“After ten. I took King out. You probably need to clean his crate.”
Elliot wrinkled his nose. “Morning, by the way. Good to see you.”
Fallyn gave me a shy smile, and pulled her phone from some unknown place.
“Same,” I said. “Though…” I pointed between the two of them and raised my eyebrows. How was I supposed to ask without it sounding like high grade envy?
“We fell asleep talking. The tree was her doing.” Elliot made his answer sound so simple.
I doubted it was. Nothing was simple when it came to Fallyn and Elliot. “We need to talk.”
Elliot frowned. “Okay?”
“Oh, fuck me in the arse.” Fallyn’s exclamation came out of nowhere.
“Here? Now?” And Elliot had woken up in a playful mood apparently.
So. Weird. It would be a cute look on him if not for everything. I was reaching for my phone, to show him what Fallyn was most likely looking at, when she handed him hers.
Elliot glanced at the screen, then did a double take and stared a little longer. “Oh, fuck me in the ass.”
“I haven’t called Dustin yet,” I said. “I wanted to talk to you first, but you weren’t answering.”
Elliot was on his feet and fishing for his own phone. “Looks like he called me.”
Grabbing her laptop off the coffee table, Fallyn turned toward the far staircase. “I don’t have a marketing team behind me, and I need to get on top of this now from my side.”
“Wait.” I captured her wrist to keep her from leaving. “We’re coordinating our stories.”
Elliot was already dialing.
“Hey.” Dustin’s voice echoed from the speaker on Elliot’s phone. “What is this?”
Elliot looked at Fallyn and pressed his finger to his lips. “It’s nothing. As innocent as it looks.”
“Nope. Give me something better,” Dustin said.
“Nothing more to it. Two of us had a bit to drink, everyone at the party saw that, and a fellow industry professional offered to be our designated driver. This was professional all the way. She’ll confirm the same story.” Elliot made it sound so simple.
“Love it.” Dustin’s tone was flat. “Except is that really Fallyn? You’re going to tell me, tell the world, that out of the hundreds of people at that party, you asked your arch nemesis to give you a ride home?”
At least Elliot had common sense enough to wince.
“It’s a persona.” I stepped in. “If people don’t understand that she’s acting as much as any movie star, that’s not our fault.”
“Uh-huh. Pray to God that her story matches yours, and run with it.” Dustin hung up.
Like I thought—not a lot to worry about. There was still the question of why those photos showed up to begin with, though.
“See? Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Did Elliot really just say that? “As long as Fallyn’s story matches ours.”
She rolled her eyes, but was smiling. “Which it will. Because your story is the truth.”
“Great. Sausage and eggs for breakfast?” Elliot asked.
The way Fallyn’s nose scrunched up was adorable. Her, “Is that a euphemism?” felt a little off brand when it came to Elliot. Were they flirting?
Elliot laughed. A genuine. Hearty. Chuckle. “It wasn’t, but it could be.”