Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(71)

“Goddamn,” I groaned.

She said nothing, but I heard a little bit of rustling clothing as she was undoubtedly pulling her skirt back down.

I made a mental note to come in here when the coast was clear and clean up whatever mess we’d made.

Just as I was finishing zipping myself up, the door swung open. I moved as quickly as I could to stand in front of Kira, but then I saw who was standing at the door.

Cade.

He was wearing a shit-eating grin too. “You two done yet? I thought since maybe the ear-piercing moans had stopped, it might mean you two animals were done rutting in there.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered. Once the door was open, I realized there was some sort of commotion going on in the living room.

“Saving your ass is all.” He nodded toward where Nick was lying on the ground next to spilled drinks and an overturned coffee table. Everyone was kneeling around him while someone was pressing ice to his face.

“I practically had to kill Nick to distract everyone from the sounds you two horndogs were making. I hope it was worth it. And if you made a baby in there, you’re naming it Cade. You’re welcome. Now hurry up and get out of there before people start looking. And you had better just go,” he said to Kira.

For once, I couldn’t disagree with him. Kira hurried out toward the parking lot, and I went with Cade toward an unoccupied room.

“Is Nick okay?” I asked.

“Mostly,” Cade said. “He was pretty confused when I attacked him, though. I honestly feel a little bad. I didn’t have time to explain the plan to him.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “So you heard moans coming from the closet and assumed it was us?”

“No. I saw you two idiots go into the closet a few minutes apart. I heard moans and knew it was you. People started looking around, and I did what I do best. I made a genius plan and put it into action before anyone could tell me not to.”

“Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this. But good job. And thank you.”

“That’s what brothers are for. Also, you owe me now. So you bet your ass I’m going to call in the favor eventually.”





Chapter 27





KIRA


Iris and Miranda helped me get my hair and makeup done at my condo. They also helped squeeze me into my dress, which might have become more snug from some of the stress eating I’d been doing the past few days.

Prepping for my wedding in my cramped little condo had never been how I imagined it, but I didn’t care. The most important part of my dream wedding was the man I’d be standing next to at the altar. I had my dream man, so I’d live without everything else going exactly as planned.

“You look like a sexy librarian in a wedding dress,” Iris said when we’d finished.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Would you stop with that already? It wasn’t funny the first time.”

“It’s not humor. It’s just how you look.”

“Well, you look like Tinker Bell if she dyed her hair black and had an obsession with nightsticks.”

“Thank you,” Iris said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Clearly I’d missed the mark with my insult.

“We should get going,” Miranda said. “I’m illegally parked, so the faster the better.”

Iris and Miranda had me wait by the stairs in the hallway of my condo while they went to get Miranda’s car. If the wrong person spotted me in a wedding dress right now, we weren’t sure how fast word would travel, so we were going to play it safe.

But when Iris and Miranda came back inside a few minutes later, I could tell something was wrong.

“I can’t find my car,” Miranda said.

“What do you mean? You are the most organized person I know. You’ve never even lost your keys. How can you not find your car?”

“It’s just gone. Maybe I got towed?”

I put my hands to my face, resisting the urge to run them through my hair. We’d spent nearly an hour getting me all done up for the wedding, after all. “Okay. It’s fine. We’ll just take mine then. Here.” I took the keys off the rack by the door and extended them to Miranda.

“That’s the other thing. Did your car have slashed tires the last time you drove it, or are we correct in assuming somebody else pulled that one off?” Iris asked.

I sank down to sit on the steps, which wasn’t easy in my dress. I struggled with the fabric, got frustrated, and ended up lifting it as high as I could so I could flop down while it all bunched up around me. “How many miles away is the venue again?”

“Fifteen,” Miranda said. “It’s a twenty-minute drive. The wedding would be over by the time we walked there.”

“Iris. You can call the station. Have someone send a car or something, right?”

Iris sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “If everyone there didn’t kind of hate me? Yeah. Maybe. But . . .”

I felt bad for asking. I knew she’d been having trouble fitting in, and I’d been so preoccupied with my own issues that I hadn’t even asked her about it in weeks. “It’s not a big deal,” I said. “We can call an Uber.”

Of the three of us, only Miranda had actually ever used Uber. It wasn’t nearly as common in small towns as it was in cities, but she had traveled for her job and used it on trips.