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“Was this the endgame when I yanked you off the floor at the airport?” My voice raised as my emotions rallied. I couldn’t have kept quiet if I’d wanted to. Heartbreak and anger sparred like two gladiators, and neither brought peace if they won.
“She offered me a lot of money.” Her voice remained low as she answered me. “I was about to lose my apartment.”
I didn’t even care at this point if anyone heard. Laurel would get everyone to play along in the end anyway.
“You seemed like such a nice person, genuine. Itrustedyou.”
“Flynn, we can go talk somewhere else. Maybe be a little quie—”
“I have nothing else to say to you, Amber. I hope whatever she gave you was enough to make all this worth it. Because you’ve completely ruined lives with this stunt of yours.” I spoke in hushed tones, hardly able to believe this would be how things ended.
“What do you mean?” Her ice-blue eyes grew wide in alarm. She called after me as I walked away. “Flynn, what do you mean?”
The worst part was that none of it mattered anymore. The wheels were already set in motion.
Not being able to see Harper before the rose ceremony was either the best or worst thing that could’ve happened. If I’d seen her before, I might’ve chickened out. But I’d told her from the first night that she needed someone to protect her. I just never expected that the one she needed protection from was me.
The fact that they had chosen me as the bachelor for this season ofLove in a Small Townwas the only reason she’d been dragged into any of this. Thinking back on my conversation with Laurel, I wasn’t convinced that this wasn’t her endgame all along—hoping that somehow things would blow themselves to the moon and she could leverage it to her advantage.
How many other couples had been in this position?
As women dwindled, the ceremonies had grown equally more relaxed and more intimate. We gathered in the living room, awkwardly standing around like we had the first night, but with far fewer people. We’d gone from eighteen to only five.
Thanks to Amber’s sudden appearance, I had to send home two people instead of only one. The fact that one of them was Harper crushed my heart in a vise.
Tom kicked off the ceremony. “Ladies, we’re nearing the end of the competition as week four draws to a close. Only two weeks left to see who will win the heart of Flynn Jackson. Who will stick around to fall in love in a small town?”
I glanced back over my shoulder, my brows drawn together. “Really?” I mouthed.
Tom just grinned and continued on with the rest of his weekly monologue.
I glanced over at the pale-pink long-stemmed roses that waited for me and had an overwhelming urge to run away.
“Flynn.”
I jerked my attention back to Tom, who waited expectantly for me to start handing out roses.
“Sorry,” I replied. “I guess, here we go.”
By default, my eyes roamed until they landed on Harper. She’d chosen an emerald green sweater that lazily dropped off a shoulder, a striking complement to her strawberry blonde curls. I wanted that image of her to etch into my mind forever, because I wasn’t sure what the future held for us after tonight.
I knew what I wanted, but I didn’t know if it would be possible. Not after what I was about to do.
“Candace.”
She walked forward and claimed her rose. Behind her, Harper and Danielle exchanged glances.
“Danielle.”
The three of them all looked at each other, Amber clearly being excluded from the group. I could hear the whispers before Danielle hesitantly stepped forward to accept her rose from me.
Her eyes seemed to ask all the questions I couldn’t give any answers to. Nausea strangled me, the temperature in the room escalating exponentially.
How would I ever do this?
From beyond all the women, Laurel casually stepped out from behind the stairs, watching to make sure I’d follow through.
“Amber.”
