I check the time and respond.
Kane: Sure, should be within the hour.
Raelyn: Perfect!
After we finish our task, I tell Payton bye, then lock the office. One good thing about summer is it gets dark later, so there’s no need to work against the clock. I get in my truck, roll down the windows to take in the warm air, and head home.
When I walk inside my house, I kick off my boots, then call Raelyn as I promised.
“Hey,” she says. Light music plays in the background.
“Hey, Rae. You still comin’ over Friday?” I ask with a smile, looking forward to spending some time with her since she’s off.
“Actually…” she lingers.
I swallow, anticipating some bad news.
“I wanted to chat with you about that. Some college friends invited me to hang out with them in Houston this weekend.”
“Oh. What are y’all plannin’ on doing there?”
“We’re supposed to go clubbing. Relive our heydays,” she explains.
“Alright,” I deadpan.
“Is there something wrong with that?”
I suck in a deep breath, not wanting to argue with her, but I’m frustrated as hell. “We made plans to see each other this weekend since you had off. It’s not a big deal, though, so do whatever will make you happy.” We compared our schedules a month ago, and she’s known since then.
“I’m sorry, I honestly don’t remember that.”
That fucking hurts.
She continues, “My friends messaged me a few days ago, and I already committed to driving out there Friday mornin’, then we’re gonna do a pub crawl that night. I’m sorry, baby. I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I'd remembered our plans.”
“It’s fine.”
“Thanks for understanding. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
Her response is the exact opposite of what I want to hear, so I wait for her to say something else. If she doesn’t want to hang out with me and would rather be with her friends, that’s fine. I won’t beg her, but I’m actually hurt that she forgot. I’m not a priority in her life, and she doesn’t seem to notice or even see an issue. I can’t be bribed like a kid who didn’t get an ice cream cone as promised. The thought of it annoys me.
“Oh, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about, but we can discuss it later. You sound tired.”
“Can you just tell me now? I don’t wanna obsess about what it is for the rest of the night. If you can mention it, you can spill it.” I don’t like being held on a line like bait.
“Well…” She lets out a drawn-out sigh. “I didn’t want to have this conversation right now.”
“It’s probably for the best if you go ahead and get it over with,” I say with annoyance. “You at least owe me that much since you’re canceling on me this weekend.”
Thirty seconds pass without either of us saying a word, but it feels like an hour.
Eventually, she clears her throat. “What do you think about us having an open relationship?”
My heart pounds so hard in my chest, I can hear it beating in my ears.
“What does that exactly entail?” I ask, wanting her to make it crystal clear what she means.
“An open relationship, you know, like we’re still together, but we can also see other people at the same time. Since we don’t get to be together very much, keeping our options open makes sense.”
I open my mouth, then close it, completely blindsided by this. She doesn’t have time for me now as it is, so I know she wouldn’t if she had a handful of other dudes at her beck and call.
Memories of Hadleigh fill my mind, and I remember how jealous I was thinking about her with another man. She dated my brother and me at the same time while she took time to figure out what she wanted, and although at that time I agreed to it, I learned that I’m not cut out to share my girlfriends with anyone. Even though I knew deep down that Hadleigh wasn’t the woman for me, I can’t go through that agony again.
It brought out the absolute worst in me.
“No, sorry. If we’re datin’, then that means we’re exclusive. If that ain’t the case, then we’re just fuckbuddies. I’ve told you before that I’m not lookin’ for that kinda relationship, and I’m still not.”
“I know you did, but it could be really fun for both of us, Kane. We’d still be together, but there’d be no cheating if either of us wanted to see someone else on the side,” she explains as if I don’t know how this shit works. I thought what I said made it obvious that I’m not willing to share. Guess not.
“Not happenin’, Raelyn. I’m not interested in fucking around, and I don’t want the person I’m dating to have that option either,” I say sternly, growing more irritated with each passing minute.