Page 26 of Talk About… Rivalry

His eyes darkened a little at the title, but then annoyance was right back again drowning it out.

“Some dick is opening a bar in town.”

My jaw dropped.

“What the fuc?,” I gasped, fury on his behalf filling me. “Did he not realize we already have one? Rockwood Valley isn’t exactly big.”

“As I said the first time we had this conversation,” a voice chimed in. One that was vaguely familiar. “It’s not just a bar. We do not have the same patrons, my friend.”

Not only did “friend” sound like an attack, but when I turned around and saw who it was, I froze.

Fury, embarrassment, and indignation were so intense that my stomach churned. This was a face that I hadn’t expected to encounter again.

“Leo,” I said, my stomach dropping at the familiar face. He had those same sharp green eyes and brown hair, though it was much more tame than it was in our middle school days.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Maverick accused. If he sounded pissed before, it was nothing on his fury-laced tone now.

“Sidney,” Leo said, his smile widening as his gaze slowly tracked over me. “All grown up, aren’t you?”

“We’re literally the same age,” I deadpanned.

“Technically, I’m two months older than you, am I not?” Yet another thing he’d always held over my head.

Leo and I had been rivals in school from the moment that we started fifth grade, until he left in our last year of middle school. At first it was friendly and playful, then middle school hit, my life fell apart, and he turned it from friendly to borderline bullying.

Every time we got grades, we compared them. Every time there was a competition, I pushed myself to my limits to try to beat him.

He did the same. He was the one beta who never held back on an omega. Part of me respected that, but I also equally hated him.

“Wait, this is the guy that used to make you cry all the time in middle school?” Maverick asked, the anger in his tone even more harsh as he turned to the beta.

Leo’s green eyes widened in surprise. “How the hell did I make you cry?”

“I didn’t cry,” I shot back, crossing my arms. “I’m not a crier.”

Not exactly true, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

Maverick’s lips formed a thin line as he glared at Leo like this was just one extra mark against him. Even if I wanted to lie, it was true, I’d cried so much back then. Maybe that was why I hated doing it now.

I doubted anyone liked crying, though.

Once my mom left me, I lost control of my life. School was the only thing I could keep control over, burying myself in doing better, besting Leo.

At home, I was just another farmhand. Dad offered no reassurance, simply gave me a fresh list of chores.

I thought maybe if I did one thing right, that I would prove to myself that I was worthy, I couldn't be forgotten.

To be fair Leo knew none of this. I didn’t exactly advertise that my mom left me behind. The only one who really knew was Avery, because she and the Whitakers helped piece me back together.

“As fun as this conversation is, I’m over it,” I said, starting to push my cart away from them. Leo reached out to stop me, his hand brushing my arm, but it was yanked away as a feral warning growl ripped out of Maverick.

“Don’t fucking touch her.”

“Hey, now,” Leo said, raising his hands as if placating the angry alpha. “I was just trying to apologize for whatever I caused back then.”

Something about it didn’t sound sincere and apparently, it didn’t to Maverick, either.

“It seems you have a lot of issues that you aren’t aware of, like opening a bar in a place that there already is one. Or torturing omegas to the point of tears. Maybe you need to do a little self-reflection,friend.”

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