Stone Cold (2 page)

Looking up at the neon sign with two bulbs burnt out, she knew she couldn’t spend her last few dollars on this dive if she planned to eat tomorrow. Every dollar she’d earned had gone toward paying for her baby sister’s latest stint in rehab. She wanted to believe this time would be different, and because Drake loved her, he let her hold on to that fantasy. He’d even offered to pay for Katie’s care, but he’d already done too much for her. She was determined to help her sister on her own. It’s true what they said...
No good deed goes unpunished.

Knowing there was only one person she could turn to at this hour, she pulled out of the parking lot and took the short-cut to her drummer’s apartment. They had dated for a short time when she came to town, but that ended as soon as she met Drake. Vinnie and her other band mates were the only friends she had in this city, and since the other two men were married, she didn’t think their wives would appreciate the intrusion at this hour.

She knew she should call Vin first, but she’d left her cell phone at Drake’s and she didn’t feel like stopping at a pay phone outside some dingy truck stop or gas station.

Thankfully, it was a low-budget building without security and people were free to come and go as they pleased. After hauling her huge suitcase up two flights of stairs, she was exhausted by the time she reached Vinnie’s door. Knocking softly so she wouldn’t disturb the creepy middle-aged man next door who always propositioned her, she held her breath, praying her friend was home.

He peeked his head out the door. “Cass, what the hell…?” His eyes fell to the suitcase. “You and the old man get into it?”

“You could say that.” She tried to swallow the emotion welling up in her throat. “I just need a place to crash tonight. I’ll figure out what I’m gonna do tomorrow.”

“I’d love to help ya out hon, but—”

Fear began to set in when she realized the one person she thought she could count on to keep a roof over her head for one night wasn’t going to help her. “It’s okay,” she said, holding her hand up to silence him. She may not have much else, but she still had her pride. “You don’t owe me an explanation.” The effects of the drugs were wearing off and the panic was starting to set in. She was homeless, without a job, a family she could count on, or a friend in the world willing or able to help her. Her worst fear was coming true.
She was turning in to her mother.

“It’s just that I hooked up with Justine earlier.” A slow grin spread across his face. “She’s waitin’ for me to come back to bed as we speak.”

She knew her friend had been trying to get back together with his ex-girlfriend for months. At least someone’s love life was on the right track. “I’m happy for you, Vin.” She gripped the handle on her suitcase. “I’ll just catch up with you tomorrow.”

“Hey,” he said when she started walking toward the back staircase. “Your rich boyfriend didn’t just throw you out on the street without any money though, right?” He chuckled. “Use one of those platinum cards burnin’ up your wallet and get a swanky room somewhere. Spa treatment and all. It’ll serve him right.”

Cassidy forced a smile. The last thing she wanted was Vinnie’s pity. “Yeah, sure. Go on back to your girlfriend.”

“I think I will.”

She waited until she heard his door closing before she sank to the floor and buried her head in her hands. The tears were scalding her cheeks as the severity of the situation began to settle over her.

One Year Later

“It’s sad to see, man. I’m tellin’ ya, she needs someone to give her a break. I don’t know how much longer she can go on like this.”

J.T. McCall, the owner of Jimmy’s Bar, had been a friend of Drake’s for too many years for him to brush off his concerns, but his ex-fiancée was the last person he wanted to talk about, especially since his conscience told him he was the reason she’d hit rock bottom.

“She using again?” Drake almost wished she was. That would mean she was the one responsible for her decline instead of him.

“No, man, she’s clean.”

Drake brought the vodka to his lips, pausing before he tasted it. “How do you know that?”

J.T. smirked. “You’re talkin’ to a guy who’s been around the block a time or two, my friend. Trust me, I know when someone’s messed up on that stuff, and she isn’t. Well, she’s messed up, but it ain’t because of that shit.”

Taking a deep swallow of his drink, he asked the question that had been haunting him for the past year. “She tell you why we ended it?”

When Drake told him it was over, J.T. had stopped him before he could give him the dirty details. He said he considered both of them friends and he refused to put himself in the middle of their war. Drake admired his friend’s integrity, but the rest of his friends had formed a solid line behind him, shunning Cassidy at every opportunity.

She’d been blacklisted from every decent bar, club, and studio in the city. None of the A-list managers would get behind her, and the rumor mill informed him that she didn’t have the money to finish the demo they’d started together.

“No, she hasn’t said a word to me about you.”

Drake threw the rest of his drink back. He shouldn’t care, but he did. Too damn much. He hadn’t been able to forget what she didn’t seem to want to remember.

“If you wanna talk, I’m willin’ to listen,” J.T. said, raising his beer bottle.

