Chapter 10
FLYNN
“Smash it! Smash it!”
I rolled my eyes as Courtney and I cut the first piece of our wedding cake together. She had the cake picked out long before we knew we were getting married, so whatever flavor it was would be a surprise to me. Good thing I wasn’t picky as fuck about food. Then again, Court had impeccable taste. It was almost as if she planned the wedding for us specifically because she had chosen some of my favorites for dinner.
“Smash it! Smash it!” A few assholes in the crowd chanted again, as if this was some fucking kegger in college and not a fucking classy wedding reception. I had no doubt those were friends of my cousin.
We each took a piece and then twined our arms. It killed me to see the trepidation there in Court’s eyes. Had she married Beckett, she would have been right to assume he would take their advice and smash the cake in her face, despite the promise not to. Then again, I couldn’t see the asshole respecting her enough to agree not to do it in the first place.
Very gently, I moved the piece of cake until it just touched her pretty, peach lips. Her relieved smile was everything as she opened up and took a nibble. She fed me in much the same way. A hint of vanilla and almond hit my tongue first. I closed my eyes and groaned.
“You picked the best things, sweetheart.” Our eyes met the minute mine popped back open and the smile on her face was everything. My heart skipped a whole fucking beat under the weight of that look.
“Thank you,” She whispered to me.
I shook my head slightly and leaned in to kiss her lips that still had a tiny bit of frosting at the corner. “Told you I’d be respectful, but I never promised not to clean you up the fun way.” As our mouths met, my tongue slipped out just enough to swipe away the tiny little hint of frosting that was left behind. “So fucking sweet, Court.”
Her eyes sparkled with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on as I pulled back from our brief kiss. “Flynn.” The way she whispered my name sent a jolt of lust through me and suddenly there was nowhere else I wanted to be than the honeymoon suite with my new wife. Unfortunately for me, there was almost zero chance that my new, still very heartbroken wife, would want to sleep with me so I pulled back and we untangled our arms and turned to grin at the crowd as someone from the catering company began to pass out slices of cake to everyone.
“Is it bad that I wish they’d eat their cake and leave?” Courtney asked. I gently bumped into her side and grinned down at her.
“Honestly, I wished they all would disappear when we had our first dance.”
“What are you two conspiring about over here?” I turned to see my younger sister, Mina. Her hair was down and straight around her shoulders. She wore a beautiful dress, but it was covered up by a shrug or shaw or whatever they were called. She looked like an old lady trying to cover up and keep warm.
“Mina, are you having fun?” Her shoulders bounced in answer before my sister’s eyes turned to my new wife.
“You got the better Robeson,” She told Courtney. “I hope you realize that and treat my brother accordingly.”
“I would never treat Flynn poorly.”
“Not on purpose,” Mina stated. I growled because it was my wedding day and she didn’t get to make my wife feel bad. Courtney placed her hand on my chest and smiled up at me.
“She’s your sister. Let her say her peace.”
“She’s my little sister. It isn’t her job to protect me from my wife.”
Mina cocked her head to the side and took in the way Courtney and I stood united. Then she offered us both a genuine smile. “Never mind. I don’t think anyone has reason to worry.” She didn’t wait around for a response. My little sister turned on her heel and left. No one else seemed to notice as she all but fled our reception.
“She seems sad lately. Do you know what’s bothering her?”
I shook my head. “No, but remind me once all this is over because I am going to start digging into it.”
“Good. If you find out someone hurt her, I want in on the revenge.”
My deep chuckle made my wife giggle up at me. “Sure thing my little Nemesis.”
“I’m not your enemy,” Courtney scoffed.
“Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance, sweetheart.”
“Oh, well, I won’t complain if you want to compare me to a goddess.” Her teasing tone made me smile. In truth, I worried about the wedding, but dreaded the reception because I thought it would all be too much for Courtney to handle.
“You seem to be doing okay.” It was a risky topic of discussion, but it felt wrong to ignore the elephant in the room if it was crushing her.
“I came to the same realization as your sister recently.” Her quiet admission nearly floored me.
“You think you’ll hurt me?”
“What?” She gasped and turned to face me. Her hand never left the spot where it rested in the center of my chest. “No!” That one word was a very vehement denial. “My realization was that you are the better Robeson man. If the roles were reversed, would you have sent me to marry Beckett?”
“Hell no!” I didn’t even take the time to think over my response. “He’s a fucking idiot for doing it.”
“Exactly.” Her slender fingers tapped my chest again and the diamonds from her wedding band caught the light and shined brightly. I took her hand in mine and examined the ring. Most married women wore two, their wedding and engagement band. Courtney’s engagement band had come from Beckett. In a weird way, it made me happy to see that she had taken that one off and refused to put it back on.
“I can get you an engagement band to go with this,” I said as my finger tapped the ring.
