“But he didn’t do the same thing with me,” I argued. “And he’s been looking for me. That has to mean something.”

John huffed. “All that means is that you played him at his own game and his ego doesn’t know how to handle it. If you hadn’t ditched him, he wouldn’t give two shits about you, Sydney. Trust me. It simply is a matter of him wanting what he can’t have. Give it another week. He’ll be off screwing anything that comes into his bar again and you’ll be completely forgotten.”

That made me sick to my stomach.

“Don’t take it personally,” John added. “It’s him and his pea-sized intellect, not you.”

The nurse chose that moment to walk in with my test results.

Good news. I didn’t have HIV.

* * *

I wasn’t pregnant either. Which I already knew because Rhett had used a condom and the time of the month was all wrong. But, John being John, made me take a whole box worth of pregnancy tests just to be sure. All of which were negative. Then my period came the next day. A red flag— literally—that I didn’t have a Rhett, Jr. growing inside me.

I’d also received my chlamydia and gonorrhea results back from the clinic. Also, negative. So…end of the story…I didn’t get anything from Rhett. John had been overprotective for nothing. But he had been right about one thing. Another week had passed, and I’d completely stopped hearing about Rhett from random people.

I’d even ran into Noah a second time, in the middle of a shift at my waitressing job, and he flat-out asked me about Ben. He remembered seeing me at the funeral crying. So I told him the truth. I told him that I’d loved Ben. He seemed to genuinely care about my loss. But never once in our conversation did he mention Rhett.

More days passed. Then weeks.

I kept reminding myself that this is what I’d wanted, that I chose this, and that there was no other possible outcome to my one-night stand. But then, a few days before I was set to move across the state to Luke University, while John was at work and I was home alone, there was a sharp knock at the front door.

Our house in Corolla sat on twenty acres of wildlife preserve. The beach was private. The access road was private. ‘A hidden gem’ my Grandfather always called it. Needless-to-say, we never got visitors. Not even the mailman delivered packages—we had a PO Box in town. So when the knock came, naturally my senses were heightened.

Who could be all the way out here?

Only one name came to mind. Rhett. Because something inside me told me that he couldn’t let this go. That he was the kind of person who always had to have the last word. If it actually was him, I wasn’t sure how this conversation was about to go, or even if it would be civil. Underneath everything, I had a bit of a temper. And I had all these mixed feelings toward Rhett now. But as I walked to the door and let my hand hover over the door handle, the only thing I felt inside was…hope. Oddly enough.

I took a breath and opened the door.

It was him. With his hands in his pockets, sunglasses over his eyes, a fresh haircut, and a light blue shirt that matched his skin tone perfectly—there was Rhett on my porch. This smirk came to his lips. After all this time, after I snuck out of his bed without saying goodbye, he smiled at me like the reverse had happened, like he held all the power and I held none. I might have been annoyed by it too, but he had such a charismatic, beautiful smile that it kind of melted me. “You shouldn’t be here,” I warned.

“And yet, here I am.” He took off his sunglasses. Then he rocked back on his feet, still smiling, glancing up at the house. “You live in a damn mansion, princess.”

Princess? It shocked me that he used that nickname after he’d gone on and on about how it wasn’t good enough for me. So I had to conclude, he’d purposely used it as an insult.

“Princess?” I repeated, just to be sure.

“You heard me. Can I come in?” He took a step toward me.

I guarded that door the way I probably should have guarded my virtue. “Um, why don’t you tell me why you’re here first?”

Jesus, my heart was thumping so hard that I feared it might give out. My skin tingled and my chest felt all tight. And, worst of all, I was slightly turned on. Yes, turned on. Seeing him here now—my body, the traitor, was screaming at me with the need to be touched by him again. Like it remembered and suddenly had to have it, which was the most ridiculous thing ever.

“I’m here for a couple reasons,” he explained, his words flowing easily from his mouth. Obviously he wasn’t affected by me in the least. “I kind of wanted to clear the air between us. We’re bound to run into each other at some point in our lives, we know a lot of the same people, and I wanted to get past that awkward moment on my own terms.” He gestured his hand between us. “There. Over. Not as awkward as I feared. I also wanted to make sure you were alright…emotionally. You’re not the first girl whose virginity I’ve taken and it affects all women differently, so I thought it would be good if I double checked on that one.”

My mouth fell open, and I stood there just staring at him. What the hell was this? Some thinly veiled revenge mission? What a prick?! This was not the same Rhett I thought I knew. A moment ago, when I answered the door, I’d been thankful John wasn’t home. Now, I kind of wished he was. “I’m fine,” I told him, gritting my teeth. “But thanks for driving all the way out here to tell me that. Anything else?”

“That’s about it.” He shrugged. “I know you’re leaving for college soon. Luke University, right? Georgina Turner also is going there. And my roommate Noah, whipped bastard that he is, is following her there. Crazy, but it turns out I was right about them. They’re in love and all that shit. Anyway, Georgie mentioned you were going to be there as well. So I wanted to wish you luck. Tell you to have a good life. That sort of thing.”

If he wanted to purposely piss me off, it was working. “Okay then. You have a good life too.”

“Okay then.”

I thought that was going to be the end of the conversation. But then he messed up—he lingered. That was his exit cue and he hesitated to take it. I might have bought into this whole arrogant, asshole act he was trying to pull on me if he hadn’t have lingered right then.

“You’re so full of shit,” I called him out.

I waited for a smartass rebuttal on his part. But it never came. “Am I that obvious?” he admitted instead, his sudden honesty hitting me like a two-by-four to the chest.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Then you also need to know I lied just a second ago. You’re the only girl whose virginity I’ve ever taken.” He turned away from me for a moment, taking a deep breath in, while running his hands over his head. Then, exhaling, he turned back toward me. “I don’t really know what else to say.”

How about the real reason why you’re here? Because flustered and honest Rhett was doing horrible things to my resolve. I didn’t need this now. I was finally feeling better about Ben and about him, and only excited for the start of a fresh, new school year. The smart move would be to tell him goodbye before our conversation had a chance to go deeper. But I was never smart when it came to Rhett. “Can I show you something?” I asked softly.

He shot me a questioning look.

“Just come with me.”

I gestured for him to follow me into the house, my heart racing all over again. He followed. The last thing I wanted was to give him false hope. But since he’d come all the way out to my house, something that would probably only happen this one time, I really wanted to show him the garage.

“This way.”

We walked through the entryway, past the kitchen, and then down one long hallway.

“If your plan is to intimidate me with your big house then you’ve succeeded,” he commented.