyes hooked mine, so serious and a touch broken. Then she said something that changed my and Griffin’s relationship forever. “The truth is, Bowen is a puppet on a string…and Griffin is the puppet master.”
Chapter Twelve
MAGNOLIA
I gotout of my car at Dupree Ranch and made my way down the trail toward the obstacle training course, a pit in my stomach. I still didn’t understand everything. But after talking with Griffin, who’d tried to be even more tight-lipped than Bowen, I understood enough.
As I walked around the last bend and Bowen came into view, bare-chested as always, my heartached.
“Yes! Attagirl!” He punched his fists to the sky as Sophie flew across the rings. “You’re killing it. Keep going!”
Sophie flung herself off the last ring and stuck the landing with gymnast-like precision, arms thrust to the sky. “I am unstoppable!”
Bowen tackled her in a hug, lifting her off the ground. “I told you, you just needed to figure out your momentum.” There was so much joy in his voice that it didn’t sound like the Bowen I’d come to know.
I smiled, happy to see him so happy.
He set her on her feet, grinning proudly.
“You did.” She bounced on her toes. “I wanna try again.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s do it.”
Sophie spotted me and waved. “Hey, Maggie!”
“Hey.” I smiled. “I see you got the rings. Congrats.”
“Yup, thanks to Bowen.” She beamed at her brother and took off for the stack of tractor tires that were a ladder to the rings.
Bowen turned, all the joy gone from his expression. “Sup,” he said, barely acknowledging me. Like last night had never happened. But I could see the embarrassment in his eyes.
