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you at? Where you at? Where you
at,
my man?” Denver “Rocket Man” Rockford was one giant party. It didn’t matter where he was or whom he was with, he’d turn every situation into an epically good time. He was also the biggest client on my roster and the reason I held the title of partner at Striker Sports Entertainment.
    “Rocket! How’s it going, man?” I asked, my spirits instantly lifted. His raucous personality was infectious.
    “Ah, you
know
my life is good,” he said. Bragging, as usual. He had every right to. He was the highest-paid quarterback in the league, with nearly thirteen million dollars in endorsements for this year alone. Plus, he was happy and in love with one of my closest friends, Quinn. His coming-out announcement had actually increased his popularity instead of decreasing it, as he’d feared.
    “Hey, I’m in town, hanging out with your boys over here at Monkey Business, wondering when your pussy ass is going to show up to throw back a few with us.”
    Monkey Business was the favorite hangout spot for both Cassidy and me, as well as our mutual group of friends. A pub where my best buddy, Chaz, was the bartender. And after checking the time, I was positive Landon would be posted up on a barstool next to Denver.
    Fuck it. I could really use a drink. I’d already missed the scheduled appointment time with the shrink, anyway, and though I’d had Ben clear my schedule for the rest of the day, Denver was still my highest-paid client. Ergo, I could technically count this as a business meeting. So after checking the mirrors for any ticket-writing types, I gave the recently battered steering wheel before me a hard turn to the right and veered into the emergency lane to take the exit a quarter of a mile ahead.
    “Line ’em up and keep a stool warm for me,” I told Denver.
    He gave a bellow of “Woohoo!” before disconnecting the call.
    Cassidy would already be pissed, so I might as well make it worth the bitching.

CHAPTER 2
    Cassidy
    Shaw had missed our appointment. Again. Though I’d suspected it before, I was convinced now that he was doing it on purpose. I wanted to be mad, should’ve been, but I wasn’t. I was hurt. Hurt because I wanted to mean more to him. I wanted us, his family, to mean more to him.
    As usual, our order of importance fell behind Shaw’s own agenda of furthering his career. He could use whatever excuse he wanted to for why that was, and it was usually all about how he was busting his ass for us, but I wasn’t buying it. Since the day I’d met him, Shaw had been hell-bent on making a name for himself. I’d thought he’d changed after the time we’d spent in Stonington with my family, after he’d professed his love for me and told me it was him and me against the world, and even more so after Abe had been born. But actions speak louder than words, and I was reading him loud and clear.
    It made me no less desperate to cling to him, no less hopeful that he’d see what was right in front of his face, no less hopeful that he’d realize that the unnecessary risks he was taking left the future of the family he claimed to love so much hanging in the balance.
    To make matters worse, he hadn’t come home after work. Instead, I’d gotten a phone call from Quinn, offering to come sit with Abe so I could take a time-out to hang with some adults for once. Apparently, Shaw had shown up at Monkey Business, where he was keeping a bar stool warm while I was trying to keep his dinner from getting cold.
    And the butthead hadn’t even bothered to call.
    “Thanks, but no thanks,” I’d told Quinn. “You and Denver won’t be in town for long, and I know Demi and Sasha have been dying to see you. So you guys have fun.”
    I was used to being left home alone with Abe, except for the few occasions Uncle Chaz kept him for me. Finding a sitter was always left to me if I wanted some time for myself. Shaw, on the other hand, came and went as he pleased as if his world hadn’t