Jules gave me a sad smile. “Okay, girl, I’m here for you, you know that. Hopefully it’s not as bad as you think it is. Now, tell me about your night.” She said, giving me her evil grin.
The smile was contagious and I let out a laugh. I gave her every single detail, and her mouth hung open in shock. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Just recalling our night together made me want to call him to see if I could go back over there.
“Damn girl, that’s Hot with a capital H!” she said, fanning herself. “I had no idea you were into the kinky shit.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, apparently I didn’t either, but I was so turned on. And oh my God, the way he took me on the couch earlier . . .” I leaned back on the couch. “I’d never come like that, ever. It was fantastic.”
Jules let out a laugh, “Yeah, well after five months of your battery-operated boyfriend, I’m glad you were finally able to relieve some real tension.”
We laughed and chatted a little bit more, but the conversation ended when I told her that I needed to start my laundry and take a shower. She volunteered to go get us some takeout since she had to fold all her clothes and I had to wash all mine. Neither of us wanted to cook. Getting takeout was something we did every two weeks. We usually had a whole day of washing clothes, watching movies, and eating takeout.
After Jules left to get food, I started a load of clothes. I was about to jump in the shower, when I heard my phone go off. I walked over to my purse and dug out my phone. I smiled when I saw that the text was from Kade.
Kade: Do u have any plans Tuesday night?
Scarlett: No, what did u have in mind?
Kade: You’ll have to wait and find out. I just wanted to make sure u were free. See u tomorrow, beautiful.
I smiled to myself as I headed to the shower.
~*~
The next day, I greeted Kade in his trailer as I usually did, except this time we had a little make-out session before he headed into the studio.
I made sure to look out for any signs of drug use. They were there, but it seemed as if he were keeping his habits under control in front of the others, and Blondie did a good job covering up the dark circles under his eyes.
I stayed for a little while and watched the scene they were filming, not being able to pass up the opportunity to hear him sing. I would have stayed and had lunch with him, but I had too much stuff to catch up on at work. Plus, I needed to update Matt on how everything was going. I didn’t like the idea of lying to Matt, but things had changed now. It didn’t feel right to rat Kade out when I knew something was going on. When they took a break, I told Kade goodbye and that I’d see him Tuesday morning.
Arriving at the office, I plopped down at my desk to boot up my computer. I saw the light blinking on my phone and knew that I probably had a gazillion messages waiting for me.
“Hey,” Jules said, leaning up on my desk.
“Hey, what’s up?” I leaned back in my chair.
Jules looked at me as if she couldn’t contain her excitement. “Did you hear what happened to Jess?” She had a huge smile on her face.
I leaned back in my chair, forgetting about the documents I was trying to sort. This was definitely more important. “No, tell me,” I said, giving her my full attention.
“She got suspended until further notice.” She giggled.
I gasped, leaving my mouth hung open in shock. “Holy shit, what the hell happened?”
“She’s a dumb bitch; that’s what happened.”
We both laughed. Jess totally had this coming.
“She got caught giving a blow job to a new client.” She laughed, not being able to contain it. This was Jess we were talking about. “She got sent to California to do some field work and decided it would be a great idea to give the guy a blow job on set. They got caught behind the stage by the producer. If they had been in his trailer, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal because at least it would have been in private, but nooooo. He wasn’t too happy with her professionalism. She’s such a slut.”
“What a dumb bitch.” I laughed, shaking my head. “How many times have we warned her?”
“I know, but I think it’s funny. You should have seen the look on her face this morning when she left Matt’s office. I wish I had my camera phone ready.” Jules giggled. “So, what’s on your agenda today?”
I sighed. “Well, I have to go give Matt an update on how things are going. Then I need to answer all these damn emails and phone messages. Then, I have to figure out how the hell I’m going to approach Max later.”
“How’d it go this morning?” She asked, folding her arms over her chest.
“It was fine. He hides it well, but not well enough.” I ran my hands through my hair. “Well, let me go talk to Matt and catch up on all this stuff, and then we’ll do lunch together.”
“Nope, can’t do it. Already got plans with Brent,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
“Whatevs,” I laughed, “go get your ass back to work.”
~*~
I updated Matt on how things were going with Kade, obviously eliminating my suspicions of his drug use, then went back to my desk and got to work. It took me the better part of the day just to go through my emails and put of some fires out that happened over the weekend. It never failed that Mondays were always the worst with catching up.
When five o’clock rolled around, I packed up my stuff and told Jules I’d see her later. I knew she had stuff to do after work, so I wouldn’t see her until after I visited Max.
Since I knew Kade had to go to the actors’ dinner at seven, I went home to take a shower. After my shower, I had time to kill before heading over to see Max, so I started folding the clothes I didn’t get to last night, to help the time go by faster.
