Page 40 of Talk About… Rivalry

To his credit, my best friend dropped everything he was doing and rushed over, his hands going to my shoulders as he leaned in to study my face.

“What happened? Whose ass do I need to kick?”

Fuck, I wasn’t anywhere near my heat, I had no clue why I was so emotional.

Yes, I did, it was stupid to pretend anything otherwise. I was fucking heartbroken.

Sidney hadn’t exactly led me on, but she also didn’t fully turn me down. I thought we were working towards a date and she left with some guy?

It felt like a slap in the face.

Everything came bursting out of me in a huge rush of words. Leo was well versed in my rambles and was able to keep up, his eyes widening as he listened. It wasn’t until I finished talking that he finally spoke.

“Wait, Maverick? As in Whitaker? The one who owns the bar?”

I don’t know why I entered all the random details that he didn’t need but that was how my mind worked when I was rambling and upset.

I nodded in answer, words failing me.

“And Sidney, as in Sidney Vance?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, flopping down onto the stack of wood flooring and letting out a long breath. It felt like all the color was sucked out of the world. I was being dramatic but I truly had my heart set on winning over Sidney and I thought I was making progress.

Apparently not.

This also explained why there was no text back this morning or last night.

She was too busy in some other man’s arms.

I wasn’t an alpha and couldn’t offer a knot. Was that the reason?

Maybe I wasn’t her type and she just didn’t want to hurt my feelings…

“Fuck,” I groaned, gripping my hair.

“You know… I used to hate her.” Leo’s words had my head snapping up to look at him.

“How do you even know her?”

“You and I were in different grades, but Sidney was in my class. She and I had this ongoing rivalry. First it was teasing, then it turned into an all out war. It was a constant battle of besting each other and rubbing that in the other’s face.”

I frowned because that didn’t sound like the Sidney I knew at all.

“She’s not like that,” I defended. God, I sounded pathetic, especially for a girl that apparently wasn’t looking at me the same way at all.

“It got worse by the time we moved away. I couldn’t stand her,” Leo admitted. He was starting to pace now, his hands fisting at his side as if he remembered it all vividly. “Her mom and my mom were friends. I just remember this one night where she called Mom. They were on the phone. I could just hear her crying, breaking down. She left Sidney’s dad and her, then called every day for weeks on end before they stopped.”

She left her child behind?

“How could she leave Sidney behind?” My heart broke for Sidney’s past self and I couldn't help but wonder if this explained some of the sadness I witnessed.

“Apparently, Sidney was all about her dad. She didn’t care about her mom and was awful to her. I believed it, too. After she left Sidney was awful. She’d act out at school, be rude to everyone, get into fights. She was even more vicious with me until I just completely disengaged. The only ones saved from it all were the Whitakers. It’s like they were immune to everything.”

“Maverick,” I said bitterly, hating myself just a little for thinking this way when I only had half a story to go on.

“She was best friends with that Whitaker girl, their sister. The brothers were just protective and always making sure people left them alone. I bet she would have had her ass kicked a few times if not for them.”

“Avery,” I supplied. I didn’t blame him for not remembering their names. It wasn’t like he’d been in town since middle school. This was a long time ago… yet, his feelings about Sidney were still strong.

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