PART I

Prologue

Rhett

Falling in love is just the beginning. It’s awesome and amazing, but they’re not the only things you feel when you’re in love. Love is so much more complicated than I ever thought it would be. Not that I ever really thought about it. I love Clementine O’Hara more than I thought I could love anyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Being in a relationship isn’t easy. Being in a relationship with your best friend is even harder. My name’s Rhett and I never thought I’d be in this situation. I was a certified man-whore. I had fun, women loved me, and there were no complications. Now my life has completely changed and I’m not even sure I recognize who I am anymore. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just different. Very, very different. Cos here’s the thing - yes, I love Clementine, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still the same guy. I’m still Rhett Madison and I’m still a badass. That’s something that’s never going to change.

Chapter One

Rhett

“You can kiss my ass, Rhett Madison.” Clementine shouted at me as she slammed the bathroom door. The whole wall seemed to shake for a few seconds afterwards.

“Anytime you wish.” I rolled my eyes and walked out of our already messy bedroom and into the even messier living room. “Can't even find a spot to sit down.” I groaned under my breath as I pushed Clementine’s books to the ground. I stared at them for a second before leaving them there; I knew that my throwing her books on the ground was going to be an issue as well, but I just didn't care. She shouldn’t have left them on the couch if she didn’t expect them to end up on the floor. “That’ll teach you to throw out my Playboy magazine.”

Clementine and I had only been dating for a couple of weeks before we moved to Boston together. We’d only been living together in Boston for two months, but already the romance of cohabitation was wearing thin and we were starting to get on each other’s nerves. We’d been best friends for over ten years, but being in a relationship was different from just being friends.

“What did you say to me?” She walked out of the bedroom, her face covered in what looked like mud.

“Sorry, who are you and what happened to my girlfriend?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“What? Oh.” She giggled and touched her face lightly. “It’s a mask.”

“Uh huh.” I shuddered.

“It helps to take the impurities out of my pores.”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s good to prevent acne.” She continued.

“You don’t have to tell me all your secrets, Clementine.” I groaned. “Really and truly you don’t.”

“So I shouldn’t tell you about the hot guy that...” She started, but I cut her off by jumping up and lifting her off of the floor and carrying her into the bedroom and dropping her on the bed. “Rhett, my mask is on the sheets.” She gasped as she looked up at me with wide brown eyes.

“I don’t care.” I grinned and collapsed on the bed next to her. “I don’t have time to talk about the sheets when I’m busy trying to do something else.”

“Rhett, is that all I am to you? A sex toy?” She mumbled and smiled slightly. I saw a small crack in the mask next to her lips and smiled.

“What do you think, Clementine O’Hara?” I grinned at her as she stared up at me with happy joking eyes. Her face looked like she was a monster with the green mask on, and I shook my head. “I certainly didn’t sign up for a sex toy that looks like she’s just seen a ghost in the middle of a wet and muddy field.”

“Don’t!” She giggled. “You’re making me laugh. I can’t laugh or it will crack my mask.”

“That’s the least of your problems, Clemmie.” I looked down at her and gave her a quick kiss, and wiped my lips quickly as I tasted the mud. “What has my life come to? I’m kissing a monster.”

“A monster of your making.” She groaned as she wiggled against me.

“How is this my fault?” I pinned her arms back. “I never made you go and run around in the mud. And now I come to think of it, what mud is green?”

“Rhett?” She giggled and pushed me away from her and we both started laughing. “Forget about the mud, Jake called me today.” She muttered, lines and cracks appearing all over her face now.

“Oh yeah?” I lay back on the bed. “How is he?”

“He’s fine. He’s loving living on campus.”

“I bet, all those freshmen girls looking to have some fun.”

“Rhett.” She made a face and I held my hands up.

“Not that I want any freshman girls, of course. I only want you. Beautiful wonderful you.”

“You’re full of crap.” She rolled her eyes at me and I groaned.

“How have I gone from being the bees knees to full of crap already?”

“Since I found out you never do the dishes.”

“What?” I sat up, my mouth dropping open. “I’m always doing the dishes. In fact, I think I’m the only one that ever loads and unloads the dishwasher.”

“You have to turn it on before you unload it Rhett.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t just wash automatically.”

“I assumed you were running it.” I shrugged, suddenly feeling bad. Now I understood why the dishes always looked dirty when I unpacked the machine. I’d thought it was because the machine was old, but now I realized it was because the dishes were never being cleaned in the first place.