Anyone But Nick (Anyone But... #3) - Penelope Bloom Page 0,17

a couple of days ago. I’d explained my reasoning, and he’d done exactly what I’d expected. He’d understood. Robbie always understood.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. About us.”

“Robbie . . .” I blew out a long breath. “I know this is weird, but I think we—”

“She dumped you,” Cade said. I hadn’t even seen him coming, which was unusual, considering all the King brothers were ridiculously tall. He was standing on the bleachers below us now. “She’s just too nice to say she never wants to see you again. She doesn’t want you marinating in her friend zone. Because we all know you’d go home every night you thought she might’ve flirted with you and have a depressing little wank. Emphasis on little.”

“Cade,” I said. “Please, I can—”

Robbie’s lips tightened into a thin line. He had never been the confrontational type, so I wasn’t surprised when all he did was give me one subtle, questioning look.

“It’s not like that,” I said to Cade. “Since you don’t really know anything about what is going on, it’d be best if you kept out of it.”

“It would’ve also been best if nobody ever invented those big-ass spiders the size of your hand that hide under toilet seats,” Cade said. “But take a look at Australia. It’s hot as the world’s butthole, and that steamy taint is chock full of huge spiders, giant snakes, and kangaroos. I mean, what is the point of a kangaroo, even? Why have arms at all? Didn’t we learn anything from the T. rex, like—”

Iris gave me a quick smile and then pressed her palms into Cade’s chest. She started leading him down the bleachers like she was trying to move a massive boulder, which wasn’t too far from the truth—both in terms of the physical similarities and the mental deficiencies. Cade sighed and let the tiny woman move him away from us.

Kira looked like she didn’t know what to do now that Iris was gone. She started walking backward so slowly I almost couldn’t tell if she was moving.

I tried to mouth “Don’t you leave me too” without letting Robbie see.

Kira hated awkward situations, and I could see from the look in her eyes that she didn’t want to be witness to this. A moment later, she had scurried off too. Great.

I turned my attention back to Robbie and forced a smile. “So . . .”

“I was trying to say that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, since . . .” His eyebrows creased together, as if the thought of the word breakup was causing him physical pain.

If I still needed reassurance that I’d done the right thing, all I needed to do was study that look on his face. I didn’t feel any of the emotional sting of losing him. Staying in a relationship like that wouldn’t have been fair, even if it seemed like everyone else thought we were so perfect for each other. “Robbie,” I said as gently as I could, “I should’ve realized we had different goals earlier than I did. But that’s all there is to it. I have a vision for where I want to be, and I can’t let anything get in the way of that.”

“Where you want to be?” Robbie asked. Anger flashed in his eyes. “Alone and sitting on the top floor of a skyscraper in New York? Is that it? Diving in your piles of gold coins at night and sleeping on megayachts?”

I shook my head. I knew he was only being cruel because he felt embarrassed, but it still stung. “I don’t care about the money. You would know that if you’d really listened. I want to—” I stopped and pursed my lips. “You know what? No. I don’t need to explain it to you again. Maybe if you’d cared more, this wouldn’t be so confusing to you.”

“There’s nothing complicated about it. We’re good together. Everybody thought so. And I don’t want to sound crude, but what do you think will happen once the grace period is over?”

I frowned. “The grace period? Do I even want to know what that means?”

“I didn’t really want to have to spell it out. But think about it. How long do you think women are going to wait now that I’m single?”

I couldn’t help laughing out loud at that. Sure, he was right, but I was finally seeing just how much Robbie had been putting on a show while we dated. This was the real him. Nasty, ugly, and