Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(9)

He let his eyes drop. For the first time since he’d showed up in my doorway, he looked a shade less than supremely confident. In the quiet seconds that followed, I thought I saw genuine regret creep into his features. “I really am sorry, Kira.”

I never expected Rich to apologize. If I’d thought about it, I would have guessed it would feel good. Like some kind of vindication or maybe even like justice had been served. Instead, it felt only hollow, and that made me all the more furious with him. Did he really think a few words could wipe away everything he’d done back then?

“Thank you,” I said robotically. “I’m going to go back to work, and it’d be great if I never had to speak to you again.”

“Kira,” he said, taking a half step toward me.

I held up my hand to stop him. “Have a good life, Richard.”





Chapter 4





RICH


I spent most of the limo ride to my parents’ new house brooding over my interaction with Kira. What stung the most was that she was right. When I thought back on how everything went to shit seven years ago, I automatically assumed I was such a vastly different man now. I believed an apology would magically make that clear, and she’d jump into my arms with happy tears running down her cheeks.

Maybe not that exact scenario, but I certainly hadn’t expected a door slamming in my face or the way she’d been so cold toward me. I also hadn’t expected her to look so damn good after seven years. She was supposed to be run down by life. Just a shadow of her former self. She’d already haunted my memories with how perfectly unforgettable she’d been, and yet it still looked like she’d blossomed.

She had grown into a woman, and not just a run-of-the-mill, straight-off-the-assembly-line kind the universe liked to flood my life with. She’d looked like she was ready to rip the American flag off the wall and run me through with the pole, which meant she had brains. Of course, everything going on beneath the brains was very much to my liking too.

I had foolishly told myself I could take care of the old emotional scar as easily as running an errand. Now I knew it wasn’t going to be nearly so easy.

Stella yawned. “I’m surprised they had a home big enough to suit your parents in this little town.”

“Yeah, well, my idiot brothers promised they would pay a premium to have renovations and expansion projects rushed along. I’m sure we’ll hear how much they hate it when we arrive.”

She nodded, but her eyes said her mind was elsewhere. “Rich,” she said suddenly. “What really happened with this girl? Kira?”

I stiffened. I hadn’t told Stella what I was going to do that morning, but I’d learned a long time ago to stop being surprised when nothing I did was private anymore. As long as there was money to be made in reporting every little detail of my life and the lives of my brothers, I wouldn’t have privacy. “She was an old high school friend. I was . . . kind of horrible to her back then. I thought I’d go and apologize.”

“And how did that go?” Stella was watching me very closely. She didn’t say it, but her eyes spoke volumes about the real questions running through her mind. She was looking straight through me, and somehow, seeing the truth in another person’s eyes was worse than feeling it in my own heart.

“I think if she’d had a live hand grenade, she might have shoved it down my pants by the time I was done.”

“I see.” She looked back out the window, and after she’d waited long enough for it to seem like a randomly occurring thought, she spoke again. “Was it serious? I mean, after all those years apart, she was still the first person you went to see in West Valley. She must have left an impression for you to be in such a rush to apologize.”

I finally cracked a smile, but I sneaked a look at the driver before speaking. He didn’t look like he was listening in, at least. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

Stella looked toward the driver, too, and then back to me with a wry smile. “Maybe I’m just curious if she’s my type.”

I laughed but leaned forward and lowered my voice. “Be careful how loudly you say things like that. If our parents even heard a rumor that you weren’t straight, we’d be under way more scrutiny, and things would start failing to add up. And then we’d be right back where we started in the game of whose parents are the shittiest matchmakers.”

Stella wiggled her eyebrows. “Come on, now. Give them a little more credit than that.” She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “If I was into penises and men, you would absolutely be a great match for me. They couldn’t have known.”

“That’s flattering, Stella. And for the record, you had better keep your sights off Kira, or our fake courtship is going to come to a screeching halt.”

“And maybe you should remember the same thing. If they see you going out of your way to spend time with this girl, what are they going to think of our suspiciously loveless pairing?”

She was right. I knew she was, but I also knew I wasn’t about to give up getting Kira to forgive me. “You just worry about you.”

Stella looked thoughtful. “So this girl is going to be what ruins everything, isn’t she?”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Because I can already see it in your eyes. You’re going to do something stupid because of her. More likely, several stupid somethings.”