Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Maybe I should be mad at her for staying in that situation as long as she did, but I’ve never seen my mom as the problem. When she married Jeff Hayes, she had no idea what she was getting into, and once the cycle of abuse started, his ability to manipulate and control was too much for a woman with five young kids. She was a victim like the rest of us, just trying to survive. How can I be angry at her for that?
“Let’s raise our glasses to the Hayes family,” Wendy starts to cheers, but Jude is quick to pipe up again. I have no idea how, but he loves to stir shit even more than Ty.
“And what about us, Mom?” he asks with a wry smirk. “You got anything sweet to say about your actual kids? You know, other than us being old?”
His wife Sophie doesn’t hesitate to slap him on the back of the head. “Ignore him. Please.”
“Hey now!” Jude retorts on a chuckle. “All I’m saying is she could’ve thrown us a bone, you know?” He looks over at Remy, who just stares back at him with annoyance. Then he looks at Flynn, who pretty much does the same.
His sister Winnie immediately says, “Don’t even try to wrangle me into your needy bullshit.”
“Yeah, Jude,” Ty agrees. “If you need someone to suck your cock, ask your wife.” The whole house devolves into an uproar, and Jack and Trav share a high five. One thing about putting all ten offspring of that asshole Jeff together is that things are going to get crazy.
“To the first official Winslow-Hayes Family Dinner Night,” Remy announces, wading into the melee to calm us all down. His wife Maria raises her glass high in the air, and we all follow suit.
I cheers my glass of lemonade with the people closest to me—Flynn, Flynn’s wife Daisy, Jack, and Willow—and allow myself a small moment of wonder.
From where I started to here had a really steep learning curve, but it’s taught me an important lesson I’ll keep with me forever. Hard things are worth it.
“Now, how about some fucking spaghetti?” Jude announces with a big-ass grin on his face. Wendy starts to open her mouth to chastise him, but her words turn into an outright laugh when Jude makes a show of walking the bowl of pasta over to his mom to serve her. “For my beautiful mother. The best mother in the entire world.” He looks over at Helen. “No offense, Aunt Helen.”
My mom just laughs, and Ty picks up a piece of garlic bread to toss at Jude’s head. Jude dodges it on a chuckle.
My newest brothers might be middle-aged men, but they still act like kids. Not a single one of them is the uptight, better-than-thou persona I had imagined the first time I found out about their existence.
“You know what’s crazy?” Travis questions as he serves himself a giant helping of spaghetti. “Jeff Hayes…Jeff Winslow—whatever you want to call that son of bitch—he might be a true piece of shit, but somehow, he managed to create incredibly good-looking offspring.”
The sounds of cutlery clanking and people chatting stop on a dime.
“What?” Travis holds out both hands and shrugs. “I know I’m not the only one who sees that the Hayes and Winslow families aren’t ugly. I mean, Winnie is beautiful with her blond hair and blue eyes. Flynn could be James Dean reincarnated. Remy might be in his fifties, but I swear, people probably confuse him with Superman. Ty could be Zac Efron’s doppelgänger before his face got all fucked up.” Our mom smacks him in the chest, but he keeps going. “And Jude looks like an old Abercrombie and Fitch model from back in the day.” Everyone stares at Travis as he shoves a bite of spaghetti into his mouth and talks around his food. “My siblings aren’t ugly either. Reece is a handsome fuck. It’s annoying how attractive Finn is. Willow is so pretty that I feel like I spend most of my time beating high school douchebags off with a stick. And I’m uberhot, obviously, and since Jack is my twin, I guess he’s okay-looking, too. It’s just nuts, you know? Who would’ve thought an abusive drunk who’s in prison for killing a cop could create such good-looking kids?”
When no one responds, Reece lets out a shocked laugh. “Bro, I think you might’ve taken that shit too far.”
“Hey, I don’t have any problem saying the silent part out loud.” Travis just shrugs and shoves another bite of spaghetti into his mouth. “I know I’m not the only to pick up on that shit. Not to mention, how weird it is that all of our names start with the same letter—by birth order? Remy, Flynn, Ty, Jude, Winnie…Reece, Finn, Travis, Jack, Willow. It’s fucking strange.”