The Playboy's Princess (34 page)

Jade wasn’t sure what brought her back to her old neighborhood. The only thing she could put it down to was that she missed the simple life she’d had when she lived there. Her face hadn’t been plastered on the cover of tabloid magazines, photographers didn’t chase her down the streets, and Drew was just some guy she’d vaguely heard of.

Everything was so different now. She kicked a pebble along the sidewalk as she walked past the school. The sounds of boys yelling came from inside, but it didn’t sound like a fight, it was cheering.

She thought about stopping to see what was going on, but it was nearly dusk and she wanted to get home before it was dark, so she turned to head back to her car. Back to her crazy new life.

“Hey, miss!”

Jade heard the greeting but assumed it must have been for someone else. She didn’t know anyone who lived on this street.

“Miss!”

The voice was closer. Thundering footsteps approached her from behind. She spun and prepared to defend herself, expecting her bag to be snatched. A young man raced toward her. He looked to be in his mid-teens and wore his black hair in a ponytail. He slowed as he approached her with a huge smile. She couldn’t feel any threat coming from him, so she relaxed.

“Are you talking to me?” she asked.

“You’re Drew’s girl, right?” the boy asked, breathing heavily from running after her.

“Uh…” Jade didn’t really feel like getting into her complex love life with a stranger on the street.

“I knew it was you. Craig said you weren’t, but I recognized your hair.”

“Is there something I can do for you?” she asked, expecting the boy to say he had a message for her from Drew. Apparently he was getting kids to do his dirty work for him now.

“Have you seen Drew?”

“Have I…? Haven’t you seen him?” His question threw her off.

“He hasn’t been coming to practice for a few weeks, and he missed our championship game.”

“I’m sorry. He’s got some personal things going on right now. I’m sure he would have been there if he could.”

The boy shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay. We just
wanted
him to be there because he trained us so well. We won the Regionals.”

The boy’s face shone with pride as his chest puffed out.

“Congratulations.”

“Can you tell Drew when you see him? We just want to say thanks for turning us into a strong team. And tell him we miss him.”

“All right.”

The boy, whose name she didn’t even know, ran back to the school and disappeared inside.

Jade’s face flushed with heat. That boy was so sweet and all he wanted was for his coach to watch him win a game. That wasn’t too much to ask, and Drew had let his team down.

In a burst of fury, she forgot her promise not to call him and pulled out her phone. She called his number and tapped her foot on the sidewalk as she waited for him to pick up.

His voice mail answered.

“Oh, this is just great! You’ve been calling me constantly, and then, when I want to talk to you, you don’t answer?” she said into the phone. “Well, good, actually. I don’t want to talk to you either. All I’m calling to say is that you’re an asshole. Those kids you coached won their regional championship game, and you weren’t even there to watch them play. I guess you really do only care about yourself, you selfish bastard.”

She hung up the phone and felt like throwing it, but knew she’d regret that later. She just wished she could see the look on his face when he listened to her message.

Chapter Twenty

More Than Words

“H
AVE
Y
OU
H
EARD
from Drew?” Clare asked.

“Not since I left that nasty message for him.” Jade sighed. “I guess he finally got the hint.”

“But you’re still married to him. Don’t you think you should talk?”

“I don’t know. What’s the point? Can anything he says change the situation?”

Clare chewed her lip. “Well, no.”

“Exactly. So, what do you think?” Jade moved through her new apartment, showing Clare how she’d added her personal touches since moving in six weeks earlier. It was a nice place, she thought—lots of light with good air circulation. The furniture was much better quality than what she’d had in her old apartment. She felt she could be happy here.

“I like it. And it’s close to me and Stuart, so we can visit all the time.”

“I like it too. It suits the new me.”

Six weeks, she thought again. That’s how long it had been since she’d last heard from Drew. It had served as a time of healing for her, and she was starting to feel like her old self. She’d started work as Princess Ariel again and enjoyed being back at on the job and working with the kids.

Drew’s lawyer had send a curt email to acknowledge that they’d received the money she’d sent back, but not one word from Drew himself. She missed him terribly but was relieved that he seemed to have accepted that she needed to move on.

She’d had a long day at work so she grabbed a pizza for dinner and settled in on the couch for a night at home. Unfortunately, there was nothing good on TV, and without realizing it, she found herself watching the entertainment news.

“Drew Malik, son of Academy Award winner Aaron Malik, has been seen out and about for the first time since his four-week stint in rehab. Connor spoke to Drew at last night’s Young Hollywood party.”

The image cut from the young woman sitting in front of a picture of Drew to a red carpet outside a party with people swarming everywhere. Drew’s smiling face came onto the screen, and Jade leaned forward. He looked good.

“How are you feeling?” Connor asked.

“Great. I’m great. It was just time to grow up and make some adult choices in my life.”

