Zach swallowed, already knowing he was going to forgive him, and got up on unsteady legs to answer the door.
“Aiden?” he asked, tears blurring his vision. He wiped them away and saw the confused face of the man in front of him. A man who looked a lot like Aiden, but definitely wasn’t him.
“No, uh. I’m his older brother, Flynn.”
Of course. Aiden had told Zach about him and said they’d get to meet at the wedding.
“Oh, I… umm…”
Zach burst into tears all over again, unable to stop himself, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He couldn’t tell Aiden’s older brother what he’d done, he really didn’t expect to get any sympathy for it.
“Shit,” Flynn said, giving him the gentlest of nudges back into the room. “What did he do?”
All Zach could make himself do in response was sob harder.
He jumped when a pair of arms wrapped around him. Not Flynn’s, but a woman’s.
“It’s okay, honey,” she said, holding him tight. Zach heard the door close, but as if it was a thousand miles away. “Whatever it is, it’s not the end of the world.”
“Heleft,” Zach sobbed, clinging to the woman who was hugging him. She smelled of lilacs and citrus, bright and sweet and comforting. Maybe heshouldn’thave been crying in the arms of… Flynn’s girlfriend? Or wife, maybe?
That would make sense, since she’d arrived with Flynn. Aiden had called his brotherpainfully straight.
“I’ll text him,” Flynn said. “Get him to come back here and explain himself.”
“He left a note,” Zach mumbled, his voice muffled by the woman’s shoulder. Steeling himself, he pushed away to go and get it, handing it over to Flynn.
“I’m Callie,” the woman said once he’d given the note to Flynn, extending her hand.
“Zach,” he said, a sense of calm washing over him as he shook it. Callie seemed nice. Flynn was lucky.
“I’ll kill him,” Flynn muttered, folding the note back up and stuffing it in his pocket. Zach thought about asking for it back for half a second, and then realized he didn’t really want it. It was better if Flynn kept it.
“He doesn’t have to marry me if he doesn’t want to,” Zach said, tears welling up in his eyes all over again. Hehatedthat he was crying in front of two practical strangers, but he couldn’t stop himself.
He’d been ready for this. Aiden had treated him like he was someone special, and no one ever did that, and he’d just… wanted more of that. He wanted someone to love him.
It was just sinking in that maybe Aiden hadn’t. At least, not enough to marry him.
Zach knew it had been sudden, butAidenhad asked when he’d explained why he needed to get married soon, so…
Well, maybe he’d pushed him too far. Taken him for granted. Been too needy.
This time, Flynn wrapped his arms around him instead, pulling him close and letting him rest against his broad, solid chest, and he wasn’t Aiden’s identical twin or anything, but in that moment he was so much like him that Zach couldn’t help but burst into tears again, sobbing against his shoulder.
“I’ll get him a glass of water,” Callie said, her footsteps trailing off toward the bathroom.
Flynn rubbed his back in big, comforting circles. “Hey, I know this sucks right now,” he said. “But between you and me, you probably dodged a bullet. He’s always been like this. You’ll find someone else.”
“You don’t understand,” Zach sniffed. “It’s not… it was… Aiden was doing me a favor.”
Flynn’s silence told him that he didn’t really believe that.
As comforting as Flynn’s broad chest and masculine leather-and-sage with a hint of lemongrass scent was, Zach pulled away from him to look him in the eyes. The corners of his mouth wouldn’t stop trembling, and he accepted the glass of water Callie offered him with shaking hands.
“I wanted to be with him,” Zach said. “Really, I did, but also… this is gonna sound sostupid.”
“It’s not gonna sound stupid,” Flynn said, his voice low and soothing.
