Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(25)

“I’ll go to this thing with you, but it’s not a date. You also have to let me bring Iris and Miranda.”

I laughed. “Uh, no. I said I wanted it to be fun, not a reenactment of the Spanish Inquisition.”

“Those are my terms. You want me to go, then it’s all three of us.”

I watched her for a few seconds, and my stomach sank. She was serious. Even as my frustration with her surged, I realized I was enjoying this—the push and pull. She didn’t just roll over and give me what I wanted. She made me work for it, and I respected her for that. Kira was going to learn I was also just as stubborn, and I didn’t like losing.

“I’m going to regret agreeing to this, aren’t I?” I asked.





Chapter 9





KIRA


I waited with Miranda and Iris just inside a hangar on a private runway. Until a few minutes ago, I’d had no idea this place existed. A luxury airplane was parked in front of us, and the pilot was already warming the engines up.

“You said it was just going to be a magic show,” Iris said. “You never said the magic show was Rich King whipping out his money dick and waving it around. I mean, look at that thing. It’s ridiculous.” She was glaring at me, and she had a right to. Iris and Miranda hadn’t really bought my story about the unavoidable nature of Rich and his little scheme. I wasn’t sure they’d believed me when I claimed I was going along with this only to get him off my back either. I could hardly blame them. I still wasn’t sure I believed myself.

“Money dick?” I asked.

“Every guy has one. It’s just that normal guys show off their money dick by picking up the tab for dinner. They buy you a drink. Maybe they pick you up in a nice car. It’s the financial equivalent of an unsolicited dick pic. You turn around and boom. It’s right there, in your face. They want to sneak straight past reason and protocol by blowing your ovaries out of your stomach in a single shot.”

Miranda rolled her eyes. “You’ve put way too much thought into this.”

Iris just gestured to the plane. “This is the money dick equivalent of getting texted a dick the size of a bodybuilder’s forearm. Big, thick veins. Just bulging—”

“I get it,” I said. “But I agree with Miranda. You’re thinking too hard about this. Rich King has tons of money, and people with tons of money use private jets to get around. That’s all this is. He probably didn’t even think twice about it.”

“Right.” Iris crossed her arms. “I’m sure Rich is completely oblivious to the effect a private jet might have on the woman he’s trying to seduce. Just like I’m sure you’re not actually so naive that you think this is really supposed to be a platonic experience.”

“I told you what I knew,” I said through gritted teeth. I was looking around for Rich but saw only a nervous-looking guy a few years younger than us who was moving bags into the airplane. He wore a suit that didn’t quite fit and kept glancing at us like he was expecting us to attack at any moment.

“She does have a point,” Miranda said. “You have to realize this is a thinly veiled plan. Watch. Rich will do whatever he can to separate us as soon as he can. I’m sure he only agreed we could come because he had some kind of plan to get rid of us.”

“Yep,” Iris said. “Hired assassin. That’s my bet.”

A sleek black car pulled up on the runway and parked just in front of us. My stomach clenched when I saw all three King brothers get out.

“No,” Miranda said. She took a step backward, but Nick moved toward her, arm outstretched.

“Hey, I was just—” Nick started.

Miranda held her hands up and stormed back toward the car we’d come together in. “I’ll wait two minutes. Anyone who wants a ride back had better be in the car by then.”

Iris looked at Cade, who was watching her with an amused little smile.

“Wipe that look off your face,” she snapped.

Cade’s grin widened. “Why? You’re cute when you get riled up.”

“I’ll be in the car with Miranda,” Iris said.

“Sorry,” Rich said. “When my brothers heard all the West Valley girls were coming, I couldn’t stop them.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Just like I’m sure you had no idea your brothers coming along would scare my friends off. I can’t just leave without them. Sorry. I need to go too.”

“What if I send my brothers away?” Rich asked.

“Uh,” Cade said, holding up a finger. “I object. I happen to fucking love magic, magic shows, magicians, and anything remotely related to magic. You’re not sending me away unless you have something equally awesome for me to do.”

“You can touch my dinosaur bones,” Rich said. He suddenly looked very serious. “But if you break them, I will kill you.”

“You’re serious?” Cade asked. “I can?”

“Nick is going to supervise.”

Nick sighed but nodded his head. “Probably a good idea. Last time Cade was alone with your dinosaur collection, he used a raptor femur like a baseball bat and broke a petrified dinosaur egg.”

“You’re the one who threw it to me,” Cade said.