The Man, The Myth, The Nerd: High School Billionaires #3

by Dallen, Maggie

  Daisy

  “I love you, Daisy Lou. Forever and always.”

  I winced as I threw some bread in the toaster. “Could you please shut that off?”

  Beth ignored me. “That’s so romantic,” she said on a sigh.

  Keith snorted. “It’s insane. They were childhood friends. He hasn’t even seen her in three years. He’s clearly delusional.”

  I wanted to protest, and I wanted to agree with him, and I also wanted to tell him this was none of his business. Instead, I bit the inside of my lip because I had no idea what to say to that.

  Was he insane? Probably. But this thing between us…it had never been reasonable, and it had never been lukewarm. Tieg and I ran hot or cold, it was pure unconditional love or overwhelming hatred, but never apathy.

  And you know what they say about love and hate…

  “Well, I think it’s romantic,” Beth said in the same stubborn tone she used to use at bedtime and was demanding another story.

  “You’re both right,” Eliza said as she breezed in and swiped the last piece of bread out from under me. She looked right at me. “Daisy and Tieg are both…” She smirked. “They’re crazy in love.”

  I scowled at her taunting tone.

  “I love you, Daisy Lou—”

  “Would you please shut that off?” I whipped around to face Beth who was currently in possession of my phone.

  “I can’t help it,” she said. “It’s everywhere.”

  “She’s right,” Matthew said as he plopped down beside Keith.

  I couldn’t help myself. I went to stand over her shoulder to see what she was watching. It was an online gossip site and that dang video clip was playing on repeat. The title of the article? “Who is Daisy Lou?”

  I groaned.

  “Who is Daisy Lou?” Brady’s teasing voice coming from the hallway made me groan all over again.

  He entered the kitchen with a knowing smirk and sat down beside Matthew and helped himself to some of the cereal Eliza had set down on the table. He shoved a handful in his mouth. “It’s an excellent question.”

  “It’s a stupid question,” I said. “I’m not exactly a mystery woman, I’m just a random high school senior.”

  “A high school senior who has the biggest name in music shouting out his love for her for all the world to hear,” Brady said.

  I saw Eliza’s eye roll. “So dramatic.”

  She’d been on repeat all last night and all this morning. “I wasn’t being dramatic,” I said. “That was all him.”

  “Uh huh.” Brady looked like he was struggling not to laugh aloud. “So it wasn’t you who rushed the stage and started a super emotional scene…on stage?”

  I huffed and turned away. Stupid logical Brady, always pointing out the truth like I wasn’t aware.

  Eliza was snickering under her breath. “They’re more fun to watch than a telenovela.”

  “Since when do you watch telenovelas?” I said.

  She arched her brows, coming to sit between Brady and Keith and looking supremely pleased with herself. “Since I started failing Spanish.”

  I froze with a wad of napkins in my hands. “You what? How did I not know about this?”

  She gave me a haughty look. “Because you’re not my mom.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Before I could speak, she relented with another eye roll. “Relax, Daisy, I’m catching up.”

  When I didn’t stop glaring, some of her attitude eased up. “Mr. Hatcher let me do some make-up assignments, it’s really not that big a deal.”

  “It is so a big—”

  The sound of a car in the driveway cut me off. The sound might have been faint but it might as well have been a cannon going off. Eliza and I shared a crazy, wide-eyed look, and for a second, I thought she might have actually been nervous on my behalf.

  Dad had left ages ago to work and Brady was already here, which meant…

  “Tieg!” Beth squealed his name.

  I whipped around to give her an incredulous stare that she ignored. “What?” she said as she hopped out of her seat. “I need to wish him good luck.” She was racing toward the front door as she added, “I’m going to ask him to play my favorite song, too.”

  Keith burst out laughing, and I saw Brady rub a hand over his mouth to hide what had to be an amused grin.

  Awesome. Great. So glad my disaster of a love life could bring such amusement to my family.

  But there was no time to deal with these guys because the guy was about to walk in the door and…oh mercy, what on earth was I going to say?

