The Playboy's Princess (33 page)

She wished she hadn’t listened to the message. Against her will, she called him back. She didn’t want to talk to him, but she also hated the thought of him worrying. He had sounded frantic.

“Ariel, thank God!” he said, relief evident in his voice.

“You can stop calling. I’m fine.”

“Where are you? When are you coming back so we can talk about this?”

“I’m not coming back, Drew. Didn’t you get my note?”

“Note? No. You left a note?”

“It’s by the coffee maker.”

She heard him walking and then the rustling of paper. She sighed. She’d thought the coffee maker was the most obvious place to look. Again, she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did. She probably should have left it on the bar.

“That’s it? That’s all you were going to say to me?” His voice was angry now.

“I’m sorry to back out of the contract. I mean it; you can keep the money.”

“I don’t care about the fucking money. Please, just come home.”

“I’m not coming back.” She tried to be as firm as she could while not raising her voice. She didn’t want to wake her hosts.

Drew let out a long breath. “Ariel—”

“That’s not my fucking name! My name is
Jade
. I’m not a mermaid princess, and you’re not my prince charming, no matter what the media calls us. This was a huge mistake from the get-go. There’s no fairy-tale ending for us.”

“I love you, Jade. I’ve felt that way for a long time, but I haven’t said anything because you’ve been so adamant that we were only friends. Today I saw a glimpse that maybe your feelings are stronger than that, so I’m telling you how I feel. I love you, and I want you to be here with me.”

Jade laughed. She didn’t know why—his words weren’t funny—but the irony was unbelievable.

“I’ve heard you say that before, Drew. You’re a great actor. You vowed to the whole world that you were in love with me, and still you had no problem sleeping with someone else. Those words don’t
mean
anything from you.”

She hung up the phone and lay staring at the ceiling until sunlight flooded the room.

Drew threw his phone against the wall. No woman had ever infuriated him so much. Yet he wasn’t angry. He was devastated. He’d grown used to having her around. And even though he hadn’t been able to be with her the way he wished he could, she’d still been there. He’d seen her smile every morning, heard her singing to herself as she cooked dinner for them at night.

And most of all, for several hours a week, he could pretend that she really was his. He could hold her hand, kiss her and claim her as his own. Those few hours made all the other times, watching and longing for her, worth it.

And now she was gone, really gone. Many women had passed through his life, and he hadn’t missed any of them when they’d left, not even Tully. Jade was different. He was sure he loved her; there was no doubt in his mind.

It had hurt when she’d said his words were meaningless to her. But he understood. They’d both played their roles so well, how was she to know when he was playing it up for the cameras and when it was real? But if she wanted more than words, if she wanted actions, he’d give them to her.

Chapter Nineteen

The Wake-Up Call

J
ADE
P
UT
T
HE
E
MPTY
ice cream container on the coffee table in front of her. It’d been a week, and she felt no better about leaving Drew. She flicked through channels on the TV and stopped when his face appeared on the screen. She turned the volume up and leaned forward.

“Drew, you’re alone tonight. Where’s your beautiful wife?”

Drew’s eyes were red, and Jade knew that he was either drunk or hung over. She wasn’t surprised.

“She couldn’t make it tonight,” he said, his words slightly slurred. So, still drunk it was.

“Is there any truth to the reports that you’ve been fighting? Witnesses have said they haven’t seen her at your home for several days.”

His eyes flashed as if he were about to yell at the reporter, but he reined himself in.

“She’s not been feeling well and has been in bed for the past few days.”

He turned and walked away. The reporter faced the camera and held the microphone up to his mouth. “You heard it here; Drew’s marriage is intact. It’s good to hear that he wasn’t another Hollywood statistic so early in his marriage. Oh! Here comes Tamara Farrell, let’s get her attention. Tamara!”

Jade turned the TV off. Another Hollywood statistic. Jade hadn’t thought of herself like that, but she supposed it was true.

“I’m home!” Clare called, and the front door slammed.

Jade turned the TV back on and tried to look interested in an infomercial of a new vacuum cleaner.

“Enjoy your ice cream?” Clare asked, picking up the discarded container.

“Oh, sorry. I was about to get that.”

“Here, I thought you might like something to read.” She handed Jade some magazines. “You know, I’m sure you could get your job back. It wasn’t like you got fired. You only stopped so you could go to school…which you haven’t done. Everyone says how much they miss you. Want me to ask tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I guess. I can’t sit around here forever.”

Jade still had Drew’s money in her account. She wanted to give it back, she knew that morally she should, but once she did that, it was really over, and she wasn’t quite ready for the finality of that. It might be good to have an income to help her get a new apartment.

