Page 75 of Bought For Us

There's a man standing on my right. “Hi.” I give him a polite smile. His eyes look a little glassy, like he’s been drinking.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” He chuckles. He does look familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. “Tyler, Kimmy’s brother.”

“Oh my god.” I gasp. “Shit, Tyler, I’m so sorry. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

“Ten years.” He nods. “Crazy how long it’s been.”

“It is.” I smile. “How have you been?” Funny as it is, I haven’t heard Kimmy talk much about her brother. She did say they still talked, but he moved away a long time ago.

“Took some time off after high school to do some traveling for a few years. Actually, just graduated from law school.

“Congratulations,” I tell him. “Are you married? Any kids?”

He snorts. “Nope. Single. No kids. Would love to have a family someday though.”

“That's good.” I nod. God, this is awkward. Tyler and I were never close and I have no idea how to talk to him right now.

“How have you been? I was surprised when Kimmy told me you were back.”

“I’m good. Living here now. Working at Zack’s club.”

“I heard.” He’s staring at me and I don’t like it. “It’s crazy about the two of them isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“That they’re together.” He grins. “I like to take credit for that though.”

“How?” My brows furrow.

“Remember that night before you left? You saw Kimmy and Zack dancing together. I told Zack a few months before that he should go for it. I saw how much he liked Kimmy. And hey, he’s a good guy, so why not?”

“Oh.” I blink a few times. “I remember you saying something to me similar to that.”

“Wanna know a secret,” he chuckles.

“Sure.”

“I kind of pushed Zack onto Kimmy so I could get him away from you.” He grins.

My stomach drops. “What does that mean?”

He sighs. “You never did notice me, did you? How could you not see that I had a crush on you.” Hold up. He what? I had no idea. I never saw the signs. “But you were too blinded by your crush on Zack. Didn’t help that he liked you too. But he also liked my sister. So, I hyped him up to go for Kimmy. I mean, you were his stepsister after all, so it’s not like anything could have happened.”

“So, you knew Zack liked me but you pushed him towards the idea of dating Kimmy because you wanted a chance with me?”

“I know, a little crazy, right? I was a lovesick teenager. Didn’t work out well for me.” He sighs. “You left the day after. Kimmy and Zack stayed together, though. So they got their happy ending.”

I’m shocked, I don’t know what to say. Would Zack have told me how he felt if Tyler didn’t get into his head? What did he tell Zack?

“You seeing anyone?”

“Sorry, what?” I blink a few times, getting out of my thoughts.

“Are you single?” he asks. “I was thinking, now that you’re back, maybe we could have that chance we never got. I’ve been meaning to ask Kimmy to give me your number.”

“You wanna go on a date?” My brows furrow. What the hell is going on?

“Not fucking happening.” Zack’s voice makes me jump.

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