  My mouth went dry and my palms grew sweaty. My heart leapt into overdrive at the thought of seeing him again after yesterday’s incident.

  Incident? Try episode.

  Eliza was right, we were like a telenovela. Worse, we were those angsty annoying teens from a CW show or something. But what was I supposed to do when the guy I’d thought I loved came back after three years and declared his love…in public. After serenading me.

  Stupid heart. The mere memory had it aching. Or maybe it was soaring. I didn’t know, I’d long since stopped trying to figure out if this new thing with Tieg was pleasure or pain. It was somewhere in between.

  When Beth opened the door, I was no closer to formulating a coherent thought let alone words that might actually come out of my mouth. I had no idea what to say to Tieg.

  Luckily for me, it wasn’t Tieg at the door.

  My heart fell toward my stomach. Yeah, really lucky.

  But I didn’t have time to dwell on why I was so disappointed when it meant avoiding another confrontation because two strangers were walking into my house—a pretty blonde and a hot young guy who looked to be about my age.

  “Daisy?” the blonde said with an expectant smile as she caught sight of me staring. In an instant I made the connection.

  “Jamie!”

  Her smile widened and she raised a hand in greeting to all my siblings as Beth led her and the strange guy into the kitchen.

  The messy, messy kitchen. Horror swept over me. What was she doing here? The girl was a freakin’ gazillionaire and we must look like…

  I tried to see this setting through her eyes and had to stifle another groan.

  Ugh, we probably looked like hillbillies. I scrambled to start clearing up some of the clutter, and Brady was on his feet helping to make the introductions, taking over the niceties since I was in a mad-dash cleaning frenzy.

  When he was done introducing himself and my siblings, Jamie grinned again. “Nice to meet you all, I’m Jamie and this is—”

  “Alex Warner,” Brady said.

  Even I stopped my frantic cleaning to look over at that. It wasn’t the fact that Brady knew the guy’s name…it was the way he said it. He looked just as awestruck as he’d sounded and I didn’t know whether to laugh or slap him as he stood there gawking at the stranger in our house.

  Alex stepped forward and extended his hand. “Great to meet you.”

  Brady stumbled over his words and then Keith followed in his footsteps, muttering a hello as he…no wait, that couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be blushing.

  I exchanged a look with Beth but not before Eliza rushed into the fray, shaking Alex’s hand vigorously. “Oh my gosh, we’re all such huge fans.”

  One more look with Beth. Yup, she was just as clueless as I was. Not that I was proud to be as ignorant as a seven-year-old, but still.

  Brady looked over and caught my confusion, coming to my side he muttered something in my ear about the Olympics and that was all I needed to hear. A wave of awe swept over me too, because honestly…the fact that an Olympic athlete was not only in Jordan Springs, but in my kitchen…it was too bizarre.

  Silence fell over us as I tried to figure out how best to say “What on earth are you doing here?” You know…without sounding rude.

  Jamie broke the silence first. “I hope you don’t mind us dropping by like this. We just got into town to watch Tieg’s show, and Mary told me where you li
ved.”

  She was talking to me, and I was trying not to gape. She’d flown in…for a show? Like, no big whoop, I’ll just hop on a private plane and jet across the country for the day.

  Holy cow, these people lived in a different world entirely.

  As if to prove my point, Alex added, “I got the day off of training, and we wanted to show support for our friend.”

  I nodded. Yeah, sure. Totally get it. I also have the day off of Olympic training.

  I bit back the sarcasm that was a product of nerves. For the first time it was really hitting me that these two were friends with Tieg. His real friends. His now friends.

  Questions bubbled up inside me…questions I should have asked Tieg, but had been so blinded by anger, and fear, and desire that I never got the chance. How was he?

  I mean, I knew he was rich, I knew he was famous…but how was he? Was he happy? Was he enjoying his success? Did he get to see the Eiffel Tower like he’d always wanted, or go on a sailboat?

