“Nicole, Kristin, and Denise?” I ask, trying to get the names right. Heather’s best friends are her family, and I’d like not to look like a total douche in front of them.

“Danielle, or Danni for short. That’s whose house this is.” She corrects as she parks in front of a house in West Chase. It’s a modest two-story house on a cul-de-sac, complete with a picket fence and all.

I’m adaptable, but my life hasn’t ever been normal. I’m not sure what the hell I was thinking agreeing to this.

Heather watches me, and then I remember why—her. She wanted me here to meet her friends, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. “Are you okay?” she asks.

“It’s going to be great, baby. Do they know I’m coming?”

I should’ve asked this earlier.

“Umm, well, I kind of didn’t say anything.”

I’m not sure if this is because she didn’t think we’d make it to the weekend or because she didn’t want her friends to freak. Well, here goes nothing.

I take her small hand in mine and smile. “Let’s go surprise them.”

Her one friend, I remember. Nothing specific, but she was who came back stage and urged Heather to come with me, I make a mental note to thank her.

There are a few guys standing over by the front of the yard, pointing at something on the ground, and the smell of food cooking on a grill fills the air. I’m in suburbia and completely out of my element.

We exit the car and the two guys who were shooting the shit stop and look. “Heather,” guy number one calls her name.

“Hi, Peter.” She smiles and waves.

They both head over and Peter extends his hand. “Hi, I’m Peter Bergen.”

“Eli Walsh,” I say, shaking his hand.

I watch as recognition sinks in. “Right, of course.” He looks at the other guy. “Eli, this is Scott McGee.”

We shake, and Scott stares me down. What the fuck is wrong with him? “Nice to meet you both.” I try to keep my instant dislike to myself.

I wrap my arm around Heather, pulling her into my side. I don’t like these guys, well, the one at least.

“Same here. The girls are around back,” Peter says to her.

“Thanks.” She smiles, but it isn’t a real one. It seems I’m not the only one who doesn’t care for these dickheads.

“What’s their issue?” I ask once we’re out of earshot.

She laughs. “Nicole and I hate them. Scott is the worst, but Kristin just makes excuses for him. Peter isn’t that bad, he’s just a sheep and follows what the first idiot says.”

We make our way around the back of the house, and I take it all in. Kids run around in all directions, spraying each other with water guns. The women all have their backs to us, laughing and arranging the food table. It’s exactly like the parties my mom threw when Randy and I were kids.

“Heather!” one of her friends yells and then drops the bowl she was holding. “Holy fuck!”

Heather steps forward, pulling me with her. “Danni, this is Eli, I hope it’s okay that I brought a date?”

I flash one of my million dollar smiles and move toward her. Her eyes haven’t moved from my face, and I’m pretty sure she’s shaking. “Thanks for having me. Heather said you have the best party of the summer.”

“I-I-I,” she stammers. “You’re . . . you . . . in my . . . Eli.”

Heather laughs and nudges Danielle. “I wanted you guys to meet him officially.”

The girl I remember comes walking straight up to me. “I’m Nicole, we met briefly, you may not remember because you were kind of busy trying to get in my best friend’s pants, which you did. Good job on that.”

“Thanks.” I laugh. “And I remember you from climbing the fence.”

She huffs and gives Heather a dirty look. “Yeah, she’s an asshole for that, but it seems you found your way over it as well. Don’t fuck it up, and I won’t have to blow your nuts off.”

“Nicole!” Heather screams and turns to me. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve warned you about her. We think she has a mental disorder that affects her ability to think before she speaks.”

I burst out laughing. “I like her.”

“Oh, God.” Heather covers her face. “Don’t feed the animals, Eli, they bite.”

I say hello to her other friend, who I assume is Kristin since she stands there like a statue without saying a word. Her gaze moves from Heather to me and then back again. I’ve never understood the awe of famous people. We’re normal and have the same issues that everyone else does. The only difference is that I travel, have no friends, and I deal with other famous assholes. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Heather and two of the girls head inside to get some food together and probably talk about me. Nicole laughs when they ask if she’s going to help, and instead, sits beside me with a beer in each hand. “You’re going to need this.” She hands me one of the bottles.

“Thanks.”

“I want you to know that Heather is special.”

I guess since there’s no father or brother in the picture, I’m going to get the speech from her best friend.

“I agree.”

She takes a swig and nods. “I think you’re good for her. I’ve known her my whole life, and there’s something different about her since you came around.”

“Aren’t you breaking some kind of girl code?” I ask.

I’m not sure how these things work with chicks, but if I’m basing it off my experience with Savannah, they’re all deranged. She and her friends talk in some alternate language that Randy and I tried to decode once. In the end, we gave up and decided being on the inside wasn’t worth it. However, I know she’s talked about never breaking the code. Whatever the fuck that means.

“She knows me too well. I don’t have a code.”

“Good to know.” I laugh as I take a pull from my beer.

“I heard about what you did for her sister.”

I know this is a test. What I say now will determine if Nicole helps or hurts me. So far, I think she’s been pro-Eli, but that can change. I’m not a fool.

“What’s important to Heather should be important to who she dates, don’t you think?”

She smiles and then catches herself. “Not all men feel that way. Some think they should be most important. I’m sure in your world it’s that way a lot?”

There are days when I wish people could see the shit I go through. It may look all wonderful on the outside, but it isn’t when you live it. I get hounded by the press, followed by the paparazzi, and forget having any kind of privacy. The only reason I have an ounce of it with Heather is because I’m here. Tampa is where I can be low key. But if Heather and I went to dinner in public, you can bet your ass I’ll have photos taken, which will bring the headlines, questions, assumptions, and everything else. I don’t think that was her point, though. I have a feeling it’s about the loser she married before me.

I weigh my words carefully. “It can be, but not where the people I care about are concerned. Sure, the people who want something from me treat me differently, but if you met my brother or his wife, you’d know that’s not the case. I’m fully aware of Heather’s situation and only a selfish piece of shit would put her in a position to choose.”

Nicole looks off at the kids running around and then back to me. “I’m protective of her.”

“I’m glad.”

“I won’t let you hurt her,” she warns.

“I don’t ever want to hurt her.”

Quite the contrary, actually. I want to be her protector, her sense of comfort, and the one who she can rely on. It’s a primal desire to take care of her. I just don’t know if she’ll let me.

“Wanting and doing are two different things and people tend to protect themselves over another.”

Her words strike me deep in my heart. Is that what I’m doing? Knowingly keeping things from her to protect myself? To be able to have whatever I can have with her at her expense? I hate myself in this very moment.