Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(32)

Rich choked out a surprised laugh. “Who says it’s not named after a fictional grandma?”

“Well, I met your parents briefly, and I’m pretty sure neither of them are carrying the slut gene. So for you and your brothers to turn into such womanizers, it had to come from somewhere. Your grandma, maybe?”

“Womanizer?” Rich filled his voice with feigned disbelief. “I can’t even manage to get a real smile out of the local sexy librarian. If I was a womanizer, somebody had better come take my card away and burn it.”

“You forgot the part where you nearly ruined said sexy librarian’s life and how she might have a good reason for holding back with you.”

He frowned. “Come on. That’s a little much, don’t you think? It was some exposé you were writing, and I spoiled it. It was absolutely an asshole move, but ruining your life?”

I fixed him with steady eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was the few sips of alcohol or the old, burning anger, but I didn’t want to hold it all in anymore.

The whole mess between the King brothers and my group of friends was like a brief, fiery car crash. Miranda had been in Nick’s friend zone for as long as any of us could remember, and Cade had been dating Iris for a few weeks. “You know I always had a huge crush on you back then,” I said.

“Bullshit.” Rich laughed. “You were the one girl in the school I knew I could never get. Just made me want you even more, though.”

I shook my head. “If you wanted me, you had a funny way of showing it.”

“You dated my brother. How was I supposed to interpret that?” Rich’s sudden shift in tone told me everything I’d always wondered. I’d stung him deeper than I realized when I dated Nick, and he still hadn’t forgotten.

“Maybe I just wanted you to notice me for once.”

Rich laughed softly. “Somehow, I’m guessing you came to regret wanting my attention.”

I sighed. No matter how I looked at it, agreeing to date Nick had been an immature and idiotic decision. I spent most of my high school career secretly swooning over Rich. I watched him work his way through the dating pool of eligible hot and popular girls week by week. I’d look at them holding hands or kissing in the hallways and feel an ugly jealousy swirling in my chest. Every touch and every kiss had felt like a personal attack.

“I still can’t believe he told you about my story. I never understood why he did that,” I said. In a lot of ways, I knew I should’ve felt angry with Nick for everything that happened. After all, if he hadn’t told Rich, I never would’ve lost my scholarship. Not for the first time, I wondered whether the real reason what happened had hurt so long hadn’t been the betrayal of trust, but who betrayed it.

I’d been writing an essay for a contest in the Washington Post. They were taking submissions, and the winner would win a free ride through college. Thanks to someone in their marketing department making a mistake, only our school and one other got any notification about the contest. In the end, about five kids entered. I knew my story could’ve won, but thanks to Rich, I never got to find out.

“He’s my brother,” Rich said. “It probably seemed like nothing to you, but being on the team was my life back then. That story might have been your ticket to a college scholarship, but it was probably going to be my ticket off the team and out of high school sports.”

For someone who had made such a big deal of apologizing to me, I hadn’t expected Rich to try to defend himself. Still, I’d never heard his side of the story. I’d only seen the hammer come down on myself and been left to assume about Rich’s motivations.

“Well,” I said. “If you weren’t doing anything wrong, why were you so scared about me writing an exposé?”

“Because I had no idea what was in it. Those were my coaches. My teammates. My friends. Nick just said you had some dirt on the athletic department, and it might mean heads were going to roll. So, yeah, I told Coach.”

“And your coach told the principal, and then I got threatened with expulsion if I didn’t promise to delete the article.”

Rich let out a long sigh through his nose. “Yeah. At the time, I just wanted you to hurt as bad as I did. It’s shitty. Admitting it is even shittier. But that’s what it was. When I found out you were with Nick—” He shook his head, and even seven years later, I could still see the ghost of those emotions flicker across his face. “I never even stopped to think how much it might fuck up for you. I just did it.” He grabbed one of the liquor bottles on the counter and took a long pull directly from the bottle.

I pressed my lips together in a sad smile. “Yeah, well, it all worked out in the end. Didn’t it? My dad was happy to pay for my classes. I guess it’s the politician in him, but he never passed up opportunities to collect favors. Everyone had to owe him something. I honestly think it meant more than money to him. In my case, I know it did. When I wanted to leave West Valley after school to chase a job in another school district, he didn’t let me forget that I still owed him too much to leave. Not money, of course, but I was his precious daughter. How would it look if I was so eager to leave behind my father, the mayor? What kind of family man can’t keep his only child at home?” I laughed suddenly. “Jesus. Listen to me. I sound so bitter. Besides, it’s not like you were the only bad guy here. I was the one who dated your brother to spite you.”