“Jade’s not with you tonight?”

“No.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you attend a party without a date. Is this the new you?”

Drew laughed. “It is. There isn’t anyone else I’d want to spend my time with. I love my wife.”

Connor turned to the camera. “You have it right here, ladies. Drew Malik has grown up. Jade is one lucky lady.”

The show cut back to the newsroom, but Jade lost interest. Drew had been to rehab? That was news to her. And it would explain the lack of phone calls over the past few weeks.

“Well, good for him,” she said out loud.

She was glad he was making some positive changes in his life. The declaration of love and not taking a date to the party was all for show, though, she was convinced. Technically they were still married, and there’d been no formal announcement that they’d separated. Until the divorce went through in a few months, he’d probably still be saying things like that.

A little voice in the back of her head reminded her that he’d told her the same things on the phone, and that wasn’t for show. She’d told him she didn’t believe the words, that she needed more than that…Was this action? Going to rehab? Not dating anyone else even though she’d been absent from his life for weeks? She didn’t know. She really needed to know his motives.

She chewed her bottom lip and tapped her phone against her leg as she thought. Maybe she could call him. Maybe that would be okay. She
had
missed him. It didn’t mean anything would happen. She’d just say she’d seen the news and was happy that his life was moving in a positive direction. She certainly didn’t hate him, and they’d started off as friends, so she could be friendly.

With her mind made up, and before she lost her nerve, she dialed his number.

“Jade?” he asked, surprise in his voice.

“You didn’t call me Ariel,” she said.

Her face flushed at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him until she heard him speak. Tears welled in her eyes, and she clutched the phone tightly to her ear, trying to be close to him, as if she could hug him though the phone.

“Yeah, well, that’s not your fucking name,” he said, reminding her of the last words she’d said to him.

“I’m sorry about that. I was emotional and I shouldn’t have—”

“No, I was the jerk, Jade. You have no idea how happy I am that you called…Why
did
you call?”

“Oh, right. I just saw you on the news. They said you were in rehab.”

“I left you a voice message about it.”

“Oh.” She hung her head in shame.

“You didn’t listen to any of the messages, did you?”

“No,” she admitted.

“Jade, can we meet up? There are some things I really want to talk to you about, but I want to say them in person.”

“I don’t know, Drew. I just wanted to call and say I’m happy your life is going well now. I think seeing you in person might be a mistake.”

“I just miss you.” His voice sounded so soft and sincere that her resolve melted. She’d missed him too, and she wanted to see him very much.

“All right. Do you want to have dinner?”

“Being in public might be hard right now. We’d need to act all loved up, and I don’t think we’re in a good place for that. How about you come to the house?”

“Uh, no.” She couldn’t bring herself to go back there. It felt like home to her after living there for so many months, and she needed to make sure she kept her guard up. She needed to be in control. “Why don’t you come to my new place?”

“All right.”

She gave him the address, and half an hour later, he knocked on the door. She’d quickly showered and put on fresh makeup, wanting to look nice and hating herself for caring what he thought of her.

She opened the door and invited him in. He looked around the living room, and his brow creased.

“This furniture all looks secondhand.”

“It came with the apartment when I rented it,” she said.

“Rented? I thought you would have bought something.”

Jade paused. “I gave you back the money, Drew.”

“You did?” He genuinely looked shocked.

“Yes. I sent it to your lawyer weeks ago. All I have left is the car.”

Drew kicked at the edge of the frayed rug. “You didn’t have to do that. You earned the money. I’ll get it transferred back to you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, but I don’t want it.”

An awkward silence filled the room.

“Okay. Well, that’s not what I came here to talk about anyway.”

Jade’s heart rate sped up. She wasn’t ready to hear what he wanted to say.

“Are you hungry?” she blurted out. “I could cook something.”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Thirsty? I have soda.”

Drew smirked. He knew her well enough to know what she was doing.

“Jade, just come and sit with me.” He sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to him.

“My name sounds weird coming from your lips. I’m not used to it.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I…I don’t know what I want.”

His hair fell into his eyes as he smiled at her. It had grown longer since she’d last seen him, and she liked how it hung around his face, giving him a sexy, messy look.

“Well, I know exactly what I want. That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

She let out a sigh. He obviously wasn’t going to be distracted.

“I’d like a drink. You sure you don’t want one?”

“Jade.”

“No, I’m not avoiding. I’ll be right back.”

She ducked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, breathing deeply. She whispered to herself to get it together. She wished he didn’t look so sexy with his long eyelashes and messy hair.

She poured a glass of diet cola and listened to the bubbles popping as she carried the glass into the living room. Drew was waiting, tapping his hands on his crossed leg.

Jade sat on the couch and took a long sip of her drink.

“Okay,” she said, turning the glass in her hands.

“You said you didn’t want to hear me say I loved you because you’d heard it before and it was a lie.”