Suddenly he was alone in his room with the door open, mentally kicking himself for pulling away like he had. Eli didn't want to move to fast with her, didn't want to scare her off but he could have been more smooth about it. "You're an idiot Weevil," he muttered to himself before turning to walk out of the room and down the hall, or at least he intended to when he was stopped by his cousin. "One word and you will lose more than just your teeth," he muttered as he pushed past Chardo.

Walking into the kitchen he got a smile from his abuela along with a small plate of cookies with milk which caused him to smile. He felt like a child but he wasn't going to complain, cookies were cookies and they were made by the girl he sat next to at the table. Part of him wanted to say something but with the kids, Chardo, and his abuela there he didn't think now was the right time.

"You made these?" Letty asked as she turned to attention to Veronica after she'd eaten one of the cookies.

"I did," Veronica smiled, blushing covering her face. "I used to be on pep squad and I know that the guys on the athletics teams liked when I added some orange zest in the cookies so I've been making them that way ever since."

"I'm going to have to steal hat from you but when did you have time to make these?"

"Go right ahead I got it from my mother and god only knows where she got it from," she laughed. "This afternoon. I've learned to be efficient with my time plus I had all afternoon and they don't take that long to make," she smiled as she looked at the older woman.

"I..." Eli started but didn't get to finish.

"Hush Eli," she said and turned to Veronica, earning a giggle from the girl.

Eli wasn't sure what to think, sure his abuela liked to visit with guests but she hadn't even let him get anything out other than the one word. He wondered if she knew he'd messed up, that he'd made a mistake pulling away like he had but there was no time to dwell on it. All he knew was that his abuela seemed to really like Veronica and that was a good thing. It meant she wouldn't sit and question him if he said he was going to visit Veronica or having her over. It made his life easier when she wasn't on him about who he hung out with and what he did. The PCH Bike Club was the one thing she had been on him about since he'd joined and even more since he'd become leader after the Reaper disappeared.

As he ate his cookies he listened to the two chatter and a smiled to himself. When he was finished he walked into the kitchen with Chardo following behind, grateful that the women weren't paying attention to them when he heard what left his cousin's mouth.

"Are we going to ride tonight or are you going to tap that fine white ass?" he asked as he moved to take care of his plate and glass after Eli was finished.

It only took a moment for Eli's anger get the better of him but before he knew it he'd punched Chardo in the stomach. "One more word, I dare you to say just one more thing about her and I promise this will seem like a vacation," he said without answering Chardo's questions. Leaving him in the kitchen to nurse his wounds Eli walked back into the dinning room where his abuela and Veronica were sitting.

"When you're finished Chardo has volunteered to take care of the plates," he offered, earning a glare from his cousin but not caring what he was thinking right now.

"That's so kind of you Chardo," Letty smiled as she moved to hand the boy the plates and glasses from herself, the children, and Veronica.

"I'm going to run Veronica home before it gets too dark," Eli said earning a smile from his abuela and nod from Veronica.

It wasn't until they were to the car that he realized that Veronica hadn't even made eye contact with him but he wasn't going to make a scene, he was going o try and talk to her though. He'd opened the passenger door for her and then once she was inside he got in and started the car, pulling out of the drive and started in the direction of her apartment.

"V, I'm sorry about...pulling away like I did in my bedroom," he started and then he was cut off again, this time by the blonde in the passenger seat.

"No it's okay, I wouldn't want to touch me either I were you and I'd heard the stupid rumors people I hate were spreading. Hell they might be true I don't really know because the whole night is a bit fuzzy besides me being there and getting handed a drink by someone then the next day waking up in a spare room at the Pomroy's with my underwear on the floor. But you, out of everyone I didn't think would listen to those stupid rumors. Guess I'm wrong, you're just like everyone else," she said.

Eli couldn't say anything at first but what came out of her mouth made his blood boil. Not because he was mad at her but because he was mad at what she'd just told him, mad that she didn't remember anything and part of him had an idea of why she couldn't remember anything though he wasn't going to say anything, not just yet. But beyond that he was mad because she'd said the one thing he hoped she didn't think about him, that he was just like the 09ers.

"Let me finish, I'm sorry for pulling away like that, it has nothing to do with you. I just didn't want to scare you, you're not the kind of girl that I would expect to be into the leader of the PCHers. I didn't want to do anything you didn't want or ask me too," he said, filing away the information he'd just learned in the back of his mind. He would find out what she was talking about and find out what was true and what wasn't because unlike her, who had a reason to let it go, he didn't. He didn't have to be scared of the 09ers and what they would do to him because he could do worse and he know that most of them were scared of him in some way. "I can swear to you that I am nothing like the 09ers. I'm not just going to ditch you because you chose your own family over the Kanes. And I can promise I'll never leave you without a reason, I don't want to hurt you, you've been hurt enough."