“Not an actor. More like, an athlete.”
A small gasp through the phone. “Who is he, Jasalie? I need a name.”
“You know football players?”
A louder gasp now. “Name, please.”
“So demanding,” I tease. “His name is Dylan. Dylan Wild. He’s…”
Full-on scream now, directly into my ear. “He’s my best friend’s cousin! I’ve known Dylan my entire freaking life!”
“What?! Youknowhim?”
“Tell him Bella Wesley says hi and she wants payback for the candy bar that he stole.”
For the next five minutes, Bella raves about Dylan and Colton and Ayden, her best friend from home. “All of the Wilds are hot,” she says. “Brayden, Cameron, and their friend, Jenson, too. But more importantly, they’re all good guys. You can trust Dylan, Jasalie. And I’m happy he’s found someone like you—he tends to choose badly. Not to mention that he doesn’t trust easily.”
“I’ve heard,” I say.
“So he’s letting you in.” She actually squeals. “This is so good.”
“I’ll keep you updated,” I say as Lilla comes over to me as I hurriedly tell Bella good-bye.
“We’ve been released from our job duties,” she informs me. “The kids have left, and Bill’s hanging out with Meagan. I’m going back to the hotel. You want to share a cab?”
I look over at Dylan. “Let me get back to you on that.”
* * *
I’ve paced back and forth three times in front of Dylan’s little social circle. He’s engaged with his teammates, and I don’t want to interrupt.
Finally, he separates from them and spots me. His eyes light up, and I wave him over.
“Turns out we know someone in common,” I say as soon as he reaches me.
His expression turns curious. “Who?”
“Bella Wesley says hi and that she wants payback for the candy bar you stole.”
Dylan’s eyes widen in surprise, and he lets out a low laugh. “How the hell do you know Bella? She’s Ayden’s best friend.”
I tell him how she used to work for Apex.
“She’s a singer-songwriter,” he says. “She never once told me the company name of her day job. She just said her boss was a dick.”
“Bill,” I say in answer to his raised eyebrows.
He nods. “We all love Bella. She’s Ayden’s girl.”
“She’s single.”
He chuckles. “She may be technically single, but trust me, she belongs to Ayden. And vice-versa. No matter how much those two try to deny it.”
Huh.Bella mentioned her best friend from home, who happened to be a guy, and I knew he’d visited her in L.A., but I never met him.
“I can’t believe she never said she knew you and Colton. Not that she’s a bragger, but...”
“Bella knows how much Colt and I value our privacy,” Dylan says. “Unless it came up directly, she wouldn’t have brought us up in conversation like that.”