She shook her head. “To be honest, I hate the engagement ring Beckett got me. The setting sticks out too far and snagged on everything. I ruined two sweaters and scratched a couple of the kids with it by accident. Besides, Beckett always complained about how messy I got it. I’m an art teacher and an artist. There were always paint speckles and bits of clay that clung to it before I was able to clean it all up.”
“We’ve already established that my cousin is an idiot. I’d be proud to see those paint speckles because it meant you didn’t want to take it off even when you knew things might get messy.” I hated that it was Beckett’s ring we were talking about in that context, but I hoped that one day she might feel the same about mine.
Courtney didn’t respond, but the way her eyes softened on me made me wonder what she was thinking. Unfortunately, mind reading wasn’t one of my abilities.
“Are you two going to stand in the corner being secretive all night, or join the party?”
I glanced up to see Courtney’s parents standing there. Her mom’s question had been a bit snippy, which I didn’t understand.
“Mom?” Courtney questioned.
“You’re being rude. Your guests…”
“Are here to celebrate our marriage. I think they’ll understand that we needed a few moments to ourselves.” My wife’s shoulders stiffened with obvious tension. “What is your problem exactly?”
“It’s nothing,” Her father answered instead. “Your mom is under a little stress.”
“What kind of stress could you be under that you would come over here and insult my husband and me on our wedding day.”
“It wasn’t an insult,” Courtney’s dad tried to explain again.
“Her tone suggests otherwise, Dad.”
My eyes bounced back and forth between Courtney and her parents as I tried to understand the new dynamic. I’d never seen them be anything but supportive of their daughter in the past. Then again, I supposed she was doing what they wanted before.
“It was so embarrassing to have Beckett show up and cause a scene. I think that if you two mingled more, people would forget about it.”
I glanced around. No one seemed put off by the events during our wedding. “Everyone seems to be having a good time,” I mentioned.
“That’s what they want you to think. They’re all talking about it.” Courtney rolled her eyes at her mother’s assessment, but I felt the way her body tightened even further with her mother’s implications.
“Listen, Jill,” I said in a warning tone. “We don’t give two shits what anyone here thinks of Beckett’s little performance earlier. That’s a Beckett problem and doesn’t reflect on us. If you think it does, then you are welcome to leave our party and go find Beckett, so the two of you can commiserate together. What you’re not going to do is ruin our reception, or my wife’s good mood, with your bullshit.”
Courtney’s father, Reed, grinned at me and then pulled his wife into his side. “It’s getting late for us older folks,” He winked as if the words he spoke weren’t the truth. “I wanted to congratulate you both, wish you the best moving forward, and…” He hesitated then, but looked me in the eye with a stern expression plastered to his face where the jovial one had been moments again. “I also came to warn you to be good to my baby girl, but I see that won’t be an issue.”
“No, sir. She’s my priority now.”
“Good. Keep it that way.” Reed warned as he turned and pulled his wife away before she could say something to ruin the moment. Once they were gone, Courtney released a heavy sigh.
“Thank you for standing up to her. Normally, I would just brush it off or tell her to stop, but sometimes when I push back, she gets louder.”
“Your mom has her priorities a little messed up.”
“Trust me, she’ll be riddled with guilt over it later. Sometimes, her emotions get the best of her and things don’t always come out the way they should.”
“Nemesis takes the back seat when Mom is involved. Good to know. I don’t mind being the bad guy with your mother if she needs to be put in her place, sweetheart.”
Courtney smiled and wrapped her arms around me. I pulled her in and tucked her close to offer her the comfort and warmth she needed. She felt so fucking good in my arms that I never wanted to let go. When my wife pulled back, I reluctantly let her go.
“She was right about one thing, though. We do need to go mingle more and thank people for coming.”
I scoffed out a half laugh at that. “They should be thanking us. You know half these assholes only showed up in the hopes of seeing some drama.”
“Oh my God! You are so right! My Aunt Peggy wouldn’t have come otherwise. She didn’t even RSVP to the wedding when it was supposed to be with Beckett. Her showing up is probably what really sent my mom into a tizzy. Her sister has always been a judgy beast.”
“We should put on a show for her then. Make her wonder how you were ever engaged to another man just a couple weeks ago when we’re obviously so madly in love with one another.” I was teasing her, mostly because I knew she didn’t feel that way about me, even if my feelings were a little more on the nose.
“Let’s do this,” Courtney announced as she held out her hand to me. “Do you know how to dirty dance, like in the movie?”
I laughed. “Fuck no, but I’ll try anything to make everyone’s tongues wag with jealousy and speculation.”
“And you call me Nemesis!” She huffed out amidst her laughter.
I thanked my lucky fucking stars that I was able to marry a woman who had been a long-time friend. She was perfect. Once we were in the middle of the dance floor, I pulled her close, so one of her legs rested between mine and then I dipped her backward over my arm and swooped her in an arc until her bright, shining eyes caught back up to mine. I prayed to every god and goddess known to humankind right then and there that I would be able to keep her.