“Natty—” Rhett grits out between clenched teeth.
She turns to Rhett and cuts him off straightaway. “And you. Can’t have Cara back so you go for the Wish version? Desperate even for you.”
Ouch.
And that’s when I finally understand just how much I have messed up.
Rhett is Cara’s ex-boyfriend.
Natty is her sister.
And this clubhouse I’ve just walked into?
It’s her home.
I turn around and get the hell out of there.
I retrace my steps until I’m outside and standing next to Rhett’s bike. I don’t know how I’m going to get back to my car, but I need to leave right now. I’ve never been more humiliated in my life.
I can’t believe that Rhett is Cara’s ex-boyfriend. I truly had no idea, since she has never spoken about anyone to me except Decker. She did mention an ex, but she never told me his name. I hope she believes me when I say that I never would have slept with him, or given him a second of my time, if I knew who he was.
I have the worst luck.
“What the fuck was that in there?” Rhett asks me as he walks over. He looks angry, and I don’t know how I’m suddenly the bad person in all of this. “How do you know Cara and Clover? What were they talking about?”
“Cara is my sister.”
His eyes widen and he stares at me as if he has never seen me before. Like he didn’t lie in bed for hours with me.
“Half sister, actually,” I say in defeat. Saying it out loud makes this all more real.
“I heard Wade had another kid, but I didn’t know you had connections with her.”
“Surprise!” I say, sarcasm dripping.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That Cara was my ex?”
“No! Of course I didn’t know. I’d never want to hurt Cara,” I reply, beginning to pace. “How did you not know?”
“I’m not exactly in the know with Cara’s life anymore. You came into Cara’s life at a time where she and I...well, it was toward the end of our relationship,” he explains, gritting his teeth together. “What a fucking mess.”
“You’re telling me. She’s going to hate me now, and Clover already hated me, so now she actually has a reason,” I say, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down. “I didn’t want to give her a reason,” I whisper, tears on the verge of falling. “I need to get back to my car. I need to leave.”
“You’re not driving home two hours when you’re upset,” he says, scrubbing his hand down his face. “Come on, let’s get out of here before Rake finds me.”
I don’t know who Rake is, but I’d do anything to leave, so I jump on the back of his bike and we ride out of there. This ride is completely different to the one on the way here. I don’t lean into him, and I don’t smile. I don’t enjoy myself. I just think about the look of betrayal on Cara’s face.
She’s never going to trust me now, and she’s not going to want me in her life.
What Clover and Cara’s sister said? That hurt.
I just want to go home and cry and figure out how I can make this up to Cara.
And I can never see Rhett again.
The ride goes on for what feels like double the amount of time it took to arrive, and I know it’s because every second on here feels like a minute. Or an hour.
When we finally pull up to his house, I get off the second the bike comes to a stop and wait for him to open the gates. I then walk over to my car. This date has to be one of the worst nights of my life. What a waste of my time. I should have just stayed single like I usually do, and ignored any men who look my way. Yes, I’m being melodramatic, but I just potentially lost my sister. Again.
“Where are you going? You can’t just drive home like this,” he says, moving in front of me and blocking my access to the driver’s door.
“What do you expect me to do? Just stay at your house and pretend this never happened? That the sister I only just found doesn’t hate me?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. “That was all of her family there, and that is the first impression I made. Imagine what everyone thinks of me!”
“Con, we didn’t know,” he says calmly, eyes scanning mine. “We aren’t bad people. I didn’t know you were her sister, and you didn’t know I was her ex. We have nothing to feel guilty about.”
“They don’t know that, though.”
“They will when I get to explain our side of the story,” he says, sighing. “I’m sorry the night turned out like this. I invited you because I wanted you there while I saw Clover and Cara for the first time in a while. Do you know the history we have?”
I shake my head. Oh great, did Rhett date Clover, too?
“Will you at least come in so I can explain what happened? If you want to leave and never talk to me again, I’ll understand.”
I contemplate my options, but my curiosity gets the best of me. “Okay, but I’m not staying.” He nods.
I follow him inside and the first thing I see are pictures of him and Cara decorating the walls.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” I say, and move to leave.
Rhett whips his head to see what sparked the reaction out of me and winces. “Con, wait, no. I haven’t stayed in this house since Cara left. I only asked you to meet me here ’cause I don’t have another place. I promise I have not been living here.”
I give him a short nod. “Why don’t you just tell me the CliffsNotes version of what happened?”
Rhett moves to sit on the couch, lets out a loud breath and tells me the whole tragic story of Cara and him and the history he shares with her and Clover. After he finishes, I’m quiet for a long time.
“That is a lot to process. Thank you for telling me that; I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”
“I’m sorry that Clover and Natty said those things to you. None of that is true. Why don’t you let me book you a hotel if you don’t want to stay with me? I don’t want you driving two hours in the dark while you’re upset.”
I reluctantly agree. “Okay, I’ll stay in a hotel and drive home tomorrow.”
Going straight to bed sounds wonderful. Even though I didn’t plan on spending the night alone. I guess it will just be me and my guilty conscience for the night.
Tonight with Rhett was one huge red flag.
Worst date ever.