Twenty minutes later, Sophie was sitting in the back of the ambulance, an emergency blanket wrapped around her shoulders, being looked over by a paramedic. Jacob stood hovering, especially when Lucas drove up, ran to the shore, and stared at the shell of his boat, hands in his hair. Then he turned to Sophie.
She grimaced. “I’m sorry—”
“You okay?” Lucas asked.
“Yes, but the boat isn’t.”
“I know.” Lucas let out a long breath. “It might be karma.”
She stared at him. “You really believe that?”
“I’m working on it.” He started to walk off, then hesitated. Glanced at Jacob and then back at Sophie. “You need anything?” he asked her.
She shook her head.
He nodded, looking more than a little relieved. “Take care of yourself.” And then he was gone.
Hud came up next to Jacob and pulled him aside. “How is she?”
Jacob shook his head. “They were worried about shock, but she’s doing well, considering what could have happened. A small burn on her arm, that’s it.”
Hud let out a breath of relief and nodded. “They caught the flames pretty fast, but there’s also massive soot, smoke, and water damage. Probably not salvageable.”
Jacob nodded. He’d known this. What he didn’t know was how Sophie was going to feel about it. “You tried to hold me back from jumping on board,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“And yet you followed me,” Jacob said.
“Yeah, and if you’re about to ask why, you’re going to piss me off,” his twin said. “Don’t you get it yet? Where you go, stupid or not, I go. And vice versa. I’ll beat that into you if I have to. We do the right thing by each other, always—you got that yet?”
“Yeah, I got it.” Jacob paused. “Do you really not remember our handshake?” he asked, referring to the day he’d run into his brother and Hud had acted like he’d never seen it before.
Hud blew out a sigh. “You’re not the only one who can be an ass. We do share DNA.”
Jacob nodded. How well he knew that. “You know I’m sorry, right? For leaving without a word. For not keeping in contact. For coming back without a word. For everything.”
“I know.” Hud paused. “Me too.”
“Yeah? What are you sorry for?”
Hud heaved out a sigh. “For letting you walk. For holding a grudge. For using being mad at you as an excuse to not take any blame on myself.”
“I hated being without you,” Jacob admitted.
“Me too,” Hud said. “It sucked.” He didn’t look particularly happy at this admission. “We don’t have to keep talking about our feelings, do we?”
“Hell no,” Jacob said. “I’m good now. You?”
Instead of answering, Hud held out his hand, fisted.
Throat suddenly tight, Jacob bumped it with his, and then they went through their age-old complicated handshake by rote, his body still having the muscle memory to do it without thinking.
And then they hugged.
Hud squeezed him hard. “You fucking come back this time, and I mean right back—you hear me?”
“I will.” He turned and sought out a view of Sophie.
Hud’s gaze followed. “What are you going to do there?” his twin asked.
Jacob didn’t take his eyes off of her. “The right thing.”
Chapter 32
Sophie felt Jacob long before she saw him. As always, that sense of awareness came in the form of a tingle at the back of her neck. She lifted her head, and her gaze locked on to his.
She was still sitting at the back of the ambulance wrapped in a blanket when he crouched at her side and put a steadying hand on her thigh.
“Hey,” he said quietly, eyes warm. “How are you holding up?”
“Great.” Even if she had to bite her lower lip and look away or lose it, because the look in his eyes said he was there for her.
But he wasn’t.
He’d made that clear.
And damn. Damn if that didn’t have a tear sliding down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily and stopped breathing so she wouldn’t break into sobs.
But Jacob didn’t back up. Instead he shook his head at her and gently ran a thumb beneath her eye. “I’m going to ask you again,” he said. “How are you holding up?”
She sucked in a breath. “You mean other than the boat is essentially gone and so are all of my things and—” She broke off before she could say the rest. And you’re no longer mine…