“You think I’m upset because you had a past before we started dating?” She poked her finger into my chest. “You think I’m jealous because I’m upset we nearly got arrested and you offered to bribe the officer.”
“So maybe I was wrong.” I grabbed her hand. “For trying to bribe the police officer and for saying you were jealous.”
“You think?” She glared at me for a few seconds, her brown eyes angry.
“I was very wrong. I’m sorry jellybean.”
“Don’t call me jellybean.” She made a face, but I could see she was softening.
“You look pretty in your yellow dress.” I tried again.
“Like a jellybean?” She cracked a smile and I felt the stiffness in my back loosening as I realized she was no longer mad.
“No, like the sun.” I grinned.
“Uh huh.”
“I’m sorry.” I made a face. “I messed up.”
“It’s fine. I messed up as well.” She sighed. “I think that—”
“You look so sexy.” I stepped forward as I interrupted her and kissed her. “Are you ready for round two?”
“Rhett!” She groaned as my fingers pulled her dress up and off. She stood there naked in front of me and my heart pounded as I stared at her.
“You’re so beautiful Clementine.” I touched her delicate skin softly.
“We should talk Rhett.”
“We can talk later.” I shook my head and pulled my shirt off.
“We can’t just...” Her voice trailed off as I took my pants and boxers off and stood there in front of her naked.
“I want to make sweet love to you, Clemmie.” I stepped forward and grabbed her hand and placed it on my already hard cock. “I’m so turned on right now.”
“Rhett.” Her eyes were uncertain as she played with my cock. I grabbed her other hand and pulled her down to the rug. “Ooh, Rhett.” She groaned as I spread her legs and buried my face in her pussy, my tongue licking her up eagerly, loving the taste of her on my face.
“Shh, we can talk later.” I lifted my head up and gave her a quick smile, before burying my face back in her wetness and sticking my tongue inside of her. She cried out and I felt her inner thighs clenching my face as I ate her out. I smiled as I felt her body trembling underneath me and sucked down on her clit. I was good at sex. I knew that. I knew that I could make her come. I knew that I could make it all better with sex. As I felt her juices pouring down on my face, a thought flashed through my mind. A thought that made me think twice about what I was doing. A thought that made me worried and scared. We were having make-up sex, but we hadn’t really addressed any of the problems that we had in the relationship. And there were definite problems that were showing up already. Problems I didn’t know how to fix. Problems that we hadn’t had as best friends. Problems I was scared could end the relationship. I closed my eyes so that I could focus on making Clementine feel good, but I knew that hot sex wasn’t going to seal the cracks that were already developing between us. I was scared inside. I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life. I loved this woman more than anything in my life, but I didn’t know if that was going to be enough.
Chapter Six
Clementine
And all that we’ve been through
Don’t leave me
I won’t leave you
And all that we’ve been through
Be with me
I’ll shelter you
“Shelter” by David Berkeley- The Fire in My Head
“I’ll miss you guys.” Tomas gave me a quick hug before turning to Rhett. “Y’all have to come back home soon.”
“Yeah, we’re going to come for Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Rhett spoke up and I could feel my stomach churning. What was he talking about? I hadn’t been planning on going home for Thanksgiving as I had to study for finals.
“Okay great.” Tomas grabbed his bag. “I can’t wait. I better go as the taxi’s waiting for me.”
“Have a great flight back, Tomas.” I smiled at him. “I enjoyed having you here. Give Jake a big hug for me and tell him he needs to get his ass up here soon.”
“Will do, Clemmie.” He rubbed the top of my head. “Thanks for having me guys.”
“Bye.” Rhett gave him a slap on the shoulder. “Stay safe, bro.”
“You too.” Tomas walked out of the door, flashed another smile and left.
“I’ll miss his crazy ass.” Rhett said after closing the door.
“I’m just glad he’s not here to take you to strip-clubs every weekend.” I smiled at him and he laughed in response. We both stood there for a few seconds awkwardly and I sighed. “We should talk.” I bit my lower lip nervously. I didn’t want to have this conversation. At all.
