“Wait, why?” I demand, although I’m pretty sure I know what he’s thinking.

“I don’t want you and Rachel on a boat together. She’s a mess, and so are you.”

I raise my eyebrows, and he clarifies. “She was waiting for her boyfriend to propose, and it turned out he was screwing another woman.”

I’m already figuring out how to kill this asshole. My hands ball into fists. Whoever he is, he’s going to die if I ever meet him.

“And you’re still a mess from the Zoë thing. You’re both hurting, and you know how hotheaded we all are when we’re hurting.”

Yeah, I do. I was a total rage-ball in the wake of Zoë’s betrayal, and Connor was patient with me while I worked through a world of fighting and fucking. Well, mostly fucking. There was just the one fight. The one that Rachel unfortunately witnessed.

But yes, I do know how hotheaded we are when we’re hurting.

“Give me some credit, Connor. I’m not a total dog.”

He gives me a look that suggests this is in doubt. (Ouch.) Connor, like every other older brother I know, is insanely protective of Rachel. But if Connor thinks he’s the only reason Rachel’s off limits to me, he doesn’t know me very well. Or, well, Rachel.

From the time she was a cute little kid, Rachel has always been a star student. A good kid, a model daughter. She has always had a life plan, and the idea that she would ever honestly want anything from me except what most women want—the bad boy fantasy—is laughable.

No. Rachel is safe from me, except in my dreams.

And I’ll have to find some other way to save Brody’s Boat and my relationship with my brothers.

4

Rachel

“Rachel,” my mom says. “I need your help.”

I turn to look at her. She’s sitting on the couch, both feet on the coffee table, soft cast resting on a pillow. She’s propped up with all the other throw cushions and surrounded by books, her tablet for streaming movies, water bottles, and snacks.

“What is it, Mami?” I ask, ready to give her whatever she asks for.

Since I arrived back home, my mother has been desperately trying to snap me out of my funk. Smothering me with fragrant hugs. Cooking my favorite meals, fricase de pollo, carne con papa, lechon asado with all the fixings. She told me she never liked Werner anyway; he took me for granted (probably true) and had a stick up his butt. That comment caused me to have a terrible flashback to his rearview.

Finally, when all else failed to cheer me up, she introduced me to Crash Landing on You, her favorite Korean drama. Even though she was on episode thirteen and watching with me meant she had to start over.