Drake narrowed his dark eyes. “Why all of a sudden are you willin’ to listen? Last I heard, you didn’t wanna get involved.”

“Man, this isn’t healthy for either one of you. I can tell this is eatin’ you up inside and Cassidy has just shut down, like she’s givin’ up hope.”

Drake told himself he didn’t have an ounce of compassion for the woman who’d betrayed him, but the pain in his chest told him otherwise. “Maybe you should encourage her to move on, J.T. You say she’s your friend. Tell her it’s just not gonna happen for her. She should go back home, get a job, learn a trade…” He reached for the bottle of vodka J.T. left on the bar and refilled his glass. “Hell, I don’t care what she does, but this city,
my city
, isn’t big enough for both of us. I want her gone.”

“You sure about that?” J.T. asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course I’m sure.” He tipped his glass back a second time, but like so many other nights, it did little to dull the constant pain of living with the knowledge that he’d been so wrong about the one and only woman he’d ever trusted with his heart.

“That look on your face tells me otherwise. You can lie to me, but don’t lie to yourself.”

Drake wasn’t used to people calling him out, trying to force him to face feelings he’d rather bury than analyze. “Tell me somethin’. How would you feel if you caught Nikki in bed with Ty?”

The shock that registered on his friend’s face was a small measure of satisfaction, especially since it came at the cost of his pride. It stung, knowing he hadn’t been man enough to keep Cassidy satisfied. He’d been trying to disprove that theory with every gorgeous woman who crossed his path in the year since he kicked Cassidy out of his home… to no avail. It didn’t matter if dozens of women were lining up for a night in his bed. The one woman he’d wanted had chosen his brother instead.

“So, that’s what happened?” J.T. asked, leaning over the bar. They weren’t open for the evening crowd yet, but a few of his employees were milling about and he was obviously trying to be discreet. “Man, it’s no wonder you’ve been messed up. That must’ve hurt like hell.”

“Only when I let myself think about it,” he said, reaching for the bottle. “She made her choice, so don’t expect me to feel sorry for her, J.T. If she’s hit rock bottom, she put herself there.”

“You have every right to feel the way you do, and I’m not sayin’ what she did was right…”J.T. held his hand up when Drake glared at him. “Obviously, she was in the wrong. They both were, but you can’t deny the girl can sing, man.”

Drake shrugged. “So can a lot of other pretty girls. You watch those singing competitions, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but we both know that girl has somethin’ special. I’ve been doin’ this a long time, seen a lot of acts pass through this bar, but few people are as committed as she is.”

“She needs to be committed if you ask me,” Drake muttered.

J.T. chuckled. “I’m serious. She’s got that fire in her eyes. The same fire Nik had when I met her.” He grinned. “Nik was just a little bit younger than Cassidy when we met. Hotter than hell, with this fire in her eyes that turned me on…” He shook his hand in the air as a salacious grin spread over his face. “Man, that little girl brought this cowboy to his knees.”

Drake couldn’t help but smile at J.T.’s account. They’d met long after he and Nikki became a couple and he’d never thought to ask the story of how they met. “You knew she was the one right away, huh?”

“I was afraid she might be.” J.T. laughed. “She was too damn young when we met, barely legal, but man, I wanted her in a big way. Her daddy bein’ the almighty Luc Spencer made it tough to get within ten feet of her, so I knew I had to wait it out. See where we ended up.”

Drake glanced at the gold wedding band on his friend’s left hand. “Looks like y’all ended up exactly where you were supposed to.”

“I think so.” J.T. reached for the vodka bottle despite Drake’s scowl. “This ain’t gonna solve your problems. Neither will runnin’ and hidin’. She’s still gonna be there when you close your eyes tonight.”

That statement was truer than Drake’s pride would ever allow him to admit. “Trust me, I’m gonna have some hot little blonde in my bed before the night’s out. Cassidy will be the last thing on my mind.”

***

It killed Cassidy to hear Drake utter those words, but she was determined she wouldn’t let him see he still had the power to hurt her. Like a vulture, he’d move in for the kill if he sensed weakness. He may have broken her spirit and stolen her hope, but she wasn’t down for the count…
yet.

“Sounds like some things never change, J.T.” She glanced at her friend, the only man who’d stood by her when the rest of the town rallied around the almighty Drake Elliott and branded her a whore not worthy of their time.

Drake spun around, barely sparing her a glance before he turned his attention back to J.T. “I’ve heard that saying about the cat dragging in their kill, but I never thought I’d get to see it firsthand.”

She squared her shoulders and tried to blink back the hot sting of tears clouding her vision. She wasn’t wearing the designer clothing he’d encouraged her to buy on his dime while they were together, but she’d just washed the jeans and white T-shirt at the center that morning. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, her face scrubbed free of make-up, but she held her head high, determined to act as though his insult hadn’t hit its mark.

