Rhett Read online

“I told them both I’d meet them at Q bar at 8. That good for you?”

  “I’ll be there at 7:45 with flowers.” He laughed.

  “You’re going to make them both ditch me.” I laughed as well.

  “Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

  “I taught you the game.”

  “You wish.”

  “Perhaps.” I grinned into the phone. “So I’ll see you there at 7:45. Just go along with whatever I say, okay?”

  “That’s fine. I don’t suppose Clementine will be there, will she?” Tomas continued talking and I could feel the smile leaving my face.

  “No, why?”

  “Dude, she’s hot. I can’t believe you haven’t smacked that ass.”

  “She’s like my sister, dude.”

  “The operative word in that sentence is ‘like’, bro. She’s not your sister.”

  I rolled my eyes at the phone and waited to calm down before I continued. “Anyway, she’s not coming.”

  “She seeing anyone?” He asked, not realizing how pissed I was getting.

  “Clementine isn’t dating right now. She’s trying to concentrate on school first.”

  “Nerd alert.” He groaned.

  “Tomas.” My voice was short.

  “No diss, man. Nerds are hot. I’d fuck a nerd. She could mutter the periodic table while I went down on her.”

  “Dude, that’s not cool.”

  “I’m having a laugh.” Tomas laughed. “Chill.”

  “I’m chilled.” My voice was anything but chilled.

  “I was just wondering. I know she’s your friend, but I was just curious. She’s cute. I’m sure you’d rather her date me than some schmuck you don’t even know.”

  “Hmm.” I didn’t want Tomas to back out of the date, so I ignored his comment.

  “You know Brody thinks she’s hot too.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Yeah, when we saw her with you at the library, he said something, but you know he won’t do a thing. He’s too much of a pussy. Though, Clementine might enjoy that.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” My tone was definitely annoyed.

  “We should all hang out some time. Invite her to the party I’m holding next week.”

  “We’ll see.” I sighed. “Anyway, I gotta go, Tomas. I gotta make reservations. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

  “Okay, see you bro.” Tomas sounded a bit put-off, but I hung up before he could say anything else. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer before walking to my living room and relaxing on the couch. Clementine had helped me pick out the dark brown leather recliner, though it wasn’t really her taste. She’d wanted me to buy a blue and white pinstriped linen couch and I’d vetoed her choice quickly. I’d been deciding between a black, dark brown and red leather couch and I let her choose between the three. I settled into the couch, trying to get comfortable, but I felt uneasy. I wasn’t happy that Tomas had been talking about Clementine. As if she would ever go out with anyone like him. It annoyed me that he was talking about her like that, like she was some sort of object. I shuddered just thinking about them dating. There was no way in hell that I would ever let anything like that happen. Clementine and Tomas would date other my dead body. And I didn’t think Brody was a step up, either. Though, he was nothing like Tomas and I. He seemed like a quiet guy. I didn’t really know him well, but he was in some of Tomas’s classes and hung out with us at the bar a couple of times. He definitely didn’t seem like a player. In fact, I’d never seen him with a girl, but that didn’t mean I was going to let him go out with Clementine. None of those guys was good enough for her. I smiled to myself, as I remembered that I didn’t have to see her dating either of those guys any time soon.

  Clementine was a romantic and lived with her head in the clouds when it came to relationships. I didn’t anticipate her dating anyone serious for a long time and that suited me just fine. I grabbed my phone and called Q bar and made a dinner reservation for four. I knew that the two girls would be slightly put out that it was a double date, but I also knew that once Tomas and I turned on the charm, they’d be like putty in our heads. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them decided to go down on me at the bar. I grinned to myself as I pictured Sally or Jackie blowing me under the table. That would be hot as hell.