“No, you can’t. Look, I was thinking that you and I might have a girl’s night tonight. What do you think? We’ll go out and do something girly, just you and me. Or we can invite Pam too, if you like.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Why do you look like it wouldn’t be fun at all?”

“No, sorry, we should go out. I’m over it. Let’s have some fun.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’re not over it. How could you be? You’ve just broken up from a marriage. But we can start to take the first step to being over it. And that involves tequila and loud music.”

“It’s a date.”

“Stop calling me!”

Drew hung up the phone and threw it across the room. It rang again right away, Tully’s name flashing on the screen. He grabbed the phone up off the floor and answered it.

“Fuck off, Tully. I’m serious.”

“Just wait. Don’t hang up. Answer one question for me, okay?”

He waited, not bothering to verbally agree.

“Okay, you need to grow up and stop being a fucking baby—”

Drew hung up the phone again. He didn’t have time for her shit. The whiskey bottle on the counter greeted him as he entered the kitchen, and he took a swig, not even bothering with a glass.

He could hear his phone ringing again, but he ignored it. Tully had ruined his life; he didn’t need to hear her bitching at him about it too.

He stumbled through the house and collapsed on the couch in the formal lounge. He’d hoped this room would be a solace from memories of Jade, seeing as she’d rarely entered it, but it had been the last place he’d seen her before she’d left. They’d almost made love on the very couch he was lying on.

He groaned and tipped the bottle over his face, getting some in his mouth but more over the cushions. And then he must have passed out because the next thing he knew, he was being jerked awake by a loud banging.

It was dark in the house now, and he turned lights on as he moved to the front door.

“I’m coming!” he yelled as the banging continued.

He pulled the door open and then tried to close it again right away. Tully pushed her way past before he could lock her outside.

“I don’t want you to be here!” he said.

Every night, he hoped Jade would come home. Maybe tonight would be the night, he’d tell himself. It was the only way he could keep himself from driving all over Los Angeles searching for her. What would she think if she showed up and Tully was there? No, she had to go.

Drew grabbed her arm and tried to maneuver her back toward the door, but she shook herself free.

“I won’t stay. Just listen for two minutes, for fuck’s sake. Geez, you’re a mess!”

“Is that what you came to say?” He turned and walked back to the couch. His whiskey bottle lay on the ground, much of the amber liquid pooled on the floor. There was still enough left in the bottle for a good swig, though, and he drained it dry.

Tully followed him into the formal lounge and stood shaking her head at him.

“Drew, you can’t blame me for your marriage breaking down. Yes, we were cheating and you got caught, but you know what?
You
made the decision to cheat. I didn’t chain you up and force you. You invited me here. Take some responsibility and stop being a victim. And for God’s sake, stop drinking. You think Jade’s going to want to come back to you in this state? You can barely even stand up. I bet you want to lick that spilled liquor off the floor, don’t you?”

“Fuck you,” was all Drew could say. He hated that she was right.

“You did. And that’s why you’re in this mess. If you want Jade back—and don’t try to pretend you don’t, I know you well enough to know this isn’t one of your usual benders—then you need to clean yourself up and be the kind of guy she’ll want to come home to.”

“Get out, Tully.”

He slumped down on the couch and closed his eyes, trying to block Tully’s words from his mind. He didn’t know how long she stayed, but when he opened his eyes again, she was gone.

It infuriated him that she was right. But she was. He was a mess. If Jade saw him like this, she’d run for the hills and never look back.

He went back into the kitchen and got his phone, then called Jade for the millionth time. Just like every other time, he got her voice mail.

“Ariel, I don’t know if you’re listening to these messages. I hope you are. I want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m going to make this right. Please just give me the time to make this right. I’m going to rehab. Please give me a call so we can talk.”

The thought of going to rehab hadn’t even occurred to him until the words were leaving his mouth. Once it was said, though, he knew it was what he had to do, so he made another call.

“Drew! Good to hear from you, son. How is everything?”

“Hey, Dad. I’m not so good.” There was silence on the other end of the phone, so Drew kept talking. “Jade left. She’s been gone a week, and she won’t answer my calls. I’m a mess. I was hoping you could talk to your agent and find a good rehab. I want to grow up and be the man that Jade needs.”

Drew had never spoken so honestly with his father before. But he needed the help, and he would take the shame that came with raw honesty.

Aaron let out a long breath. “I’m proud of you, Drew. I’ll get you some details. Why don’t you come stay at the house with your mother and me tonight?”

Drew hesitated. He wanted to be home in case Jade came over, but the chances of that were remote. It would be good to have his parents looking out for him.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I’ll come pick you up.”