Walking back to the bar for refills, I went over to where Bryce was mixing drinks and gave him my order. I couldn’t face Kash right now. He would know something was wrong . . . he would—
“Babe, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Did something happen?”
—do that. “I’m fine.” I tried to smile at him, but it felt wrong and his expression told me he wasn’t buying it for a second.
“Rach, don’t lie to me.”
Bryce’s eyes bounced between us as he handed me my drinks.
“I’m fine,” I repeated, and thanked Bryce before taking the drinks to the table.
Making my way across the restaurant to clear off an empty table, my body froze and all the air left my lungs in one hard rush when I heard him directly behind me.
“To refresh your memory, sweetheart, you belong to me.”
Please let this be a nightmare. His large hand touched my lower back as he came up to my side and my body began shaking.
“Long time, no see,” he said, and lowered his voice. “Hiding, Rachel?”
Oh God, did Candice tell him where I work? “Leave me alone.” I hated how small my voice sounded, but I couldn’t force out anything more than a whisper. I refused to look over at him, and when he stepped closer, I dropped my head to stare at the floor.
His other hand came up to my stomach and brushed gently back and forth, just above the top of my shorts, and I prayed I wouldn’t start dry-heaving in the middle of the restaurant. “Never. I gave you the summer to realize that you needed me, wanted me. Obviously you need more time, but make no mistake, you are mine. What I’m not okay with is someone else touching you. Kissing you.”
“Please leave.”
“Who is he, Rachel? Boyfriend? Fuck buddy? And before you answer that, know that either of those two answers would be the wrong one.”
“Rach, everything okay here?” Kash grabbed the arm farthest from Blake and pulled me into him. Blake’s fingers dug into my back momentarily, but he let me go. I still couldn’t take my eyes off the floor.
“Everything’s fine. We were just catching up for a second,” Blake answered. His voice had dropped the threatening tone and was the smooth and silky voice everyone else knew and loved. “I haven’t seen Rachel since school ended.”
“Babe . . . ,” Kash whispered softly.
Blake’s arm shot out in front of me and I cringed back. “Blake West. Rach and I go way back.”
“Logan . . . Hendricks. Rachel’s boyfriend.” He accepted Blake’s hand and shook it hard once before dropping it.
“You’re a very lucky guy,” Blake said tightly. “Rachel is extremely picky when it comes to dating and has broken more than a few hearts with her rejections.”
No one said anything as I was caught in the middle of a testosterone-filled staring contest. Kash’s hand ran up and down my back slowly and Blake finally cleared his throat.
“It was good to meet you, Logan. Take care of Rachel for me, will you?” He took a step closer and Kash’s hand stopped on my back. I could feel his body vibrating as it tensed up. “I’ll be talking to you very soon, Rach.”
As soon as he left, I took in a deep breath and Kash leaned close to kiss my cheek and whisper in my ear, “Who was that and how do you know him?”
“That’s Candice’s cousin.”
“I thought you said you had a bad history with him,” Kash said accusatorily as he held me close.
“I do.”
“Then why the f**k was he touching you?”
I’d been afraid Kash would overreact if he knew what was going on, but none of that mattered now that I’d seen Blake and his hands had been on me again. Everything in me was screaming to pull Kash into the back and tell him exactly who Blake was to me. But I didn’t want to voice those words at all, and especially not at work. I couldn’t break down in front of everyone. I needed a distraction. Or to leave. Something, anything to take my mind off Blake.
“Rachel, can you help me with table twelve? I have a party of ten that is driving me crazy.”
Big party. Distraction. I almost cried out in relief. I nodded my head at Amy and began pulling away from Kash. He tightened his arms around me and I looked into his concerned eyes, which didn’t match the furrowed brow and set jaw.
“No more shields. We’ll talk later tonight. But we are talking about him.”
“ ’Kay.” I forced out the word, and when I turned this time, he let me go.
The next three hours dragged. Every time the door opened, I was afraid it would be Blake walking in again. And every time I had to go to the bar or looked over at it, Kash was staring at me with the concerned/pissed look. How he managed to look both, I didn’t know. But he had it nailed. He waited for me to get off and followed me home on his motorcycle.
“Are you ready to talk now?” he asked as we walked toward my apartment.
“Not really, can we do this tomorrow?” My body had been tensed and my breathing ragged for the last few hours. I was exhausted and felt like I didn’t have long before I collapsed and didn’t move for an entire day. All I wanted to do was get out of the clothes that Blake had touched and make myself clean again.
“No, we can’t. Because I had to watch another guy touch you. I had to sit there and watch another guy whisper in your ear. And you’ve been avoiding me since you saw him. You told me you had bad history, and that sure as shit isn’t what it looked like. So we’ll talk about him now,” he demanded as we walked through the door.