Cade
MARV IS A giant dick.
With his squirrely face preening, he announces Savannah scored the anchor job, and someone produces a bottle of champagne. He beams in satisfaction as he pops the cork and raises a glass, doing an off-the-cuff toast about what a perfect fit she is for the weekend position.
I focus in on Stone, wishing I was closer to her, but I can’t get through the crowd. Fuck! This isn’t how I’d wanted her to find out.
She appears frozen as she surveys the room with wide eyes. Her gaze careens from Savannah to Marv to Vicky and then me. She rubs her neck with a hand that trembles, the motion calling attention to the pulse beating rapidly in her throat.
Get to her, Cade.
She takes a step back and darts out the break room door.
“Stone!” I call but she doesn’t acknowledge me, her legs eating up the distance between us as she stalks down the hall, headed in the direction of her cubicle.
I push past the reporters at the door and jog to catch up with her.
“Stone, wait a minute—”
“Get away from me.” She never stops her stride, and her voice is low and shaky.
She cuts the corner and enters her space, her gaze everywhere but on me as she picks around at the items on her desk. She mutters under her breath as she shuffles papers aimlessly then picks up a scraggly-looking cactus plant and clutches it. About a foot tall, it’s green and spikey with branches that resemble arms.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
She ignores me as she jerks up her blazer and tosses it over her arm. Her gaze scans the rest of the desk, deciding what to take with her.
“Are you quitting?” My voice is incredulous. I won’t stand for it.
“How astute of you.” Her voice is cold, her face a shuttered mask as she teeters on her heels for a moment then reaches up to the shelf above her computer to jerk down pictures she’d pinned to a bulletin board.
There’s one of her and Kevin outside the courthouse during the Giovanni trial last year, one of her and Vicky smiling at an office party, and one of her and the other reporters accepting an award at the Broadcast News Association convention in New York last year—all of them had been taken before I’d arrived at the station. It hammers home the fact that Stone has worked at this station longer than my own NFL career. She can’t just toss it away.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Look, don’t let Marv win. This Savannah thing, it came out of nowhere for a lot of people. Marv is way too determined to put her in your spot. It’s weird as fuck, and I promise I’ll get to the bottom of it—”
“Don’t bother,” she snaps. With the cactus in one hand, she shoves the photos in her bag, pivots back around, and brushes past me to get back out in the hall.
There are a few stragglers from the break room wandering around, holding plates of cake and wearing smiles. Kevin looks as if he is going to say something when he sees Stone but stops when I shake my head at him.
This isn’t the time, buddy.
They give her a wide berth as she powers through them, heading for the door.
I grab her elbow and flashing green eyes fly up and meet mine. “Don’t touch me, Cade Hill. Don’t you even dare—not after what you did.”
My mouth flattens. “You can’t believe what he said in there. I had absolutely nothing to do with Savannah getting the anchor job.”
“It doesn’t matter. My time at KHOT is over. No one wants me here.” Her breath catches, and her chest rises and falls rapidly.
Without giving her a chance to say no, I take her arm again and steer her in the direction of the sports den. “You aren’t storming out of here without talking to me.”
She struggles to get her arm back, but with her hands full she’s having a hard time. I take advantage of it and usher her into my office where I shut the double doors and turn to face her.
Stiff as a board, she stares at me, anger flitting across her face.
I swallow and heave out an exhale.
God, I wish I’d told her.
“I should have told you,” I say softly as I approach.
Her gaze is hard as flint as she straightens her back even more. “Why don’t you tell me now? Tell me how you helped Marv choose Savannah and how you knew the entire time and didn’t say a damn word to me about it. I told you how much I wanted that job. I told you everything!” She dips her head. “God. I was so fucking gullible. Just when I thought you were . . .” Her voice stops and trails off.
My chest freezes. “What?”
She shakes her head furiously. “Nothing. It’s not important.” Her posture goes limp, as if all her bones have dissolved away, leaving only her skin. “Not anymore.”
My heart beats double time. “I had nothing to do with Savannah.”
“But you were there at the board meeting.”
“I’m on your side, Stone.” My hands clench, remembering the hurried meeting on Monday. Marv had gone in with a tight plan, using the consultants’ logic and then the viewers’ complaints about Stone’s monkey pawing episode. I’d asked him for the proof of the complaints, because I doubted they were as widespread as he’d claimed, but it had fallen on deaf ears. I’d brought up how Savannah was too immature to handle the pressure, and obviously I’d chimed in about her apparent lack of knowledge when it came to basic geography. But, he’d been adamant about Savannah being the new, young fresh face of Houston, and nothing I said had helped.
“I was against it, but Marv managed to push it through. He had sound reasoning and on paper, Savannah has everything—”
“She’s been here less than a year and has somehow managed to take everything!” Her face crumbles and she looks away from me.
“You deserve that job over anyone else,” I say gently.
“Words, just words, Cade. Tell me this: did you know last night—when we were fucking—that I was going to come in here and get blindsided?”
I bury my hands in my hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think he would announce it so soon. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“And you didn’t think today would hurt?” She grimaces, the cactus wobbles, and I’m waiting for it to crash to the floor. She manages to secure it.
Her face is red as she glares at me. “I fell right into your lap, knowing it was dangerous to get involved with a co-worker, but in the end, it didn’t even matter. Because it wasn’t you that screwed me up, it was me, believing for half a second that Marv and you and Vicky would look at me and my record. It was me believing that I deserved that job, but obviously my brain isn’t pea-sized enough. I’m not young enough . . .” She sucks in a shuddering breath and looks blindly around the room. “I hate this place.”
