Her TY—thank you—came back almost immediately. That surely meant she was still sitting in traffic—and that he still had plenty of time to shower before picking up Jon’s car at the Del.
Rio put Tasha’s little yellow VW into gear, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed for home.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When the high-end communication system in Ella’s SUV announced “Incoming text from Fuckface,” in its equally high-end, vaguely British dulcet tones, Casey’s first reaction was, wait, what...? But yeah, back when she was sitting in stopped traffic, when she’d unblocked Rio, she’d also changed his name in her phone’s contacts. She didn’t want him coming up the way she’d had him in there, as Luc. Just... no. At the time, Fuckface seemed a better choice. Of course, she wasn’t expecting Ella’s car to recite his new nickname out loud.
But now traffic was moving again, and Ella’s Bluetooth system took hands-free very seriously. It continued by reciting the text—it must’ve been set on some kind of auto-default. “Dave’s safe. He’s in London. Thought you’d want to know.”
Hell, yeah, she wanted to know! Thank you, Fuckface! That was fantastic news, and she appreciated that he’d taken the time to text her.
“Response?” the car politely asked.
“Capital T, capital Y,” Casey dictated, then ordered “Send.”
The text departed with a whoosh.
“Well, that’s good at least.” Ella’s voice came through the speakers and Casey jumped. She’d forgotten that the phone line was still open. “Although I haven’t been paying much attention to international news lately. Nothing Navy-SEAL-worthy’s happening in London right now, is it?”
“I don’t think so,” Casey said, and then realized, “Oh! I think I know why he’s there. Luc’s in London.”
“I’m sorry, who is?”
“Luc Rosetti,” Casey told Ella. “Rio’s cousin. Dave went out with him a few times when he was, I guess, visiting...? I don’t really know the details. I just know that he’s a dead ringer for Rio. Dave sent me a selfie from one of their dates.”
“So... Luc is real?” Ella laughed. “I did not see that coming.”
“Yeah, I was pressuring Dave to sit down with Jon at the wedding—Stefan and Peter’s. You know, because Jon was just out of rehab and he was doing so well.” She corrected herself, “Well, he seemed to be.”
“Seemed to be,” Ella repeated. “Words that you should get tattooed on your forearm and read forty times in a row, preferably aloud, whenever your brother shows up.”
“I know,” Casey whispered. And she did. She finally knew.
“Welcome to reality. I’m glad you finally made it here. Because now you can actually help Jon, instead of letting him manipulate you into helping him hurt himself.”
Ella’s words were so similar to what Rio had said when he’d told her about his uncle, both at Stefan and Peter’s wedding, and when they’d made that nine hour, all-through-the-night drive from Palm Springs to Napa, back when he was pretending to be Luc.
“So Luc’s real,” Ella continued. “Which by the way, makes me think that Rio’s really straight and not just some confused gay star collector—”
Casey cut her off. “Wait, you actually thought...?”
“I’m theorizing on morsels here,” Ella told her. “Anything goes.”
“I’m pretty sure Rio’s not gay,” Casey said. “I mean, come on, if you could choose between me or Dave, wouldn’t you pick Dave?”
“I would,” Ella confirmed. “Because your shit is crazy. Lovably crazy, for sure, and way less crazy now that you’ve accepted a more realistic view of your brother. But hello, Todd? Hooking up with him again and again... and again...?”
“I quit him, too,” Casey said. “He was in Palm Springs. Drew cancelled.”
“And you didn’t...? Wow, that’s new.”
“Yeah,” Casey said. “Pizza and beer with... Luc, Rio, whoever the hell he is. It was more appealing.”
“Well okay,” Ella said. “As soon as we stop driving, I’m going to send you a text that says congratulations so that you can experience the full confetti drop.”
Casey laughed. “Thanks,” she said. “And yeah.”
“I’m proud of you,” Ella said, and Casey found herself nodding and fighting the tears that sprang into her eyes. “I mean, if it was just sex with Todd, I’d be cheering you on, you know that, but when it’s sex that makes you feel less-than... That’s a hard nope. So, well done.”
