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I turned, my jaw hanging open, to find Dani smiling at me and Danica giving me sympathy eyes.
“What is he even doing here??”
Next to me, Alyssa sipped her mojito while checking out Shane over my shoulder. “He appears to be stalking you.” She looked around. “Also… I see, like, all of his brothers over there.”
I glanced over, and there they were. The Ellis brothers. Plus a bunch of other guys. They’d just come in and were rallying up at the bar to get drinks.
They’d brought the bachelor party here?!
Jacob wasn’t with them. They must’ve dropped him at home.
I looked at my cousins, then narrowed my eyes at Danica, who looked guilty. “Did you tell them where we were?”
“I didn’t tell them anything. Your mom was texting Jacob in the limo, though. She might’ve gleaned that we were planning to come here and you know, mentioned it? It is a good bar…”
I made an aggravated sound no one could probably hear and glanced at Dani. She was chatting with a group of her girlfriends, who’d just arrived. Danica went back to agonizing over the menu, trying to decide if she really wanted to keep drinking or not.
I turned to Alyssa, blocking the guys out of my peripheral vision and my mental space, and forcibly changed the subject. This was ladies’ night.Screw those guys.“I don’t remember Dani being such a sexual mercenary. Did I miss that?”
“Uh, yeah,” Alyssa said. “She hasn’t changed. Except to get more mercenary.”
“God, I’ve missed you all. So, so much.”
“Good. Then never leave us again.” My best friend raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry. You know I have to.”
“Is California really that much better?”
“No. It’s hot. And beautiful and exciting. And so expensive. I practically weep every month when I just barely make rent. And I’m pretty sure I’m never moving back, even if it means my dad gets to win the silent battle with my mom over who’s the better parent. Mom is, obviously. But Dad’s gonna live in his delusions as long as I stay down there. It’s a sad side effect.”
Alyssa frowned. “It’ll be better for you here. Your whole family is here.I’mhere. And he’s not.”
“I know. I went down there because I thought I’d find something I was missing, you know? Discover something about myself that magically told me who I was supposed to be or something. But all I discovered were reasons why my dad abandoned me, and none of them are my fault. And that I’m the same person no matter where I go. I’m just… me.”
“Being you is not so bad, Jolie.”
“True. I think I wanted to throw a pity party for myself growing up because my daddy left me. But my daddy was a self-centered jerk so, really, he did me a favor. At least I’m getting a great stepdad now. It’s just…”
“Too late?” Alyssa filled in.
“Yeah. Pretty much. Like, where was Jacob Ellis when I was nine and really needed a father figure?”
“Well, think of it this way. If your mom met him back then, this crush you have on his son really would be super gross.”
“What?” I leaned toward her. We were half-shouting to hear each other over the crowd and the music. “Wait. I thought you said crush.”
“Yes. Crush. That’s what I said.” She blinked at me not-innocently.
“Alyssa! It’s not a crush. I haven’t eventhoughtabout Shane Madrigal inyears.” A slight exaggeration, but still. What the hell was she saying?
“Uh-huh. But then you came back. And saw him. And flipped out. And then last night you saw him with another woman. And today he asked you to screw him, and I heard you over the phone…”
“So?” Yeah, I’d called her from the café this morning while I was waiting for Mom to pick me up, and told her the whole story. But she didn’t say this then.
“So… I know you,” she concluded.
“You knowwhat?”