“Marv made a mistake. Let me—”
She slices into the air with her hand. “You are not going to do anything. Whatever we had”—she motions between the two of us—“is over and done. I trusted you.”
I deserve that, but her words cut like a sharp knife.
“Don’t go,” I say and take a step toward her.
She scrambles away from me, her hands somehow awkwardly finding the doorknob and flinging it open.
I follow, trying to give her space but also wanting to stop her from walking away from me. Because it feels final. I keep pace behind her as she whips through the den and back out into the hall where she bumps into Savannah holding a balloon bouquet.
“Isn’t this the best news ever?” Savannah beams with pride as she thrusts the bouquet under Stone’s nose. “It’s a dream come true—my own show!”
Stone stares at her, blinking rapidly, and it kills me to see her face is turning blotchy. Her gaze is frantic as she searches for an escape and tries to move around Savannah.
Savannah’s eyes are like slits as she rakes them over Stone, taking in her plant and her overstuffed purse. “On your way out the door for good, Rebecca?” Her tone is saccharine sweet, and my anger ratchets higher.
A resounding pop fills the silence as one of the balloons careens into Stone’s cactus. I’m not sure if Stone poked it at the balloon or if it was unintentional, but it causes everyone to stop and stare.
“How rude!” Savannah is saying as I approach.
“Shut up,” I snap right back.
She huffs and glares at both of us.
Stone just stands there, and I think I see tears pooling in her gaze. “Goodbye, Cade.” Her voice is small and thin, and it breaks my goddamn heart.
Before I can say anything else, the door is shut.
She’s gone.
Trent adjusts his bowtie for another picture in front of the backdrop the photographer has set up. It’s Saturday evening, and we’re inside the Areosol Warfare Gallery, a sleek place with cement floors and graffiti-covered walls. It’s hip, urban, and cool as hell. Just inside is roughly three hundred attendees—all here to support Deadrick and the surrounding schools. Of course Trent had managed to organize everything in just three weeks. His official title is Director of Better Education in Houston at Hill Global. The job is more stable than the acting gigs he manages to get every now and then, and Dad giving him a swanky office is the icing on the cake.
“He did a great job,” a voice says. I turn to see my father in his black tux, looking trim and dapper.
Mom is with him, dressed in a blue evening gown. Her eyes glow as she looks from Trent and then back to us.
“I love having my whole family together,” she murmurs.
I arch a brow, but I get what she’s saying. We aren’t a normal family by any means. I guess we never will be, but then who the fuck is? Dad isn’t suddenly going to be fine with Trent’s lifestyle, but at least he’s learning to deal with it. Acceptance. That’s all a person needs.
Trent’s brought a friend with him, a slender dark-haired guy named Ramon, and I watch as Dad makes his way over to them. I strain to hear the introductions and distinctly hear the word special friend from Trent’s mouth. Dad takes his hand and shakes it. Fucking progress. I lift a toast to an imaginary being in the air. Apparently with age does come wisdom.
“Too bad Rebecca isn’t here with you,” my mom says quietly as she hooks her arm through mine. “Will I ever get to meet her?”
I let out a long breath, my chest squeezing at the sound of her name. Mom knows the story of how Stone had walked out on KHOT—and me.
Yeah. When Stone had said she was done . . . she was fucking done.
“You okay?” Mom asks.
I nod, focusing on keeping my face shuttered. “Fine.”
But I miss her.
More than miss her.
My penthouse isn’t the same without her in my bed.
I find myself looking for her face wherever I go.
At Deadrick. At the office. In the grocery store.
“Why don’t you call her?” Mom is facing me now. “She seems so delightful and sweet.”
“I have called her. She won’t answer.” I slug back my whiskey and place it on a waiter’s tray. A man can only take so many unanswered phone calls and texts before he gives up.
Mom sighs, her brow furrowing as she pats my arm. “Well, I am sorry for it. You just haven’t been yourself lately . . .”
I smirk at her, trying to lighten the mood. “Forget about Stone. She’s moved on and so will I.”
“Want me to call up Sissy?” She giggles.
“Hell no.” I laugh and it feels good—because I haven’t for a while. These past few weeks of being frozen out by Stone have gotten under my skin more than I’d realized.
She nods her head toward the entrance where a group of people wearing media passes have walked in. “KHOT is here.”
I follow her eyes and wave at Matt, Kevin, and one of the beat reporters who Marv decided would follow up with the Deadrick story.
Seeing them here without Stone reinforces the fact that she isn’t part of our circle anymore. She won’t be showing up tonight.
Sighing heavily, I wave them over and introduce them to my family.
For the next few minutes, as the gala attendees continue to enter, I stand next to Coach Hart, Cheetah, and a few more of the players as Matt asks questions about the school, the football program, and how they know me.
“How much money has Better Education in Houston raised tonight, Cade?” Matt holds the mic in my face, and I shoot my usual cocky smile at the camera. “Hill Global has collected over three hundred thousand tonight, and I suspect it will be even more after the evening is over.”
Matt nods. “So how excited are you tonight about your speaker? Didn’t you guys face off a time or two?”
I grin. “True, true, Eli Manning is speaking tonight about the importance of giving back. He’s also interested in forming an NFL organization that gets pro players involved with school districts in their hometowns. We’re delighted to have him. Lucky for us, he’s a family friend.”
A platinum blonde in a red dress appears in front of me, crashing the interview. “Cade! Darling! This event is simply amazing.” Clutching my arm, Maggie Grace sweeps her gaze over to Matt and smiles at the camera. “Isn’t he the most generous person ever?”
Matt jumps in with the microphone. “Indeed. And who are you, miss?”
She glows and bats her eyelashes at the camera. “I’m Maggie Grace, his fiancée.”
Then she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me.