I looked up and saw Candice standing in the kitchen and felt a small stab of betrayal. Had she told Blake where I was? She took one look at us and her eyebrows shot up.

“Just the girl I wanted to see,” Kash declared, and clapped his hands together loudly once. “What is Blake West to Rachel?”

Oh shit.

Candice’s eyes went wide. “My cousin? He’s her ex. They dated a couple months ag—”

“He is not my ex!”

Kash’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re still with him, is that what you’re saying?”

“No!”

Candice put something back in the fridge and walked quickly to the front door. Pointing awkwardly in the direction of the guys’ apartment and waving, she opened the door. “I’m just going to see what Mason’s up to.”

I turned for my room and practically ran in there. I needed to get out of those clothes.

“Rachel. I’m not going to do this with you. Tell me who he is, or I’ll just go with my original assumption. Now that I think about it, you were acting weird before I saw you with him. Was it because he and I were in the same place? You didn’t want your two boyfriends to accidentally run into each other?”

“He was never my boyfriend!”

“Well then what, Rachel? You don’t just act like this for no reason. You don’t just shut me out. And he was touching you, Rach. So explain it.”

Stop reminding me that he was touching me! I quickly took my shorts and shirt off and threw them into the trash in the bathroom. Turning the shower on high, I reached for the hook on my bra and shrugged out of it and my underwear.

“That’s not the hamper,” he said drily, and scoffed when I didn’t respond. “So this is how you’re going to do this. Just ignore me? You can’t even be decent enough to tell me about him? To break up with me like a normal person?”

“I’m not breaking up with you!” I practically shrieked, and tried to step into the shower, but Kash caught my arm and I turned on him. “Who do you think he was, Kash? Who the f**k do you think he is to me?”

“Other than Candice’s cousin, I don’t know! I want you to explain what I saw.” He reached around me and tried to turn off the shower but I smacked his arm back.

“No! I need to get clean, please!”

“You can take a shower after we’ve talked this out.”

“Think about it!” I shrieked, and whirled on him. “Did I look like I was enjoying seeing him? I couldn’t even look at him. Think about when Candice said I was ‘dating’ him. Think. About. It.” Steam was filling the tiny bathroom and again, I tried to go into the shower. I just needed to wash him away. “Please, let me get clean,” I cried.

“Clean,” he whispered like that word had finally sunk in, and sucked in a quick gasp. “Oh my God, Rach—”

“I hate him, Kash. I hate him with everything in me. If I never see or hear from him again, it will be too soon! He tried to ruin me. And today—he saw us kiss. He started texting me. He said I forgot who I belonged to.”

Kash’s hand dropped from my arm and I cried in relief when my body hit the stinging water. I grabbed a loofah and poured shower gel on it before hastily scrubbing at my body. I was grabbing for more shower gel when Kash caught my wrist. I looked up at him and saw his horrified expression.

“Baby, please—don’t . . . don’t tell me he was right there and I did nothing.”

My jaw trembled and I blinked back the tears that began to cloud my vision.

Kash’s face drained of color and his shoulders slumped. “Son of a bitch. You said he worked at UT, I thought—I thought he was a professor. I was expecting some old, sick bastard, not . . . that.”

I shook my head quickly and began scrubbing myself again. “He’s a personal trainer there. He’s only twenty-six.”

His body swayed before going rigid, his eyes wide. “And he’s Candice’s cousin? Her goddamn cousin raped you?!”

Sobs filled the bathroom and I continued to scrub vigorously. “That’s why she didn’t believe me,” I explained when I could take a deep enough breath in. “She was so mad, said I was just accusing him because I didn’t want to date him.”

“What the f**k? She—how could she—”

“He’s her family. She loves him, I get it.”

“There’s nothing to get. That shouldn’t make a difference. Rachel, I’m so sorry. I’m . . . I’m sorry.” He grabbed the loofah out of my hand and tossed it in the tub. Cupping his hands to catch the water, he tried to help wash the suds off me and turned the water off when I was soap free. “You don’t need to get clean, baby. You aren’t dirty. You’re okay.” He wrapped a large towel around my body and pulled me close as I trembled. “You’re okay. I’m so sorry I didn’t realize, I’m sorry I was upset with you.”

I face-planted into his chest and let him lead me into my bedroom. Letting me go for a moment, he flipped off the lights, quickly undressed until he was only in his boxer-briefs, and walked back up to me. Grabbing the comforter off the bed, he had me let go of the wet towel and let it fall to the floor before wrapping me up in the comforter. I climbed onto the bed after him, and he got under the sheet and pulled me close to him, his arms tightening around my shaking body.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered against the top of my head. “You’re safe.”