Claire Sinclair: I mean, yes and no. A past is a past, and I never considered that he’d step out on me. But I still couldn’t believe he wanted me more than just physically.
Jude Sinclair: I would never. Not when I looked at her and saw my wife, the mother of my children, and the person I would die for.
Claire Sinclair: We were young, and it wasn’t easy for us. We’ve made mistakes, we’ve had days when we wanted to give up, but neither of us would let the other.
Ambrosia Mercer: How did you keep fighting for each other?
There is a long pause.
Jude Sinclair: She’s mighty stubborn.
Laughter.
Jude Sinclair: But there is no other teammate I want but her.
I have heard my aunt and uncle’s love story a time or two, but this time is different. I didn’t know that Jude was a manwhore. I thought he met Claire like my dad met my mom and fell hard. I didn’t know he fought for her, changed his ways, and worked to reassure her that she was it for him. Their story has me pressing my hand to my gut as I listen to the pure adoration in his voice as he speaks of my aunt. He’s always like that. Jude loves Claire in a way that people dream of being loved.
In a way that has me wondering what it’d be like to be on the receiving end of that kind of adoration.
Or to give it away.
To someone other than family.
Unable to resist, I call him. He answers right away.
“Please don’t tell me you’re hurt.”
I roll my eyes, not even rewarding that question with laughter. “I’m fine. I’m calling for another reason.”
“Okay?” he says skeptically. “Am I agent or uncle?
“Uncle.”
“Bet. Hit me with it,” he says, his demeanor changing completely.
I can’t help but smile at his antics. “I heard yourRowe Reportpodcast.”
He chuckles softly. “Okay, but you already knew the story of Claire and me.”
“Sure,” I agree. “But I didn’t know you were a manwhore.”
He laughs loudly at that, and when he snorts, I laugh too. “Oh, I was awful.” His laughter subsides as he continues. “I was too good-looking, too charismatic, and it was easy to get what I wanted. I mean…” He pauses, and I lean against the wall that has a life-size mural of me throwing the ball in a game from two years ago. “From what I heard, you’re no better.”
I press my lips together. I never cared about my reputation before, not even when my family teased me, but now, I feel dirty. “I mean, yeah, I was bad for a while. But things have changed.”
He laughs at that. “Well, shit. Did my little nephew meet someone?”
I can’t help the smile that quirks at the side of my lips. “Yeah,” I admit. “But she knows my history, and I’m borderline stalking her.”
“Putting my agent hat on,” he tells me. “Please don’t stalk her. I’m already fighting for you to get signed. I don’t need a charge to fuck with that.”
“I’m not going to catch a charge.”
“Okay, cool. Hat off,” he tells me. “Now, listen to your favorite uncle.”
I snort. “You said it, not me.”
He ignores me. “When Claire came along, no one else mattered. If that’s how this feels, then chase her, dude. Girls love to be chased, not stalked… Well, some like being stalked too… Be careful, but most of all, don’t give up.”