  Chapter Two

  I woke up with a smile on my face, grinning as I remembered the events of the previous night. Sally and Jackie had both been pretty upset as they realized that they were on a double date, but when they’d seen Tomas they had both turned into blubbering messes. I shook my head as I remembered Tomas saying line after line in Spanish. None of us had any idea what he was saying, but even I had to admit it sounded pretty Spanish. The funniest part was that Tomas had basically been speaking gibberish. He didn’t even speak Spanish and only knew a couple phrases. I’d nearly burst into tears of laughter as he’d said, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” I’d had to whisper in his ear that I was pretty sure that was French. He’d laughed and winked at me as the two girls played with their hair and licked their lips. It had been a pretty good night overall. While neither of them had blown me, Sally had grabbed a hold of me a couple of times and rubbed her pretty little derriere on top of me as she’d given me a pretty lame lap dance.

  I stretched and jumped out of bed and walked to the window and looked outside. The sun was shining and I knew that it was going to be a pretty day. My mind immediately turned to Clementine and I wondered if she wanted to go to the park and play some Frisbee or something. I sighed as I remembered it was Sunday. Sundays were always reserved for family time. Clementine always went home for Sunday lunch with her parents, Nanna and her brother Jake. I knew that I was always welcome to go, but I didn’t like to impose and go too often. I walked back to my bed and sighed as I plopped back down¸ the smile gone from my face. I was bored living in this big house by myself. I grabbed my phone and called Clementine and waited impatiently for her to answer.

  “What’s up, Rhett?” She answered breathlessly and I wondered what she was doing.

  “Nothing much. Just woke up.”

  “Must be nice.” She laughed.

  “What are you doing?” I asked curiously. “You sound like you’re out of breath.”

  “Playing Frisbee with Jake.”

  “Oh, cool.” I smiled as her brother’s face entered my mind. “Tell him I said hi. Tell him to call me. I got tickets to see the Gamecocks.”

  “Okay.” She paused. “Rhett says hi, Jake.”

  “Hi.” I heard Jake mumble in the background. “Tell him to come over.”

  “Jake says you should come over.”

  “Tell him next time.” I muttered, even though part of me really wanted to go.

  “Rhett says he’ll come next week.” She shouted at Jake and I rolled my eyes at how loud she was being. I was pretty sure that Jake wasn’t that far away from her.

  "What are you doing tonight?" I changed the subject.

  "I'm watching Devious Maids."

  "You don't have a maid." I stared at my bed as I spoke into the phone.

  "It's a TV show." She laughed and I smiled at the sound of her girlish giggles.

  "I was about to say."

  "No Rhett, I didn't win the lottery and I didn't marry a Madison or a Vanderbilt."

  "You already know I'm not getting married and I think all the Vanderbilts are gay."

  "Rhett!" Her voice rose in disapproval.

  "I'm joking. Well, not about the ‘me not getting married’ part."

  "No one wants to marry you, Rhett Madison."

  "There's a hundred girls that would disagree with that statement."

  "Only a hundred?"

  "Clemmie," I sighed and sat down on the bed. "Do you want to hang out or not?"

  "Not. I told you I have TV shows to watch."

  I rolled my eyes as she spoke. "I thought you had a DVR?"

  "I do."

  "So then you can hang out."

 
"I don't want to hang out."

  "Come on." I frowned annoyed. If it was any other girl I would have forgotten them by now. I wasn't a guy who bothered with girls who played games. Fortunately for Clementine, she was my best friend and I knew she wasn't playing games.

  "Don't you have a little black book? Call one of those girls up."

  "I don't want to go on a date. I just want to chill."

  "Ask Tomas."

  "Tomas went out." I was starting to get upset at the fact that she didn't want to hang out. “And anyway we hung out last night.”

  "Are you getting angry at me?" She laughed. "Oh Rhett, you think every girl should drop all their plans just to hang out with you, don't you?"

  "No."

  "If you want to hang out, you can come over and watch TV with me."

  "Crazy Linda's not going to be there is she?"

  "She'll be in her room. We'll watch TV in my room."

  "I don't want a repeat of last time." I groaned and closed my eyes as I remembered Linda trying to corner me in the bathroom to kiss me.