“Yeah.” He nodded and looked at me with a sad face. His expression made my heart stop and I walked to the couch.
“So,” I started, but my voice cracked and I didn’t know what to say.
“So,” He said and we sat down on the couch.
“About the other day.” I took a deep breath. “I want to apologize.”
“What happened the other day?” He frowned.
“The day we were in the park.” I smiled. “I shouldn’t have blamed you for us getting caught or for us having sex in the park. I think I was just stressed and worried and still in shock.”
“It’s okay.” He nodded. “I understand Clemmie. And I should apologize as well. I’m the one that convinced you that the park would be safe.”
“You’d try and convince me of any and everything, Rhett.” I laughed and stared at him. “You’ve got a way with words.”
“Well you know.” He grinned and winked at me.
“But after that, when we were arguing, we said some things.” I frowned. “I think we should talk about them.”
“Talk about what?” He frowned.
“Just what’s going on between us?” I made a face. “I know this isn’t what either one of us was expecting.”
“What do you mean?” His expression changed and he looked worried.
“You know what I mean, Rhett.” I sighed. “I know you stop yourself from telling me stuff now. I know that this is different for both of us.”
“Are you breaking up with me?”
“No.” I shook my head. “But I’m scared Rhett. Everything was so easy between us and now, well now...” My voice trailed off and we just stared at each other.
“No one said it would be this hard, did they?” He half-laughed. “I don’t know why it’s this hard. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Maybe I’m not cut out for relationships.”
“Rhett, I think both of us need to adjust our expectations of what this relationship should be like.”
“I’m not the boyfriend you’ve always dreamed of having, am I?” He looked sad. “I wish I was that guy, but I have a past, Clemmie.”
“It has nothing to do with your past, Rhett.” I shook my head. “I knew about your past. I just expected a bit more romance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean romance, not just sex.” I looked at his confused expression. “I know that you might not understand. I just don’t know how to explain this to you.” I mumbled. How could I tell him that I thought he used sex to solve everything? How could I tell him that I felt like he wasn’t truly giving himself to me? How could I tell him that I wanted him to woo me, and that I wanted to feel his deep devotion on a daily basis. How could I tell him that I didn’t feel like his girlfriend, but more like his best friend with benefits? I was scared to tell him. I was scared that he would respond badly. I didn’t know how he would respond because he’d never been in a real relationship before. I knew that he wasn’t emotionally equipped for conversations like this and I didn’t know how to approach the topic.
“I booked us for a class.” He spoke up and grabbed my hands, his blue eyes light and unsure.
“What?” I frowned. “What class?”
“A relationship class.” He gave me a half-smile. “Don’t look so shocked.” He stroked my face. “I saw it in the newspaper the other day. I thought it could help us.”
“So you’ve been worried about us as well?” I felt hurt, though I knew I was being irrational.
“I’ve been worried that you’re going to leave me.” He looked away. “I know that I use sex to make things better and I know that at the end of the day, sex is not going to be enough. I know you need more from me than I’m currently giving. I don’t want you to leave me, Clementine.”
“I’m not going to leave you, Rhett.” I reached out and grabbed his face. “Why would I leave you?”
“That’s what happens in life.” He shrugged. “People leave when things get rough.” His eyes looked into mine and I could see the pain reflected in his expression. It was a pain I’d seen shining through from his soul for many, many years.
“I’m not going to leave you, Rhett. I’m not your mom.” I said softly and my heart broke for the man sitting in front of me.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen.” He shrugged. “I just don’t want to give you a reason to leave or stop loving me.” He muttered and as I looked into his face I was taken back to his thirteenth birthday party. And the empty look of sadness that had been on his face when he’d realized that his mother wasn’t going to be there to celebrate him becoming a teenager. We’d never spoken about it, but I’d seen his hurt. Rhett had carried the pain of his mother leaving all of his life and he’d never been able to speak about it. Not really. Yes, we’d talked about it on a superficial level, but he’d never opened up about her completely and I’d never pushed it.
