“Dave was worried about you,” Rio continued, “at a time when he was going into a dangerous situation—a potential firefight. He was getting ready to put his life on the line—”
“I didn’t know.” Jon finally spoke, cutting him off, his mask completely gone.
“Bullshit,” Rio came back at the guy, just as fast. “Dave’s a SEAL. We were in the middle of a national crisis. And I know you’re not an idiot, so...”
“I was on a bender.”
Rio let Jon’s words just sit there, like the giant turds that they were.
Jon laughed a little. “And I lie and I lie and I lie and I lie, but your broken heart’s as true as the blue of the sky...”
He was quoting the lyrics of True Blue, one of the more haunting songs from Casey’s album.
But then Jon surprised him. “That’s from a song I wrote,” he said. “Well, me and Casey. But... mostly me.”
Jon wrote that song, with those lyrics. Huh. “It’s probably my favorite, off the whole album,” Rio admitted.
“Figures,” Jon said. “Since it’s about Dave.”
“I woulda thought that Boomerang was about Dave,” Rio said. He sang a little bit, “You keep coming back to me... Past tense now, of course. I broke him of that unhealthy habit.”
“Jesus, what, does Dave have that album on his phone, on repeat? Every time you get into his car...”
“Nah, I had the album before I even knew Dave was friends with Casey,” Rio admitted. “I’m a fan of Wild Sky.”
“Of course you are,” Jon said. “FYI, all my songs are about Dave.”
“One Night Stand...?”
He had the good grace to wince. “Not that one.”
“Didn’t think so. Still, I’m impressed. You’re good. I had no idea.”
Jon laughed his disgust. “Let me guess. You just assumed that Casey’s a TV star, and Dave’s a Navy SEAL, so that makes me, what? Some giant loser parasite?”
“Well, yeah,” Rio said. “I mean, that’s what you act like, with your big excuse for putting Dave’s life at risk being—” he imitated Jon’s voice, adding a heavy dose of stupid shithead “—I was on a bender. Kinda hard for me to think anything else.”
Jon nodded. “I’m so glad we skipped the small talk.”
Something over the top of Rio’s head caught Jon’s attention, and Rio turned to see Casey and Dave, winding their way through the many tables, heading back to them, laughing and out of breath. He also saw the exact moment they both realized that he and Jon were alone at the table—and the twin looks of Oh shit on their faces as they picked up their pace in order to save him. Or... maybe to save Jon...?
Rio turned back to the asshole. “Understand this: the Boomerang era is over. You lost him, he’s gone. Feel free to write a shit-ton of songs about it—I’m sure they’ll be great—but stay far-the-fuck away from him, capisce?”
“I don’t make him come back,” Jon said. “He just... does.”
“Not,” Rio said. “Anymore.”
Luc hadn’t killed Jon, despite clearly wanting to.
Dave continued to be oddly reticent about his new boyfriend, despite the fact that they’d had more than three and a half minutes of private conversation as they’d slow-danced to Unchained Melody before Twist and Shout had hit the DJ’s playlist.
Casey had lobbed him softball after softball. Luc seems really great. So you and Luc were friends before you hooked up...? And Luc’s suit is really nice. Is it new?
He is, they were, it was.
She’d finally blurted, Luc is quite possibly the most handsome man in the entire universe, and Dave had given her a very strange look and then laughed.
Is he older than you? had gotten her “A few years, yeah.”
