Bash, who had grown impatient when his cousin and Piper hadn’t returned, had stepped out to view the scene on the beach. Just as the pair came into view, Luke pulled Piper into an embrace, and Bash’s face fell. A few moments later, though, Bash’s spirits rose when he watched her stalk purposefully across the street at least six feet in front of Luke – hardly the posture of someone dependent or connected. She didn’t look upset, just – indifferent.

When she approached him and Molly, then, Bash was able to greet Piper with decent equanimity.

“I packed you up,” Molly informed as Piper stepped onto the step. “I’m going to put this in Luke’s rental. Here, Luke.”

As if intent on running interference for her best friend, Molly stepped between Piper and her pursuer – because that’s what Luke had seemed – handing him one of the bags to place into the car. Unable to refuse with any rational explanation, he took the bag and headed back toward the car as Piper pressed past Bash and Molly into the house.

Molly seemed more able to interpret the dynamics than Bash, and she lifted the keys to Piper’s Accord and informed Bash that she would put the bag in the car. With a motion of her head, Molly directed Bash to follow Piper inside, which he did gratefully.

He and Piper would take the Accord to retrieve Lily, while Luciano and Molly would head to Molly’s mother’s house. For the first time in his life, Bash found himself hating the idea of trusting something to his older cousin. But if he had to choose, he would choose to send Molly rather than Piper. He couldn’t really mistrust Luciano, but he had noticed something in the man’s treatment of Piper that raised Bash’s hackles. And since the previous evening, Bash had noticed a difference in the way Piper had watched his cousin: fascination mingled with suspicion. A dangerous combination.

A few minutes later, Molly stepped inside and informed Piper that she was about to leave. Piper left the kitchen, a small bag of snacks in hand, and Bash and the two ladies made their way out the front door. After a quick hug for Molly, Piper headed to her car, seating herself in the driver’s seat, and Molly walked to the rental with Luke on her heels. Grabbing him by the arm, Bash stopped his cousin.

“You would tell me if you knew something important, wouldn’t you?” Bash leveled.

Suspicious, Luciano scrutinized his cousin’s face. “Is everything okay?” he wondered.

“Just, please, answer the question.”

A brief moment of hurt flashed through Luke’s eyes, but he nodded slowly and answered in the affirmative. “I will get Molly to her mother’s. I’m not sure what I’m doing after that.”

Fortunately, the sincerity on his cousin’s face gave Bash confidence in his words. If Luke planned something dangerous, it would only be after he dropped off Molly. The name “Panic Rex” brought chills to Bash’s skin. Even more than the Perucanas, the gang that had run Bash’s neighborhood when he was a child, Panic Rex had a reputation for ruthlessness and power – a bad combination. Bash guessed that, if his cousin still had contacts there, the man could probably handle them.

Spinning back to the little house, Bash walked to the front door to drop the key into the lockbox. To his surprise, when he turned back, Luke stood leaning against the open door of the Accord’s driver side. Piper peered up at him with that infuriating curiosity, and Luke had turned on the charm – casual confidence and smiles and attentiveness. Bash wanted to lay into his cousin about his attention to Piper, but he had no right. Not only did Piper owe Bash no loyalty, Bash himself had basically given Luke the greenlight to “charm” her. When Bash looked back at the pair, Luke had leaned down and gripped Piper’s hand before dropping it and returning to the rental.

As Bash approached the Accord, he opened the door with caution. Piper seemed distraught, but Bash didn’t think it was his presence. She kept glancing over at the car where Molly sat with Luke, and he couldn’t tell which one of them Piper looked at.

“Can I have a ride?” Bash interrupted Piper’s thoughts. “I mean, if you don’t want me to go with you to get Lily, maybe you could take me to a rental place so I can rent another car.”

Exasperated, Piper sighed. “No, you don’t need to do that,” she announced. The memory of Bash wiping literal egg off his face where Lily had thrown it softened her anger at the previous day’s imposition. “Unless you’re in a hurry to get home. You can ride with me to get Lily – she liked you.”

“Unlike you,” Bash murmured as he lowered himself to the seat. Aloud, he declared, “Molly is going to be okay. You’re right to trust Luciano in this – I mean, I think you are. He’s a good guy, but I haven’t seen him since high school, so I have no idea what he has done since then. One thing I know about him, though, his first instinct has always been to protect people. He’ll get Molly home before he does anything crazy.”

