Eli handed his card to our waiter and drummed his hands against the tabletop. “So does that sound good? We’re gonna meet him in the bar of the hotel I’m staying in. I can get you girls a room.”

“No.”

“Rach”—Eli smirked—“I’m not gonna be able to drive the two of you back to your place after. Unless you want him to meet us at your apartment?”

“No!” I said too loudly, and people at the surrounding tables looked awkwardly at us. “I don’t want to go. I’ll just go back to the apartment.”

“What? Rachel, why?”

Candice cleared her throat and straightened her spine. “Rachel can’t stand Blake.”

Eli laughed softly. “Right. You only had the biggest crush on him growing up.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You knew about that?”

“Who didn’t know about that? You weren’t exactly subtle about your feelings for him.” His expression darkened suddenly. “I could’ve killed him for that.”

Wait . . . What?! “Killed him for what? For me having a crush on him? It’s not like it was his fault.” Oh my God, was I really sitting here defending Blake West for anything?

“No,” he snorted. “I was making fun of him because he never dated or hooked up with anyone. He told me he was just waiting for you to get older, that he was going to marry you someday. I thought he was joking at first, but I was wrong. Do you remember when Blake got in that fight and his nose got broken?” When Candice and I both nodded, he continued. “That was because of that. Dad had to pull me off him.”

“You beat him up because he wanted to be with me?” I wanted to pull Eli away and tell him everything that had happened. Candice didn’t believe me, but Eli would.

“Of course I did. You were like my sister, but it wasn’t just that. You were only twelve at the time and he was . . . what, seventeen? It was fucking disgusting.”

So that was why Blake had started ignoring me. I’ll never forget the way he looked after that fight. I had run up to him wanting to take care of him and began fawning all over him. He’d pushed me away and started dating Jenn not long after. I still saw him all the time since he was always with Eli, but it was like I didn’t exist to him anymore after that. I’d been hurt, but not discouraged in my quest to win his affection.

Chills spread through my body. Eli’s words made everything that had happened with Blake so much worse. And the fact that Jenn had been an older version of me was now incredibly disturbing. “Um . . . well. Things changed. I grew up. And I don’t like the person he’s become.”

Candice made a frustrated noise but played it off by looking at her phone when Eli looked at her questioningly.

“What do you mean? What’s he like now?”

I ground my teeth and locked my jaw. Pulling my phone out of my purse, I typed out a quick Rescue me text to Kash with the name of the restaurant and tried not to scream at Candice when she responded.

“Rachel just doesn’t like the fact that he’s a player now.”

Eli barked out another laugh and signed the check. “I’m sure she doesn’t. You girls ready?”

“I’m going to go back to the apartment,” I said softly as I grabbed my purse and got out of the booth.

“You’re serious, you really aren’t going to come?”

“No. But let me know if I can see you tomorrow before you have to fly back to California, ’kay?” I hugged him tight and wondered again why he couldn’t have been the one to save me from Blake.

He kissed my temple and began leading me out to the parking lot. “Well, I’m still going to drive you back.”

“No, it’s fine. I have a friend coming to pick me up. You two go meet up with him.”

“Oh . . . well, then. All right, I guess.” It came out as more of a question, and I couldn’t blame him.

I would never normally have passed on spending time with him, especially since Candice and I never got to see him anymore. But if they were going to be with Blake . . . I just couldn’t.

They waited with me until Kash pulled up, and Eli instantly took on the big-brother stance. “Do I need to have a talk with this guy?”

Candice and I both laughed but I just hugged Eli and kissed his cheek before heading toward the truck. “He’s harmless, Eli, promise. His only problem is that he has a bad habit of waking me up early and forcing me to make pancakes, but he’s just our neighbor.”

“Just.” Candice snickered and grinned mischievously at me.

“You should really ask Candice about her relationship with his cousin.” I made a faux-shocked face before blowing a kiss to Candice and practically throwing myself into Kash’s truck.

“Bitch!” was her muffled response, and I grinned at Kash until I saw the hard set of his jaw and mocking eyes.

“So she’s the lucky winner tonight?” he asked after a few minutes of silent driving.

“Excuse me?”

“Kinda surprised you’re not more upset about it.”

“Well, I kinda want to know what I’m supposed to be upset about.” I crossed my arms under my chest and turned so my back was resting against the door so I could look at him more easily. What is his problem? I made the douche bag pancakes two days ago! And I told him all about Blake this morning. That was hard for me; now he’s going to treat me like this? “I got the job, by the way, in case you were wondering.”

He shook his head and rested his forearms on the steering wheel while he waited for the light to turn green. “Knew you would, and Rod called me this afternoon so I already knew that you did. You start tomorrow night?”

“Mmm-hmm. Are you going to tell me why I’m supposed to be upset?”

“Because that guy is taking Candice home tonight instead of you.”

My head jerked back and I could only imagine the disgust dripping from my expression. “Ew! What?!”

Kash looked quickly between the road and me a couple of times. “That guy. I saw you launch yourself at him earlier. He kept kissing your cheek, and now he’s taking Candice back to his place.”

I slammed my fist over my mouth and swallowed. “Oh God, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.”

“Shit, do you need me to pull over?”

“No, no. Oh, just ew, Kash! You and Mase kiss my head all the time. Mason picks me up almost every time I see him.”

“So?”

“So? So! So, Eli is Candice’s older brother that I grew up with and I actually view like my own brother. Besides Candice he was the best friend I had. He helped me through—” I cut myself off quickly and blew out a deep breath. “He helped me through a lot when I was younger. But I have never once viewed him as anything other than family and a friend. He even calls me sis, for crying out loud. Candice isn’t going home with him, they’re going to meet up with their cousin for drinks and I didn’t want to go.”

Kash’s face relaxed, and though I expected him to look embarrassed, he just turned and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like him?”

“Seriously, this conversation is grossing me out.”

He blew out a deep breath and the corners of his mouth tipped up. “Why didn’t you want to go to drinks with their cousin?”

Don’t shake. Don’t shake. I gripped the seat belt like it was a lifeline and worked at keeping my heart rate under control. “He and I have bad history, I really don’t like him.” God, even I could hear the shakiness in my response. Before Kash could comment on it, I forced myself to sound as normal as possible, but I sounded like a cracked-out Valley girl instead. I definitely wouldn’t be winning any Oscars in my life. “Logan Hendricks, were you jealous of Eli?”

“What? Come on, Rach, I just didn’t like that he was playing both of you like that. Or that I thought he was, anyway.” He started sucking on that lip ring again and my eyes zeroed in on the action.

We’d just pulled into a parking spot, so I took off my seat belt, leaned in close enough that I could smell his cinnamon gum, and whispered, “Liar,” before throwing open my door and hopping out of his truck.