Chapter 3
COURTNEY
I swiped at my face, surprised that there weren’t any tears to wipe away. Beckett left a few hours ago, and with him, my heart seemed to freeze over. One day, when it thawed, the tears would come. Until then, I was left to stew in a numb state of disbelief. How could he do this to me - two weeks before our wedding?
A knock at the door startled me out of the loop of never-ending questions that Beckett would never answer. I couldn’t get that look of satisfaction and anticipation out of my mind. He was happy to break things off and shove me off to someone else. When I finally made it to the door, my heart hammered against my chest. Part of me hoped it was my fiancé, back to say it was some awful social media prank for views on FlipStack or something. The other part of me was afraid that it might be someone else, and I would have to face my emotions. As I stood there debating between which inevitability was better, someone knocked on the door again.
I didn’t even bother to look through the peephole. Instead, I opened the door and stepped back in time to see Flynn with his hands stuffed into his pockets as his eyes raked over me. “Courtney,” His voice was soft and filled with understanding as I crumbled before him. Flynn reached out and pulled me into his arms. He must have closed and locked the door, though I wasn’t aware of it. Before I checked back into reality, we were already seated on my couch with me cuddled up on Flynn’s lap as his hand traced soothingly up and down my back and he quietly murmured nonsense words to calm me.
“How could he?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Flynn answered. “I thought he was joking when he told me he was going to ask you to do this.”
“I thought he might be joking too, but then…” I cut myself off and sniffled instead of finishing.
“But then?” He encouraged me to get it all out. I leaned back, and realized just how close I was. It was only then I truly registered that I was seated on Flynn’s lap.
“Shit!” I jumped back off his legs and settled in beside him instead. “Beckett looked pleased with himself. I swear, Flynn, it looked like he was a kid who knew all the Christmas presents under the tree were for him and he was ready to dive in.”
The lack of surprise in Flynn’s eyes made me curious, morbidly so. “I’m sorry,” He finally said, which only made me feel even worse. He didn’t try to deny it, or tell me that maybe I was imagining things. Flynn’s blue eyes never left mine as I tried to puzzle through it.
“You think he made this decision on purpose?”
“That much is obvious.”
“Yeah, but I mean, you don’t think it had as much to do with helping you, do you? He has another reason for agreeing to do this.”
“Courtney, I never asked him for this. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“You didn’t?”
Flynn shook his head. His dark hair was cut too short to flop around in his face the way Beckett’s did when his gel gave out. Where my former fiancé had caramel-colored eyes, Flynn’s were a mossy green on the outside and grew lighter the closer to his pupil you got. It was something I’d never noticed before.
“Can you explain that to me?”
“What did Beckett tell you?” He asked.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to go into that yet. I want you to tell me how this all came to be.”
Flynn heaved out a weighty sigh. “When my grandfather passed, he had a stipulation in his will that I had to be married before I was thirty if I wanted to collect the inheritance.”
“You’re only 26,” I reminded him.
“Yes, I just turned 26. According to the terms laid out, I have been able to access my inheritance since I turned 25, but I’m not able to do that unless I’m married.”
“So, why now?”
“My father’s business is failing. I wanted to help him fix things, so I stupidly told Beckett about it. We were just talking about things over a few beers one night. I never meant for him to offer you up as a solution. I wouldn’t do that to you. The two of you have been solid since I met you.”
I nodded my head, because I had thought that too, right up until my conversation with Beckett earlier. “So, you didn’t tell him you needed a wife?”
“No, I did. I told him I had to think about getting serious with someone.” Flynn chuckled darkly and shook his head, as if in disbelief. “Beckett started telling me all the reasons that wouldn’t work, not the least of which was that I would have to worry about gold diggers wanting to marry me for the money.”
“That’s when he offered me up as a solution?”
“It was later, after a few more beers,” Flynn admitted. “I thought that was all it was, just a drunk man’s solution to my problem. A joke. You know?” I shook my head, because no, I didn’t see how offering your fiancée to someone else could ever be construed as a joke.
“So, when did it become reality?”
Flynn’s shoulders tensed. “He came to see me again the next day, when I got off work. He asked about the stipulations in the will, about the cabin, and if we could make a trade.” Flynn shook his head, and then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees as he dropped his head low into his hands and shook it back and forth. “I thought he was just trying to work through the logistics with me, so that I would think about selling him the cabin - or giving it to him.” Flynn turned and made eye contact before he continued. “The minute he mentioned me becoming the groom at your wedding, I laughed at him. I swear to you, Courtney, I thought he was joking.”
“He wasn’t.”
“No, he wasn’t. He mentioned it a couple more times, and each time I blew him off and told him you would never agree to something like that. I told him it would hurt you if he even asked, and that I didn’t want that. Then I got a text telling me you agreed.”
“Can I see it?”
Flynn pulled his phone out, unlocked it, and pulled up his texts with my former fiancé. I felt sick when I read it, and even worse when I noticed that Flynn tried to meet up with his cousin to talk about what he had done, and Beckett blew him off.
“I came here the minute he refused to talk to me. I’m so sorry, Courtney. Please, know that I won’t hold you to this. I don’t know what that means for you and Beckett now, but I don’t want to…”
I cut Flynn off. “No. I agreed. I will marry you, but I have my own stipulations.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
I smiled at my friend and took his hand in mine. “I don’t blame you, Flynn. This is all on Beckett. He is the only one responsible for ending our engagement, giving our wedding - my dream wedding - away, and putting you in this position. If you want to go through with this, I will - for you. My stipulations are as follows: Beckett does not get that cabin. If you choose to sell it, it can be to anyone but him, and you can’t give it to him.” Flynn’s eyes widened in shock as I stated that. “Also, he mentioned that you might pay us - me - for doing this for you. I don’t want any money from you. We can have a prenup drawn up if you wish. I also don’t want a dime of your inheritance to go to Beckett. He chose this path, but I don’t think he should profit from it in any way. If you can agree to those things, then you have yourself a wife and a wedding in two weeks.”
Flynn squeezed my hands in his and offered up a pitiful version of a smile. “I will do whatever you want, but please know that you don’t have to go through with this.”
I shook my head. “I planned this wedding. Everything is paid for already. I may never get married again in this life, especially after what Beckett did. Let’s do this, so that I have these memories. At least my wedding will be with someone who cares enough about me to offer a real choice.”
“I will have your stipulations put into a contract, so you know I won’t go back on them.”
“I trust you, Flynn.”
“After what Beckett pulled, I am shocked you’d trust me, but I’m going to have it put in writing anyway because I have a feeling once the shock wears off, you’ll need it.”
“Thank you for looking out for me.”
“I will always look out for you, Court.”
“Why?”
“We’ve been friends a long time,” Was the answer he gave, but there was something in his eyes that spoke of something more. I didn’t have the courage to ask questions though. The end of my rope had officially been reached when I realized that not only had Beckett been planning this for some time, but he had been the one to suggest it too.