Not responding right away, Piper shifted the car into drive and headed down the highway behind the rental. They would split at the Parkway, and Piper did not like it. Still, Molly had insisted, especially after Piper had resorted to some pretty low tactics to force the issue.

“I’m glad she’s going to be somewhere safe,” Piper hummed, staring at some fixed point above the road. “Until she calls me and tells me she safe, I’ll be a basket case, though.”

“If you want to pull over and switch,” he offered, “I’ll drive so you can talk to her on the phone until she gets there.”

Piper actually laughed, a sound Bash had really missed. “Almost two hours to New Haven? Even I can’t talk that much.” She glanced at him. “I forgot how much I like that,” she smirked, and he looked up in shock.

“What do you like?” he queried doubtfully.

“Your smile. It’s really charming.”

Ironically, the words made Bash frown. “You are very confusing.”

Piper pursed her lips, feeling a tad guilty but not really knowing why. “I’m not confusing.”

“You have been nothing but rude to me for two days, and all the sudden we are alone, you are kind again.”

Biting her lip, Piper pondered the words. He was right. It was as if, once she hadn’t felt the weight of protecting her best friend, she could relax. “I…” she started hesitantly. “When I have someone I love around me, I just go into protection mode. Molly needed me to protect her.”

“From me?” Bash accused.

“From everyone and everything!” Piper insisted. “I mean, most of the time, the instinct is subdued, but Molly had literally been kidnapped. Right now, my insides are crawling with nervousness because I don’t trust Luke with her. But honestly, I trust Luke to get her there as much as I trust anyone else but me.”

“I’ll have to remember to put on my bullet proof vest after we pick up Lily so you don’t shoot me preemptively.”

Piper gasped. “You have a bullet proof vest?”

“You completely missed the point,” Bash threw his hands up. “No, I don’t have a bullet proof vest. Luke probably does, if that’s what excites you.” He stiffened, leaning against the passenger side door. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a minute to check my messages from my professors and make sure that this trip hasn’t affected my grades.”

Another pang of guilt pricked at Piper, but she just closed her mouth and let him work in silence. She couldn’t stand it after a minute though. “Is it okay if I turn on music?”

Raising his head slightly, he gave assent, and a minute later, rhythm and melody filled the car. Piper tried to keep her eyes off of him as he drove, but she kept finding her vision drawn to him. He seemed – angry.

“Bash,” she began, not sure whether to give in to irritation or show concern. Are you mad at me?”

Bash blew out a breath, “Maybe frustrated. Not mad. Mostly concerned.”

“Concerned?”

Rather than give vent to all his thoughts, Bash tried to cut off the conversation. “Don’t worry about it, Piper,” he sighed. “I live in far too many worries to burden another person with.”

“Sebastian…” she consoled. “I’m really sorry about my…confusion.”

“It’s not your confusion I worry about, Piper. I understand why you are struggling right now. This whole situation is – insane. It’s amazing that you’re not, and I don’t want someone screwing with your mind.”

For full minute, Piper said nothing. In one way, he was right – she had enough to deal with. What did her mean, though, “screwing with her mind”? “Bash, you can’t say things like that.”

“I’m sorry; I just…what has Luke been saying to you? What did he say on the beach?”

I have nothing to be ashamed of, Piper assured herself. “The beach? I just…nothing really. I was upset, and he told me it would be okay.”

“He didn’t try to, I don’t know. Did he try to kiss you or anything?”

“What are you, in high school? Jealousy is not becoming on you.”

“Piper, have some sense. I’m not jealous.” At least that is not why I’m asking. “I’ve been getting some weird vibes from Luke, and I can’t figure it out. I’ve known him my whole life, but I haven’t seen him in five years. It’s disorienting. It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing someone else’s face.”

“Look, Sebastian,” Piper leveled. “I loke Luke, but I don’t know him near well enough to understand what is his regular behavior. He was nice on the beach – helpful – and I’m not prepared to see anything beyond that, no matter what ‘weird vibes’ you have.”

“Piper - ”

“No, Sebastian.” Piper breathed a sigh of relief as the car turned into Jennie’s driveway. “If you want to investigate your cousin, that’s your business. I’m going to think of him as his behavior toward me determines.” Without waiting for Bash’s reply, she opened her door and stepped out onto the gravel path. She paused for a second to shoot her sister a text, and she didn’t look back at Sebastian. “Hope she’s okay with surprises,” Piper murmured as she made her way to the door.

