Rhett (Rhett #1)(51)
Author: J.S. Cooper

The doorbell rang then and Clementine froze. "Shit, I think Penelope is here."

"Penelope?" I froze as well. All of a sudden all I could think of was my c**k between her br**sts.

"Yeah I forgot I invited her over last week. You’re cool with that right?"

"Yeah, of course." I offered her a weak smile.

"I know you guys don’t get along, but I’d like you to be friends."

"Yeah." I nodded and she gave me a quick kiss.

"We haven’t made a mistake, have we Rhett?" She nibbled her lower lip and gazed at me.

"Never." I shook my head and picked up her panties and skirt and handed them to her.

"I hope not." She sighed. "I don’t want to lose my best friend."

"You won’t." I shook my head. "Of course you won’t."

"You’re sure?"

"As long as you don’t expect more, we’ll be fine." I stared at her, not blinking.

"Yeah." She nodded, her eyes fading a little bit. "Of course I don’t expect more."

"Well okay then." I zipped myself up and frowned.

"Clementine, where are you? Penelope is here!" Jake ran up the stairs and called out. I froze at the sound of his voice and watched in surprise as she opened the bathroom door. "Oh, hey," Jake looked at her and then at me with a puzzled look. "You guys have a weird friendship."

"You have a weird face." Clementine muttered back to Jake and I heard her running down the stairs.

"I don’t know how you’ve been friends with her for so long." Jake shook his head and made a face and for some inexplicable reason I wanted to tell him we were more than friends.

"Oh Jake." I laughed and put my hands in his shoulders. "She’s a good girl."

"Uh huh." He groaned. "She can’t even keep a boyfriend." He laughed.

"My parents are starting to get worried. They really hoped Elliott and her would get serious."

"Why?" I frowned.

"So she’d have someone to look out for her at Harvard."

"What?" My heart stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"She got in." His eyes looked worried. "She didn’t tell you?"

"No."

"Maybe she was waiting to hear if she got a scholarship for transferring."

"I see." Though I didn’t. I was angrier and more pissed than I had been in a long time.

"It’s cool that she got in." Jakes voice sounded stiff and his voice trailed off. "She’s always dreamed of going there."

"I guess." I frowned and looked at the wall. I thought back to high school when Clementine and I had discussed colleges. I thought we’d both been excited to go to State together. I thought that we’d both graduate together. I sighed as I realized that those were my plans. I could vaguely remember Clementine talking about going to an Ivy League school, but I’d never paid much attention to her. Maybe state hadn’t been both of our dreams. I’d just thought we’d go through it all together. "And what happens after graduation?" A voice whispered in my head. "What then?" I could feel my heart pounding as I realized that I had no idea what would happen next. I knew in that moment that I didn’t want to continue working for my dad. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stay in Charlestown or South Carolina. What would happen if I moved? Could I convince Clementine to move with me? I frowned again. How in the hell was I going to expect her to move with me? That wasn’t a realistic expectation of a friend. I felt sick to my stomach as I realized that life itself was going to change our friendship and not the fact that we were now lovers. I knew it would be too much to expect her to move with me, especially as I had no idea where I wanted to move to.

"You okay, bro?" Jake looked concerned again and I faked a laugh. I didn’t want him to start getting suspicious.

"Yeah, I’m fine." I nodded as we walked down the stairs. I cringed as I heard Penelope’s voice. I did not want to have to deal with her right now. I looked up and gave her a quick smile. "Hi Penelope." I said and everyone’s jaw dropped including my own when she rushed over and gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Rhett." She smiled as she remained next to my side. Fuck is all I could think to myself. Fuck, f**k, f**k. I’d been worried that she might act obvious, but I’d never expected clingy.

"How are you?" I asked politely.

"Been thinking of you." She batted her eyelashes and ran her hands through her hair. I saw Clementine’s parents looking at us curiously and even Jake looked confused.

"Where’s Nanna?" I asked them all quickly. "I haven’t seen her yet."

"She’s in the kitchen with Clementine." Penelope placed her hand on my upper arm. "Let me take you to say hi."

"Uh okay." I nodded, thinking that now would also be a good time to have a quick conversation with her. We walked out of the living room and down the corridor and I pushed her quickly into the study.

"I missed you too big boy." She grinned and leaned forward to kiss me.

"No." I shook my head and cringed at the thought of her lips touching mine.

"It’s okay." She smiled. "I can be quick."

"Quick?" I frowned and then stared at her through narrowed eyes as she started unbuttoning her blouse. "What are you doing?" My voice was annoyed and I was starting to get angry again.

"Rhett, darling, I want to…" She started and I froze. I couldn’t deal with this shit right now. I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair.

"Look Penelope, I have to tell you something." I bit my lower lip. I wasn’t sure if Clementine would appreciate the fact that I was about to tell her our secret, but I couldn’t stand for her to not know.

"What?" Her eyes narrowed. "Are you ashamed that you f**ked me? Am I one of your disposable girls?"

I stared at her in shock. "We didn’t f**k. What are you talking about?"

"We almost did." Her eyes were bright and flashing and I realized my earlier assessments of her were correct. She was a crazy bitch.

"You sucked my c**k for a few seconds and I couldn’t get hard." I stared at her and watched her face go red.

"I sucked your cock, you got hard, you put your c**k between my br**sts and then you got soft cos you were drunk."

I stared at her for a few seconds and then looked away. I couldn’t tell her I only got hard because I pretended she was Clementine. My stomach flipped as I realized that the shit was about to hit the fan and I had no way out.