Dave and her brother weren’t inside the casita where the bulk of the wedding gifts covered a large table in a very shiny pile of wrapping paper and ribbons. They weren’t in the small building’s sole family-style bathroom, either.
Casey quickly went back out to the courtyard, climbing up onto a stone bench to look over the tops of the dancing guests’ heads, checking to see if maybe one or both of them had made it back to their table, but no.
Neither were in line for the bar.
Across the patio, Luc emerged from the bathroom—whoa, he’d obviously checked the women’s room, too—and he immediately spotted her, shaking his head, no.
So Casey did a quick 180 and swiftly headed for the exit to the street, hoping to find Jon taking a meditation break in the car and bingo! There he was.
With... not Dave, not even close. This man was taller and heavier than Dave, and also not wearing a suit. Jean-clad, with an open, worn-out flannel shirt over a grimy T. Bearded but raggedly so. Long, limp, greasy blond hair. Sunglasses. A chipped front tooth.
“Hey,” Casey said as the man turned to look at her—she’d rushed right up to them in her relief at finding Jon. “You okay?” she asked her brother.
He seemed kinda not okay, but Flannel Man spoke. “I was just asking for directions.” He took a step back, hands up a little and out, as if she’d somehow threatened him, but then she realized that Luc, too, had made the scene, running toward them much in the same way she’d done.
“I just wanted to know where the closest Ralph’s is at,” the man said, still backing away.
No doubt because Luc was still looking pretty damn fierce as he stepped first in front of Casey, then shifted to his left so that he was at least partially protectively in front of Jon, too. All the while he moved forward, which made Flannel Man keep backing up.
“We’re not from around here,” Casey said. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Flannel motioned to Jon with his chin. “Never mind, I’ll find it. Thanks anyway.” He turned and headed briskly down the street at a walk that was not quite a run but pretty damn close.
Luc shot a hard look at Jon before turning back to monitor the man’s progress down the street. “That really what he wanted? Directions to the grocery store?” The man finally disappeared from sight around the corner and Luc gave his full attention to her brother.
“Yeah.” Jon was still clearly rattled, but trying to hide it. “That and twenty bucks to spend when he got there. Or at the local Oxycontin-R-Us.” He fluttered his eyelashes at Luc. “Thanks for coming to my rescue, Hot Navy SEAL.”
“Yeah, that shit doesn’t work on me,” Luc muttered as he checked on Casey, looking hard into her eyes. “You okay?”
She tried her best not to melt, because Jon wasn’t wrong. Luc was entirely in Hot-Navy-SEAL mode. And after that dance, after he’d opened up to her about his beloved late uncle... She was completely in love with him. In a he was her gay best friend’s boyfriend way, of course. “Yes, thanks,” she managed to say, before pulling her focus back to her brother. “You disappeared.”
“I needed some alone-time with a side of meditative soothing,” Jon said. “I didn’t realize I needed to raise my hand and get a hall pass in order to do that.”
“You didn’t—you don’t,” she told him. “It was just... Dave vanished, too, so...”
“Your first thought was that I’d, what? Kidnapped him?” Jon motioned to the car. “You wanna check the trunk?” He didn’t wait for her to respond, he just popped it open with his remote.
Casey sighed—but Luc actually shifted so he could look inside. Nope, Dave wasn’t in there.
“You sure you didn’t know that guy?” He pressed Jon.
“He wanted a handout,” her brother said again. “But he was being a little too... forceful about it, so I think maybe I’ll go back to the party with you.”
Luc nodded, looking from Jon to Casey. “That’s probably a good idea.”
“Hey, everything okay?” It was Dave, coming down the sidewalk toward them.
“See?” Jon said, sounding a tad like he was eleven years old and annoyed AF with her. “Not kidnapped and stuffed into my glove compartment.”
Casey huffed her exasperation. “I didn’t think that—” She stopped herself because Jon’s morphing into an eleven-year-old often triggered her own transformation back to her petulant, often unpleasant tweens. And that never helped.
Luc went for the simple truth even as he took Dave’s hand and led him back toward the reception. “You disappeared and I was worried about you. Casey was helping me look. We were checking in with Jon, who came out to the car to decompress.”
Dave nodded. “I went for a walk around the block—just wanted to clear my head. Sorry, I should’ve told you.”
“Nah, that’s okay,” Luc reassured him, giving him that million dollar smile as Casey and Jon followed them in. “But I’m right here. Whenever you need me.”
God, he really was the perfect boyfriend.
