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But stopped short. Eli was alone at the bar, stirring the ice cubes in his glass.

“Where’s Blake?” I asked when I reached him.

Eli scowled, not even looking up at me. “He left.”

“What? How?”

“I dunno.” Eli waved a hand vaguely. “Terri… Trish… whatever her name is, she was coming onto him.”

“What happened?” I asked, even though it was none of my business.

“He gave her a hard no.”

A warmth spread over me; which was stupid because again, I shouldn’t have cared.

But I did.

Just as I was about to turn and look for him, Eli crunched ice in his jaw. “Why are you so obsessed with him, Cassandra?”

“Obsessed?” My stomach did a full roll. “I’m not obsessed.”

“You have like… a thing for him. You know he’s married.”

I gaped.

It was only then I noticed Eli swaying slightly on his stool.

“You’re drunk,” I said, “So I’ll consider forgiving your assholery tonight. But we’ve already been over this. I would never go for a married man.”

“Except Blake.”

I gritted my teeth. “You know, I was going to offer to walk you home. But you can find your own damn way through the dark.”

Eli managed to focus well enough to glare at me. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

How bad would it be to strangle my brother in our restaurant in front of all our staff? I reached into my purse and pulled out a few bills, getting the bartender’s attention and then handing them to him. He was a good kid; his name was Manuel. I knew he had a baby at home. “Can you make sure he at least gets pointed in the direction of the staff apartments?” Even if our meals were all comped here, I didn’t want our staff to have dealt with our nonsense for nothing. They deserved all the tips in the world.

“I have a break in a minute,” he said. “I can walk him there myself.”

Relief ran over me. I knew Eli would have made it back home, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about him. “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll tell Reese to add an extra half hour to your timesheet for your trouble.”

I strode out of the bar at first looking for Blake, and when I didn’t see him, told myself I was going home.

But I didn’t head in the direction of the staff entrance. Instead, I went to the front. I stepped out onto a wide walkway flanked by beautifully landscaped foliage. Right now, they were only shadows, but I didn’t notice that. I didn’t take in the rain dampening my skin or the parking lot spotted with puddles.

The only thing I saw was Blake Harrington, sitting on a bench, rain plastering his hair to his forehead.

I was soaked too by the time I reached him. “You look worse than the first time I saw you,” I called.

He turned, his face pained. When he saw it was me, he stood up fast. “Cassandra,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if it was a greeting or surprise. “Lila took the car.”

“I know.”

“I was going to get an Uber.” He swayed slightly. He was drunk, of course. Very drunk if he’d been keeping up with Eli.

“We don’t have those here,” I said.

Blake nodded as if he’d already figured this out. He looked out to where the road leading from the parking lot twisted into the trees.