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

by Penelope Bloom

The three of us had done our fair share of damage growing up here. Even though we never talked about it, there were three girls who had stuck with all of us in their own ways. They were also the three who had the most reasons to hate us.

The door to my room opened. I spun, hands balled into fists. All the frustration of the last few minutes boiled over into an embarrassingly squeaky outburst. “I would love to finish my sentence!” And that was when I saw my visitor. Richard King.

“Please,” he said. His voice was so deep and rich I could feel it rumble through my chest. “Finish your sentence. I’ll wait.” He knew damn well there was no way I could think about anything else with him standing there. The corner of his mouth had twitched up into the suggestion of a smirk, and his eyes were locked predatorily on me. He knew exactly what was happening to me, and he was enjoying it.

I could have punched him. “And I would’ve preferred not to have my first day of my new job interrupted by you.” “I came to say I was sorry. I thought you’d want to hear that.”

“I really am sorry, Kira.”

“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.”

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.

“What’s this nonsense I heard about you visiting some young, local tramp?” My mother practically spit the last three words out as though each were a curse word. I spread my hands. “Is there a response you’re looking for, or did you just want to insult her?” “I’m looking for my goddamn son to show that he has some sense in his head. Stella is your future wife.” She thrust her arm at Stella. “Stella comes from good breeding.” I nudged Stella. “Hear that? You were bred well. I’m sure your owners will be so proud to show you off. Maybe I can even ride you to victory in the Kentucky Derby if you stay healthy.” Stella shot me a warning glare. The look in her eyes told me not to mess this up for us by poking fun at my mother, but there was also only so much I could take.

“Ugh,” I said. “Trust me. Richard King showed up yesterday for my first day and—” Iris slapped her palms on the table, eyes wide. “What do you think this is, some fucking radio show where you bury the lede to sucker people into listening all day?” She pegged me with a rolled-up napkin.

Miranda was watching me through narrowed eyes. “Hiding information about the Kings,” she said slowly. “You’re bordering on treason of the pact, Kira. You know what we do with traitors, right?” Iris pulled out her nightstick and prodded me. Miranda gave her a disgusted look. “Really, Iris? You have a Batman belt full of cool stuff, and you poke her with your oversize cop dildo?”

“I’m not a traitor,” I said loudly enough to cut them off. “I told him I never wanted to see him again. I even said have a nice life. So you two can just back off. I handled it. I handled him.” “Handled him, did you?” Iris asked. She made a lewd hand gesture to show me I’d chosen my words poorly.

“I think you should go.”

“Because it would be fun, and what better fuck you than to show up at his party and ignore him all night? He thinks you’re going to show up and be on his heels, but you could just go to eat the free food and drink the booze. Dance with some other guy and then call it a night. Think about it. He’d be furious.”

I squeezed out a smile instead of the grimace that was trying to rise up. “Oh, hey. I’m kind of in the middle of something, so . . .” “Yeah?” he asked with an arched eyebrow. “Me too, actually.” The playful note in his voice tugged a reluctant smirk from me. “And what are you in the middle of, exactly?” “Trying to get you to talk to me,” he said. “Last time I checked, we were talking.” “You’re right. I guess my work here is done.”

“Hey!” I called out. Cade paused and turned to look over his shoulder. The woman was watching me too with those icy eyes of hers. “You never asked what I was in the middle of.” He slowly walked back to me with his eyebrows raised expectantly. “Was it something exciting?” “That depends,” I said. “Everybody else looks like they want to dance, but I was thinking about seeing how many sweets at that dessert table would fit into my stomach.” “You had my attention, but now you have my interest.”

A minute later, I was surprised to find myself giggling diabolically as Cade and I sneaked out the back door, across the patio, and down a small hill with our arms full of desserts. Even though the food was free, a waiter had tried to stop us when he saw we intended to stuff half the buffet table on our plates. We ended up ditching the plates and taking anything we could carry in our arms when our plan of a smooth exit turned into a mad, messy dash. I sank down into the grass and looked at the pile of desserts in my arms, as well as the multiple places I’d smeared cream, frosting, chocolate, and fruit fillings on my clothing. From the looks of it, Cade hadn’t fared much better.

Cade saw straight through my feeble deception. “Oh no. One, you’re a terrible liar. Two, I will never stop until I know what you were about to say. I can see it in your eyes. It’s embarrassing, isn’t it?” “You’ll laugh.” “Yes, I probably will. I like laughing, so tell me.” “No. I mean you’ll laugh at me.” “I promise, if I laugh, it’ll be with you. But I also promise I will never drop this so long as I’m breathing. I need to know.”

“Hey,” a voice called from the top of the hill. “Nick said he saw you coming out here with Kira, and I—” He trailed off, and when I looked up, it felt like my eyes were playing tricks on me. I saw Cade standing at the top of the hill. And I saw Cade sitting beside me.