  Suddenly I missed Tieg more than ever, which was ridiculous because I’d seen him plenty these past forty-eight hours. I’d seen him more this weekend than I had in years. But seeing Jamie and Alex, realizing I had no idea what he’d told them, how he’d met them, what they did for fun…

  Oh, my heart was sinking.

  When it was hovering somewhere around my knees, I pulled myself out of my melancholy state. “Can I get you some, uh…” I looked around desperately for something to offer. “Some tea?”

  Keith made a funny face, one that likely clued everyone into the fact that we did not own any tea. Or at least, none that had seen the light of day since my mom had died.

  “Thanks, but we’re fine,” Jamie said. She turned and gave Alex a pointed look. “Actually, Alex was hoping—”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “I was hoping you guys could show me around the property.”

  He was looking at Brady, Keith, and Eliza. Definitely not at me. Jamie, however, was giving me a look that seemed to suggest we were in on something. Then it clicked. She wanted to talk to me…in private.

  Probably about Tieg.

  I panicked, but at that same moment Brady seemed to come to the same realization. “Yeah, of course.” He gripped a still stunned Eliza and Keith and steered them toward the door. “Come on, Beth, let’s go show Alex around.”

  “But why?” Beth said. “There’s nothing to see. Just cows and stuff.”

  I shot her a look.

  “Okay, fine,” she said. “Wait for me!”

  A minute later I was alone with Tieg’s new best friend and trying desperately not to be jealous of her relationship with him. I mean, obviously they weren’t together. Anyone could see the way she and Alex looked at each other. Still…she was a part of Tieg’s life.

  Yup, that was jealousy all right, crippling me with its toxic poison. I couldn’t even let myself think about all the opportunities this girl had at her fingertips. I’d read enough to know she was a billionaire. Take that in for a moment—a billionaire. She could travel and help people…and she did.

  That reminder helped me to swallow down the bitter taste of resentment. It could have been worse, right? This beautiful blonde could have been Tieg’s girlfriend, or she could have been a spoiled brat. Instead she was using her money for good…

  No, she was using her money for me, my siblings, this town.

  That reminder had me forcing a smile as I gestured toward the kitchen table. “So, what can I do for you?”

  Jamie sank into a seat, looking oddly nervous. “Well, actually, I’m sort of here because—”

  “You want to talk,” I finished for her, taking pity on her discomfort. “About Tieg, I take it.”

  Her shoulders slumped in relief. “Yes.” She fidgeted with one of the abandoned plates in front of her, her eyes fixed on the half-eaten toast, and I had to fight the urge to start cleaning again.

  She lifted her eyes to look straight at me with a hesitant smile. “Look, I know it’s not my place…”

  “You’re his friend,” I said with a shrug. “Of course it’s your place.”

  She still wore that small smile, but her eyes were sad. “And what about you? Are you his friend?”

  I opened my mouth and closed it. Tieg was right. We were never just friends. Even when we were little kids the connection between us had gone above and beyond that. My mother used to call him my other half, as far back as kindergarten, and she’d been right.

  Jamie shook her head. “You know what? Forget I asked. That’s definitely none of my business.”

  I stayed silent because I had no idea what she expected me to say, and quite frankly I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what she had to say. The silence grew tense until I couldn’t take it anymore. “Thank you again,” I said, my voice sounding fake and too high in the quiet kitchen. “This concert will do amazing things for the community, and I’m not sure if I properly thanked you—”

  “It’s my job,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “And I didn’t do much, the idea was yours, and you and the other volunteers made it happen.”

  I nodded, looking down at my hands. “Yes, but you got…the talent.”

  Her snort of amusement had me looking up in surprise. She looked a little chagrined, but her eyes sparkled with amusement. “The talent, huh? Is that what we’re calling him these days?”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I wrapped my arms around myself. Here we were, at the topic du jour. The one I didn’t want to think about, let alone discuss.

  “Look, Daisy,” she said on an exhale. “I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on with you two or what kind of past you have, but I’m worried about him.”

