Chapter Three
Flynn had trusted Callie’s borderline-supernatural sense of where to get good food and followed her into a pizza place she said she’d spotted on the way to the hotel, about five minutes’ walk away.
He didn’t know how she did it, but she seemed to be right as usual, the smell inside making Flynn’s mouth water. They hadn’t had time to eat before their flight, so he was running on two slices of toast and a cup of coffee from this morning, and he was starting to feel it.
Aiden had responded to his text—by saying he wasn’t coming back and he didn’t want to talk about it—but hadn’t picked up his phone despite Flynn calling it non-stop the whole walk here.
When Aiden dug his heels in, there was no point in trying to move him. He’d clearly made up his mind, and he obviously didn’t care that he’d thrown his boyfriend under the bus in the process.
Flynn wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been planning to leave exactly like this for a while. This was the kind of thing Aidendid, instead of just telling people how he felt.
Zach seemed like a good guy, and the more Flynn thought about it, the madder he was that Aiden had set him up to believe that everything in his life was about to start going right, only to snatch it away at the last minute.
It was cruel even for Aiden, though Flynn was sure it wasn’t deliberately so. Just thoughtless. Aiden wasn’t big on thinking about other people.
Flynn still loved him, but…
“You seem deep in thought,” Callie said, leaning against the wall beside Flynn. “Aiden still not answering?”
“He’s not gonna answer,” Flynn said, the knot in his stomach tightening just a little more. At this rate, starving as he was, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to bring himself to eat.
“Yeah, I figured,” she said. Callie knew as well as Flynn did what Aiden was like. She’d spent most of the time they’d known each other trying to convince Flynn not to be so forgiving, not to clean up after him so often.
Maybe she’d been right. If Aiden understood the concept of his actions having consequences, maybe they wouldn’t be here.
But they’d both lost enough, and Flynn hadn’t wanted to see Aiden suffer ever again after their mom’s funeral, no matter what it took.
Ten years later, he wasstillpicking up after him. But that didn’t seem likely to change.
In fact, he was thinking about doing it again. And the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that he should do it.
Zach hadn’t walked into this knowing what Aiden was like. He didn’t deserve to have his life ruined because Aiden couldn’t keep a promise if his own life depended on it.
And there was an easy way to fix this…
“On a scale of one to ten, how mad would you be if I said I was thinking about offering to marry Zach instead?”
“Eleven,” Callie said without missing a beat, as though she’d been expecting Flynn to say exactly that.
She knew him better than he knew himself, in a lot of ways, so maybe shehadbeen expecting it. Callie knew what Flynn was thinking before he eventhoughtit half the time.
“Yeah, I figured, but hear me out,” Flynn said. “What happens in Vegas, right? And if it gets him half of what he wanted… at least I haven’t let Aiden ruin someoneelse’slife, y’know? He was so upset, and I can’t get him Aiden back, but Icanget him the money for his MFA. And it’s not like anyone else is clamoring to marry me or anything.”
Callie sighed. “You know what your problem is? You’re too nice for your own good, and no matter how many times it bites you in the ass, younever stop. It’s like a disease with you.”
Flynn smiled wryly.
“You’re gonna do it anyway, aren’t you?” she asked after a moment.
Flynn swallowed.
Yeah, he was. He was going to make the offer, at least. Sincerely, knowing that what he was offering was kind of a big deal, or would seem that way to Zach and Callie.
To him, it didn’t really seem like much. He didn’t have any plans to get married in the near future. The ability to get married was something he could offer Zach, and no one else was coming to rescue the poor guy, and…
He was family. Or as close to it as it got. Flynn didn’t have a whole lot of family left, and the temptation to fold Zach under his wings was too great.
“You saw how heartbroken he was,” Flynn said. “And I mean… I’m smart enough to know that he’s better off without Aiden, but he’snotbetter off without his grandma’s money. And this isn’t something I’ve got the luxury of being able to sit back and think about. It’s now or never.”
