Chapter 8
FLYNN
Holy shit!
Courtney was the most beautiful bride to ever walk down an aisle. I would swear my life on that, and I was the lucky bastard she said her vows to. It might have been by arrangement, by default, and only because my cousin was too stupid to realize exactly what a treasure he had in her; but I meant my vows. If she would let me, I’d be there for her through good times and bad, through sickness and health, and all the other promises we made to one another.
When we made it out the church doors, the sun shone in a brilliant blue sky just for us. I guess the temporary light blindness was the only reason I didn’t realize Beckett was lying in wait for us. I found out real quick when he sucker-punched me. The minute he attacked, I tugged Courtney behind me to protect her.
“Don’t fucking try to hide my fiancee from me!” My asshole cousin shouted.
“She’s my wife, and I will protect her from harm - even if that means sheltering her from you.” That made him stop in his tracks, with his fist cocked back to have another go at me. “You set this in motion,” I reminded him.
“I came here today to set that right,” He argued.
I scoffed, but it was Courtney who spoke. “I hate to break it to you, Beckett, but the minute I realized you set this up so that you could be with other women, the possibility of us ever getting back together came to an end.”
“That’s not true!”
He didn’t get to argue any further because My dad, Courtney’s father, Ky, and a few other men stepped up to put a wall of bodies between Beckett and my wife and me. “Come on, Court. If you don’t have anything else to say to him, I’ll get you out of here.”
“I don’t.” Her insistence was sharp as I guided her down to the limo that waited for us. I opened the door and helped to get her and all the material from her dress into the car before I got in. “I guess the dress was made to be walked in and not to be stuffed into a car,” Courtney tried to joke.
I smirked in her direction as I shut the door. “I’ll spend the time to tuck you in properly because it was worth the effort to see you walk down that aisle looking like a fucking queen. My queen.”
“Flynn,” She whispered.
“I know, you didn’t marry me because you love me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take my vows seriously, Court. I need you to know that. As long as you want this, tolerate it, or whatever it is you’re doing, I will treat you exactly like the queen you are.”
“And what happens when you get tired of playing happily married couple with me?” She asked. Immediately she started to nibble on her bottom lip, something she had always done when she was nervous.
“That won’t be a problem.”
“It could be. This was a convenience for you.”
I shook my head. “Courtney, if you hadn’t happily been my cousin’s woman all this time, I would have made you mine a long time ago. This is anything but convenient for me. I’ve always wanted you and lived with the knowledge that I’d always come in second to my cousin where you were concerned.”
I could tell by the look on her face that she remembered the one time we almost tried to make it work between us. It had been back in high school, in our Junior year. She and Beckett had been on the outs for a while. It was another case of wandering eye for him, though I don’t think she ever knew the truth of what he was up to back then. If she did, I don’t see how she could have gone back to him. The truth of the matter was that she did.
“Are you feeling up to the reception, or did you want to skip it?” I asked after she remained quiet for so long the silence started to feel uncomfortable.
“We need to go to the reception,” She said. It took a moment, but her eyes finally found mine. “I want to go to the reception with my husband and celebrate with our families. No matter how we got to this place, we’re here now and I won’t let anything take these memories from us. Maybe one day, we’ll look back together on fond memories. Maybe, this will just be a fleeting footnote in our lives.” She shrugged her shoulders. “No matter how it turns out, I want to be present in the now and not worried about a future we can’t predict.”
I knew there was something wrong with the way she answered because Courtney was a planner. She was always worried about the future and planning for everything. The fact that she was willing to give up that control made me ache for her in a way I couldn’t describe. I knew it had to be because today she truly lost the future she had been planning so long with my cousin. I wasn’t stupid enough not to realize the reason for her response. That didn’t mean it had to sit well with me, though.
“Whatever you want and need, Court.”
She shook her head and reached up to touch my cheek. “No. It’s not just about me, Flynn. We’re a team now. So, whatever we both need should be our priority.”
It wasn’t a declaration of undying love from her, not that I expected it, but I would take it for now.