Page 35 of Greased

“Stop. Stop, please.” I beg in between spouts of laughter.

“Say ‘Rhodes is the greatest and best brother in the world and I love himso much’.”

“Rhodes… is the….greatest….. and omg… RHODES!” I stutter.

“Keep going. I can’t stop until you say it all.”

“Best brother… in the world and… I love him… so much.” I finish. “Now get off me, I can’t breathe.” Rhodes finally ceases his tickle attack and gets up off the bed, giving me the chance to breathe.

I roll over, finding Rhodes staring back down at me grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“How can you be so energetic at this time of the morning?”

“Come on Scar, it's your first day at school. You are finally back home. What is there to not be excited about?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it's the whole school part?” I grimace. “I wasn’t too far off graduating back in Australia, now I have to start senior year all over again. Kill. Me. Now.” I think that has been the worst part about moving over here. I will almost be twenty by the time I graduate. What the fuck is that?

“Come on, you are going to love it,” he says, nudging me so he is able to flop down on the bed beside me. He rolls onto his side and rests his head on his hand like he's ready to gossip, “Remember what I explained to you. The Birds run the school. You will be fine. Plus you have the inevitable training sessions to look forward to.”

I roll my eyes, slamming my head back into my pillow again.

No matter how in depth Dad and Rhodes explain all of this stuff to me, it almost feels like a movie. Like someone sitting behind a computer screen is just thinking up the most insane and impractical shit and just writing a story about it. What twists and turns are going to happen next? Which of your favourite characters will be the one that gets killed? You will betray who? Authors are fucking sick and twisted.But God, do they write some entertaining shit. Not to mention some of the smut that Grace has forced upon me. Ten out of ten.

“I know you might not be ready to talk about it, but I need to ask.” Rhodes trails off and sighs. I can already tell where this conversation is going to go and he is right, I don’t want to talk about it. But there is no time like the present, I guess. “What the fuck happened last night?”

I take a deep breath before I begin to answer, knowing I need as much time as possible to process it all myself.

“To be honest, I don’t actually know,” I sigh before sitting up and brushing the stray hair around my face away with my hands. Rhodes sits up beside me and crosses his legs, waiting for me to continue.

“You obviously remember what I told you about those guys from America that I met back in Australia?” I wait for him to nod, when he does, I keep going, “Well, things started off really great. I met them on the night of my, well our eighteenth birthday. From the first moment, we had this connection. It was electric. It felt like it moved fast but it also felt right. Like we were meant to meet when and how we did. To form this kind of soul connection. I showed them around a bit and we just hung out. Got to know each other on a deep level. Feelings started to form from my side but I always knew that their time with me had an expiry date.

“It may have seemed strange and greedy to a lot of people to have five people that you are romantically interested in, but for me at least, nothing had ever felt more right.”

“So, what happened then?” Rhodes asks, his hands twitch in his lap like he doesn’t know what to do with them. Trying to prepare himself to be royally pissed off like I know he would be. I’ve told himsnippets of what happened but could never go into detail. Until now, I suppose.

“We all promised to stay in contact just before they left. Promises of facetime calls, me potentially coming over, them even potentially coming back over. But I never heard from them once they landed. It's like they never existed. All of my calls and texts went unanswered. I couldn’t find them on social media. I was completely ghosted.”

“Fucking assholes,” he seethes. I hum in response.

“Then last night,” I blow out a breath, “Fuck, I don’t even know what that was. They never spoke much about what their home life was like and I never questioned them obviously.”

I go quiet, allowing my head to fall back and look at the ceiling.

“I never expected to be lied to and betrayed as much as I have.”

Rhodes grunts in response. When I look up at him, stone cold fury radiates off him in waves.

“It's okay, Rhodes. I’m fine.” I'm not fine and it’s not okay but it’s not like it wouldn’t be the first lie told.

“No fuck that Scarlett! I refuse to sit around like some incapable idiot while those assholes are just getting away with breaking your heart,” he says launching up from my bed. He proceeds to wear lines in my carpet as he walks back and forwards like he’s trying to come up with a plan.

I groan, “Let me handle it please, Rhodes.”

He halts as he turns to me, fury dark on his face.

“I don’t think I can do that, Scar. I just got you back. I thought I lost you forever. It's my job to protect you.” His hands fist in his hair, “I can’t allow you to be hurt. Not in any form.”

“Heartbreak happens Rhodes. It’s not something that you can necessarily protect me from. But, you can be here for me. Have my back. Be a shoulder when I need you to be.”

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