Page 78 of Elusion

“She was in no condition to stay after her run-in with that fucking prick. Johnny and Jess rode back with Felicia, and Callie and I took your Jeep.”

“But … I saw you after you came home.” I stare at him in disbelief. “You knew about her family, her past, the reason she stopped seeing me—everything—and you didn’t tell me?”

Rarely do I get angry with Benji, but we’re well on our way for the second time in a few weeks. More than anyone, he knew how miserable I was after Callie ended things. He stole the lyrics that prove it. He knew my trip was nothing more than a last-ditch effort to rid myself of my feelings for her, and he was willing to let me go without knowing the truth.

He shrugs, not seeing an issue. “Not my story to tell.”

“Which makes it perfectly acceptable for you to keep me in the dark about it all?”

“You don’t get to be mad at me for being in the right place at the right time.”

“You sure about that?” I challenge.

His eyes darken as he leans forward in his chair, staring me down. “That girl needed someone, and I was there. She trusted me to help her sort through her shit, and I don’t take that lightly, so get the fuck over it.”

Fuck, he went from chill to intimidating in a nanosecond. As rarely as he makes me mad, he loses his temper even less.

I put my hands up, surrendering. “All right. I’m sorry.”

He relaxes back in his chair. “If anything, you should be thanking me.”

“Thank you,” I say. “You found a way to help her when I couldn’t.”

“I didn’t do it for you; I did it for her. And that’s not what I was talking about.”

“Then what am I thanking you for?”

Scary Benji’s long gone, and his cocky grin appears. “You really think Calico showing up the next day was a coincidence? My hands were all over that reunion, man.” He picks a familiar piece of paper out of his wallet and tosses it over. “You can have those back now. They served their purpose.”

“You showed her these?”

“You two were always going to find your way back to each other. I just gave a little nudge so you wouldn’t screw your way across Tijuana before it happened.”

I look down at the lyrics in my hand and then back at him. “You’re right, Benj. I definitely owe you.”

“We’re family,” he says. “You don’t owe me anything. Unless you fuck it up with her. Then I’m coming for you.”

I don’t doubt that he would for a second. I stick the lyrics in my pocket to destroy later, and he raises his beer. We’re about to have a real bro moment when a female body lands in my lap. Blonde hair flicks me in the face. Perfume assaults me.

“Miss me?” Brooke trails a finger down my neck.

“Get the fuck off me,” I say, pulling my head back from her.

She laughs. “Someone forgot how to be fun.”

And then Callie appears, stopping a few feet away.

Shit. This isn’t happening.

Before I can drop Brooke’s ass to the floor, Callie sits on Benji’s lap. She presses her lips together, and is she trying not to fucking smile?

“Jordan,” she says with amusement in her tone, “who’s your friend?”

“Not a friend. Brooke, you need to—”

“Wait.” Callie looks down at Benji. “This isBrooke?”

Fuck.She knows about Brooke? Jesus Christ, howmuchdoes she know? Uncomfortable fails to describe my kind-of girlfriend knowing anything about a girl I used to screw out of sheer boredom.

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