Page 22 of Ruthless Passion

"Who is this friend?" Mojo's question cuts into my thoughts.

"If you want to grab coffee with me, I can show you better than I can tell you."

"Deal. Meet me at that place with the milkshakes," she says.

We end the call with me eager to unpack it all, but a part of me wonders how much to tell her. Once she sees the car, Mojo is going to do what she does best, ask questions and talk me through the chaos of irresponsibility.

By the time I arrive at one of our favorite diners, Mojo's jaw drops as I pull up in Luca's Ferrari convertible. Her eyes widen as I reach over to open the door for her.

"Still want your milkshake?" I ask her with a wide grin.

"No, let's hit a food truck and vibe. How the hell did you swing this?" she asks, sliding into the passenger seat and running her hands along the leather interior.

Every movement she makes is similar to the ones I made getting behind the wheel nearly an hour ago.

"The lead actress role has a hell of a lot of perks," I tell her.

"Drive, talk, and drive, and don't leave anything out!" Mojo demands as I pull away from our favorite diner to head toward North Point Avenue. We find a truck, grab our food, and head closer to a parking lot near the water. Picnic tables on a wide patch of cobblestone between the parking lot and walkway let us sit down to eat.

Mojo can't stop her eyes from moving between me and the car as she eats. "Luca Devlin gave you his car to drive because someone stabbed your tires? Where were you parked?"

"I told you yesterday I had to meet Duke at the courthouse. It's official. He's no longer Jett's father. Or at least, he won't be in forty-five days. I've barely skimmed the paperwork, but I'm listening to you and getting out of his way."

"Who needs a father like Duke when you have a Daddy like Luca Devlin?" Mojo practically swoons as she marvels at the car again. "Let's take a pic for socials. I'll put something like, 'Nothing but the best for the bestie'. We can rub Duke's stupid face in your success. Especially since it all happened after he announced his exit. I'm sure he's lurking on my page, watching from the shadows like the creep he is."

We stop for a moment to let her take the picture before getting her opinion of the latest chaos.

"Did I tell you Luca got in Duke's face too? Luca made Duke apologize to me and everything. He put some wrestling move on him.”

"Oh shit. Luca is impressing me more and more.”

I nod in agreement. "I told Luca to meet me downtown to get coffee so we can look at the script. He was a few minutes early and bumped into Duke while we were leaving the courthouse. I thought Luca was going to throw him down those steps."

"It would serve him right. Wait a minute. You think he had something to do with your car tires being attacked?" she asks with a light chuckle.

"I wouldn't put it past him, but Luca stood up for me. It was cool, you know? Dad and Collin, even Jett, stand up for me to Duke, but there's something different about it when a stranger who doesn't have to, steps in to do the right thing. He let me take out some of my frustrations on him too."

"Who let you do what?" She purses her lips and turns her face slightly, emphasizing her side eye. She's forcing me to say it out loud, but I need the push to make sure I'm not losing my mind.

"Luca let me take out my frustrations on him. He said it was to get into the Cadence character. She's this siren the Starlight movie is about. She's an immortal shifter who changes from a beautiful woman into this deadly mermaid who sings her death song to men who've been horrible people."

"I heard it was something about mermaid zombies. That's so cool. Don't forget to put in a good word for me."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't have even got inside the room if it weren't for you. I'm getting you on that set."

She grins that large commercial grin of gratitude, but her expression drops as she asks, "Wait, so how does that lead to you taking out your frustrations on Luca Devlin and driving around in his Ferrari?"

"The main male lead is captured and Cadence, well, she sings the death song while having sex with her victims. They know they're about to die and can't do anything about it. The guy resists her, but she's all powerful and takes what she wants physically and sexually, until the guy dies. Luca got me into the scene."

"That sounds like one hell of a role play. Movie producer and his budding actress acting out romance." She huffs out a breathy sigh of yearning. "That's the dreams movies are made of."

If only she knew.

"What happened between me and Luca wasn't romantic. It was rough, aggressive, cathartic?—"

"But was it good?" She teases.

"The best I've had in a long time. Do you think I'm crazy for moving so fast?" I blurt out.

---