Chapter 53 #2
“That’s coercion.”
“No shit. He basically forced her to fuck him even though she didn’t want to. So he might not be the same as some asshole who drags a woman into an alleyway and holds a knife to her throat, but the way I see it, he’s barely half a step away.”
I nodded slowly. Perhaps Rhett had some morals after all. “Yeah, I agree,” I said. “It’s horrible.”
“We only found out because one of the members heard her crying in the bathroom at the last meeting,” he went on. “She refused to say anything at first, because she was so fucking scared. She thought we wouldn’t believe her.”
I didn’t blame her for that. All-male organizations had reputations for closing ranks around members to protect them. The poor woman was probably terrified.
“But you did?” I asked, brows rising.
“A few of us did. But some of the older members didn’t,” Rhett said. “So she was given a chance to prove it. We gave her a bug and told her to meet with him and say no to his demands. With that bug, she was able to get a recording of him spewing all the bullshit about leaking the secrets.”
“I’m guessing he’s no longer a member, then?”
“No. He’s out.”
“What’s stopping him from leaking all the secrets now? As revenge for getting kicked out?”
“He knows what’ll happen to him if he breathes a single word, and he’s lucky it didn’t happen already.
” As he spoke, Rhett’s eyes flickered with a dark intensity, something dangerous lurking just beneath the surface.
“I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have actually leaked the stuff online.
Ever. But Lila didn’t know that when he approached her. ”
My upper lip curled. “God, what a slimy, cowardly little prick.”
“Yeah.” Rhett’s dark brows lifted. “So… do you still think I’m an asshole? Or do you understand why I decided to beat the living shit out of him?”
I sucked in a deep breath. As much as I hated to admit it, I’d definitely judged Rhett too harshly after our first encounter. “Yeah. I get it.”
“Like I said, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
I shrugged. “It’s not like you revealed any real secrets to me.”
“I know. But society business is meant to stay in the society.”
“So why did you decide to tell me, then? I’m practically a stranger to you.”
Rhett slowly rubbed his jaw again. “I guess I meant what I said earlier. I don’t like it when hot girls hate me for no reason,” he said. He smiled wickedly and leaned in a little closer, minty breath ghosting over my face. “I’d rather give you a good reason to hate me.”
I laughed softly. “Wow. Just when I was starting to like you,” I said. “But seriously… I think you did the right thing. I kinda want to beat the shit out of Ryan myself right now.”
“Don’t worry. I took care of him.”
I let out a light, nervous laugh. “You know, when you talk like that, you kind of sound like you’re in the mafia.”
Rhett’s wicked grin widened. “Aren’t women into that? The whole bad boy thing?”
“Maybe some.” I shrugged. “But not me. If I ever decide to date again, all I want is a nice guy.”
“I bet I could change your mind about that.”
“Oh, really?” I arched a brow. “Good luck with that.”
Rhett’s grin disappeared, replaced by a slight frown. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked. “You look so familiar. But I can’t figure out why.”
“I don’t think we’ve met. I only moved here a few weeks ago,” I replied. “Maybe you just hooked up with a girl who looks a bit like me, or something like that.”
As I spoke, I kept my voice airy and casual, like it was just a throwaway comment, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t using those exact words to gauge his interest in hooking up with a girl who looked like me.
Not that I was interested. No, definitely not.
Rhett’s tongue briefly darted out to wet his bottom lip as he regarded me with that dark, intense gaze of his; the one that made my knees feel like jelly.
“Nah,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t forget hooking up with a girl like you.”
As he spoke, he leaned his head even closer to mine. The air between us crackled with tension, filling my stomach with nervous butterflies, and when his gaze dropped for a moment, lingering on my lips, I felt a rush of heat flood my cheeks.
I couldn’t tell—was he actually interested in me, or was this just some game he played with girls? Feeding them all the right lines until they fell at his feet minus their underwear?
Either way, the thrilling idea of his lips brushing against mine sent a surge of desire through me, mingled with the nervousness that had settled in my chest. But letting him kiss me was a bad idea… right? Especially as I’d already decided that I was absolutely not interested in him.
Oh, come on.
Who the hell was I fooling? I was obviously interested.
I sucked in a shaky breath and glanced off to the side, anxiously chewing the inside of my cheek. As my eyes swept over the woods and the distant fire surrounded by Wilder guys, I took a step back.
“Look… since you were so honest with me about the Ryan thing, I think I should be equally honest with you about something,” I said, lifting a palm.
“I already know you don’t date,” Rhett said. “You told me.”
“It’s not that.” I swallowed thickly. “It’s something else.”
He stepped back, the electric tension still humming in the air around us. “What is it?”
I sighed and glanced at the fire again. “I think you should know what kind of men your friends are deep down,” I said. “Well… one of them, anyway.”
Rhett frowned. “What do you mean?”
“One of your Wilder friends happens to be my recent ex, and he also happens to be a terrible person. Even worse than Ryan.” As I spoke, I gestured to the Wilder fire, eyes narrowing.
“I’m pretty sure he wants me gone from Hollingsworth so I don’t spill his dirty secret to anyone, but unfortunately for him, I’m not going anywhere. ”
“Wait, who’s your ex?” Rhett asked, turning his head over his shoulder to look back at the guys around the fire.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot to say. It’s Jake.”
“Jake?” He glanced at me, then turned to look over his shoulder again. “As in the tall blond guy standing right over there? That Jake?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
He whirled back around, eyes narrowing. “You’re seriously telling me he dated you?”
I bristled, not appreciating the implication that I wasn’t good enough for Jake. “Yes. He did.”
“All right. I’ll bite.” Rhett crossed his arms over his chest. “What did he do to you?”
“To me specifically… well, it turned out he was lying to me and cheating on me the entire time,” I said. I lifted a hand and went on. “But that was nothing compared to what I caught him doing to other wom—”
He cut me off. “Hold on. Jake cheated?”
“Yes,” I said impatiently. His skeptical interruptions were getting more annoying by the second. “But like I was saying, he did much worse than that. Honestly, he’s a total monster. And I don’t say that lightly.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rhett’s tone was noticeably colder now. “What did he do that was so bad?”
I lifted a palm as I tried to piece together my jumbled thoughts. “Just so you know… it’s kind of hard for me to talk about this.”
“You’re the one who brought it up.”
“I know. I just… I don’t quite know how to put it all into words, because it’s such a long story.
I don’t even know where to start. And really, it’s not even my story to share,” I said.
“But look, the main thing you need to know is that Jake is seriously sick. I’m pretty sure he hates women deep down, and he has a disgusting way of showing that hatred.
When I caught him doing this shit, he tried to claim it was some sort of sexual fetish, but—”
“Okay, Ev.” Rhett cut me off, lifting a commanding palm. “I’m going to stop you right there. I’ve heard enough.”
I frowned, taken aback. “What?”
“We’re done talking.”
“But I haven’t even told you what he—”