“Wait,” he began, reaching out to her.
She gave him a little wave and then bounded out the door of the greenroom. Immediately the crowd waiting outside began to murmur, and Kylie was left alone with Cade. His expression was stricken.
Poor guy. He was too nice to be treated like this. Too nice, and far too yummy.
“I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” she told him, keeping a bright smile on her face. “Hang in there.”
He watched the door for a moment longer, then shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over at Kylie. “Before or after she gets her drugs, do you suppose?”
Ouch. She winced, hating that he could see the truth even through Kylie’s sunny words. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
“Yeah. Me either.” He rubbed his face and then gave her a faint, unhappy smile. “Join me for a drink?”
She shook her head. “I should probably stay sober, just in case she needs me.”
A wry, self-deprecating look crossed his face. “Funny, I thought the same thing when I got here. Now I think I need a really tall, really strong drink.”
He went back to the bar and helped himself.
FIVE
Marco must have given Daphne some good shit, Kylie decided with a yawn. It was nearly three in the morning and she was still partying hard. In the center of the greenroom, she danced to music and hung off of Marco’s well-muscled arm, laughing. Her other dancers were partying with her, and almost everyone had a bottle of some sort of alcohol in their hands, never mind what they were running off to the bathroom to snort. The greenroom had filled up again, and most of the behind-the-scenes staff had headed back to the hotel for some sleep before the buses left in the morning.
Cade was still seated at the bar, by himself, slowly nursing a drink. He watched Daphne, but never made a move to approach her.
Kylie had stuck around despite the late hour, because Cade was still there and she felt, well, sorry for him. Here was this great guy, waiting on Daphne, clearly insane about her, and she was blowing him off to party with Marco because Marco had good drugs. It wasn’t like Marco wouldn’t have drugs every night of the tour, Kylie thought grumpily. Heck, it wasn’t like Marco wasn’t at Daphne’s side constantly since she’d hired him as one of her dancers.
But ignoring Cade, who was clearly there for Daphne and only Daphne? It bothered Kylie. Here was this perfect, nice, sexy man and Daphne was just throwing him away. Maybe she had a soft heart for good-looking guys or maybe she was just fixated on how nice he’d been to her. Either way, she didn’t like it.
“I need another hit,” Daphne called out, laughing and twirling around Marco. She wrapped her arms about his neck and planted a kiss on his mouth. “Come on, I’ll be good to you.”
Marco tilted his head, clearly pretending to consider it. “I don’t know . . .”
Daphne gave another wild giggle and dropped to her knees in front of him. “I’ll be really good—”
The crowd erupted into laughter.
Cade jerked to his feet. He snatched his keys off of the bar—the keys that had a bow on them, ready to gift Daphne with a present if she’d only paid the slightest bit of attention to him—and headed for the door.
Kylie’s heart clenched and she grabbed her purse, following after him. He’d been drinking for most of the night and she couldn’t let him leave. Not like this. Not without someone else driving him home to make sure he was safe.
Not without someone apologizing for Daphne’s shitty behavior and letting him know that they cared that he’d been hurt.
She ran and caught up with him down the long hall leading out to the parking lot. His shoulders were slumped, but he was walking in a straight line, at least. It didn’t matter—she knew he’d drank quite a bit. “Cade?” she called. “Are you okay?”
He kept walking, his hands shoved into his pockets.
“I’m sorry,” she said, falling into step next to him. “I’m told she’s not like this when she’s clean.”
He paused and looked over at her. “How long have you worked for Daphne?”
“A month now.”
“Have you ever seen her clean?” There was a wealth of pain in his eyes.
Kylie bit her lip. Should she lie to make him feel better?
A faint smile tugged at his mouth. “Your hesitation tells me everything I need to know.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, even as he began to walk again. She started to walk, too, unwilling to let him leave.