“So what’d you do to screw up this time?”

“What did I do? Nothing. Nothing, unless you can count wanting to be with her.”

Brian looked at me for a second as he slowly chewed his food, and made a sound of disapproval in his throat. “LC, man, I told you. Once they get a restraining order, you can’t keep going near them.”

Despite the aggravation I was still feeling even after sparring with my dad, hard laughs burst from my chest. “Aw, Bri, did you find that out firsthand?”

He shrugged. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Maybe I ended up marrying her despite it.”

My eyes widened, and my mouth curved up. “Riss had a restraining order on you?”

“Fuck no. Her dad did. He got over it eventually. Anyway, I know you didn’t come in here to have me tell you about my life, so continue.”

“Okay, well, this is the part I didn’t want to tell you while you were eating. So stop.” I gave him a look when he started to go for another bite, and after a heavy sigh, he set the burrito down. Again.

“This better be fucking good,” he grumbled, and pouted when he eyed the food again.

“Do you remember Moon? The girl from Vegas?”

“How am I supposed to forget her? She’s the only girl you’ve talked to me about more than once.”

I rolled my eyes at his annoyed tone, but didn’t comment on it. I knew it was just because I’d told him to stop eating. “Well, she’s in San Diego.”

Brian sat up and sucked in a large breath. “No!” he said loudly, drawing out the word.

“And she’s working in Dad’s gym.”

“No! No fucking way, dude! Holy shit!” His excitement died suddenly, and he pointed at me. “I forgive you for making me put the burrito down. This made up for it. But, seriously, what are the chances of this?”

“It gets better. Her uncle is my boss.”

Brian stared at me for a minute with his mouth wide open. “Did you find her through him? Did you see a picture of her or something?”

“No, nothing like that.” I sat back in my chair and told Brian the entire story from the meeting with Eli and Mason up through last night.

Throughout it all, as Brian finished both his burrito and mine, his shock-filled eyes never left me.

When I was done, I held my arms out to the side for a second, then let them fall. “And that’s my problem. It is obvious what she wants, but every time she starts to show or act on it like last night, she just throws another wall in my face.”

“Damn, LC. That is some heavy shit.” Before I could agree, he asked, “When did you figure out you were in love with her?”

My head jerked back. “I’m not.” Brian’s expression turned amused, and I repeated, “I’m not. Jesus Christ, Brian, I’ve only known her name for a little more than a week. I know I won’t stop chasing her even though she’s driving me crazy with how she constantly pushes me back, but that doesn’t mean shit about loving her.”

Instead of trying to convince me that I was in love, like I’d expected him to, he got really quiet and stared at something behind me. When the silence continued and his gaze didn’t waver, I turned to look, but only saw another one of the artists bent over, outlining a tattoo.

“You know,” Brian said suddenly, bringing my attention back to him. “About twenty-five years ago, my station was right over there.” He nodded in the direction where he’d been staring. “I was sitting in there with Chachi, and we had a conversation a lot like this one. He was telling me all about your mom only a couple weeks after he’d met her, and how crazy she was making him. I think I’d been making fun of him because he was whipped by a girl he wasn’t even with, and somewhere in his explanation of her, I realized he was in love with her. He denied it just like you’re doing, but the truth was all over his face. And I swear to Christ that exact same fucking look is on your face right now—and it’s taking me right back to that afternoon with your dad. I told you I’ve seen that tortured look before; trust me when I say, Little Chachi, you’re in love with this chick.”

“Brian . . . I’m not—”

“Don’t worry, LC. You’ll figure it out when you’re ready, just the same as she will. I’ve seen this before. If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here today.”

7

June 13

Kennedy

“ARE WE GETTING out of the car, or are you going to keep sitting here worrying over how fat your ass looks in that bikini?”

My head whipped to the side to face Kira, my mouth and eyes going wide. “Don’t be a—wait! My ass looks fat in this?” My hands immediately went to where my skirt-covered butt was planted in the seat, and suddenly I was worried about it. “Why didn’t you tell me before we left?”

Kira rolled her eyes and reached for the handle of her door. “Because it doesn’t, you’re just pissing me off because you won’t leave the car and we’ve been parked here for eight minutes. But if we don’t get out of here soon, I’m sure you’ll be able to start worrying about having a flat ass.”

“You’re such a brat,” I muttered, and looked straight ahead at the ocean again.

“Are we going or not? I’d rather sit on the couch in the condo than stay in a car that is rapidly turning into an oven.” Before I could respond, she added, “You already know he’s going to be here since he’s the one who invited us. You spent an extra half hour getting ready for him, which is even more pathetic considering we’re going to be at the beach all day.”

“For him? Get ready for him? Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn’t care less what he thinks of me and the way I look.”

“You’re still feeding yourself that line, sis? Neither Liam nor I has believed that since the beginning . . . I’m surprised that you’re still trying to get yourself to believe it.” She laughed, but it sounded more annoyed than anything. “The last time you spent so much time trying to make yourself and those around you believe you didn’t care about someone, he was your—”

“I will kill you if you finish that sentence,” I said, cutting her off, the warning in my tone clear.

Kira raised a challenging eyebrow. “Starting to see the resemblance in the two?”

With a shake of my head, I reached for the handle of my door and tossed the keys onto Kira’s lap. I didn’t exactly want to go hang out with Liam and a bunch of his friends after what happened between us the other night, but right then I would have done anything if it meant having space from my sister. “I don’t know what’s happening between you and Zane, but Jesus Christ, he has turned you into such a bitch.”

Stepping out of the car, I shut my door and began walking toward the sand without looking back. I knew after what I said, it would take Kira a few more minutes to leave the car—if she left it at all—and for a second I felt bad about using Zane against her just then. But then I remembered who she’d been using against me, and it didn’t take me long to get over it.

“Hey!”

I looked up to find Liam jogging toward me, and my body froze. Part of me wanted another taste of what he’d given me not forty-eight hours before, the rest wanted to run from him while I showed him how little he meant to me.