After folding a basket of clothes, I looked at the clock. It was 6:10 p.m. I decided I’d send Kade a text to see if he had left yet. I also needed to find out if Max was back in town. Kade had told me his flight would come in around ten this morning, but I just wanted to make sure.
Scarlett: Hey, just wanted to tell u to have a good time at dinner. I’ll see you in the morning.
Kade: Thanks, beautiful, but I’d rather be with u.
He was seriously too sweet.
Scarlett: U R too sweet. Did Max make it back ok?
Kade: Yeah, he did. Gotta go, beautiful. Just got to restaurant.
Now that I knew Max was back, I was hoping that he’d actually be there when I showed up.
~*~
Arriving at Kade’s around 7:10 p.m., I walked up to the desk to announce myself. The guy behind the desk picked up the phone and called up to Kade’s. After getting the go ahead, I headed for the elevator and made my way up to see Max.
I still had no idea how I was going to approach this situation. I figured I’d just flat-out ask him if he’d noticed anything different about Kade, but I thought I’d just have to wait and see how things went.
Exiting the elevator, I took a deep breath and walked to the door. I knocked twice, and a couple of seconds later Max opened the door.
He stood there with a smile on his face, leaning one arm high on the door, with nothing on except an old ripped pair of jeans. He knew I was coming up, but decided that answering the door shirtless would be best.
I wasn’t going to complain though. He was definitely sexy. He had that bad-boy look with a hint of nerd from those thick black-framed glasses. And since he wasn’t wearing a shirt, I could see that he was covered in tattoos and had his nipples pierced.
“You like what you see, sweetness?”
My eyes snapped up to his, and I could feel the heat in my cheeks.
“I was just admiring your tattoos,” I said, biting my lips trying to hold back my laugh from embarrassment.
“Ah.” He smiled. “That’s what they all say. Come on in.”
I walked in past Max and made my way into the living room to take a seat on the couch—the same couch where Kade did wonderful things to me on the day
before. I smiled to myself. A few moments later, Max came into the living room and handed me a beer then took a seat a few feet away from me.
“So, I’m assuming you’re here to see me, but why?” he asked curiously, taking a swig of his beer.
Well, he was getting straight to the point, wasn’t he?
Setting my beer on the table, I turned my body toward his to get more comfortable.
“Okay, look, I know this might not be any of my business personally since my relationship with Kade hasn’t really been labeled, but professionally, seeing as though he has liability coverage with my insurance company, I’m worried about Kade.”
Max turned toward me and bent his leg up on the couch. He looked at me for a few minutes before replying, “What do you mean you’re worried about Kade? What makes you think something’s wrong?”
How did I ask him if he knew his friend was doing drugs? He already sounded defensive, which I expected a friend to be. Ugh, I was just going to come out and say it. I just wished that he’d go put on a shirt. My eyes kept drifting down to his naked chest.
I cleared my throat. “I’ve been around drugs long enough to know the signs for coke. I was with Kade on Saturday and yesterday. I saw all the signs. Last week, I didn’t notice them, but I may have just overlooked them. I know he’s doing coke again, but I also know something else is going on, and I wanted to ask you about it and see if you’ve noticed anything different or strange going on.”
He studied me. I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he knew something. He was just trying to figure out if he should tell me or not.
He leaned over and put his beer on the table then took a deep breath.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed some things going on. Do I have any idea what’s going on? Yeah, more than I’m willing to share. Kade’s like a brother to me, and I’m worried about him, but I know better than to bring some chick he’s fucking into the middle of it.”
My mouth hung open, and my eyes widened in shock. He totally just went there. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, I grabbed my purse and stood up to leave. I’d obviously overstepped my boundaries.
Not looking at Max, I started to walk toward the door. I heard him let out a sigh. “Wait, Scarlett.”
I stopped without turning and waited for what he had to say.
“Look, I’m sorry. That came out all wrong. I can tell by the way he talks about you that you’re more than just a fuck.”
Turning around to look at Max, I could tell by the look on his face that he was sincere.
“But there are things you don’t know about Kade that you’ll probably never know because he doesn’t talk about them, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He turned and walked away, leaving me in the foyer.
I left and headed home with more questions than before. I knew he was close to Kade and that he was looking out for him, but what the hell? Obviously, there was more going on than meets the eye. He knew what was going on, and he was protecting Kade. I knew it was a long shot to get some answers from him, but I didn’t think he’d be that rude to my face.
Chapter 14
After leaving Kade’s condo, I decided to drive around before heading home. I needed to figure out what I was going to do, since visiting Max was a bust. He neither denied nor confirmed my suspicions, but I didn’t really need him to verify them. The information I was looking for was why he was using again.
I arrived home around eight thirty. Jules was lounging on the sofa and watching one of her shows.
“So, how’d it go?” she asked, barely looking away from the TV.
I let out a sigh. “It didn’t go how I was hoping it would.” I said as I sat down on the couch next to her.
She turned to me to give me her full attention. “Why? What happened? Did he know he was using drugs again?”
