She narrowed her eyes. “How would I know? If he were doing it, he sure wouldn’t let me in on that fact.”
Rhett found the newly-sprung aggression uncharacteristic of her. “I’m not attacking you or him, I just want to get to the bottom of this.”
“Then stop pointing fingers at me! Jeez.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I feel like I’ve touched a nerve.”
“Sorry. Look, what do you want me to do about how my family acts? I have no control over Max, Layla, my dad, or my mom. Trying to wrangle me into what they do isn’t helping.”
“Fine, fair enough. But this has gotten beyond the point of ridiculous. We need to get out of here. Forget about what your parents told us—we have to leave and get away from all of our problems.”
“You can go, but I can’t. You know what our parents told us.”
“But that feels like we’re going backwards. You don’t want it to be like that, right? You probably don’t want to be left all alone with your mother and Layla butting into your wedding plans.”
“But you’re only a phone call away if I’m having issues. Besides, if I left with you, it would cause a huge storm that I don’t want to deal with. Let’s play by their rules, at least for the next year.”
He sighed. “I don’t know, Tula. I honestly don’t want you to be around them. I know that doesn’t sound good coming out of my mouth, especially since I’m your boyfriend, but this isn’t come kind of game of control. If you can’t move out with me, at least spend the weekends with me at my mom’s place. She said she would talk to your parents about everything and assure them that nothing bad would happen.”
She mulled on it. “That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. It’s not like I keep the same hours as everyone else here. And if I’m with you on the weekends, we’ll be seeing each other during most of our free time.”
“Right, exactly! And if everything goes well, maybe your parents wouldn’t mind if you spent even more time with me. We could gradually make it happen instead of springing it on them.”
Tula nodded. “I like this idea.”
“I’m willing to forget everything that happened with Max. I need to have a talk with him about what happened, but if he promises to stop this nonsense he’s pulling, it’s water under the bridge to me.”
“Forget about what?” Called a voice from outside Tula’s door.
The crack in the door gradually widened until the form of Tula’s brother appeared. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and a neutral expression on his smooth face. He was just as handsome as he usually appeared, his sandy blond framing his face. Some black headphones were strung around his neck and his clothing hung from his slim body. Rhett felt his stomach turning again while Tula gave him a dull expression.
“We were just talking about you,” said Tula without explaining herself any further.
“About what?” Asked Max.
Rhett cleared his throat, stepping up to the moment he’d been dreading for the last twenty-four hours. “Max, it’s true that I was the one who was looking through your room yesterday.”
“I know,” he stated flatly.
Slightly perturbed, Rhett went on, “Well, I want to say that I know what you’ve been up to, and I don’t understand why you’ve been acting in such a way. Maybe I don’t
want
to know why. But speaking to you man-to-man, I wanted to tell you to stop. Let’s not let this get to a dangerous level. I want to be your friend, and hopefully, you do, too.”
He glanced from Rhett to Tula, and then back again with a level of disinterest. “You’re not my friend, you’re a snoop and a thief. I want my key back, by the way. Hand it over.”
Rhett rolled his eyes, trying to recall what he was talking about.
“The key you stole from my book. I want it back,” said Max, speaking as if he could read Rhett’s mind.
“Oh. To be honest, I don’t know where it is.”
“It should be in your left pocket. Unless you hid it somewhere.”
Rhett felt along the fabric, further alarmed that Max knew exactly where it was located. However much he felt around, however, he didn’t locate it. “I don’t have it.”
Max sneered. “I’d like it back, if you don’t mind. Wherever it is, please return it. You’re not staying here anymore, are you?”
“After you put bleach in my car, I’m surprised you’re sad to see me go.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t do anything to your car. You’re the one who’s been acting strange around here. Even ask my parents. They don’t want you here, Rhett. Maybe you should do the right thing and know your place. It’s time for you to go.”
Rhett glared, his blood pressure rising. “I plan on leaving, but I’m not leaving alone.”