She moved in to his line of vision, vowing to stand her ground. “Some of us don’t need five-hundred-dollar jeans to feel worthy.”

He smirked as he looked her up and down. “Probably a good thing since you can’t afford them anymore. How does it feel not having a sugar daddy to support you anymore?”

Her face flamed as she looked from the man she’d once loved to J.T. Knowing his opinion of her couldn’t get any lower, she decided to fan the flames. “How do you know my current boyfriend couldn’t buy and sell you?” When she saw the fury in his eyes, she almost backed down.

“Who the hell is it?” he asked, his eyes raking over her the way they once had in the heat of a passionate moment. “He can’t be paying for it if you’re dressing like that.”

Without considering the consequences, she struck him hard and fast, the echo ringing out through the near-empty bar. Her first instinct was to step back, out of his reach, but she knew that’s what he expected her to do, so she stood her ground, daring to look him in the eye.

“Hey, hey,” J.T. said, holding his hand up. “I’m gonna have to draw the line at physical contact, you two. If you can’t play nice, one of you will have to leave.”

Cassidy knew Drake Elliot would never be escorted from a bar in this city, so she conceded. Lowering her voice, she asked, “You get high on bullying people, don’t you?”

As though he’d never felt the impact of her hand on his face mere moments before, he threw his head back and laughed. “Honey, I don’t know a damn thing about getting high. That’s your deal, not mine.” He looked up and down her bare arms, even though he knew damn well she’d never shot up before or during their time together.

“If you’re looking for tracks, you won’t find any.”

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t stoop so low. An addict is an addict.”

She didn’t know why his words came as such a shock to her. He’d gone to great lengths to ruin her life, why wouldn’t he enjoy spewing his venom the first time their paths crossed? “I haven’t used in…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Since the night I caught you in bed with my brother?”

She shot a quick look at J.T., who pretended to be wiping down the bar with a damp rag.

“Yeah, your secret’s out, sugar. Even J.T. knows about it now. I was just asking him how he would’ve felt walking in on Nikki banging Ty. Of course, we all know she’s too classy to ever do a thing like that, don’t we?”

“God, I hate you,” she whispered, turning on her heel and running toward the back of the bar. She should’ve known she couldn’t gain the upper hand in a battle of will or wits with that man. He was too smart, too powerful, too wealthy, and obviously he’d added cruelty to his repertoire.
He’s a hateful, spiteful, bitter, vindictive excuse for a human being.

Leaning against the closed door of her small dressing room, she let her eyes drift closed as she took deep, cleansing breaths. At moments like this, she would’ve turned to the pills that always allowed her to escape when the pain was too intense: her mother’s drinking, the sexual abuse, feeling so scared and alone…

Cassidy turned the lock and sank down on the old leather chair as her legs threatened to give way. She’d come too far to risk another setback now. She told herself Drake’s opinion of her didn’t matter, but she knew she was lying to herself. Every day for the past year she’d refused to give up on her dream of becoming a singer because she was determined to prove to him that she could make it without him.

Her hands trembled as she picked up the phone and dialed her friend. For the past several months, Cassidy had been the one lending support to recovering addicts at the center. It had been a long time since she’d had to ask Phil to guide her through the dark valley of temptation.

Breathing a sigh of relief when he picked up the phone, she said, “Hey, Phil, it’s me. You got a minute?”

“Cassidy? Honey, you don’t sound so good. What is it? What’s wrong?”

Like the older brother she’d never had to protect her from the darkness, Phil was always there with a shoulder to lean on, a bed to sleep in, or a few dollars to buy a hot meal after a gig. She didn’t know how she would’ve gotten through this past year without him.

“I just saw Drake at Jimmy’s.” She pulled her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. “I tried to stand up to him…” She squeezed her eyes shut as she re-played the ugly scene in her mind. “But I just made a fool of myself.”

“What happened? What did he say?”

That’s why she loved Phil so much. He was fiercely protective of the people he loved and wouldn’t allow anyone to get close enough to hurt them. He was like a protective uncle to those living at the center, helping them to move through their drug addiction the same way she had, one day at a time. “He said I looked terrible…” She sniffled, reaching for tissue. Damn him for making her feel like less than nothing when she’d just started believing she might be worth something again.

“He’s an idiot. Who the hell cares what he thinks?”

The Drake she remembered, the man who’d loved her with his whole heart would never have hurt her that way. He’d made her believe that she was special, beautiful, and capable of accomplishing any goal she set. No matter how high the bar, he always encouraged her to raise it because he believed she could do anything.