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“Can you ask Bridget at the front desk to have them send breakfast out?”
“Sure, anything in particular?”
“Strawberry pancakes,” Winter replied. “With syrup for me and whipped cream for my brother.”
That was the first he’d heard about him and Winter having breakfast together, but Tripp was good with it, especially if the morning came with one of his favorite foods.
“Will do,” Dez replied, then he was off in a crunch of sand on paving stones as he headed back down the path.
“Figured I’d be the only one out here this morning,” Tripp admitted, eyes tracking a couple of birds as they waltzed across the brilliantly multi-hued sky.
Winter chuckled, and Tripp glanced over to see him sprawled on his back, eyes on the heavens. “You probably would have been if some of us hadn’t been up all-night playing cards. Riley and Tavis tapped out and headed to bed at five. I wanted Dez to listen to something, so I ran through it a couple of times, then we came out here since neither of us was tired enough to sleep. It was nice though. I think I’ll do it more often.”
“I was thinking the same.”
“So look, I did a podcast this morning and sent it to management to upload on the website, just to set people straight on what’s going on with us, Wild Child, and the future.”
Tripp let out a long, low whistle and leaned back on his elbows. “Our fans are gonna crash the site when they see that shit. No one is going to take your quitting well.”
“That might be true, if I’d described the situation as quitting.”
“Then how, exactly, did you put it?”
“As an opportunity to work on some crossover material while our bands tour together.”
Tripp was glad he was sitting down, otherwise, he might have fallen over. That wasn’t the impression he’d gotten from the emails management had sent….unless his brother had taken action after being cc’d in them. “So…the tour is a go, we’re really doing this?”
“I got to thinking about you and Zakk, and how you’ve never taken a step back from the music to try and make room for someone in your life. Then I started thinking about me and Tavis, how long I wanted something to develop between us, even when I was terrified of taking that step ‘cause if shit went sideways, what would happen with the band, ya know?”
“Is that what you and Dez bonded over?”
“Among other things.”
“Like hating the music?”
Once it was out there, there was no taking it back. Tripp wanted to kick himself for wrecking the easy vibe they’d had between them for the past few days. Any moment now, Winter would get up, curse him out, and leave him there to eat his pancakes alone. Tripp braced himself for it, shocked when all Winter did was murmur.Yeah.
“I’m sorry,” Tripp said. “That was never what I wanted.”
“I know. It’s not like I gave you a fair shot to fix it either. I just kept doing my thing and stewing until everything came out wrong. I’m sorry for that. You didn’t deserve to have me blindside you that way.”
“I’m sorry. You’re sorry. The thing I’m struggling to figure out is when we stopped being able to have a civil and rational conversation with one another?” Tripp said.
Winter sighed; hands folded behind his head. “I wish I knew, just like I wish I knew what I did to make you hate me.”
Well shit.
Tripp sat up with a jerk to stare at his twin. “I don’t….”
The scathing look Winter cut him left the words turning to ash in his mouth. No, he did not hate his twin, but he hadn’t shown him anything but frustration and annoyance in quite a while. It was no wonder Winter felt the way he did.
“I know I’m messy,” Winter began. “Impulsive, reckless, even a little off-kilter sometimes, but you know I’ve never done anything to hurt the music.”
“But youhavedone things to hurt yourself.”
“I’m working on fixing that.”
“You scare me.”