“Just try it, man. I’ll say this—I won’t let you go with a girl like Tula, and neither will my parents. They don’t want you to go anywhere near my sister.
“Max, just knock it off,” said Tula, throwing the covers off of her. “You’re causing trouble.”
Max stared at them both for a moment, not moving an inch from where he stood. “Tell him, Tula.”
Rhett and Tula stared at him quizzically.
“What are you talking about?” She asked.
“Tell him why you’re having second thoughts about marrying him.”
“Max, get out!” She yelled, shoving him out of the doorway.
Rhett certainly didn’t like his tone, but he was also intrigued by how it provoked a reaction out of his girlfriend. He knew it wasn’t the time, but he wanted to know what Max was talking about. When she slammed the door on him, Rhett proceeded to ask her just that.
“He’s just talking nonsense,” said Tula, letting out a sigh.
“But I’m not!” Max called through the door. “My sister hasn’t exactly been honest with you, Rhett. Sorry. I’ll be upstairs working on my homework. Please try to stay out of my personal space. I have some more spiders waiting for you if you start getting curious again.”
“What’s he talking about?” Rhett demanded. He didn’t like Max, but that didn’t mean he thought he was a liar.
Tula sat herself back on the bed. “I can’t handle this right now. Everyone is putting so much pressure on me! I just feel like I want to go to sleep and never wake up.”
Rhett sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, don’t be like that. Tula, I don’t want to attack you. But I have to know what you’re actually thinking. Please, whatever it is that’s been on your mind, let it out. I want to know what you’re feeling.”
She looked into his eyes, a worried expression her face. “Everything’s just been so messed up lately. I mean, you know that. I feel like we haven’t been very close lately. Like I want the old you back. We used to talk on the phone for hours after work. Now we barely speak to each other much because we live together.”
He nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“I just want things to go back to the way they were before. No one in my family knew much about you, I could talk to you on the phone all the time, and then we went out to have fun on the weekends. None of this stupid drama we have now. I’m split between feeling like I want to elope or that I want to go back in time. I’m just so confused right now. It upsets me that my family is starting to disapprove of you, and along with that, that we’ve been more distant.”
Though Rhett was understanding, he also began to feel a bit resentful. He’d done everything he could over the past few months to make Tula and her family happy. He was nice, outgoing, and did anything he could think of to make Tula feel special. Was all of that effort for nothing? Should he just treat her like some booty call to get her to love him again?
No, now I’m just thinking ludicrously,
he thought.
Finally, she spoke: “Rhett, Max is just jealous of you, and he’s been giving me crap over it. Ever since we were little kids, we’ve been really close. He thinks you’re going to take me away from him, and in a way, you are.”
“We were more than friends, Rhett,” they heard Max call from the other side of the wall.
I thought that asshole left us alone,
thought Rhett.
He continued, “We were much, much closer.”
Rhett sent a quizzical expression towards Tula, and then towards the door for some reason. “What’s he talking about?”
“Nothing!” Tula said, burying her face in her arms.
He turned to her, trying to hold himself together. There were so many emotions bubbling up in him—fear, rage, confusion, disbelief, shame— but he settled on presenting a critical expression towards her. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Just stop! I’m tired of this crap. I’m tired of both of you.” Though her face was covered with her hands, it was apparent through the cracks of her fingers that her face was bright red and that she was weeping.
As the reality of it sunk in, Rhett didn’t know what to say. What could he say?
“You still want her, Rhett?” Max goaded on. “I’m guessing you’re not too keen on getting sloppy seconds.”
Going by his instinct, Rhett flung the door open and grappled Max by the neck. With a strong arm, he lifted Max in the air for a few moments, watching as he struggled for breath. Max stared down at him, eyes wide and afraid. Rhett had never strangled anyone before, and though he enjoyed seeing Max struggle for breath, the prospect of potentially killing him was also frightening. Satisfied in seeing him immobilized, he threw Max to the floor and then got on top of him, punching him in the face. Max’s body was so weak beneath Rhett—it almost felt criminal to beat the shit out of him.
