Chapter 2
2
Spencer
I’m acutely aware of the beads of sweat dotting the back of my neck from my sprint down the jet bridge. Half of it anyway. The scarred part doesn’t work the same as it used to. I’m aware of a lot of things since the accident, and the perspiration leaking from my pores should be the least of my concerns. There’s plenty else for strangers to stare at. A man dripping in sweat is the least interesting thing about me.
I could tell stories for days to entertain their curiosity. How I watched my best friend go up in flames at work one random Thursday. How I nearly lost my life in the same accident. Weeks spent in the hospital recovering, delays due to infections. Multiple surgeries to put my tissues back together, followed by physical therapy.
I slow and catch my breath as the flight attendant smiles and retreats down the aisle.
Yeah. The most interesting thing about me is the thing I wish nobody knew happened at all.
I would have kept it that way too, if my boss didn’t somehow find a way to track down my mom as an emergency contact. I would have recovered in peaceful silence if she hadn’t called my two brothers for an impromptu family reunion in Regions Burn Unit. Word spread, as it always does in a small town. I could have disappeared back to the quiet rural town I escaped to decades ago if it weren’t for Cortney Powell and her sudden reappearance in my life.
I don’t know who was more shocked, me or her, when I woke up to her in my hospital room a couple of months ago. Her checking on me was meant to be cordial.
But things between us could never be cordial. We were never meant to be friends.
The mere sight of her in that sterile white room, decked out in a paper gown and hairnet, revived something inside me I thought was dead.
Which is the only explanation for why I found myself sprinting to catch this flight.
She’s on it.
And I hold the other half of her ticket.
“I don’t need a stand-in husband.” She curls her fingers into air quotes, squeezing them so hard I’m concerned she’ll sprain a digit.
“You do.” I click my seat belt into place and settle back into my seat. “You booked a honeymoon package.”
“So?”
“So when you show up to the resort alone, they aren’t going to let you check in solo. It’s in their terms and conditions.”
Cortney rolls her eyes. “Then I’ll book another one.”
I shrug. “Sure, you could. But then you’d miss out on all the amenities you signed up for. I don’t think you’re going to get another oceanview villa with a private infinity pool and butler service at this price.”
Her mouth pops open.
“And that zip line excursion you booked is full for the rest of the month, so you can say goodbye to that.”
The plane begins to push back from the gate, and I clench my fist on my thigh as I refocus on her face. I catalog her changes since we were kids. The sharpness of her jaw that somehow still looks soft despite losing the youthful roundness. The slight lines in her forehead as she scowls deeply at me that I wouldn’t dare point out to her. Her hair is sleek and black, longer than I’ve ever seen it, as it drapes down the front of her chest.
For as many things that are different, she’s still the same. Same freckles. Same dimple. Same expressive dark brown eyes.
“How do you know all that?”
“It was in the listing.”
“What listing?”
I run my tongue behind my top teeth. “Look, I hate to be the one to tell you this.” My confession is interrupted as the captain announces our imminent takeoff. I rub my palm on my knee. “Your ex gave up his half of the honeymoon.”
“I’m sorry?”
“And I bought it.”
Cortney’s eyelids slowly close as a flush colors her cheeks. “He did what now? And you…” She licks her lips. “You bought it?”
I raise my hands in a placating gesture. Her eyes are still closed tight, so I drop them to my thighs as the plane picks up speed. I pluck an imaginary piece of lint. “I didn’t know it was yours,” I lie.
“You just decided to go on a random honeymoon?”
“It was a helluva price.” I flash her a grin, and this time, she’s looking directly at me. More like hella expensive but she doesn’t need to know that. I pray she doesn’t see me wince as the wheels leave the ground. My stomach swoops, twisting. I wish she’d look anywhere else.
She scoffs. “Of course it was. I can’t believe this. How does someone even sell something like that?”
“Remember the auction the town put together after my accident?”
“You bought an item at your own auction benefit?”
I can’t help the hollow chuckle that escapes. “Can you blame me for needing a vacation? There’s so much fucking hovering back home.”
Ever since I got discharged from the hospital, I haven’t had a moment of peace. I wound up finding a month-to-month apartment in Fairview Valley to recover. More like Mom demanded it. Said she wouldn’t have me so far away with injuries that needed tending. We both knew by then I’d mostly healed. Physically, that is. But in her mind, she almost lost me for good, so she’s been clinging as hard as she can.
As for me, I lost my direction. Returning to the job where I’d watched my best friend die wasn’t an option, so I capitulated on one condition. Nobody came to my door without an invitation.
Mom broke that rule the day after I moved my meager possessions in.
Cortney digs out a large pair of headphones, slipping them over her ears as she mutters, “You’re unbelievable.”
I pull away the covering over her left ear. “It’s just a vacation,” I husk in her ear, then pat the headphones back into place.
She shoots me a glare. It’s cute. I’d tell her as much if I didn’t think she’d bite my head off.
The plane starts to level out near altitude, and my heart beats a normal rhythm again. I glance out the window until the thick clouds part to reveal the patches of land thousands of feet below. The window shade slides shut with an audible snap.
“Do you mind opening that back up?” Cortney snaps.
“Should’ve switched me seats.” I lean a shoulder against the offending window shade. “This is my window seat now.”
She yanks off her headphones. “You’re impossible, you know that?”
“If this is the attitude you gave old what’s-his-face, I’m not surprised he didn’t want to sit in this seat next to you.”
“Where did you hear that?” Cortney drops her phone to her lap.
I lift a single shoulder. “Through the vine. Probably came from your brothers to mine.”
