“I appreciate that, Mr. Rosetti.”
“My name’s Rio,” he said—words he hadn’t managed to say to Casey until it was much too late. But really, who was she kidding? She would’ve been leery of Dave’s teammate Rio. Dazzled by his pretty face and his beyond-hot Navy SEAL body, she probably would’ve done something really stupid, like give in to their clearly mutual attraction and sleep with him—and then awkwardly try to get to know him, and let him get to know her—which never worked in the aftermath. At least it hadn’t for her, so far in her life.
Instead, she’d gotten to know Luc, who was not a real person, but rather someone carefully constructed to match perfectly with Dave—which also happened, as it turned out—no big surprise—to be a perfect fit for Casey.
He was still speaking, saying something about how Jon had, at some point, back before he got sober and less stupid, let slip to his drug-running buds that his sister was rich and famous, which was maybe why they’d tried to kill her in the Werewulf’s parking lot—so that Jon would get his hands on her alleged mountains of cash.
It was beyond ridiculous, like she’d ever in a billion years make an addict—for whom she’d had countless interventions—her beneficiary. But who knows what Jon had claimed in his quest to get drinks and drugs with his wallet empty and his credit cards maxed out.
“I think you should be as cautious as possible,” Rio continued. “Chief Taylor told me you’re getting a room at the Del, to hunker down. That’s good—it’s smart. At least for the short term. But please, I really think you should go there first thing, and get Casey from the car to the room as quickly as you can. After you’re secure, I’ll pick up Jon’s car and bring it to him—you can leave the keys with the chief—or at the Del’s front desk, whatever works best for everyone. That’ll kill two birds with one stone—it gets Casey to safety sooner, plus it gives me an excuse to check in again with Jon. Which I know will make Casey feel better, too. You know? Because the hiding-while-her-brother-is-in-danger thing isn’t going to be easy for her.”
He was talking like he knew her—and he was dead right. This was not remotely easy.
“I’ll check with her and get back to you,” Ella said, again diplomatically, since Casey knew without a doubt that Ella already approved of Rio’s revision to their plan. Because how could Casey turn down his generous offer—to check on Jon at the freaking Infinity Lounge…?
“Welp, I’m going to say yes, so I might as well just say it now.” Casey couldn’t stay silent another moment.
“Casey?” Rio said, his voice cracking a little in surprise.
“Yup, I’m here. Ella insisted on driving with an open phone line.”
“Ella’s good at her job,” he said.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him bluntly. “You’ve made it very clear that you don’t like Jon very much—”
“Yeah, well I don’t want him to... get beat up again, or...”
“Die,” she said for him, because obviously he wasn’t going to say it.
“I really don’t think he’s going to die,” Rio objected.
“Yeah, because you’re going to keep finding reasons to check up on him and make sure he doesn’t, right?”
He laughed a little. “Well, yeah, that was kind of... yeah.”
“If you help him survive this, then yes, you’re probably right. Despite the fact that you’re a bullshit liar, I’ll probably fuck you again.”
“Whoa!” he said. “That is not— Jesus, you’re damaged! Shit! Shit, I’m sorry. Look, I know you were blindsided, and I’m so sorry I did that to you, and I know that you’re scared, and you gotta know that I’m scared, too—”
“Do I?” Casey said hotly.
Ella interrupted, her voice calm but her words steely. “Please note that I have no intention of leaving this line. If you’re going to talk about this, you’re going to have to do it in front of me.”
“I don’t want to talk about this!” Rio said. “I said that I wasn’t going to talk about this because I am not about making your life harder right now, but Christ, when you says things like that... Casey, I lied to you, yeah. About my name, and about the fact that I love Dave differently than you thought, but everything else was— Jesus, I just want to talk to you, but not now, not until I fucking go and fucking help your goddamn fucking idiot of a brother! Will you please get yourself safely secured at the goddamn Del and let me do that?”
“Yes,” Casey whispered.
“Thank you,” Rio said. He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush of noisy air. “And if my helping Jon wins me any kind of prize or reward, it’s gonna be us sitting down to talk, because you are not getting to fuck me again until we have a long goddamn conversation, the way I wanted to, last night.”
She laughed. “You seriously think that I want—”
“Hey, you’re the one who brought it up. I’m just clarifying my personal boundaries.”
“It wasn’t that good.”
“Yes,” he said, “it was.”
Casey said nothing. She couldn’t, because… she couldn’t deny it.