“Rhett, stop!” Tula cried, launching herself on his back.
“What, you want to protect him?!” Rhett cried. “This piece of shit that’s been fucking with us for the past six months and trying to tear us apart? This creep who likes to stick his dick in you? You’re defending this asshole!”
Mascara blotched around her eyes as she sobbed. “Please, just stop hurting him.”
Her voice was so pathetic and powerless, as if encapsulating the secret feelings she’d had since Rhett moved in. He couldn’t help it—she was so sad and weak, he couldn’t go through with hurting Max in the way Rhett might have wanted.
“I’m getting the hell out of here,” was the only thing he could manage blurting out as he made his way for the front door.
He didn’t notice any flurry of noise as he stomped out, and when the sunshine hit his brow, he noticed that there was blood on his knuckles. Getting in the old Honda, he slammed the door and began to back out just as Mrs. Florian rolled in. She smiled openly at him and waved, so he felt bad when the only response to her warmth was a scowl. As he put his car in drive, he noticed Tula standing in the doorway, looking like a lost little child. They made eye contact for a moment before Rhett belted the gas.
There weren’t many thoughts going through Rhett’s mind as he drove. He mostly thought over and over again about what had occurred in the previous ten minutes. Like a spinning wheel, he thought endlessly about Tula… The way she had been when he walked in, the way that she had always avoided talking about herself over the past few months, how she always seemed to have a dour expression on her face whenever her brother was around…
He was angry, but in a portion of his mind, he knew that she had been doing the best with the situation that had been presented to her. Her brother was a creep, there was no doubt about that, but he was still a close relative to her. He cringed thinking about the words ‘close relative,’ but he also had no idea what kind of ‘close relationship’ they had. Had Max coerced her into having sex with him at some point in the last decade? She didn’t seem to recall their time together with warm emotions. Perhaps it was something that had started out with experimentation, but branched out into much more.
The only thing he wanted to do at that moment was vomit all of his emotions towards his mother. His mother would know what to do, would know exactly what to say to all of this. If he was being honest with himself, his mother was the reason that he had as much success in life as he did. She was the level-headed realist, the one who could take any situation and spell out exactly what kind of situation he had in front of himself. His mother tended all wounds and was the one who directed him towards a career in repairing cars. He had to let her know everything.
Unfortunately, she was also a workaholic. She loved her job at the publishing company, and often put in twelve hour days to get all of her work done, whether it was getting back to authors, reading manuscripts, or performing thorough edits. Even if he wanted to call her and tell her everything that was going on in his life, it would only mean that she’d have to come home later than usual. He would just have to wait until she got home that night, probably around eight.
When he walked into the house, the only thing he wanted to do was empty a bottle of whiskey. His mother kept a well-stocked wet bar, so it would be quite easy to become a sloppy drunk.
No, I can’t do that,
he thought.
I don’t want my mom to see me like that. Besides, it would give Max satisfaction to know that he turned me into a wreck of a human being. I don’t even have my video games here to pretend I’m punching that asshole in the face. I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll just sit and watch some television. Anything to get my mind off of this.
He sat on the leather couch, pulling the remote control up to flip through the channels. There wasn’t much on—mostly daytime talk shows and cartoons. He settled on a made-for-TV movie for a few minutes, but when he realized that it was a romance, he groaned. He flipped again some more until he realized that his phone was vibrating inside of his pants. It was Tula, and there were more than a few messages.
I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.
Max is ok, just a lil roughed up. I’m sure that doesn’t concern u much right now.
Do u hate me? If my parents knew, they’d kill us. Please don’t tell them.
If u never want to speak to me again, I wouldn’t blame u. I want u to know that I love you, and I always will love you. I wish I could explain myself without going to pieces. Please, give me another chance. Let me give u the full story.