“Can I see you again?” I asked. “No,” she said softly. “No,” she said again, firmly this time. “I’m not even convinced you didn’t just trick me on purpose.” Her expression darkened. I could see her making up her mind, and it wasn’t a good conclusion. “Congratulations. You got to make me look like an idiot one more time. I hope it was nostalgic for you.”

“Just something fun to do while we talk details. That’s all it’d be.” “Just to be clear, I don’t really have a choice, right?” “You could choose to say no, but then I’ll choose to keep thinking up ways to get you to talk to me. Your choice. Rip the Band-Aid off fast, or rip it off slow.” “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.”

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. The more they hate you, the harder they’ll be on me.” I felt like collapsing in exhaustion at the sight of him standing there. He looked so poised. So perfect. He was an unstoppable force, and he wasn’t going to quit until he got what he wanted from me. Little by little, his stubborn persistence was starting to charm me, no matter how hard I tried to fight it. “But you’ll come?” he asked. I almost laughed at how excited he sounded. Moments ago, I’d seen every ounce of the powerful businessman he could be—how he could intimidate and command with a flicker of his features and the tone of his voice. But the idea of my coming to the magic show with him made all of that melt away. I nodded. “I’ll come. It’s still not a date.”

I was about to respond when an older woman and a man boarded the plane. Rich shot up to his feet, jaw clenched. “What are you two—” he started. “Putting out a fire, it looks like,” said the man. He turned to me, and I thought I saw something familiar in his face. “I’m Harper King. This is my wife, Edna. And this”—he gestured to the door—“is the door. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.”

“I want her off this plane. Now,” Edna said. I had trouble figuring out who she was speaking to because her nose was tilted up so high. Jalen looked to Rich. “Am I supposed to—” “No,” Rich said. “Thank you for visiting my plane. But Kira is just a friend. I’m still very much committed to Stella. Jalen, please help my parents down the stairs. They’re getting up there in years, and I’d hate for them to fall.” “Rich . . .” Harper said. “This is a mistake.”

“Stella? That’s the girl you were with at the party, right? Is she your girlfriend?” “What?” he asked. “Don’t you follow the tabloids?” “No. Believe it or not, I’ve done a pretty good job pretending you never existed until this past week.” “Stella is . . .” He paused, and I suspected he was putting a great deal of thought into the words he chose. “She’s the reason you can stop suspecting I’m trying something devious with you.” “So she’s your girlfriend?” I asked. There was another long pause. “For about a month, so far.”

“I’m here to see Rich.” She arched an eyebrow, which she somehow managed without even wrinkling her smooth forehead. “That’s a pity. I was hoping you’d come for me.”

“With some convincing, maybe I would,” I said. I swallowed hard, replayed what I’d just said, and made a mental note to strike that from my permanent memory banks if I ever had a chance. She laughed. It was a tinkling, dignified sound. She put her long fingers on the small of my back and slid me into the house, letting the door close behind us. “Be careful with me,” she said. “I’ve got a reputation for being persuasive, and you’re tempting me to be very persuasive.”

“Cocks are overrated. And men are dicks. All of them. Especially Rich.” I nodded a little shakily. “People named Rich used to go by Dick, for short, after all.” The corner of her mouth twitched up into a grin. “You’re saying Rich’s dick is short? I’d always wondered, to tell the truth. If you believe his twin brother, their dicks are the size of fallen trees.”

“Talking about my dick again?” asked Rich. “And get your hands off her, Stella. She’s not for you.” Stella took an unhurried step back and made a tsk sound. “I don’t think she’s for you either.”

Stella saw the look of utter confusion on my face and decided to take mercy. “Rich and I are pretending to be an item. It keeps our parents from meddling. I’m only interested in women. Especially ones who have a kind of sexy librarian thing going on.” She reached to touch my shirt, but Rich casually swatted her hand away. “What the hell is with people calling me a librarian lately?” “A sexy librarian,” Rich added, as if it mattered. “Are librarians a fetish that nobody told me about?” I asked.

He set the bottle down with a sudden, startling clank. He shook his arms around and rolled his head from side to side like a boxer about to step into the ring. “I think there’s only one way to solve this. I need you to punch me as hard as you can. Right in the face.”

“Punch me,” he said. He took another long pull from one of the bottles and then shook off the burn with a groan. “Come on. Do it.”

“Punch me in the face, or I’m going to kick you out and never speak to you again. I won’t forgive you if you don’t do it.”

didn’t plan on actually doing it, but before I knew what was happening, my fist was balled up and flying toward his face. It felt like I watched everything happen in slow motion, from my fist arcing through the air to Rich’s widening, surprised eyes. I connected with his eye, even though I’d been aiming for his jaw. He flinched back and then stared at me in openmouthed disbelief. “Are you crazy?” he asked. “What?” I still had both my fists up like I was getting ready for nine rounds. I let them fall, feeling very, very silly. “You told me—” “I was fucking with you. Jesus.” He laughed, then touched his eye and winced. “And who the hell punches somebody in the eye?”

