To my delight, he lays both drinks on my bedside table.
‘Café con leche?’I ask, just to be sure. The race weekend’s over so caffeine’s back on the menu.
‘Claro.Hydrate like you’re in Singapore.’
My spirits lift to high heavens. ‘Thanks, dog. I always knew you were my favourite.’
‘Excuseyou,’ Isa butts in, pointing her mango core at me. ‘Who sat with you while you were hopped up on morphine? If I had to hear about Jules’ boobiesone more time?—’
‘ISA,’I hiss over the sound of Trey pissing himself.
‘That British chick who flew to New York with us?’ JC says, sitting on the bed.
Isa and I look meaningfully at each other. I don’t have time to worry about what the hell I said yesterday. JC still doesn’t know about me working with Jules and I can’t see any benefit to that changing. He’ll find out when I’m safely retired from motorsport and this can be a fun little anecdote. Probably not even then.
‘Yeah, she’s a content creator,’ Trey explains. ‘Focuses on lifestyle and self-betterment. Dating Tom Webber right now.’
‘Allegedly,’ I counter before I can catch myself.
‘Allegedly my ass. They were spotted at Passadís del Pep on Saturday night.’
Don’t remind me.
‘We slept together once – a long time ago,’ I throw in so JC doesn’t think I’m a homewrecker. ‘It was no big deal.’
‘You guys hang a lot, huh,’ JC comments, looking at his phone.
I’m sweating into my gauze. ‘I wouldn’t saya lot.’
‘I would,’ says Trey, perching at my feet. ‘You guys are together every race weekend.’
Jesus fuck, Trey!
‘Marketing specialist,’JC reads from Jules’ bio.
I jump in before my moron cousin. ‘That’s not?—’
‘She’s working with Pagari right now,’ adds Trey, louder, and I’ve never wanted to strangle him more. ‘Did a little work with Martinel—¡Mierda!’
Isa retracts her foot. ‘Since when did you become such a fan?’ she asks through gritted teeth. It’s not hard to notice thesharpness in her voice. Jules is her thing. Was her thing? Who the hell knows.
JC doesn’t notice shit, his focus pinning me in place. ‘Has she worked with Leone?’
Before I can answer, Trey scoffs a laugh. ‘Of course not, bro. She doesn’t even look at anything outside the top three. She keeps a tight ship where her business is concerned.’
He hasn’t totally made up for the last five minutes, but that helped.
JC hasn’t stopped staring at me. He knows something. He doesn’t know what he knows, but he senses it. ‘Is that right?’
Heat’s climbing up my aching neck. I school my face, keeping it neutral. ‘Yup.’
‘So when you came downstairs yesterday looking like Tío Joaquin, and you said you were trying something new, that came fromyou?’
Trey barks out a laugh.
Fuck Jules and her old man clothes. ‘Yup.’ It’s strangled. Let’s see if I can salvage this and spin it into the truth. ‘I’ve always liked sports jackets, you know that.’
‘You haven’t voluntarily worn tight pants in?—’
