I caught the muscle twitching in his jaw and figured it was best to leave that comment alone. He’d already said all he planned on saying about the old man. It was heartwrenching for me to think of Trip out there in California all by himself, but I guessed he must have had friends. I knew he had Sandy. I knew he had the underwear model. “Hey, how’s your sister?” I asked, suddenly remembering the existence of his older sibling, whom I’d only met once a million years ago.
“Claudia?” He started to chuckle, and I was glad I’d changed the subject. “She’s good. Moved up to Santa Monica a few years ago, so I see her quite a bit.”
“What does she think of all this? Of your…” I was about to say fame, but it seemed so cheesy. “…of your career?”
“She’s supportive. Still thinks I’m a pain in the ass, but that opinion lightened considerably when I covered the down payment for her house.”
It took the extra second to sink in, but that had us both laughing, acknowledging the absurdity that his life had turned into. That he was capable of throwing that kind of cash around. He’d grown up rich, but this was his money. I knew it made him feel proud, and all I could think was how I was proud for him.
“A house, huh? Not too shabby, Chester.”
He nudged his cast against my arm, giving me a shove, and I looked over to see him shaking his head. “Still with the freaking Chester. You know too damn much about me, Warren. If the Enquirer ever gets ahold of you, my career would be over.”
I giggled, then said, “Oh, hey! That reminds me. I heard you kinda got arrested last week!”
“What?”
“Yeah. Down at The Westlake. I heard you had to be hauled out of there before you started a riot. What happened?”
Trip lowered a brow, looking at me like I was sorely, sorely mistaken. “Well, first of all, I’d hardly say I ‘kind of got arrested’. What you heard was a total exaggeration. Some guy just got pissed when his girlfriend tried to buy me a drink and his guido buddies decided to play tough.”
“There were guidos there? God, I thought they’d gone extinct.”
“If only. And how’d you know about that anyway?”
“I have my sources.”
He started to shift onto his side, leaning toward me just the slightest bit. “Oh yeah? Well, I have ways of making you talk.”
I’ll bet you do.
I could only guess what sort of “ways” he had in mind, and I knew damn well that I’d never survive them. I decided to give up my source before any such torture could take place. “My cousin Stephen is the guy who saved your ass.”
“No shit. That was your cousin? Damn. I wish I knew that. He said he was a cop, but I didn’t know that. He was a good guy. He could have made things ugly for me. But the press never caught wind of it, so I guess he kept his word.” He rolled onto his back again and tapped his foot against mine. “He told you though, huh.”
“Yeah, but just me. Don’t worry.”
“When’d you find this out?”
“Tonight. Well, last night. At my cousin’s engagement party.”
“He’s getting married? Maybe I’ll send a box of Cubans as a thank you.”
“Not him. His brother.”
“The guy bartending? Sean, I think?”
I gave a laugh and asked, “Sean was bartending that night? That’s pretty funny. He doesn’t even work there! And no. Not him, either.”
“Jesus. How many of them are there?”
“Four. Jack’s the one getting married.”
“Think I’ll still send the Cubans.”
He scratched the stubble at his jaw, and I don’t know why, but the move caused goosebumps to appear along my bare arms. I gave them a quick rub and tried to chill the hell out. “Tess says hello, by the way.”
“She was there?”
“Yep.”
He crossed both arms behind his head, staring wistfully up at the sky. “Hmm. Tess Valletti. How’d she look?”
“Go fuck yourself, Trip.”
“What? Are you jealous?” he teased, cracking up like my outburst was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. I smacked him in the stomach, watching as he flinched forward, barely breaking his pose as he continued to cackle. “Looks like I struck a nerve.”
I laughed back, “Well, I know it was a long time ago, but can you blame me? I had the worst crush on you and she was the girl you were going out with! What was up with that, anyway?”
He settled back down and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing much. We went out on a few dates, that was all. She thought I was too young for her. I was fine with it.” He rolled his head toward me and added, “After all, she wasn’t you.”
I knew he was teasing, so I teased right back. “Oh, sure, Chester. You were so into me that you asked her out instead. Jerk.”
“I was so totally into you, dummy. If I wasn’t, I’d have jumped your bones long before I did, but I wanted you to see I was an honorable guy.”
My eyes rolled on that one as I let out a little snicker.
“Besides,” he said, “you and Cooper always had your thing going on. If you had such a crush on me, I’d like to know what was up with that.”