“Who says you need balls to do something brave?” I asked. “Why do testicles get so much credit? What does a shriveled-up, hairy bag have to do with conquering your fears? It’d make just about as much sense as saying, Damn, that took boobs.”

I closed my eyes and summoned up all the advice I’d ever been given about drugs, alcohol, and sex as a teenager. Just say no. Just say no. Knowing his touch was only one whispered word away was pure torture, but I grimaced and forced the right words out—the ones that wouldn’t destroy my friendship. “You’re probably right,” I said. I was proud of myself for agreeing with him. My vagina had been driving my brain like it had both hands on the wheel—if vaginas had hands, at least.

“Damn. I was hoping you’d try to convince me you were sober.” He was grinning, and his cheeks were flushed. I couldn’t help letting my eyes wander down to those lips and feel a sense of wonderment that they’d been on mine only seconds ago. It was amazing how a few minutes of conversation and maybe a few too many sips of alcohol could change things.

Miranda leaned against a desk and gave me a long, searching look. “I think it’s time you decide, Kira. Him or us. What’s it going to be?”

Rich cleared his throat. “Kira. It’s fine. I already fucked up once. I’m not about to talk you into screwing up your friendships on my behalf either.” “Dicks or the chicks, huh?” I asked. “I think the ones being dicks here are the chicks. I choose the one who isn’t trying to manipulate and bully me. I choose him.”

I was seeing it for the first time. My friends hadn’t been paying enough attention to see me for who I was. Their lives had gotten busy, and it had become easier to remember who I’d been instead of learn who I was becoming. The ultimatum proved that.

“Kira, I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Don’t be. For once, I’m not going to lay the blame on you for this.” “I wouldn’t fault you if you did.” “That’s because you’re a better person than I gave you credit for.”

“Great. Thanks for the quality family time, Dad. I wish you’d come by more often to tell me about where people are putting their penises and how many blood-engorged ticks lived on Grandma Ray’s back.” He glared. “Careful, Kira. I’m still your father, and I’m just trying to keep an eye out for my girl.” I nodded and smiled. “I know. I’m sorry, Dad. It was a long night, and everything has been kind of crazy. I’ll think about everything you told me. Okay?” He gave me a tight smile. “That’s all I ask. Oh, and if he tries to touch you, tell me. I can bring the holy power of bureaucracy down on his fancy ass in a heartbeat. You remind him of that if he bothers you, you hear me?”

No. I decided I didn’t believe what my dad told me. Not at all. So the only questions were whether my own dad was lying to me on purpose or if somebody was feeding lies to him, and why?

“That is pathetic. That’s . . . I’d almost call it—” He shuddered visibly and then laughed. “Fuck. I can’t even say it.” “Love,” whispered Stella. “Stop. Both of you. Kira is fun to be around. Sure. But it’s nothing serious like that.” “Right,” Cade said. “It’s so not serious that you got into it with Mom and Dad for the first time in your life. Your face was so red. It looked like somebody had your balls in a headlock.”

“Welcome to my little museum,” he said as he opened the door.

“Oh,” I said quietly. “Right?” Rich asked. The childlike grin on his face made me smile.

“So you’re into dinosaurs?” I asked. “I thought that whole thing about Cade touching your dinosaur bones at the airport was a weird inside joke.” His grin faltered a little. “I mean, it’s not like I’m obsessed.” He shrugged and looked at his feet. It was the first time I’d ever seen Richard King look self-conscious, and it was adorable. “It’s more like a hobby, I guess.”

think it’s actually pretty cool. Most rich guys collect cars or something. This is unique.” He was smiling again, and some of the self-consciousness had already melted away.

“I’ve got some insects, too, if you want to see,” he said. I wasn’t sure if laughing would offend him, so I just smiled and nodded. For the next hour, I listened to Rich talk about dinosaurs, prehistoric times, common misconceptions about which dinosaurs actually coexisted, and even a brief rant on what most movies got wrong. If I’d been asked to list the million most exciting conversation topics I could think of an hour ago, I was pretty sure dinosaurs wouldn’t have cracked the list. But Rich was mesmerizing to watch. For a little while, he didn’t seem so far out of reach. I could forget all the reasons I should have been about as compatible with him as oil is with water. He was just a man talking about something he loved, and when everything was stripped away, I could see the real Richard King,

He wiggled his eyebrows and rubbed the dinosaur bone again. “You’re saying my dinosaur room is seducing you?” I chewed on my bottom lip. “Maybe a little. All these hard bones start making a girl’s mind get all euphemistic, I guess.” I pressed my hand to my mouth. “Wow. I didn’t actually mean anything by that. It just sounded funny in my head, and then it sounded really dirty when I heard it out loud.” “Dirty sounds good from you.”