Page 26 of One Bet

I didn’t think this moment would come. But there he was. Ryder Kennedy, older, fatter, and a lot angrier.

“The great Keaton Shaw.” He pushed off the wall and straightened. “Mr. Big Time.”

I stared at him, it had been years and still, he looked the same. Same blonde hair, same green eyes. He’d put on some weight, but that came when the working out stopped and the muscle we’d worked so hard to build turned to fat before we could prevent it. But he wasn’t supposed to be here. I hadn’t been invited back to the fraternity house or the college for this hundred-year celebration of the Alphas. And his appearance made red flags billow through my mind.

“Ryder.”

I walked past and he fell into step beside me.

“What? You can’t stop and chat with an old friend?” He scoffed. “Figures.”

He’d been a friend once, my best friend. But he hadn’t just hurt Avery. And after everything he’d done, I couldn’t just forgive and forget. He grabbed my shoulder and yanked so that I twisted toward him. Fucker. I gave him a shove. Softer than I would have if we didn’t have history. Softer than he deserved, but he fell into the wall anyway.

He chuckled and held up both hands as if surrendering. “Oh, come on, Keats. I just wanted to say hey to an old friend. No harm. No foul. Right?”

I didn’t answer because, with Ryder, the one I’d known then anyway, there was always a layer of harm and foul to everything he touched. “How’s your girl? Heard she’s a teacher now.”

My internal asshole-radar beeped, his tone, the implied threat, meant something. He had a plan. It was why he’d made an appearance here, in a place where he wasn’t welcome. Only he’d showed his hand now. Part of it at least, and I only had to figure out what cards he still had up his sleeve.

Friends close. Enemies closer.

“She’s great.” And she was gonna kill me. “Why don’t you come out for drinks with us one of these nights? We can catch up.”

He had that same evil gleam in his eyes a decade later.

“Yeah. I think I’d like that.” My stomach churned when he repeated the sentiment, this time smug enough I almost reconsidered, almost. “I think I would definitely like that.”

But he’d gotten one over on me before because I didn’t know exactly the kinds of things he was capable of, now I knew and no way would he win again.

One Decade Ago

Practice sucked, Ryder hadn’t even shown. Avery wasn’t answering her phone, and I just wanted to see her. Not a minute of the day went by without me calculating how long before I would be with her again.

I left the stadium, drove straight to the marina, and climbed out of my car just as Ryder walked up the dock. He gave me a wave. “Hey, buddy.”

I waited until he was almost standing in front of me. “Where were you?”

“Out on the water.” He grinned. “Had a date.”

But he hadn’t come from the direction of his boat. I frowned and looked down the marina to the slip where his dad kept the family yacht. He chuckled. “Then I stopped by yours to see if you made it out of practice yet.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder and laughed. “God, you’re so suspicious.”

I laughed too, he was my best friend. Whatever his excuse, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, and he’d been on the boat without me about a thousand times. “Yeah.”

Now was my chance to use our friendship in a way I never had before. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” He turned to walk beside me back to the boat.

I waited until we were both on the deck, beers in hand, loungers reclined. “You know that…bet we made?” I wanted out. I liked Avery the way she was and there was no way she still wanted Ryder, so…no harm, no foul as long as I ended it before she found out.

He tipped back his beer and nodded then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Something was off and he was angry now.

“What about it?” He nodded, but the rage didn’t leave his eyes. “Oh, you heard about Finn and Jameson taking some of my action on our bet? Don’t worry. A lot of the other guys bet on you.”

“You told other people about it?” Oh God, too many people knowing or being in on it…I had to tell Avery before someone else did. “I need to call the whole thing off. It’s just I really like Avery and I don’t want…this…to come between us.”

“You want out of the bet?” I nodded and he glared, his mouth dropping open enough for a scoff to escape. “For her?”

“I think I could have something real with her.”