“That’s what they said? That he didn’t want to be here with me?”
“Something like that.” I don’t actually fucking know, but if she can dish it, she can take it. She isn’t the only person on this plane licking invisible wounds.
“Get your fucking facts straight before you open your big mouth, Spencer.”
The clack of her seat belt rings loud between us. She jumps up, and something thuds to the floor as she escapes our row.
“You dropped something,” I call out, but she’s already rushing away.
I find her phone near my right foot, noticing the screen is lit up. A video is paused on the screen, and by the compromising position of the two people, I can guess what type of video this is.
I might not have seen Cortney Powell for two decades, but I know a few facts about her. She’s beautiful. She’s pure class. She has a sassy mouth, and she’s not the type of woman to sit on a flight with her headphones on and watch homemade pornography like she’s indulging in a cutesy romcom.
It doesn’t take a genius to sift through the possibilities to arrive at the right one.
Cortney’s fiancé cheated on her. And she’s torturing herself with the evidence of that betrayal.
“Fuck,” I mutter, unbuckling my belt with uncertain hands. I rush up the aisle with her phone clutched in my grip, arriving just as someone exits the bathroom, only for her to duck in.
I slip my hand into the shrinking crack.
Her fearful expression vanishes as the door reveals my face. She sighs, the first sign of exhaustion I’ve seen since I boarded this plane. “What are you doing?”
I close the door at my back and slide the lock into place. “This is what that fucker did?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then why’re you looking at it?”
“I opened it by accident.”
“It’s paused halfway through.”
She runs her tongue over her plump lips and skitters her attention into the corner of the tiny room. “I just needed to be sure.”
I glance at the screen before turning it back in her direction. “Looks crystal clear to me. What more could you need to be sure of?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she mumbles.
“Cortney.” I wait until her gaze finds mine again. “Stop torturing yourself.”
“I’m not.”
“He didn’t deserve you.”
She snorts softly. “You can’t possibly know that.”
“Yes, I can. If you’re even a fraction of the girl I remember, then he’s the second biggest idiot on the planet.”
“Second biggest? Who has the honor of being the first?”
“Me,” I admit softly.
A crease forms between her eyebrows as she takes in my words.
Suddenly, the plane shakes, sending my heart into my throat. “Fuck.” I slap a palm on the wall and grip the basin with the other.
“Are you afraid of flying?”
“Nope.” I force myself to keep my eyes open.
“Then why are you panicking over a little bit of turbulence?”
Because I’m afraid of dying.
“Is that what that shit is?” The words rip from somewhere deep in my throat, giving them a gravelly quality.
“Spencer, is this your first time on a plane?”
Closing my eyes while breathing deeply, I lick my lips. “Yep.”
And no one other than Cortney fucking Powell could get me on an aircraft.
“Wow, you must have needed that vacation bad.” She laughs.
“You have no idea.”
A sharp knock interrupts our conversation before she can pry farther into my past.
“I need you both to exit the lavatory.”
Cortney covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh my god, Spencer! They think we’re doing it in here.”
“It’s a little cramped, don’t you think?” I cock a sarcastic brow while fighting against the flash of memory her words provoke.
She slaps my bicep. “Get out!”
I catch her hand and lower my mouth to her ear. Her startled intake of breath sends a pulse of electricity through my gut. “Play it cool before you get us both arrested.”
Without giving her time to respond, I shove the door open and block Cortney with my body. “I’m sorry, my wife is sick. Can you get her some water?”
The flight attendant’s expression clearly asks if I’m questioning her intelligence. “You need to return to your seats. The pilot has turned on the seat belt sign.”
“Of course. Come on, babe, it’s only a few steps.”
Behind me, there’s a muffled groan before Cortney faceplants into my back. “Hurry, babe.”
“Does she need medical attention?” The flight attendant is all business as her tone switches to one of concern.
“She’s just a little motion sick. The turbulence, you know? She has a sensitive stomach.” I lean in conspiratorially. “Truthfully, she might even be pregnant. Things got a little out of hand before the wedding, if you know what I mean.”
Cortney pinches my waist in retaliation, and I nearly jump out of my skin. I grab her violent little hand and entwine our fingers. “I’ve got you, babe.”
She keeps her face pressed into my back during our short trek down the aisle.
“Why don’t you take the window seat?”
“Thanks, babe. ”
I bite back a grin as she curls into her seat. Papers rustle as I pluck the barf bag from the back of the seat and hand it to her. “For your weak stomach.”
She shoos it away. “You can stop playing now. You thoroughly convinced everyone in hearing distance that we weren’t up to any shenanigans.”
“That’s a damn shame.”
“Did you suddenly forget how to string together a sentence?” She shoves the bag back into the seat pocket.
Does she really need me to spell it out?
“Every man on this plane would have traded places with me in a second.”
“Yeah, right.” Cortney laughs. The self-deprecating sound doesn’t sit right with me. I clench my jaw and punch down the swirling rage as the evidence of her ex’s destruction joins the conversation.
“You’ll have to take my word for it. But I can promise you I know the look of a jealous man when I see one.”
“Whatever. Order me a mimosa when the flight attendant comes by, will you?” She situates her headphones back over her ears.
“Sorry, but she thinks you might be pregnant.” I doubt she’ll be served any after our little charade.
Cortney stares at me while my words sink in. Her brown eyes narrow. “Anything else you want to ruin? I’d like to salvage what I can of this vacation that your mere presence hasn’t already wrecked.”
“Nah, I’m good.”
She adjusts her headphones and makes a show of turning her music on. “Good. Then wake me when we land.”