“He didn’t come right out and say yes or no, but he did tell me that he’s noticed Kade acting strangely. I didn’t get anything out of him about why he’d be using again either. He also said that he wouldn’t discuss it with someone Kade’s fucking.”
She gasped. “No, he didn’t.”
“Oh, yes, he did.” I laughed. “He totally loses hotness points on that one.”
“Yeah, he does. What the hell?”
“It’s okay. I get it. Like he said, Kade’s like a brother to him. I wouldn’t divulge things about you to someone you just met either.” Not that she had any secrets for me to tell, but she knew what I was talking about.
“So what are you going to do?”
I knew what she was asking. She wanted to know if I was going to tell Matt. This was what I’d been arguing with myself about since I left Max.
“I think I’m going to confront Kade, before I go to Matt. They only have this week and next week left to film. I don’t want to throw him under the bus without talking to him about it. We’ve gotten too close for me to do that. And after talking to Max, I’m going to leave the rest alone. It’s none of my business at this point, and I don’t want him knowing I’m snooping where my nose doesn’t belong.”
“Yes, you’re probably right. So when are you going to do it?”
“I’ll do it Wednesday. I don’t want to do it tomorrow because he’s taking me somewhere tomorrow night. I don’t want to ruin his plans just in case it gets ugly or something.”
I was a nervous wreck about saying anything to him at all. We had this strong connection to each other, and I feared that if I said something to him about my suspicions then he’d distance himself from me. That was the last thing I wanted him to do.
Jules let out a long sigh. “All right, girl, I’m here for you if you need me.”
“I know. I just hope confronting him doesn’t end what we currently have.”
~*~
The next day I met Kade outside his trailer. He had arrived way early and was ready to get filming started.
“I’m really getting tired of filming every day. I miss playing my music. Every day, I have some new lyrics come to me, and I can’t write the damn things down because I’m here,” he said, pointing to the studio building.
“Yeah, but filming is almost done. It won’t be much longer. Then you’ll have all the time in the world to write music,” I said, smiling at him as we walked toward the studio door.
“We’re actually ahead of schedule, so I might not even be here for the full week next week.”
He had a big smile on his face. I could tell he was proud of himself. From what I’d been hearing around the studio, Kade was a natural and this movie should be a box office hit.
Just then, Keith came over to where Kade and I were standing and whispered something in Kade’s ear. I watched the whole thing, wondering what he could be telling him. The look on Kade’s face told me that it wasn’t something he wanted to hear. After another couple of seconds, Keith walked off and Kade turned back to me. His demeanor had completely changed.
“All right, beautiful, I need to get on set,” he said as he leaned forward and placed a warm kiss on my forehead.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you tonight, right?”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.” He smiled at me before he walked away.
~*~
I was a nervous wreck. This was a real date, and not only did I not know what to wear but I didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t tell me where we were going, so I decided to wear another sweater dress with some boots since it was fall. In the south, the weather changed every day, but from what I saw on the weather report, it wouldn’t be too chilly tonight.
Pacing around the room, I really wished Jules were here. She told me at work today, after I had arrived, that I’d have the house to myself tonight since she was going out with Brent. No matter how many times she told me this was a causal relationship to her, I knew she was lying. I knew she’d been hurt in the past and she was trying to guard her heart, but from what I could tell she wasn’t doing a good job. I saw that she deeply cared for him just by the way she looked at him.
A soft knock sounded at the door, and my heart sped up. Wiping the palms of my hands on my dress, I went and opened the door.
He stood there gloriously sexy as ever with faded jeans and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was a mess—just the way I liked it—and he had his signature grin on his face. He was probably laughing to himself about how I was gawking at him.
“Hi,” I said, shyly smiling at him.
“Hey, beautiful, you ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure, let me just go get my purse.” I turned and left him at the door, rolling my eyes at myself.
Why was I acting so nervous? I needed to get ahold of myself. It wasn’t as if I didn’t see him every day, but this was a real date, nothing I’d ever had with Trey. His cheating ass always made some kind of an excuse for us to stay in, instead of going out in public on a date.
Grabbing my purse, I made my way back to Kade, who was now inside with the door shut. He watched me walk toward him, and I might have shaken my hips a little more than usual.
He smiled at me. “You’re beautiful,” he said as he grabbed me and pulled me close.
Looking up into his eyes, I was about to say, “Thank you,” but his mouth brushed against mine before I could get the words out. I opened my mouth to him, and he kissed me softly and thoroughly as his hands roamed down to my ass and pulled me closer. Letting out a moan, I gripped his shoulders and deepened the kiss. I wanted to jump up and wrap my legs around his waist, to tell him to forget about wherever he was taking me so we could stay and have wild, crazy animal sex. But he pulled away before I was able to change his mind.
He rested his forehead against mine, and our breaths mingled. “We should go, before I change my mind.”
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