Chapter 21
EVIE
“You wanna go back to the party?” Rhett asks.
I pull my face free from his hands and shake my head.
“No, I’m just going to go to sleep,” I whisper as I walk to the bathroom for some toilet paper. I wipe the tears from my cheeks and blow my nose before heading back to the room.
“Can I stay with you?” Rhett asks.
I sit down on the bed and think about what he just asked me. Part of me wants to put as much distance as possible between us so that Rhett will never be able to hurt me like he did tonight. But then there’s my heart, my foolish, forgiving heart that loves Rhett.
With my mind screeching no and my heart yelling yes, I end up nodding.
I get up and pull the covers back. I usually sleep in my boyshorts and tank top but seeing as Rhett is spending the night, I keep my sweatpants on.
I pull the t-shirt off and duck under the covers.
Rhett switches the light off, and I watch his profile as he pulls his shirt over his head. When he steps out of his jeans, I divert my eyes even though I can’t see much in the dark.
He climbs into bed, and when he reaches for me, I let him pull me to his side. I rest my cheek on the warm skin over his heart and wrap an arm around his waist.
His one hand disappears into my hair, and I’m not sure what he’s doing until he unties it.
“That’s better.” His voice is a low rumble in the dark.
We lie in silence for a couple of minutes, then Rhett asks, “Don’t you wonder about your biological parents?”
“No,” I answer honestly. “They didn’t want me.”
He presses his lips to my forehead, and keeping them there, he whispers, “I want you.”
I smile into the dark and wrap my arm tighter around Rhett.
∞∞∞
(Two years later…)
Every time I say that I can’t handle anymore, the universe takes it as a dare.
A week ago I walked in on Rhett having sex. I don’t know which part of the whole painful experience hurt most. Seeing him naked with another girl, or the fact that she has red hair like me.
It’s no secret that if it has a pulse, Rhett will sleep with it. But actually seeing him thrusting into another girl… that just about killed me.
Even though Rhett tells me often that he loves me, I’ve only said the words to him twice. The first time was the year we met, and I meant it in a friends kind of way. The second time was last year, but that time I meant that I loved him with all my heart.
Rhett says he doesn’t see anything more than friendship between us, but then he holds me as if he’s scared I’ll vanish before his eyes. He looks at me as if I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever laid eyes on.
Sometimes he even flirts with me, but nothing ever comes from it.
“It’s time for me to let you go,” I whisper to the dark. I’m only hurting myself by staying here and holding onto a hope that will never materialize into something more.
I can’t be around Rhett without it hurting. Every day my heart is crushed, and it’s becoming an endless cycle.
I glance back at the cab that’s waiting to take me to the bus station and take a deep breath before I walk to the front door.
Usually, I just walk inside, but tonight I knock on the door.