Page 3 of Deep Waters
“Well,I’mnot, but Simon is.”
It took a beat for her words to sink in.
If Simon was running around on Rae this entire time, I’d hunt the bastard down and bring him to his knees. You did not fuck with Rae and get away with it. Not on my watch. She was too loyal. Too good a person.
“Excuse me?” Rage kept my jaw locked, making it difficult to force the words out. It didn’t matter that Simon was one of my oldest friends. If he’d screwed around on Rae, he’d pay.
Her expression remained carefully calm. Her dark eyes tranquil, her delicate jaw relaxed.
“Relax, Fenwick. None of this is a surprise for me.”
Her words were cool. Too unbothered. “What do you mean?”
The first hint of suspicion trickled through me. Rae was entirely too relaxed about Simon’s new relationship, announced at the same time she shared the end of their long-term situationship.
Rae hissed out a long breath. “Oooh, boy. I wish he were here to explain this himself.” She shifted, avoiding my gaze as she frowned at the shelf of books behind me. “Okay, here goes nothing,” she muttered. “Before Simon went into the service, we made a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” I asked, already not liking her story. Rae was one of the kindest people I knew. Not one to turn away a friend. What had he asked her?
“I’d play his long-distance girlfriend, and he’d make sure his dad gave my family a break on the rent for the marine shop.”
I squinted. “Like a friends-and-family discount?”
She nodded, looking relieved. “Exactly. The shop was struggling. It couldn’t really afford to bring me on as a fourth mechanic at the time. Getting the rent discount on the property helped me pursue my dream.”
“Why did Simon need you to play girlfriend?”
She met my gaze steadily. “It helped him pursuehisdream.”
Isnorted. “I don’t see how having a long-distance girlfriend helped him rise through the ranks in the Air Force.”
She grimaced. “Well, not being outed did.”
“Outed as in—”
“Gay.”
Heat flushed up my neck, rising through my cheeks until it felt like my head would blow off.
“You look—”
“Pissed? Hella pissed? Yeah. That’s because I am,” I bit out.
She’d lied to me. For years. Maybe I’d been naïve, not seeing through their weak-ass relationship, but that didn’t stop the anger from burning through my chest with all the rancid acid of five-day-old coffee. The sickening sludge swirled, a toxic stew inside my gut.
“I thought we were friends.” The accusation hung in the air. Rae’s face crumpled.
“I—I’m sorry,” she choked out.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Rae wasn’t the one I was mad at. Not really. From the time Simon, Rae, and I were kids, we’d been friends. A geeky little threesome, utterly entranced by sailboats, dreaming of living aboard someday. Rae and I had made those dreams come true. Turned out, Simon had an altogether different dream. And he’d used one of my best friends to achieve it.
On the outside, Rae was sturdy. Strong. She was a badass with small motors and more mechanically-inclined than anyone I knew. She’d earned the respect of her brothers and dad the hard way: through work. Grit. Toughness.
But on the inside? My Rae, captain of my heart, was a marshmallow. Especially for her people. And Simon took advantage of that. For fucking years. Up to and including not telling me the truth himself, so at least I could take out my frustration on the right person.
Rae looked absolutely miserable. Shoulders slumped. Eyes bright with tears. Yes, she’d lied, but I still felt like one hundred percent the asshole.
“He couldn’t tell me?” Was I the shittiest friend on the planet? Simon couldn’t be himself, and Rae couldn’t admit the truth? We’d spent hundreds of hours together. Volunteering with search and rescue. Hanging with my family and our friends. She was the only person on the planet I trusted as much as my siblings, yet she couldn’t tell me she and Simon weren’t for real?
