“Oh my God,” Daphne sobbed. “He’s going to hate me.” She buried her face against Kylie’s shoulder.
Kylie stroked her hair, wincing. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. He’s a nice guy. I bet he doesn’t hate anyone.” God, why was she trying to make Daphne feel better about the fact that she’d thrown him away last night? Especially after Kylie had scooped him up?
This was bad. If Daphne found out that Kylie had slept with him she’d be fired for sure. She’d have to make sure Daphne never found out. She needed this job. Needed the money it brought in, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to afford Nana Sloane’s nursing care.
“Cade’s my oldest friend,” Daphne said, continuing to cry huge tears. “God, those drugs were so awful. I can’t believe I didn’t realize he was here. I’m never doing drugs again. Never. Never.”
A few feet away, Ginger rolled her eyes and went back to her knitting.
“Where’s my phone?” Daphne yelled out. “Snoopy? Where the fuck’s my phone? Get Cade on the line. I need to talk to him ASAP.” She staggered out of the bus seat and into the aisle.
Kylie breathed a tiny sigh of relief as Daphne left. The whole situation was terribly awkward. It was clear that she couldn’t say a thing about her own hookup with Cade last night. Not if she valued her job. To make matters worse, it didn’t sound like Daphne was resolved about things after all.
And didn’t that just make everything even more awkward now that Kylie had slept with her man?
She sucked in a breath as Daphne leaned back over her chair. “Thank you, Fat Marilyn. You’re the best.” She reached out and pinched Kylie’s cheek and winked at her. Then she turned and bellowed at Snoopy again. “Why do I not have my goddamn phone already?”
Kylie shrank down in her seat. The urge to hide her face underneath the newspaper was overwhelming.
“Cade, huh?” Ginger said from across the aisle. “Old friend of Daphne’s?”
“Sounds like it,” Kylie said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant.
“Someone in lighting told me you headed out last night with a blond guy in a suit.”
She could feel her cheeks burning. “Ginger, please don’t—”
“I won’t,” Ginger said, looping her yarn over her needles and letting them clack again. “But if you value your job, don’t say anything to the boss. She’s very possessive of her toys . . . even the ones she throws away. Understand?”
“I got it,” Kylie said, and turned toward the window to stare out at the highway. Talk about a messy situation getting worse.
But she tried to look at the bright side. It had only been a one-night stand. Nothing would happen again. And hey, if Daphne was going to swear off drugs now, that would be a good thing, right?
—
Cade put off calling Audrey Durham for as long as humanly possible. And when he could delay no longer, he picked up his phone . . . and called Reese, Audrey’s husband, instead. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Audrey. Audrey was efficient, practical, and nothing like her twin.
But, she was also six months pregnant and prone to tearful outbursts due to hormones. When in doubt, test the waters with the husband first.
“Hey, my man,” Reese said as he picked up. “You have perfect timing. I just got out of a meeting with a few of the CFOs. We’re about to go public with Celebrity Cruises.”
“That’s great. Congrats.” He stared out the window of his hotel room at the Chicago skyline. “You have a moment to talk about nonbusiness things?”
“Oh shit,” Reese teased. “Did you get someone pregnant?”
Cade flinched. That was hitting a little too close to home at the moment, considering he had an unused condom in his wallet. “It’s not about me. It’s about Audrey.”
Reese got quiet. “What about Audrey?”
He could just picture his friend’s shoulders locking straight, his defensive side rising to the forefront when it came to his wife. Reese was a flirt and a player, but when it came to Audrey, he was all business, and he was extremely protective of her. “It’s Daphne,” Cade told him. “There are . . . problems.”
“Fuck,” Reese swore. “How bad is she this time?”
“I saw her last night and she was blitzed. And she looks worse than before.” Mentally, he pictured her skinny arms and hollow eyes. “Probably worse than before she went to rehab.”
“Goddamn it, she just got out not four months ago. What’s wrong with that girl?”
Everything, Cade wanted to say.
“So it’s not just alcohol?”
“When I left last night, she was begging someone for another hit of the good stuff.”
Reese swore again.
“I need to tell Audrey,” Cade said. “So she can step in if she needs to. I just wanted to let you know first so you could be there to support her.”
“Hang on,” Reese said. “You’re not telling Audrey anything.”
Cade frowned into the phone. “What do you mean?”
“I mean my wife is six months pregnant and under pressure over both her baby and preparing Logan’s office for her impending maternity leave.” Audrey was Logan’s long-time assistant and invaluable to their friend. She refused to quit her job, despite being married to an extremely wealthy man herself. “We both know Daphne’s toxic,” Reese continued. “I don’t want her stressing out Audrey any more than she already is. You know she’s been sick constantly with the baby, right? It hasn’t been an easy pregnancy for her.”