Page 65 of Burn It Down
In a few hours, we were all to gather at their place. Charli had been engaged as a teen; Her hometown hero of a boyfriend proposed in front of the whole town, just before he went off to war and never came back.
Cage wanted to rewrite her painful memories with ones that were sweet, and of course, all about him. Cage Cooper in love was a man that put my book boyfriends to shame.
“Mama’s ring,” Colton Dixon, her handsome and sweet middle brother got emotional, “will make it different. Make it right.”
The two brothers were menacing at first, but with their wives at their side, and talking about their baby sister, they were adorable hunks of mush.
“What I’m hoping for. Has to be right. Has to make her forget the first man who asked.” Cage was nervous, bouncing from foot to foot, clutching the book close.
“Bro, it’s right. It will be right, and I think Charli Doll already forgot just about everything but you.” Finn was quick to reassure him, playing the supportive wingman.
I laid my head at his chest, so glad the two of them were solid again. It would have killed me to be the reason they fell apart. They were closer than anyone I knew, besides maybe Cage and I.
We were close to Regan and Tegan too, but the slight age difference and their full lives left little time for us to get together.
Since Charli came around, we had gotten closer; Charli brought us all together because we were all so drawn to her.
It was not just Cage that had fallen in love with Charli Dixon. Now, Cage was ready to make it official. The Dixon twins, Maisie and her sister Sadie, were talking about a spring wedding.
Before they got too ahead of themselves, though we all knew Charli’s answer would be yes, Cage had something to say. I felt his tension before he spoke up and tears sprung into my eyes.
“Cash, can I ask you to talk her down the aisle? I know that’s what she’ll want. I wanted to ask you first so you know that I know what it means to her.” Cash was a monster of a man, even towering over Finn, and I watched him soften like a fluffy marshmallow.
“Abso-fucking-lutely, Cage. Kind of thought it might be Daddy once…I would be honored, man.” His dark gray eyes swung away, but I saw the glitter of emotion in them. The Dixons were my new favorite people.
“Thank you, Cash. Means so much. Uh…Finn…” Cage cleared his throat, but we all heard the emotion in his voice.
“Yeah, bro?” Finn clearly was a little less attuned to male emotions.
“Would you, uh…I’d like it…I want you to be my best man, Finn.” I heard his heart sputter beneath my ear, then start to race.
Finn said nothing for a long moment, his arms crushing me to him. Then, suddenly, they fell away and I watched them embrace. Tears flooded my eyes, and we let them hug it out for a few moments. Soon, we broke it up because we had a proposal to attend.
When we gathered at the cottage awhile later, I was excited. Thrilled for my big brother and my new bestie. They both deserved the syrupy, sweet happiness they had. Glancing up at Finn, I realized something. We deserved to be golden too.
As he smiled at me, emotion shining in his eyes, I thought maybe we already were.
