Page 76 of When You're Home
“Where are you now?”
“I’m on Stone Road, heading to the valet guys’ house. They live right on the edge of town.”
He felt like he’d been sucker punched in the stomach. Tori was with Fielding. She was alone with Fielding. Tori was at Fielding’s house. Something happened to her at Fielding’s house.
“Goddamnit, what did Haas say when he called you? Do you think he did something to her?”
“No, Rhett. Listen to me. Tori and Fielding are friends. They’ve been hanging out a lot lately. I’m positive Field didn’t do anything to her,” Jake tried to reassure him.
“I’m not,” he shot back. Since when were Tori and Fielding friends, anyways? She had fucked him in his bed, but they were still hanging out now? Was there something going on between them?
Rhett pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time again. Twenty-two minutes until his final.
“Field said they were having lunch and Tori got a phone call. She went to the other room to answer it, but then she didn’t come back to the kitchen. He found her sitting on the floor. He doesn’t know who called. He doesn’t know what they said. All she keeps saying is ‘call Rhett,’ but Fielding couldn’t find your phone number in her phone for some reason.”
“She blocked me last month,” Rhett confessed as things started to click into place, “and her scans were last week…”
That had to be it. Someone called with her test results, and they weren’t good. He closed his eyes and tried to think through his options. He had to take a final exam in twenty minutes. Even when he got through that one, he had to take another final tomorrow morning at ten. He had to sit for these finals to graduate.
He raked his free hand through his hair, pulling on the ends and closing his eyes in concentration. “Jake,” he croaked out, emotion clouding his voice. He didn’t even know what to say. He was four hours away. He was useless. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“I know, bro, I know. I’m so sorry. I’m trying to get there as fast as I can, but I’m at least ten minutes away, maybe fifteen if there’s a train.”
That meant Tori only had Fielding with her for the next ten to fifteen minutes. Rhett couldn’t let himself think about the injustice of Haas comforting her while he was four hours away.
But Tori had asked for him. That was all he needed to hear.He knew what he was going to do. He would have to suck up his pride and forget all the anger he felt over spring break when she betrayed him. This wasn’t about him. This was about her, and she needed him right now.
After a few more silent beats, Jake interrupted his train of thought.
“What’s the plan, Rhett? I’m eight minutes away now. Your final is at three o’clock?”
Rhett pulled the phone away from his ear, checking the time again. He had sixteen minutes.
“Get there as quickly and safely as you can. I have this final at three, then I have another final tomorrow morning. I can’t come home until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Fuck. Jake…” his voice cracked with emotion. “Please take care of her. Stay with her. Tell her I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ve got you covered. I’ll be there for her.”
Rhett hung his head, defeated by the admission that he couldn’t give Tori what she needed right now. Why did it feel like she was always just out of reach?
“Wait, I’ve still got fifteen minutes until my test. Send me Haas’ phone number,” Rhett commanded. He might not be able to be with her right now, but he still had a way to reach her.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Jake questioned.
“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.
“Okay, yeah. I’ll text it to you right now, and I’ll text Fielding a heads-up to answer.”
“Thanks, Jake,” Rhett muttered before ending the call. He looked around campus while waiting for the text to come through. A stream of bodies filled the green space now, with a steady line of students walking into the business building to take their finals.
He had thirteen minutes… or more like ten minutes, because he had to get up to the third floor and into his seat by three.
The phone vibrated in his hand. He opened the text and hit the number on the screen. It rang once. Then again. Rhett started to shake his head as the phone rang a third time.Fucking Fielding.
“Hello?”
He exhaled. He could somehow feel her through the phone already. She was right there.
“Haas—it’s Wheeler. Put her on the phone,” he barked.
