Katie Ashley: Strings of the Heart

“Jake mentioned you were a little homesick.”

“He did?” Immediately my heart plummeted into my stomach. Of course Rhys hadn’t come to see me of his own volition. That would have been far too much to hope for. He had been coerced by my well-meaning brother, which crushed my hopes and dreams.

“Yeah, he asked me to check in on you when I got to Savannah.”

“When did you get in to town?”

“Just this morning.”

“And you came so soon?” I couldn’t help asking while trying not to let my traitorous heart get too excited.

Rhys smiled. “Of course I did. Jake’s my family, and that means you’re my family, too.” He patted my cheek. “Truth be told, I couldn’t bear the thought of you homesick and miserable.”

“That’s so sweet,” I murmured.

Cocking his head, Rhys said, “Well, it would be pretty unchivalrous of me to say that you’re a good excuse to get out of the house and away from my fucked-up family, right?”

“Just a little.”

“So I guess the crying jag there tells me all I need to know about how you’re holding up?”

I sighed. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Fiddling with his collar, Rhys said, “Jake also said you’d just been through a break-up.”

I swept my hands to my hips. “Was there anything Jake didn’t tell you?”

“He just said you were homesick on top of the fact your boyfriend broke up with you because he didn’t want to do the long distance thing.”

With a laugh, I replied, “The long distance thing is just what I told my parents and Jake. There was more to the story.”

“Oh?”

“Since you’re Mr. Inquisitive today, I’ll give you the full scoop. Then you can decide if you’ll report in all the details to Jake.”

Rhys chuckled. “All right, Miss Sassy, hit me with it.”

“Mitchell didn’t think our sex life was adventurous enough, so he wanted me to start going to this private sex club his father belonged to.”

Rhys’s usually tan skin paled, and he staggered back. “Fuck me, I didn’t need to know that.”

“Well, that’s the truth about what happened. We actually broke up a few weeks before I left, but I figured my parents could handle that story better. I mean, if Jake found out, Mitchell probably wouldn’t need to worry about his sex life because Jake would render him dickless.”

After staring in disbelief at me for a moment, Rhys finally threw his head back and howled with laughter. “Yeah, you got that one right. Of course, I’m tempted to find this asshole myself. Who the hell does he think he is trying to corrupt you like that? He should be happy some beautiful girl wanted to waste her time with him at all.”

My heart beat wildly like a jackhammer in my chest at his words. “Thank you. He really was a decent guy. I just didn’t know there was all that seedy stuff below the surface.”

“Don’t let a jerkoff like that bring you down. You’re better than that.”

“That’s sweet, Rhys. Thanks.”

“And now I think it’s time for a conversation change. Somehow I feel like I fell into the Twilight Zone by standing here talking about sex with you.”

With a scowl, I countered, “I’m almost twenty-one, Rhys. I’m not a baby anymore.” I’m sure my petulant tone did nothing to prove my point. All I needed was to stomp my foot, and I would look like I was throwing a tantrum like a toddler.

“Okay, okay, you’re not a baby. That has been fully illustrated to me today,” he replied, with a grin.

“Good. Now we can officially change the subject.”

Rhys glanced around the porch. “So this is a really nice place. I expected you to be in some of those converted hotel room dorms or any of the other shitty housing for college students.”

I laughed. “I lucked out on finding this place in a Craigslist ad of all things.”

“You’re shitting me?”

Shaking my head, I replied, “Totally serious. Of course, after I met the owner, Cassie, I wasn’t too surprised that she listed the room like she did.”

Cocking his brows, Rhys inquired, “Is she an eccentric old woman with a house full of cats?”

I grinned. “Actually, she’s twenty-five. She rents out four of the five bedrooms.”

“Nice.”

“My parents were much more sold on me living here than in some of the SCAD dorms, especially since I lived at home the past two years commuting to Georgia State.”

With a wink that got my poor heart stuttering and sputtering again, he said, “They wanted to keep their little angel out of temptation and trouble once she went away from home for the first time.”

“Something like that.”

As Rhys leaned in closer, an impish look twinkled in his eyes. “Tell me, Allie-Bean, how much trouble have you been up to? I promise it’ll just stay between you and me.”

“Ha, like I’d fall for that one,” I countered.

“Scout’s Honor,” he replied, holding up the three finger salute.

With a sigh, I leaned back against the banister. “The truth is actually worse than anything I could lie about.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded. “I don’t go anywhere besides school and work.”

“Ah, but you could be holding back the truth about what kind of work you do. Art students get into all kinds of seedy and salacious jobs. Like nude modeling, for instance.”

“I-I don’t t-think so!” I sputtered, my face flooding with warmth.

Rhys laughed at my embarrassment. “Then what is your innocent place of work?”

“The same place I worked at back in Atlanta—the Mellow Mushroom. They just gave me a hook-up for the one down on Liberty,” I replied.

“You work at Penis Pizza?” he asked, his voice laced with amusement.

“Excuse me?”

He grinned. “Sorry. That’s just what the guys and I used to call it when we lived in Atlanta.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why am I not surprised by that?”

“Come on. Anyone would call it that with the smiling mushroom head décor.”

Holding up my hand, I said, “No need to explain. I get the comparison—I promise.”

As a smile continued to play on his lips, he said, “You know, the one thing I love about you, Allison, is that I don’t feel like I need to censor myself. Even though you’re Jake’s little sister and I probably should watch myself, I can be exactly who I am.”

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good thing or not.”

“It’s good. I’m sure of it. It’s quite a novelty when I’m here in Savannah, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“So why don’t we get out of here for a little while?”

“Really?”

He nodded. “You said yourself that you haven’t been able to see much of Savannah.”

“That’s the truth.”

Opening his arms wide, he said, “Then let me show you all that my beautiful hometown has to offer.”

“Okay. Sure, why not? Just let me throw my book inside and get my keys.”

Always the gentleman, Rhys bent over and picked up the Chanel biography that had gotten knocked to the floor during my fall. “Thanks for getting that,” I said, when he handed it to me.

“You’re welcome, Allie-Bean.” When I started in the house, he grabbed my arm. “Mind if I see inside?”

“Of course not. I guess it was rude of me not to ask you inside.”

“Don’t worry about standing on ceremony with me, Allison.”

I smiled and held the door open for him. I could tell he was impressed when he stepped inside the foyer. I’m sure it paled in comparison to the mansion he’d been raised in, but it was quite an impressive older home—the kind that Savannah was famous for.

“This place is huge when you get inside,” he remarked.

“Yeah, my bedroom even has a sitting area in it. The one way that it’s just like the dorms is I have to share a bathroom with one of the other girls.” After tossing my book down on one of the marble top tables in the living room, I grabbed my purse and slid it on my shoulder. “Ready.”