AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I gotta go. I need to get dressed, and Rhett’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Okay, have fun, call me tomorrow and tell me every detail. Oh, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
“Oh, yeah, because that leaves me with so much.”
“Hey, enough with the cheek. Love you.”
“Love you.”
Hanging up the phone, I went to the bed, where I had laid out my outfit. I picked a green sheath dress with capped sleeves and my favorite nude Valentino Rock stud pumps. I kept my accessories minimal, with just my necklace.
My phone buzzed, and I saw a message from Rhett.
I’m downstairs.
Looking at the time, and just as he said, it was 8:30 on the dot.
Taking one last look in the mirror, I took a deep breath, grabbed my keys, clutch, and jacket, and went down.
***
We were cocooned in a corner booth at Masa. When the waitress took our starters away, we were back in our private little bubble. With the dim lights and soft sounds of the other patrons in the distance, this felt more intimate than any other date I’ve ever been on.
When we’d first arrived, it seemed neither one of us wanted to address the elephant in the room—the whole misunderstanding about Verity and, most importantly, his father’s diagnosis. But even when I asked him how work had been, I could see the fear and anguish in his eyes. So, I wasn’t going to bring it up or push him to talk until he was ready. Instead, sticking to easier and safer topics.
“I know you’ve said before your main hobbies are cars, both driving and collecting them...”
I couldn’t refrain from giving him a playful eye roll before continuing.
“But there must have been other things that piqued your interest over the years?”
He slowly rolled the tumbler of whiskey around in a slow circle, and my eyes zeroed in as his thumb caught the stray drop that had started to trickle down.
“I’ve always loved swimming. When I was younger, it was just the excitement of being in the water. Then, as I got older, and we’d go on vacations, the water drew me in. My father realized I was fast, so I set myself up to join the swim team in high school and did the same during college. I loved the water, but more than that, I liked that it wasn’t a team sport. I didn’t need to rely on others. If I worked hard enough, swam fast enough, pushed when I thought I had nothing left, I’d come out on top.”
Once again, I realized how much of his life he had spent alone. At times, he reminded me of a deserted island in the ocean. Strong enough to withstand the tumultuous waves and elements yet isolated through those around him. He’d never mentioned any close friends or any kind of inner circle—besides his father. I can’t imagine not having Ruby, Roman, or even Olivia, who had continuously been there and supported me throughout various times in my life. The sound of his voice broke me from my thoughts.
“It also became a release of sorts. The more I was studying or being taught the ins and outs of the company, the more time I would swim. On some days, I would get up at four, head over to the pool on campus, and swim till I needed to leave for class at seven. At one point, I even got approached by a scout from the US Olympic Team, wanting to arrange a meeting, but that was shut down quickly as it wasn’t in the plan.”
A sadness in his eyes accompanied the bitterness in his tone. I couldn’t even fathom how it must have felt being that good—seemingly without even trying and being told you were good enough to compete, yet your family that had planned your whole life out for you put a stop to it. A seed of resentment began to grow within me with just how much they controlled and manipulated him—never allowing him anything for himself. Always them. Always the family—the business—the expectations.
“Anyway, I guess it became engrained within me, and now I try to do at least an hour every morning before work. It’s one of the reasons why I picked that apartment, as it’s the only one with a full Olympic-sized pool. Enough about me. I know you said you came top of your class at Columbia. Tell me, were you ever a wild child at college? Joined any sororities? I want to know the most memorable thing that happened.”
My pulse increased, and I knew he was hoping for a funny and entertaining anecdote from me, but all my mind went back to the one thing that went on to taint my whole college experience. My knee-jerk reaction was to brush it off and say how boring I’d been, but this felt important. And I knew if I were giving him a chance, I’d have to truly open myself up, and maybe, just maybe, it might allow him to understand why I was the way I was.
I waited for the waiter to finish serving our mains and leave before taking a big gulp of wine and ripping the band-aid off.
“Sororities were never something that interested me. Something about them always reminded me of cults. All I wanted to do was keep my head down and focus on my studies. I joined a couple of clubs and organizations, but they were mainly ones that were in some way connected to my degree.”
Giving myself a moment, I ate a couple of bites, and as I looked over at Rhett and saw his eyes were focused on mine, it was as if he knew I was about to say something important. The recurring nod and smile he gave me was all I needed to feel safe to continue.
“During college, I only ever dated casually, never wanting or looking for anything serious. Most of the time, I was too busy with papers, deadlines, and extra credits. But then I started seeing this guy. We hit it off straight away. He was really sweet, charming, and attentive. His family came from a rather affluent background. He could speak four languages and would often tell me how horrible his family was and the pressure he always felt under them.”
I looked up and watched his adam’s apple move up and down.
“Anyway, we spent more and more of our time together, and I started thinking he could be someone I’d have a future with. Given everything he’d told me about them, I didn’t find it weird initially that I hadn’t met his family. But the more time that passed, the more things started niggling at me. One day, I found a second phone of his. One I hadn’t seen before. And there wasn’t a password on it. It turned out he was only with me as he’d always had a fetish for being with a woman of color. He and his friends had made a WhatsApp group whereby they had a spreadsheet and would rate and review the physical and sexual attributes and differences of women from different ethnic backgrounds.”
The words came out of me in a rush.
