Page 107 of Ruled By Rivalry

Just over a month before we’d met, I noted for no reason at all whatsoever.

It felt wrong, witnessing this. But I couldn’t will myself to look away either. Not when Allegra was pointing accusatory fingers, and Elliot was rolling his head back in annoyance. They’d brought this thing to me, so it wasn’t my fault.

There was no quick comeback from Elliot. Her last words still hung in the air between them, us, and threatened to suffocate every person in here.

Allegra’s voice was quieter but still not level when she spoke again. “You’re hopeless, Elli. Rebounding with a girl who calls paparazzi on you.” I stilled, didn’t even let myself breathe. With a look at me, short and sweet, she added, “Without even using a fake number.”

And Elliot, bless his heart, had to physically restrain himself from following her gaze. I knew he wanted to look at me, search for confirmation. Maybe he was trying to find signs that Allegra was lying, in which case he shouldn’t ever look my way again.

He swallowed thickly, took a deep breath to contain himself. “Talk about rebounding—you were fucking Nick when we were still together, Allegra.” Even I flinched, so I couldn’t imagine what it was doing to her. “And still, you broke up with me. Still, I welcome you with open arms when he breaks your heart. Still, fucking still, you come in here and throw a temper tantrum like a child who’s denied her favorite toy.”

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t.” With a finality even she couldn’t ignore this time, Elliot shook his head a single time. “Kai told me months ago.”

“You didn’t—” say anything, I assumed she wanted to argue, but changed course. “You guys don’t even get along.”

“He’s still my brother.”

Something in her expression shifted. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but God knows if they were there out of frustration or regret or anger. If she was about to cry because she missed him or felt humiliated.

“You know what?” Her throat worked. “Fuck you, Elliot. I couldn’t care less who you have your fun with. I thought I should just let you know you’re on the cover of People with a girl who set you up. A girl who wanted to lure you in, live with you, and leech off of you like every other woman who tried before, during, and after me. She just so happened to succeed.”

Elliot was well on his way to kicking her out, it reverberated off of every muscle in his taut body. Allegra spared him; turned on her heels and stalked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her so hard, its hinges rattled for ten full seconds. I didn’t know what else to do with myself but count them.

The sound still hummed through the apartment when Elliot turned toward me. When his eyes met mine, there were a million questions in the way his brows pulled together, and the crease between them moved.

I wished I could shake my head, laugh her words off, and tell him how ridiculous they sounded.

“Maeve,” he said, testing the way my name felt on his tongue. It must’ve been such a stark contrast, going from moaning it against my skin to whatever the hell this was. Anxiously whispering it into the room, maybe. In a show of optimism I couldn’t take, he started apologizing. “Ignore what she said. I’m sorry—”

And it simply burst out of me. “She’s right.”

He blinked at me, took a step back.

“I mean, not really. I didn’t try to lure you in, and I didn’t even want to live with you. I shot myself in the foot with that one.” Nervous laugh, southern accent slipping. “I didn’t expect your grandfather to kick you out over some stupid headlines. And I just did it because—”

“Did what?” He took another step back, maybe at the way he’d raised his voice. “Sorry,” he said, breaking me all over again. Calmer, more guarded, he repeated, “Did what?”

“Tip off The New York Goss. About you and Allegra going out. I thought it would—”

But he wouldn’t let me justify it, cutting me off again. Maybe it was better that way. Nothing really justified invading someone’s privacy that way. Now that I knew how much he hated crowds, the attention, press, it was worse.

“You called them.” Realization, not a question.

“Texted.”

His head fell back in a soundless laugh, shaking in disbelief. “Do you know how much shit I had to go through because of that?” Kind of. “The board was ready to feed me to the sharks! Cut the lifeline that this fucking internship is, and leave me stranded. You almost cost me the foundation, Maeve.”

I hated that back then, two months ago, I’d wanted it to cost him whatever he held near and dear to his heart. Whether that was his billion-dollar inheritance, the foundation, or that internship. The plan had been to get him kicked out of the program, securing the full-time position for myself.

Back then, Elliot was just rich. Handsome. Perfect. That’s all he’d been, without insecurities and anxiety. Without goals and dreams and ambitions. I didn’t know he was spending his time raising funds to fight for real issues. He wasn’t going to old diners with middle-aged ladies who loved him, and he certainly wasn’t taking me there.

The lump of guilt in my throat threatened to suffocate me. Of course he’d already been that exact guy. I just hadn’t known him yet.

“Jesus Christ. You kept going on and on about how I wanted to sabotage you, meanwhile you were the one that—” He took a deep breath, braced himself against the drawer. “Is that what this was, then? You, weaseling your way into my life to sabotage it from the inside out?”

It slipped out defensively. “Well, it didn’t work, did it?”