night went. She could see the satisfaction written all over Cassie’s reddening face.
Ken promised he would run Melanie home and meet them at Zak’s room for the intervention Rhett had spent the last three hours planning. Cassie didn’t know how Rhett could run on no more than two hours of sleep and look as good as he did, bruises and all. Of course, being Rhett Corrigan, everything fell into place in record time.
They took the elevator to Zak’s floor and found Darin pacing outside the comedian’s room.
“Chris went to get more coffee,” he told them. “He fought a four-alarm fire just before his shift ended yesterday and he’s still a little wiped.”
Chris turned the corner at that moment and greeted them. The three men began talking in low tones about what they wanted to say to Zak, as Rhett shared that Breck wouldn’t be there since he’d just left town to spend Christmas with Jolene’s family.
Cassie was unsure about her role in being present. She didn’t know Zak Mercury well and felt partly to blame for him being in a hospital bed at the moment. His insults of her had led to Rhett playing slay the dragon and she didn’t know how the comedian would feel facing her less than a dozen hours after making a fool of himself.
Still, Rhett had insisted she come. She knew how important this was to him. He’d been up since four, calling a specialist in crisis intervention, arranging for Zak to head straight to rehab after the hospital discharged him, and rallying the troops to support Zak at such a critical time.
An oddly matched couple got off the elevator and headed their way. Rhett greeted them quietly, not wanting to tip Zak off as to who gathered outside his door.
“Hey, Marty. Glad you and Emyli could make it.” Rhett made brief introductions, and Cassie learned that the short, compact, balding man was Zak’s agent. She’d heard his name more than once and Manny had lost a client to Marty the week before Cassie quit.
The gum-smacking Amazon with flaming orange hair and enough silver bangles to open her own jewelry store at the mall was Marty’s secretary—and a former girlfriend of Zak’s.
As they continued the small talk, waiting for the psychiatrist scheduled to show, Emyli cozied up to Cassie.
“So, you’re the gal Zak got his nose broken over.” She assessed Cassie openly. “You’re not what I expected.”
Cassie crossed her arms and nodded briefly, not knowing how to respond to the rude comment.
Emyli gave her a sly smile. “Must be fun having two famous dudes fighting over you.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
The younger woman snorted. “Then you haven’t been listening to the news this morning. Baby, you made the morning network shows and some of the papers and you’re all over the Internet.” She gave Cassie a knowing glance. “Believe me, I read and watch everything. Your little love triangle is hot, hot, hot.”
Cassie’s anger flared but she knew protesting to this stranger wouldn’t solve anything. It still hurt, though, knowing her name was being wrongly dragged through the mud. She had a small inkling of why Rhett had taken the high road when Randi hit the airwaves with her sordid lies.
Leo turned the corner, and she was grateful to see the trainer’s familiar face. She must have sent out a panic alarm because he immediately linked his arm through hers.
“Need to steal Cassie for a minute,” he told Emyli as he pulled her twenty feet away.
“You are a lifesaver,” she told him.
“How are you, Cass?” The sympathetic look in Leo’s eyes nearly did her in.
She managed a weak smile. “I suppose as long as I stay away from TV, newspapers, my phone, my computer, and every busybody on the street, I’ll be blissfully fine.”
He grew serious. “You know, you might want to work off a little of that anxiety.”
Cassie laughed. “I know. Put in a good run. Lift a few weights. Have a liver and whey shake.”
The trainer broke into a grin. “I was going to tell you to either plan a little getaway or just have us over for poker tonight.”
She shook her head. “Breck would kill us. He was on a hot streak the last time we met. If we played with him out of town, he might not ever forgive us. Besides, Christmas is in three days. As a male, I assume you’ll actually begin to think about your shopping in the next thirty-six hours?”