“Noah had to go help Ellie do something. I have no idea what. I was half asleep when they left a couple hours ago and haven’t heard from them since. Hopefully they’ll be back soon. We’re still going to Disney today, though, so I’m going to start getting ready. You want the bathroom first?”

“Sure,” I said, dragging myself out of bed. “Have you heard from Rhett or Luce yet today?”

I had to ask. I couldn’t help myself.

“Not yet.”

“Okay,” I said, grabbing a few things out of my suitcase. Part of was dying to tell Georgie about everything that had happened last night. But I held back. Because what if last night didn’t mean the same thing to Rhett as it had meant to me? What if last night was a one-time thing, the same way I’d originally treated our first time together? Hell…what if…what if last night was some kind of sexual pay back?

The idea shook through me. But then I realized, he wouldn’t have sat and talked with me for so long after, neither of us wanting to hurry back to our rooms, if he’d only been using me. So I relaxed, stopped thinking the worst, and hurried to get in the shower.

Disneyland, here we come.

* * *

Rhett, Luce, and I were all waiting in the lobby. Ellie and Noah still weren’t back. Georgie had stayed behind in the room. She’d been second to take a shower and hadn’t finished getting ready yet. We were expecting Noah and Ellie any minute. Noah had texted, saying that they were stuck in traffic, so all we had left to do was wait.

Talk about awkward.

I thought that maybe after last night, everything would be different. Rhett and I never discussed the specifics of our relationship, but after having sex the way we had, it almost felt like we were a couple. But between our strange goodbye, and the strained vibe going on between us now—with Luce awkwardly here to experience it all—I had no idea what to think.

What the hell? This hurt. It didn’t help that I suspected Ellie and Noah had gone to see Ben this morning, and that was actually what was keeping them. Was everything about to blow up the moment they got back? What if they arrived with Ben? Shit! My stomach started churning, I was freaking sore…down there…thanks to Rhett, and I had a headache growing into the size of Alaska.

Worst. Vacation. Ever.

A moment later Noah walked into the hotel lobby. Alone. He still wore his pajamas from the night before, his blond hair pulled back into a messy pony, and he had the most twisted look on his face. Oh holy hell. He knew. He knew Ben was alive. Oh God. I bent over my knees, suddenly afraid I might vomit.

“You okay?” Rhett asked. The first words he’d said to me all day.

“No,” I admitted, but at least he was talking to me now.

“Where’s Ellie?” Rhett asked Noah as he approached. “What the fuck is going on?”

“She’s right behind me,” Noah said, his voice gritty and raw, like he’d had an equally hard morning. “You okay, Sydney?” he asked me.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” I assured him, forcing a smile onto my lips, sitting back up.

But I was so not fine.

“Where’s Georgina?” he asked next.

I was about to answer him but never got the chance. Because Ellie had entered the lobby. I was relieved to see she wasn’t with Ben. So relieved, in fact, that for a moment my forced smile became real. But she wasn’t alone. She had Nate West with her. As in, Nate West the Hollywood actor.

This trip just kept getting weirder and weirder.

CHAPTER 14:

RHETT

“Holy Mickey Mouse, it’s Nate West in the flesh. Again,” I shouted, ripping off my sunglasses. I’d purposely dressed up like a tourist today, wearing my American flag aviators and a ‘Hakuna Matata’ t-shirt I’d specifically brought along to wear to Disneyland.

There was a weirdness between Sydney and me today. She seemed pissed—like every time she looked at me I felt chills run through my body. I wondered how much of that was my own doing, how much of that was regret (on her part) about last night, and how much of that had everything to do with Ben. But now that there was a celebrity among us, for a brief second, I was pleasantly distracted.

Strange how we were seeing Nate West for a second time. There was no chance this was a coincidence. Once, I swear to God on Noah’s OCD, I thought I noticed Ellie checking me out. I’d just stepped out of the shower, only in a towel, and it was one very small, brief look. And that nearly non-existent moment made me question her lesbian sexuality. Obviously there was no chance she’d ever act on whatever lusty glance she’d given me. Hell, maybe she’d been ovulating or some shit that day, unable to help herself, the way many women acted when they got around me. That could have been a logical explanation. But seeing her now with this Nate West guy and seeing the sideways glances she kept shooting him…holy shit, Ellie liked a boy!

Introductions were made. The guy shook all our hands, seeming genuinely pleased to be meeting Ellie’s friends. But we were attracting some attention now. Others in the hotel lobby were watching us with way too much curiosity. Ellie noticed the extra eyes on us and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Nothing to see. He’s not the real Nate West. Just his stunt double. We get this sort of confusion all the time. I can’t take him anywhere. Carry on. Sorry to disappoint.”

Somehow, Ellie’s horrible attempt at lying worked. Nobody approached us or the tall, beastly, bulky man for his autograph or picture or anything. He let out a breath of air, seeming relieved, and sat down in one of the mahogany chairs we’d previously been occupying.

“Thanks,” he told Ellie kindly.

Ellie gave him a small smile, one so shockingly nice I almost shit my pants, and then asked us, “Where’s Georgie?”

“Spending all morning doing her hair,” I answered, plopping back down in my seat. I started talking since that was what I always did when my nerves were heightened. And right now, between things with Sydney and now being in a celebrity’s presence, they were through the roof. “That girl is the most low-maintenance/high-maintenance girl I’ve ever met. It’s like she can’t decide which she is from day to day,” I joked. “And today she’s chosen high-maintenance.”

“I’m going upstairs,” Noah announced, clearly not into my jokes at the moment. “I think I might be high-maintenance today, too.”

Ellie’s face paled at his words. “What? Now? I’m coming with.” She started to move in his direction.

“No,” Noah told her firmly. “You wanted me to know your secret. Now I know. And now I want to tell her myself. Sorry Ellie, but this is something I think I should do alone. If I need your help, in any way, I’ll call.” He sighed, running his hands through his hair, and turned his attention to us. “I’m sorry about Disney, guys. I’m afraid we probably won’t be going today as planned.” And with those parting words, he left the group.

Ellie fell into an arm chair. Her eyes met her boy-toy’s eyes briefly.

“So the cat’s out of the bag then?” I asked, understanding now that she must have taken Noah to see Ben and that they’d been with him this morning. Why take Noah first? Who knows? Ellie never thought stuff through.

Ellie nodded yes to my question.

I guess since confessions were in order it was time to tell her my secret too. “By the way, I told Sydney like a month ago that Ben was alive. So yeah…” I smiled weakly. “She knows.”

“I know,” Sydney confirmed, her voice shaky and barely above a whisper.

Maybe Sydney and I hadn’t had the best morning, but the moment I heard the pain her voice, my whole body went cold. I desperately wanted a chance to get her alone so that we could talk stuff through.