Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(13)

As it turned out, Iris had learned some torture techniques in her brief time with the police force. Chief of which had been the way she promised to help me cover up the murder of Rich and the disposal of his body. According to her, feeding the body to livestock was the way to go, but I wasn’t sure about her idea of turning his bones into furniture. I thought a bone chair would be a dead giveaway if I was ever investigated.

So there I was. I was unfortunately incapable of murder, but I could at least piss the man off by showing up and ignoring him. That was the admittedly weak conclusion of the internal debate on whether I should come to the party.

This wasn’t my first fancy party. Not by a long shot. There was my graduation party, which my father had treated almost like a wedding. He strung lights up around our backyard and had the whole thing catered. It was very mayorly. On the surface, it was generous and sweet. Unfortunately, I knew my father well enough to know it was a stunt for appearances, like everything else he did.

I’d also been dragged along to political parties he’d get invited to. Having my mom and me along reinforced the idea that he was a family man. It made him look relatable, or so he said. At the time, they seemed like parties thrown for royalty. Everyone wore expensive clothes, and the food was free. It was the height of privilege and class, or so I thought.

The party Rich invited me to made all of those look like high school parties in cramped living rooms with stained carpets and moldy couches.

I did a slow turn to take it all in while silently thanking Miranda for convincing me to come. The house was absolutely massive, and the decorations had a very Victorian feel to them. There was no piece of furniture or decor that wasn’t absolutely loaded with fine detail and finishes. The end table in the foyer had claw legs with what I suspected was real gold gilding all along the edges. If not for the modern formal wear of the guests, I could’ve easily imagined I had been transported to some king or queen’s palace two hundred years in the past. I almost expected a team of princesses in huge dresses to come parading down the staircase at any moment.

A woman in a uniform offered me some kind of food that looked like what you’d get if a doughnut had a baby with a chocolate bar, but a cupcake might’ve also joined in the love affair at some point and contributed a little DNA.

“Are these free?” I asked.

“Of course. The chocolate is from a remote region in South America. It’s uniquely—”

“That’s okay,” I said quickly. “You had me at free.” I took one from the tray and popped the whole thing in my mouth. I chewed through the waves of flavors, eyebrows climbing as it went from chocolaty and rich to pure sweetness and then finally finished with a hint of a flavor I couldn’t have named if I tried. “Wow. Talk about a mouth-induced orgasm.” I winced a little at the stunned look on her face. I had a very bad habit of talking too much when I was nervous.

From the look on the woman’s face, she hadn’t expected me to speak to her at all, unless it was to issue orders. Where had Rich and his family even found the staff for this? They must have paid to relocate employees all the way from California, and the cost had to have been staggering.

A man was passing by in front of me when he paused and did a double take. I only noticed him when he turned and started toward me. It was Nick King, the youngest of the trio.

“Kira?” he asked.

He pulled me into a hug before I could stop him, but it felt genuine, and I found myself hugging him back.

“It’s me,” I said when he pulled back.

Nick looked like his brothers, but with some noticeable differences. He had wavy dark hair that he wore a little longer. It fit his clean-shaven look and especially the glasses he always wore. The best way to describe the three brothers was what kind of movie they’d be cast for. Richard King would fit anything in need of a brooding but reluctantly charming leading man. As long as the movie later revealed he was a soul-sucking asshole who would stab in the back anyone who trusted him. Cade was a tougher pick. I couldn’t quite decide if he’d fit the badass daredevil-type role, or maybe a more comedic, accident-prone but adorably sexy kind of thing. Then there was Nick. He was the kind of guy they always cast for those movies where you’re supposed to root for the main character who is played by someone jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but because of the glasses audiences are supposed to believe no one realizes he’s attractive. There would be the obligatory scene where he’d strip off his shirt and—surprise—he reveals he’s absolutely ripped. Or better, the scene where he’d get some kind of makeover that was nothing more than taking off his glasses.

“Did Miranda come too?” His eyes moved past me, scanning the people behind me. “Or Iris?” he asked with less enthusiasm.

“You would’ve needed to send them invitations.”

“Actually, Rich was in charge of all that. I just thought—”

“Well, it’s just me, sorry.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” He smiled, and it was a warm, inviting smile, just like I remembered from when we were kids. “Want me to let Rich know you’re here?”

“No,” I said. “I’d actually prefer that you didn’t.”

“Oh.” He frowned down at me, eyes searching my face for answers. “I take it his grand apology tour didn’t go so well?”