  “I…I don’t know what you want me to say,” I said in all honesty.

  She pursed her lips as she studied me. “You know, he didn’t tell me about you until he came here.”

  I blinked. Was she trying to make me feel bad?

  She seemed to read my mind, and she leaned over to put her hand over mine. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, I just meant…when he did finally tell me about you, I knew.”

  I frowned. “You knew what, exactly?”

  Her eyes were wide and filled with sincerity. “I knew how much you must mean to him.”

  I blinked rapidly now, my brain trying to keep up with her train of thought. “And you got that from the fact that he never once mentioned me in the past three years.”

  She nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”

  I blew out a sigh. “I don’t follow.”

  “You were so special to him he couldn’t even talk about you,” she said. “I might not know Tieg as well as you do, but I learned pretty quickly that the guy is faking it most of the time.”

  I stiffened, ready to come to his defense.

  “No, no,” she said quickly. “I don’t mean he’s fake, I just mean that he’s learned how to hide in plain sight.”

  Some of my tension eased because she was right. He’d learned how to do that a long time ago. He was so good at pretending things didn’t matter, that he wasn’t hurting…

  “At first I was a little hurt that he hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me about you,” she continued, her gaze meeting mine evenly. “But then I realized, he couldn’t talk about you because when it comes to you, he can’t hide how he feels.”

  I stared at her in amazement because she did know Tieg. This time I wasn’t so much jealous of her friendship with him as I was grateful…he deserved to have good friends in his life, even if that didn’t include me.

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah, that…sounds like Tieg.”

  Her gaze moved over me intently, like she was trying to read something in my posture or analyze the tone of my voice. “What he feels for you, that’s something special,” she said slowly, like she was testing the waters.

  I kept my mouth shut. This chick might have been Tieg’s friend, but I barely knew her except through email, and even then, we only talked about the logistics and finances involv
ed with the concert.

  “I know I probably shouldn’t have come here like this,” Jamie said as she shifted in her seat. “It’s just that I’ve been worried about him, and then seeing the way he acted yesterday—”

  “It’s fine,” I said quickly because I didn’t want to talk about the insanity that was Tieg’s profession of love the day before. I’d been doing an amazing job of not thinking about it ever since it happened, despite the fact that it had gone viral, and I sure as heck didn’t want to start analyzing it now.

  I pushed my seat back and started pacing the kitchen, finding things to clean and pretty much doing everything I could to keep my hands and mind occupied so I didn’t have to think about it. I just had to keep distracted for one more day, and then he’d be gone.

  “He has to leave tomorrow, you know,” Jamie said.

  I stopped scrubbing a dish and whipped around to face her. Had she been reading my mind?

  No, definitely not. She wasn’t telling this to reassure me. Her expression looked like she was warning me.

  I wrung out the dish cloth in my hands. “I know.”

  She nodded and licked her lips, her eyes sliding to the left, and I just knew she was choosing her words wisely. “I realize I don’t know you, and Tieg would kill me if he knew I was here, but…”

  But what? I had to press my lips together to keep from screaming. I was a ball of nervous energy and it had everything to do with the fact that Tieg was still in town.

  No, it has everything to do with the fact that he still loves you.

  I silenced that little voice because whether he loved me or not, it didn’t matter. This wasn’t some fairytale and we would never go riding off into the sunset.

  “I don’t want to see him hurting,” Jamie finally said, her words slow and measured.

  “Neither do I.” I said it quickly, a reflex. But I meant it. As angry as I might have been, I’d never wanted to see him hurting. And these days it was hard to cling to anger.

  I love you, Daisy Lou. Forever and Always.

  I had to catch my breath at the mere memory of his voice.

  Jamie’s chair scraping against the linoleum had me looking up. She was coming toward me slowly and with a gentle smile, the sort of way I’d approach a stray cat or a spooked horse. “I’m not going to presume to know what you’re feeling,” she said. “But I know a little something about confusing relationships and overwhelming emotions…”