“There’s nothing you could do that would stop me from loving you, Rhett Madison.” I squeezed his hand. “When is this class?”
“We can go tonight.” He smiled sweetly. “They have it every day. It’s a group setting.”
“A group setting?” I knew my face reflected my horror. “What?”
“Haha, I know.” He laughed. “That’s what I thought as well, but supposedly it’s meant to help to be around other couples with other issues and we all get to weigh in and discuss the issues.”
“I see.” I made a face. I wasn’t sure how I felt about discussing our issues with other couples there. It seemed so impersonal.
“We’ll see how it goes.” His eyes searched mine. “We’ll see if it helps.”
“I’m willing to try.” I nodded. “I’m surprised you even found the class, you surprise me.”
“I’m a man of surprises.”
“In your pants?” I joked and he laughed.
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
***
“Welcome, welcome everyone.” A tall lady with short, curly black hair grinned at everyone in the room. “I’m Tasha and I’m the group lead today. Thanks to everyone for coming.”
“Thanks for having us.” Rhett answered and she beamed at him. I tried not to roll my eyes as I noticed some of the other girls in the class checking him out. No wonder their relationships were in trouble, if they were busy checking my man out.
“So is everyone ready to get started?” Tasha smiled.
“Yes,” We all chorused and she sat down.
“Great.” She looked at each of us and then continued. “Today is going to be hard for some of you. We aren’t like most group meetings. We don’t introduce ourselves and talk about our love of basketball or golf. We jump right into the issues. We try and get to the crux of the problems in your relationships. This setting is meant to help you identify your issues by listening to each other speak.”
“People are going to tell me what me and Juan’s problem is?” A girl to the right of Rhett spoke up. “How they going to know?”
“No, no, Valentina.” Tasha smiled and looked at all of us. “But that was a great question. Let me explain how it’s going to work. We will go in turns and talk about our relationships. We will identify as a group, what issues we think each couple is facing and each couple will then spend some time and talk about whether or not they think they have that issue. Does that make sense everyone?”
“Yes,” I nodded as Valentina made a face at me. I could see Rhett looking at me and I reached over and grabbed his hand. This was not exactly what I’d had in mind when I thought of a relationship course, but I was trying not to judge the class before it was over.
“Okay, let’s start.” Tasha nodded to me and Rhett. “Why don’t you two start?”
“Yes, Brad and Angelina, I wanna know what problems you two have?” Valentina cracked a joke and the group laughed. Tasha held up her hand and looked around the group. “Remember this is a no judgment zone, I don’t want any couples making fun of other couples issues, okay? You’re all here because you’re having problems in your relationship. Please don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to hear. Does everyone understand?”
“Si.” Valentina said and rolled her eyes. I looked over at Rhett and he grinned at me. I could tell from his expression that he felt as out-of-place in this setting as I did. In fact, he looked so out of place that I wanted to laugh. Never in a million years, would I have pictured my Rhett in a group relationship class.
“Are you ready Rhett and Clementine?”
“Yes.” I spoke up and Rhett squeezed my hand. “What exactly are we meant to say?”
“Just tell us about your relationship and we’ll go from there.”
“Okay,” I nodded and took a deep breath. “Rhett and I have been best friends since we were little kids. I was the studious kid, always studying and never dating and he was the playboy, dating around and barely studying.” I gave him a quick look. “And when I say he dated, he really dated. He would call me every night and tell me about his dates.”
“Or I would go over to her place and tell her.” He laughed. “And ask her for advice and help.”
“Yeah, he recruited me to help him one night that he had two dates.” I laughed remembering the past. “I know it sounds weird now, but that was the relationship we had. We could say anything to each other. We could do anything and we knew the other one wouldn’t judge us.” I paused and took a deep breath. “And then a few months ago, we realized we liked each other as more than friends.”
“I realized I loved her as more than an annoying bratty sister.” He added and I punched him in the arm. Tasha smiled at us and I continued.
“So we realized we loved each other and decided to give a relationship a chance. And we moved here from South Carolina and—”
“Do you two live together?” Valentina asked curiously.