Intertwined

chapter seventeen

THERE'S THIS WEIRD thing about being happy that leaves this addictive taste in your mouth. It's not that I've been unhappy, but I've been off, and I'm starting to feel like myself again. Like maybe this whole no strings attached thing Rhett has done me more good than I even knew I needed. Everything has just felt so smooth. So easy.

It should leave me feeling scared. Terrified even, but it seems to be having the opposite effect. I'm not scared things are blurring together or that I'm going to get hurt. I'm craving more of him, and it's not just the sex. In the last few days, there's been sex. Plenty of it, but we've also just been hanging out and I haven't completely hated it. Which is saying a lot since I couldn't stand him a few weeks ago. Now that the fog has cleared, the not standing him part may have more to do with the situation than him. He just happened to be the collateral damage to my annoyance.

Now I seek his company more than I loathe it, eager to spend more time in his presence. I know this is only going to make things worse when it's finally over, but for right now, I push that thought to the back of my mind as I step out of my car and head to the front of my apartment building. To my surprise, I find the perky blonde I now know is Rhett's sister, Vanessa.

"Hey," I say with a small smile. "Vanessa, right?"

She looks up from the tablet in her lap and flashes a smile, and I realize just how similar her and Rhett are, dimples and all. "Yeah! You're Rhett's neighbor."

I nod my head despite it not being a question and hold my hand out. "Emmy."

She takes my extended hand in hers, shaking it as she says, "I hope Rhett's not causing you too much trouble. I know he can be a lot."

"No, he's been great," I say.

Her nose scrunches up in a teasing manner. "I don't know if I'd go that far."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's keep that between us," I say with a smile. "I apologize for the way I was acting when we first met. Your brother seems to pull out a..."

"A different side of you? He has that effect."

I laugh at the way she finishes my sentence, because despite the teasing, I can tell how much she loves him. "What are you doing out here?" I ask. "Shouldn't you be up at Rhett's?"

"I should be," she says with a sigh, resting her arm over her tablet and leans forward in her sitting position. "Now that he lives close by, he said I can use his apartment when I need a quiet place to work. I'm a second-year design student, and I live in a sorority, so rarely do I get any peace and quiet. His place was supposed to be my haven, but that only works if he remembers to leave a key with the landlord like he said he would."

"He's not upstairs?" I ask. I've started to become well accustomed to his working schedule, which typically ends in twenty-four hours on, forty-eight hours off. Unless he's picking up a shift, which he hasn't done since just after the wedding. "Isn't it his day off?"

She nods. "He had to run to the bar for some emergency, and said he'd be back soon," she explains, turning her wrist to read the time on her watch. "Seventy-eight minutes later, and he's still not back yet."

"Well, you're welcome to come up to my apartment to wait him out," I offer and watch the hesitancy on her face. "Only if you're comfortable. I don't wa–"

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all," I tell her and offer a hand to help her up to her feet. She takes a second to shoulder her tote bag before taking my extended hand and pulling herself up. "So, you're studying design? Do you know what field you want to go into yet?"