“No. Of course not,” she said.
“Then or now?” I repeated. I needed her to be specific. It had been months since our first time together and if something horrible had happened in that time between, as in she’d gotten pregnant with our child, had it aborted, and I knew none of this—then I wasn’t sure how I’d react. Not well, I suppose. Not well at all. “Fuck. Now I’m freaking.”
“Don’t. I was never pregnant!” she snapped at me. “End of story. Then or now.”
“Okay.” I threw my hands up. “Sorry. I had to know for sure.”
She nodded, her anger dissipating as fast as it had appeared. “Well, I wasn’t.”
“Well, now I’m wondering how many other times he’s had to ask this question,” John muttered under his breath.
“Zero,” I grunted.
John huffed. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Stop it, John,” Sydney interrupted. Her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes moved to her brother. “You can’t talk this way to Rhett anymore. Not in front of me—or ever. I’m serious, John. I never question your decisions. I’ve always supported you with everything. You have to do the same for me, stop being so cynical, and let me live my own life. Even if this is about to be some giant mistake, you’re going to have to let me make that mistake.”
John exhaled for what felt like ten seconds. I wasn’t about to be some giant mistake to her. I knew that with absolute certainty. I think, because of my past with other women, it was going to take me a little more time to fully prove that to Sydney. But I loved her for saying this to John, for standing up to him on my behalf. He needed to hear it, even if he would always hate my ass. “Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll let you make your mistake. I won’t get in your way or say another thing about it. On one condition though—you come home with me today. Not home to North Carolina but home to New York. It’s almost Thanksgiving. We should both be there. With the family. And if you’re not here to see Ben, only Rhett, then you can do that any time at home.”
Sydney didn’t speak for a minute. The last thing I wanted was for her leave me at this point. We’d only just gotten together. What if the relationship we’d built in one day wasn’t enough to last however long it would be until I saw her again? And John had an angle. I knew he did. He purposely wanted to take her away from me as fast as possible.
“Fine,” she told him. “I’ll pack my stuff. We’ll go.”
“Good. I’ll get us a cab and work on getting our tickets changed for a flight out later tonight,” John said with his phone already halfway out of his pocket. “Bye, Rhett,” he added, throwing one rather devious smile my way.
That fucker!
I shot him a nasty look. I knew he was up to something. I knew he had some sort of plan against me brewing in his head.
“Come on, Rhett,” Sydney said softly, tugging on my hand. “Come with me to pack my stuff.”
It was a relief having her to myself again. It wasn’t a relief knowing she’d be leaving me way too soon. We hurried through the lobby, back toward the elevators, and the moment we were alone behind closed metal doors—she kind of exploded.
“My brother is being such a jerk. I’m so sorry. I’m so embarrassed. He’s not normally like that, I promise. He’s normally cool. But that was unacceptable and I feel horrible.” She paced, kind of like a trapped animal. Then the elevator door clicked open and she immediately stepped off, rushing for the rooms. I had to jog to keep her pace. Before we even entered, she already had her dress halfway untied. And the second we were safely behind the door, she let the material fall to the floor. She wore nothing but a pair of black, lace underwear, and she used her arm to cover her breasts.
“Don’t worry about your brother,” I said, swallowing. My mouth had gone rather dry—seeing her in front of me so deliciously naked and not being able to act wasn’t easy. Plus, no matter how many times I’d seen it, her beauty was always stunning, always something that took my breath away. “What are you doing?” I choked out. “Teasing me?”
“No. Changing.” She picked out some clothes from one of the suitcases, presumably hers, on the floor. “I can’t wear that dress if I’m going to New York. I’ll freeze.” Then she took the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.
A second later she came back out in jeans and a bulky, black sweater. Her arms were filled with toiletry items. She carried them past me and dumped them into her bag. “There,” she announced. “Packed.” Bending over, she zipped up her bag then grabbed it by the handle and heaved into onto her bed. “I’m freaking out a little,” she whispered.
“I can tell.”
“What am I supposed to tell Georgie? That my overprotective brother showed up on a whim because he had a bad feeling? Then he flipped out when he saw me with you and is making me go home?” She buried her face in her hands for a moment. “This vacation officially sucks.”
Well, this vacation happened to be the best of my life. So…
“Blame it on Ben,” I suggested. “Or me. Or both of us. I don’t care.” I stood beside the bed, a little too apprehensive to approach her. My feelings were suddenly mixed. If the situation were reversed I would have told my brother to go fuck himself. I kind of wished she would have done exactly that. I know he was her family…but still. “You realize that your brother is full of shit, right? And that he’s purposely taking you away from me as fast as possible.”
She sighed, her eyes narrowing at me slightly. “John’s just trying to protect me. That’s been his job since he was ten years old. Even if the way he comes across is harsh, I know he means well. And I do value his opinion. Do you remember someone named Shelley?”
“Who?” I didn’t know a single person named Shelley.
“Never mind. She’s not important. But I better get going.” She stood from the bed, grabbing her bag, lugging it toward the door.
“Wait. Now I need to know. Who’s Shelley?” I questioned, following her.
“Just an ex-girlfriend of John’s. Someone you slept with once. It doesn’t matter.”
Okay then. I guess that explained a lot. Not only had I slept with John’s little sister, but someone from his past too. A redhead with glasses popped into my head. Maybe I vaguely remembered this Shelley person. Whoever she was…Sydney was right, she wasn’t important. But I understood a little bit better now where John was coming from. Sort of.
Sydney reached for the door handle, swinging it open, like she was about to leave without saying anything more. Thoughts of Shelley, or whoever she was, dissipated. “Hey, hey, hey,” I said, hurrying to the door, gently pulling Sydney’s hand off the handle, and stepping in between her and the door. “Look at me,” I whispered. “Are we okay?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “How can I love someone that my brother hates so much?”
Shit. Ouch.
Her words were like a kick straight to the gut. The air instantly was knocked from my lungs. And what made everything worse—was the use of the word ‘love’ in that same awful sentence. I hardly knew how to respond.
“I’d better go,” she said. Standing on her toes, she gave me a small goodbye kiss on my lips.
I did nothing in response to her kiss.
I only let her go.
CHAPTER 17:
SYDNEY
I missed Rhett. It was this sinking feeling that hit me the moment the plane heading toward JFK sped down the runaway and the wheels left solid ground. As we climbed higher and higher in altitude, I felt worse and worse. I still stood by my decision to leave. But that didn’t mean I didn’t miss him. Or that I didn’t feel like complete shit.