Chapter 4 — Forget It

Sable’s POV

Sun hit my eyes and dragged me out of sleep.

My body hurt first.

A deep, private ache between my legs. Marks I could feel even before I looked.

Last night replayed whether I wanted it or not — his mouth, my name, the lock turning, the way he had asked if I wanted to stop and then stayed inside me after.

I sat on the edge of the bed naked.

The other side was empty.

Rhett was gone.

The clock said 8:00. The house was already awake.

I did not know when he had left my room.

I pulled on pants and a crop tee and went down with my pulse in my throat.

They were at the dining table.

Rhett was already there, but he did not look at me.

“Hey, princess.” Corin grinned around a bite. “How was your sleep? You look horrible, Sab.”

“I… I’m just tired.”

“Did you not sleep last night? You look like a zombie.”

“Seal your mouth, Corin. She’s your sister.” Dad pulled a chair with his foot. “Come eat breakfast, sweetheart.”

I sat.

Rhett stayed on his toast like it was a job. No good morning. No glance. The man who had called me baby six hours ago would not give me his eyes across a plate.

“So Rhett’s going abroad again,” Corin said. “This house is going to be quiet without him.”

“What?”

It came out too fast. Too loud. Everyone looked at me at the same time. Rhett looked last. Like I was a noise.

“What’s wrong, Sab?” Corin laughed. “You’re always happy when you know he’s leaving. More bathroom. More Wi-Fi.”

I stared at my glass.

“He needs to finish something there,” Dad said. “He’ll come back soon, I guess.”

Rhett checked his watch and stood.

“I should go now. Need to make sure nothing’s left in the room.”

“Alright, buddy.” Corin was already up. “I’ll heat the car. We leave whenever you’re ready.”

Dad hugged him. Rhett let him. Then he walked toward the guest room like last night had been a story that happened to someone else.

Corin went out the front. The engine would start in a minute.

Dad frowned at my face. “Sable, are you okay? You look pale. Are you sick?”

“No, Dad. I’m fine. I just… I need to do something.”

I left him there.

I knocked once on the guest-room door.

“Come in.”

He was packing. Backpack open. Shirt folded like a man who had already decided the night was luggage. He did not turn all the way around.

“What do you want here?”

The tone was back. Cold. Guest-in-this-house cold.

“What?” I shut the door behind me. “We need to talk, Rhett.”

“I don’t have time to talk. Didn’t you hear? I need to go.”

I crossed the room and put my hand on his. Stopped the zipper. His skin was warm. His face was not.

“At least look at me.”

He did.

I almost wished he had not.

“And what, Sable?” His voice stayed low, meant for this room, meant to end it. “What do you want from me? If you want to talk about last night, you better forget it.”

The words landed like a slap before I gave him one.

“What? You want me to forget that night? After you called me beautiful. After you touched me. After you said it was amazing. And now you want me to forget it?”

“Yes.” He pulled his hand free and went back to the bag. “And you need to go. Now. I don’t want your father and Corin to find us in here.”

“Are you insane? I don’t fucking care about them.” My voice shook and I let it. “You need to stop seeing me as a child, Rhett. Really. It’s not fair.”

He looked at me then. Really looked. There was no baby in it. No forehead kiss. No you can tell me to stop.

He looked the same as before not last night version but the one I hate the most.

“That’s life.” Final. “If you think your life is going to be fair to you, you’re wrong. And you need to admit it. Last night was sex. Nothing more. You’re only my best friend’s sister to me, Sable.”

I slapped him.

The sound cracked through the guest room. My palm stung. His head turned with it. A red mark started on his cheek and I still did not feel better.

“How could you say that to me after what I gave you?”

“I asked you.” His jaw was tight. “And you let me.”

That was when he saw the tears. I felt them late, hot on my cheeks, ugly and honest. He looked at them like they were a problem he refused to pick up.

“Now I need to go before I’m late.”

He slung the bag over his shoulder and came at the door. I got there first. I blocked it with my body because I had nothing else.

“Move, Sable.”

“No. You don’t get to do that to me just like that. I’m not trash, Rhett. You don’t get to throw me away like this.”

“We were never going to be together.” He said it close, low, so the hall would not have it.

“You knew that from the start. Go back to school. Find a good guy. Have a good relationship and forget what happened between us! It was a night Sable, a big mistake that we’ve made! I’m not that guy. I will not be yours. Anything that happened last night stays there and fades. Move.”

It hurt in a place last night had not reached.

“When will we meet again?”

His eyes went flat.

“We won’t. I won’t look for you. Don’t look for me. We’re done here.”

He passed me.

His shoulder brushed mine and then he was gone, down the hall, down the stairs, back into being Corin’s best friend and my father’s guest.

I ran to my room and locked it.

At the window I saw the rest of it like it belonged to a different girl. Dad on the drive. Rhett hugging him. Corin behind the wheel. Rhett got in without looking up. The car pulled out. The street took him.

I sat on the floor under the window and cried until my stomach hurt. The kind of crying that made no sound at first and then too much.

He had called me baby.

He had told me I was perfect.

Then he had told me I was only Corin’s sister and the night was nothing.

**

Three weeks later

Fifteen minutes in the bathroom. Door locked. The house downstairs doing ordinary things. My hands were shaking so hard the box almost won.

“No,” I whispered at the plastic. “It wouldn’t be. Calm down, Sable. Calm down.”

I flipped the test.

Two lines.

Positive.