“Piper - ” Bash repeated, hurrying to catch her step. She was saved from replying by her sister, who opened the door to her before Piper could knock.

Jennie did a double take when she saw Sebastian, and only Piper’s glare stifled her obvious surprise. With a terse smile, she held her hand out to present him to her sister. “Sebastian Rivera, a grad student at Brown.”

“Nice to meet you, grad student at Brown,” Jennie quipped. “I’m Jennie Pendergrast, mother of two and sister to this little piece of attitude.”

“Jennie!” Piper complained, and Bash stifled a smile. Once they were inside, Bash walked over to sit by Lily, and Jennie pulled her sister aside.

“What happened to him?” she wondered.

“What do you mean?” Piper hedged, a tad guiltily.

“I mean,” her sister explained. “He just looks so miserable. Is he just a morose person? He seemed a little sullen.”

“He wasn’t,” Piper insisted, her pique rising more than she would have expected at the accusation against Sebastian. “He was charming and considerate from the beginning.” Except the one big exception. “I just failed to be charmed. I think it’s made him kind of depressed.”

Jennie shook her head at her sister. “So, you failed to be charmed means you’re being stubborn…”

Piper scoffed, affronted. “I have my reasons not to be charmed,” Piper insisted. “You don’t know enough to accuse me of stubbornness.”

“I know enough,” Jennie corrected. “I’ve known you for twenty-two years, and I know when you are being stubborn. I can read you even if I don’t know any of the circumstances.” She glanced over at where Sebastian played with Lily and Noelle. “Besides, if you really didn’t like him, you wouldn’t let him anywhere near those little girls.”

Watching him sit on the ground with the two toddlers, handing dolls back and forth to them with a huge smile on his face, Piper knew her sister was right. She did like Bash, and she was maybe being a tiny bit stubborn. Of course, the cousin had completely discombobulated her, but when her mind was back to near normal, she only cared about Bash. When his eye caught hers, his smile faded, and Piper’s heart broke. She hadn’t meant to treat him like a criminal; she had only meant to protect Molly.

When she crossed the room, she stood in front of him, abashed, until he looked up at her. “Do you want me to show you the guest room?” she offered meekly.

Bash’s face softened, and he stood to his feet, carefully setting Noelle on the ground.

“Where will you sleep?” he wondered as they made their way upstairs and down a corridor. “I can take the couch.”

Piper managed a small smile. “I’ll sleep in the girls’ room with Lily. I think she’s missing her parents.” Opening the door at the end of the hall, Piper showed him into the cozy guest room. She walked to the other side of the room and opened another door. “This is a bathroom so you can have some privacy.” She reached to the dresser next to the bed and opened the bottom drawer. “Here are some towels if you want to take a shower. Also, Jennie keeps a stash of individually wrapped, unopened toothbrushes in the bathroom drawer, along with those tiny toothpaste tubes.”

As she had spoken, Piper hadn’t looked up at Sebastian, still not sure if she could let go of her stubbornness. She now realized that she had not been particularly kind to him for the past couple of days, but she couldn’t fully blame herself. Still, now that she didn’t feel like she was cast adrift and trying to save someone else from drowning, she thought maybe she had reacted a little too fiercely.

She started out of the room, but Sebastian gripped her arm gently.

“I’m sorry,” he hummed, and Piper suddenly realized how close they stood to each other. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

When she recognized his words, she stepped back enough to look up into his face. “You’re sorry?” She had been so concerned about her stubbornness that she had almost forgotten what made her stubborn.

“I’m sorry I held you.”

Piper gulped, his words ambiguous as he stood so close to her.

“I’m sorry I took away your choice,” he continued. “I just,” he let go of her and turned away, running his fingers through his hair. “You made me scared. You were ready to do anything for Molly, and I was afraid you would hurt yourself.”

With a deep breath, Piper forced herself back another step. She remembered that night on the beach, how his presence had affected her, and the memory felt much more intense now, standing in his room with so much emotion and tension. Even then, she had trusted Bash way too easily. She would not let her attraction for him bring her to make the mistake again.

“I understand,” she stated calmly, meeting his gaze with steady eyes. His eyes were not steady, and as Piper backed into the hallway, shutting the door behind her, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She knew she had made the right decision: she would not offer forgiveness just yet, not until the moment she could believe he wouldn’t trample her again. When he looked at her that way, though, she worried that she might give him almost anything he asked.