  "When did you get so picky? I thought you would have been happy that Linda tried to kiss you."

  "She had a mustache."

  "So?"

  "And she has crossed eyes."

  "She's having surgery."

  "On her brain? Because she didn't seem too smart."

  "Rhett, you're horrible."

  "That's why you love me." I laughed. "I'll be over at 7, is that okay?"

  "That's fine."

  "What do you want me to bring over? Actually don't tell me, let me guess. Salt and vinegar chips, chocolate chip cookies, a bottle of wine and some gummy bears."

  "You know me too well." Clementine laughed and I could picture her eager smile in my head and it made me grin.

  "You're going to get so fat, you know that, right?"

  "Don't tell me. I can't be your best friend once I'm fat?"

  "You wish you could drop me that easily. I'm not going anywhere."

  "Well you never know. I might be."

  "You might be what?" I frowned and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  "Nothing, I gotta go. See you at 7."

  "Okay."

  "Oh, and Rhett?"

  "Yes?"

  "Bring a t-shirt if you plan on staying over tonight. You stretched out my last one."

  "Well if you insist on buying girly-sized t-shirts, that's going to happen. I'm a man, you know."

  "No need to worry too much. You'll be able to fit into my fat t-shirts quite soon."

  "Clementine you're silly." I laughed and jumped up feeling excited. "I'll start training you at the gym if you want!"

  "I don't want." She made a noise that made me think of sex.

  "Don't make that noise." I groaned.

  "What noise?"

  "That grunting moaning noise."

  "Are you going crazy? What grunting moaning noise?" She groaned again.

  "You just did it again." I frowned, not wanting to think of her in that way. Clementine was the only girl that I had as a friend. She was the only girl I hadn't tried to sleep with and I wanted it to remain that way.

  "Rhett, you have sex on the brain. I'm surprised you want to hang out with me tonight."

  "I got cancelled on." I said lightly and waited for her to say something.

  "Wow, don't I feel special! I'm back-up girl number two."

  "Number five." I laughed. "The four other girls I wanted to take out were busy."

  "Rhett, did you really have to tell me that?"

  "No, but I value honesty." I laughed easily even though it was a lie. I hadn’t asked any other girls out for the night.

  "If we hadn't met as kids there is no way that we'd be friends right now." Clementine’s voice sounded a bit annoyed.

  "I can't help being hot."

  "I know. Just like you can't help being rich or smart or cocky."

  "Hey, hey now." I frowned. "You okay?"

  "I'm fine." She sighed. "Be at my place at 6:30. I don't want you chatting away once my shows start."

  "We wouldn't want those maids to feel like they're being ignored now, would we?" I joked and she groaned.

  “I gotta go, Jake’s giving me a look ‘cause I keep throwing the Frisbee to the side.” She huffed out and then hung up the phone. I threw the phone onto the bed and then I checked my appearance in the mirror before leaving my room. I stared at my handsome face and frowned. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if I wasn't so handsome. Would girls react differently if my eyes weren't so blue and sparkly? Would they still want to tousle my silky hair if it was ginger and coarse? Would they still longingly stare at me if I was average-looking? I took a deep breath and walked out of the room and wondered how much I took for granted in my life. My grandma had always told me that I was lucky I had such beautiful baby blue eyes. I had learned from a young age that all I needed to do to get out of trouble was to give a wide smile and a quick look of sorrow. I'd gotten away with almost everything with my mom and grandma. Until everything changed, of course.

