Maybe someday he’d learn. With a small sigh of disgust, Cade tossed another set of chips into the pot. “In.”
—
When poker wrapped up for the evening, Cade found himself walking out with Reese, who’d won the majority of hands that night and had also been celebrating the success of his celebrity cruise line and his plans to partner with a movie studio for character cruise lines based off of popular TV shows and movies. He was in a great mood as they walked out, while Cade was quiet, lost in thought.
“Hey, man,” Reese said, catching Cade’s attention. “Everything all right with you?”
“Always,” Cade said, smiling. Really, he didn’t have much to complain about. Business was great, his charities were having a record year, and he was healthy. There was nothing that should make him discontent or unhappy.
And yet, he felt unsettled. Moody. Envious of his friends and their happiness, perhaps.
“You’re just kinda quiet lately.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Just thinking. Nothing important.”
“You busy this weekend? Me and Audrey are heading up to the cabin. Hope that’s okay with you.”
Cade’s getaway cabin? Where they’d met? He grinned. “You know I gave you carte blanche when it comes to that place.”
“Yeah, Audrey’s been having a bad week. Hormones.” Reese grimaced. “Thought I’d bring her back to the love nest and let her relax this weekend. You’re welcome to come.”
And be a third wheel? Watching as they cuddle? He was happy as hell for Reese, but he had a hard time looking at healthy, joyful Audrey, because every time he looked at her, he saw Daphne. Or rather, who he wanted Daphne to be.
Because once upon a time, Daphne had been plump and beautiful and lighthearted. And he’d loved her. Now? Now he didn’t know how he felt. Obsessed, maybe. Desperate? Maybe that, too.
He checked his phone again. Still no text from Daphne. No missed calls. Nothing. Damn it. He knew she was busy, but he was, too. Didn’t she give a shit? At all?
“Hey? Hello?” A hand waved in front of his face.
“Sorry.” Cade gave Reese a sheepish look. “Just distracted lately.”
“Cabin? This weekend?”
Cade shook his head. “Pass. You and Audrey have fun. I have plans.” Hopefully.
“You’re spending time with Daphne, aren’t you?” Reese’s tone was disgusted.
For a moment, he thought about denying it. He knew Reese didn’t understand Cade’s fixation with the pop star. Maybe he thought it was a fling that Cade was hoping would resurge again. But the truth was, Cade had been in love with Daphne since he was fifteen, when they were both trailer rats without a nickel to rub together. And now that she was in trouble, it was hard to just cut her off and wish her the best. Not when they’d slept together eight months ago . . . and then she’d tried to kill herself. Hell, he was still messed up over that himself. So he said, “She needs me.”
“She needs a reality check,” Reese said.
“It’s difficult,” Cade told him. Difficult to talk about, and difficult to understand. Sometimes he got it. He understood why she’d succumbed to the fast-paced lifestyle. Like Daphne, he’d grown up as trash. The poorest kid on a dirt-poor block, he’d run barefoot with the neighborhood kids and had always kept a close eye on the Petty twins, pretty redheads a few years younger than him. Daphne Petty had been his first kiss, his first love, his first, well, everything. She’d been so special—talented, funny, smart, and with a way of drawing people in and making them notice her. When Cade left for college on a scholarship, he’d asked Daphne to wait for him. He’d make his way in the world and he’d come back and rescue her from their small town. Except Daphne hadn’t waited. She’d met a music producer, and the next thing Cade knew, the girl he’d been in love with was on the radio. She’d slimmed down to nothing, dyed her hair an outrageous shade, pranced around on TV in bikinis, and sold millions of albums.
He’d been so proud of her at first—Daphne had a fun sense of humor, and it came through in her quirky songs. But as time passed and he became busier with his own business, they drifted apart. Daphne grew more and more ensconced in the music business, and even though she’d been a healthy redhead at one point, now she had wild hair, a stick-thin figure, and fake breasts. And a coke habit.
He still loved her. Always would. But when her “quirkiness” started showing up in tabloids with pictures of her doing lines and trips to rehab? He worried about her. Tried to help her stay on the straight and narrow as much as he could, from afar.
But it was never enough. Eight months ago, things had come to a head. She’d promised him that if he’d give her one more chance, she’d clean up. Not in rehab. She’d be in every tabloid imaginable if she went to rehab. Couldn’t he go away with her someplace private and get her a personal doctor? She didn’t need a life coach, she just needed Cade and Audrey at her side, encouraging her.