Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck, I am so fucking fucked. There. Mission accomplished. Except, instead of feeling satisfied with herself for the transformation of the word into a complete sentence, she felt just as shitty. All that bad language didn’t fix anything. It didn’t give her even the smallest amount of satisfaction. Worse, she couldn’t imagine Rhett, who seemed like a genuinely nice guy, using that kind of bad language and her face burned hot with shame.
“Are you leaving yet?”
“No. I’m still here.”
“What’s holding you up? You don’t need to apologize. If anyone needs to say they’re sorry, it’s my sister and my family. They won’t, so I’ll do it for them. I’m sorry you ever met my sister and got mixed up with my family. I’m sorry that somewhere along the way they forgot that they were supposed to have a heart and care about other people. I’m sorry that you’re too nice and that she probably mistreated you all those years. I’m sorry that the sex you had with me was probably the best you’ve had in seven years.” Nice. Way to go there.
A soft laugh drifted from the other side of the door and cut straight to Bella’s stomach. It was like a punch in the solar plexus. She’d heard that somewhere, even though she didn’t know where that was exactly. She was an English major, not a Biology major.
“Maybe it was but you didn’t hear that from me.” A long sigh bounced off the door. “Okay, I’m leaving. I’m dressed. I have my wallet and my phone, so I’ll get a cab. Even if I pretend this didn’t happen, I’m still glad you rescued me from the church. For the record, I don’t know why I said those things. I don’t think you faked it and I don’t think that you did it to get back at your family. I don’t think you’ll tell them. I- I was just- in a low moment there. Because of- well- you know. I’ve never done anything like this- I’m- I really am sorry.”
Annoyingly as hell, tears formed in her eyes. They stung the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath and let it out on a shaky exhale. She waited. Counted to ten. The silence in the bathroom was unbearable. The tremble in her hand turned into a full-on shaking so that she fumbled with the knob before she ripped the door open.
She stumbled out of the bathroom, clutching her towel to her body like it could shield her- from what she wasn’t entirely certain. She’d never experienced the strange jumble of emotions tearing through her. Tearing her apart.
It was too late.
The room was empty.
Rhett left like she told him too. She knew she could pull open the door and probably find his retreating form in the hall. She could have run out after him in her towel like a crazy person, wrapped her arms around his neck and told him to come back. She didn’t. She couldn’t.
She’d never felt so out of control in her life.
Who was Rhett really and why did he feel so damn dangerous?
She knew one thing. He was too nice. Too nice for her sister and far, far too nice for her. Even if she didn’t want to use him, she’d end up hurting him the same. She wasn’t exactly a nice girl. She’d made it a point in her life to live that way. Not really live that way but to make sure that she was a constant source of embarrassment and disappointment to her family. She’d chosen that path to make a statement.
How the hell had she gotten so lost along the way?
And why hadn’t she known she was so lost, so blind, so… so everything, until- until she met him?
CHAPTER 6
Rhett
At thirty-two, he was officially ready to hand in his man-card.
Okay, maybe not ready, but he sensed it was about to happen.
His hand shook as he pulled open the heavy glass door to the downtown tattoo shop. Someone had either painted on or drawn in those marker things that were used for glass, pictures of flash tattoo art. A rose with a dagger through it. And a ship. Yeah. Rhett didn’t know a thing about tattoos, but he did know that the stuff on the walls that people picked was called flash. Maybe? Okay, maybe the stuff on the door wasn’t flash. Maybe it was traditional.
He’d done some research. Mostly to find out where it was that Bella worked in the first place. He refused to hire someone to find out for him, though that would have been the most efficient way. He’d have his answers in a few hours instead of having to wait a few weeks. He’d done the digging himself and by digging he meant calling every single shop in Detroit to ask for Bella. Sometimes, he was politely told she didn’t work there. Other times he was told he was a stalker asshole and whoever she was, they were glad she didn’t bring her drama right there.