  It had been different with my dad and Clementine. Clementine seemed to be immune to my looks. She'd never flirted with me or expressed any sort of interest. We'd been friends since we were little kids and we’d stayed friends all the way through college. There’d never been one time that she’d ever expressed a romantic interest in me. Not even in high school, when all the girls had started flirting with me hardcore. We'd even been assigned as lab partners in chemistry and she'd spent more time staring at labels than she had staring at me. It had been disconcerting at first. I’d assumed that she’d eventually be like every other girl once I’d hit puberty. I had even daydreamed of her begging me to kiss her and be her boyfriend once we became teens, but she’d never treated me as more than her best friend. Of course I'd blamed her lack of interest on her being a lesbian for a couple of months, but then she'd started gushing about some junior called Tony and I'd realized that she was as into men as most of the other girls in school. She just wasn't into me. It had stung at first, but then I'd liked the idea. She would be my first real female friend that was really only interested in being friends. I wouldn’t have to worry about her falling in love with me and I didn't worry about falling in love with her. It was high school that cemented our forever friendship. She was the one stable person in my life. The one constant. She cared for me above my looks and my money. She wanted nothing more than to be my best friend. She didn’t demand emotions and promises from me that I couldn’t give. She understood that I didn't do love and never would.

  ***

  "Move over." I pushed Clementine over on the bed. "Bed hog."

  "Sit on the chair." She stuck her tongue out at me.

  "Your chair's not comfortable. I want to sit on the bed."

  "You're annoying." She shook her head and her long brown hair went flying as she moved over. "Come on, then." She patted the mattress next to her.

  I promptly plopped down on the bed next to her and lifted my feet up.

  "Rhett, take your shoes off." She hit me in the arm and I laughed.

  "Okay, okay." I leaned down and undid my laces and dropped my shoes on the floor and lay back. "So is Catty Maids about to come on?"

  "It's called Devious Maids, and yes." She looked over at me. "You better not fall asleep."

  "I'm not promising anything." I laughed and pushed my head back in her pillow. "Your bed is so comfortable."

  "So why no date tonight?" She peered at me with a curious expression on her face. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't asked anyone out.

  "I guess they're all busy because of finals."

  "Finals are not until next week." She made a face. "I don't think the girls you date are studying this early."

  "You've been studying."

  "You don't date girls like me." She laughed and I reached out and grabbed her.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I mean that you don't date smart girls." She shrugged and her brown eyes
flashed at me.

  "Some of the girls I date are smart." My hand rested on her arm for a few more seconds. "Maybe not as smart as you, but they're smart."

  "Uh huh." She rolled her eyes. "You don't do smart girls."

  "I do all girls." I grinned and she groaned. "What?" I laughed. "It's true."

  "You need to fall in love."

  "Ugh, don't mention love to me." I shuddered.

  "Come on, Rhett."

  "I'm not interested." I sighed and thought back to my parents’ abusive marriage that had lasted way too long because they loved each other. "I'm not made for love. I'm made for lovemaking."

  "You really think you're some sort of pimp, don't you?" She sighed.

  "Not a pimp." My fingers ran to her cheek. "I remember when I kissed you, you didn't object."

  "We were playing spin the bottle." She rolled her eyes, but I could see a red hue rising in her face. “And we were thirteen.”

  "You didn't have to use tongue." I grinned at her and licked my lips and she groaned and pulled away from me.

  "Let's just watch TV." She grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. "Now be quiet."

  "You're so bossy."

  "Shhh." She put her finger to her lips and I laughed and watched the TV screen. The screen flashed with a bunch of hot girls and I wondered what it would be like to sleep with a maid. I was busy staring at one of the actress’s chests when Clementine screamed and jumped up in the bed, making me almost fall off.

  “Dude, what’s going on?” I looked at her in concern and she glared at me.

  “Shh.” She put her finger to her lips and looked back at the screen. “He has a gun.”

  “Who has a gun?” I whispered and looked back at the screen.

  “Shhh.” She groaned and elbowed me.

  “Ow, that hurt.” I looked over at her face as she stared intently at the TV screen. Her eyes were alert and I could see that she was concentrating hard. I grinned to myself as I thought about tickling her and distracting her. She’d be so pissed if I did that. I was debating risking her wrath when the TV went to commercial break.

  “Rhett, you’re not even watching the show.” She looked at me with pursed lips.

  “It’s boring.” I shrugged. “Let’s go out and do something.”