Page 85 of Filthy Rich Ex's Brothers

Travis:What do you mean? What friend?

Travis:When will you be back?

Travis:Should we send someone with you?

Serena:I’ll be careful.

After that, Travis had tried to call me, and I texted him that, really, everything was okay. And that I would let him know if I needed anything.

Now, I rotate the milkshake in my hand, sliding the condensation around on my palm.

Through the windshield, I watch the servers on roller skates whizzing around the parking lot.

This was my grandmother’s favorite place.

She’d always get fried mushrooms and a strawberry milkshake. I’d get pistachio and a pizza burger. As we ate, she’d tell me stories of howsheused to roller skate, working at a diner on the weekends and doing roller derby on weeknights.

When Bianca and I were first becoming friends, she’d had a bad dinner out with her grandfather, and I brought her here. It went from being something I did with my gram to being something my best friend and I did.

Maybe it’s a call on nostalgia. Maybe she thought it would soften me up.

All it’s doing for me now is pissing me off. Ruining one of the few places I had left with happy memories, reminding me that I naively shared this with her. Just like the rest of my life.

“I need to get back,” I say when Bianca doesn’t start the conversation. More than anything, I wish that this could not affect me, but there’s adrenaline pumping through my veins. My mouth tastes like a battery, and I can feel the anxiety building up in my shoulders, like icy hot spreading all the way down to my fingertips.

“I know.” Bianca tips her head back, takes a deep breath, and says, “I just… I didn’t want to hurt you, Ser.”

I let out a puff of laughter and shake my head. What a massive waste of my time. Did she bring me here just to make herself feel better?

“Look, I get it.” Bianca speaks through her teeth, like she can hear what I’m thinking. Like this is painful forher. “It was shitty. But you said it yourself—you didn’t even like him.”

“Yeah, I’m not doing this,” I snap, shoving my milkshake into the cup holder and reaching for the car door.

“Stop!” Bianca grabs my arm and I pause, turning to look back at her. Now, tears are welling in her eyes. “Just—it’s that shit with my Gramps, Ser. He’s been putting more and more pressure on me to marry into a good family. Then you met Alex, and I was so jealous. You didn’t even realize what you had. What a blessing it would have been for me if I caught his attention instead.”

Bianca pulls back her arm, and I sit back in my seat, staring at her.

She pauses, sucks in a breath, then barrels ahead, like if she doesn’t just keep going, she might stop altogether. “I knew it was wrong. It wassowrong. But after we went on that double date, he… noticed me. He liked the fact that my family is wealthy. Maybe he also felt some pressure to make connections that way.”

“Great.”

“I hadnothingto do with the way that he ended things.” When I look over at her, Bianca is untying the scarf from around her chin, shaking her head. “That was cruel. I told him that. He knows that.”

“Oh, right, okay, sure—you told him he was cruel, then you continued fucking him.”

Her head snaps toward me, voice warbling, “It’s not like that, Serena.”

“Oh?” I shift in the seat, fully facing her. “This is not aboutAlex, Bianca. It’s aboutyou. It’s about the fact that you were supposed to be mybest friend, but you put some weird fucking desire for social climbing over loyalty.”

“I’mtryingto be loyal,” she snaps, letting out a quick breath. “That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m trying to be honest. Trust me, I didnotwant to sneak out?—”

“Oh, good for you.”

“God, I forgot how mean you can be.” She digs her fingers into her eyes, and I don’t point out the hypocrisy of thatstatement. “But you know what? It’s not working out for me anyway. I thought Alex was interested in me forme, but it turns out he just wants my family’s money.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I cross my arms over my chest like armor, stare her down. “Weren’t you constantly telling me how I should have let him pay for everything? How I should have done nothing? Let him take care of me, right? Why would he need your family’s money?”

“Because he doesn’t have any!” Bianca’s voice goes shrill, breaks on the last word.