Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel)

by Samantha Christy

  “I’m sure Lila could do that with any manager,” I tell him. “Can I talk to you for a second, Paul?” I walk to the end of the hallway by the stairwell. “What are you thinking bringing Heather here? You know I don’t get along with her. Do you have some ulterior motive?” I look back over at Heather and Lila and it dawns on me. I lean against the wall and let out a sigh. “Thomas changed his mind, didn’t he?”

  Paul just stares at me.

  “Of course he did,” I say pacing back and forth. “And you’ve brought reinforcements to try and talk me into signing on, too. Am I wrong?”

  He shrugs a smug shoulder.

  I walk back to where Heather and Lila are standing and address them all. “I’m telling you right now that I’m not doing it. So if you’ve come here to beg me to do the Malibu movie, you can leave now and not waste your breath.”

  The door to my apartment opens and Mallory spills out of it, obviously tipsy from the free-flowing champagne. “What’s going on out here?” Then she sees Heather and her smile falls. “Oh.”

  Shit. I really wish she wouldn’t have opened the door. Mal is too nice to send them away. Even though she despises Heather. I walk over and put my arm around Mallory. “I was just telling Paul that they might be more comfortable somewhere else.”

  As anticipated, Mallory looks at me in horror. “Uh, I invited him. You can’t send him away.”

  “Yes,” I say, smiling while speaking through my tightly closed jaw. “But he’s brought unexpected guests, babe.”

  “I can see that,” she says, looking embarrassed that I’m not being hospitable. She holds out her hand to Lila. “Hi, we haven’t formally met yet, Lila. I’m Mallory. Thad has told me very nice things about you.”

  Lila shakes her hand. “It’s good to meet you, Mallory.”

  “Heather,” Mallory says in the driest of acknowledgments. After all, the last time she saw her, Heather’s hand was on my bare chest in the living room of my house. She motions them all in. “I trust you will all respect that this is our home and this party is to welcome Thad to New York.”

  Heather scoots by us before Mal has a chance to change her mind. Lila thanks her and ducks in as well, followed by Paul, who doesn’t seem to give a shit what Mallory or I think.

  I pull Mal close. “Just say the word and they’re gone.”

  “It’ll be fine,” she says. “Do you know how many people in there have our backs?”

  I look in the apartment, feeling damn lucky to have these friends and family in my life. And it’s all because of Mallory. She brings out the best in everyone. She brings out the best in me. “You’re right. Come on.” I pull her behind me. “I think I’ll have my drink now.”

  She giggles and offers to get me one. But before she leaves, she whispers to me. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve already had three. My judgment is not the best right now. Obviously,” she says, giggling again while motioning to Heather. “And I might just let you feel me up in the bathroom. But, shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone.”

  I laugh as I watch her walk away. I’m one lucky motherfucker.

  I notice Heather heads straight for the bar. Nothing ever changes with her. I swear if she brought drugs into my home, I’ll call the goddamn police on her myself. She’s trying her best to mingle when most of my guests want nothing to do with her. “Who are you?” she asks Julian, pointing at him rudely.

  “I’m Julian, Thad and Mallory’s friend from way back. I’ve also escorted the lovely Ana Garner to this fine party.” He smiles at his beautiful date.

  “Oh . . . my . . . God,” Heather says dramatically. “Not again. Is there something in the fucking water here?”

  “Shut up, Heather,” Hayden says, coming over to run interference. He pulls me aside. “For the love of God, why did you let that woman in?”

  “I didn’t, Mal did,” I tell him. “She didn’t want to be rude.”

  “Well, I have no problem being a prick. I’ll kick her ass out where it belongs.”

  I shake my head. “No, don’t do that. Not unless she does something stupid.”

  Mallory comes up behind me, kissing my neck. She’s definitely feeling good right now. She never gropes me in public. I reach my hand behind her head and press her lips further into me. God, she smells so good.

  “Here’s your drink, babe,” she says, putting it down next to me.

  I see Heather watching us from across the room. I realize what I’m about to do is probably not the best move, but it’s my house so I really don’t fucking care. I pull Mal into my lap and kiss her. Hard. Cheers erupt around the room from everyone here. Well, almost everyone.

  Mallory’s dad beckons me over to him. Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. “I think I’m about to get scolded by your father,” I tell her.

  She giggles. “That man worships the ground you walk on, Chad.”

  “Still. He’s big and I just had my tongue down your throat.”

  I help her off my lap and make my way to Richard. He asks me to join him on the balcony. He hands me a small box. “In this box are the rings I gave to Mallory’s mom. I don’t know what you have planned for her wedding ring, and if you don’t want them, I’ll understand, but I thought maybe you could somehow use the diamonds . . .”

  “Yes. Of course, yes, Richard. I know Mallory would be honored to have something that belonged to her mother.” I take the box from him. “Thank you.”

  “There’s one more thing,” he says, looking nervous.

  “What it is?”

  He looks around uncomfortably. “I’m not exactly sure how to give Mallory some news.”

  I can’t help my smile. I had suspected as much. “You’re getting married, too, aren’t you?”

  He nods. “Yes. But that’s not the news that might be hard for her to hear.” He nods inside to Denise.

  It takes me a minute to wrap my brain around what he’s trying to tell me. “She’s . . . you’re . . . ?”

  I’m not sure if he’s happy or terrified. Maybe a bit of both. He releases a long sigh. “Denise is pregnant. Mallory is going to be a big sister.”

  “And this is a good thing, right?” I ask, just to be sure.

  He smiles and pats my shoulder. “This is a great thing,” he says.

  “She’ll be over the moon, Richard. She tells me all the time how happy she is to see you living again.”

  “Will you be there when we tell her?” he asks.

  I nod. “Of course. How about Sunday at your place?” I ask. “Just the other day we were talking about making it a weekly thing. If that’s okay with you.”

  “I would love that,” he says. “Now go back to your party, son. Quit letting this old man monopolize your time.”

  “Old man my ass,” I say. “You’re about to remember what it’s like to wake up for 2 a.m. feedings. That’ll keep you young.”

  Back inside, I hunt down my drink. After all, I better enjoy the heck out of it since I get only one.

  Lila asks Mallory for a tour of the place since the rest of the guests already had one before she arrived. Mal is all too happy to show off our new digs.

  Julian comes over to sit next to me, looking all serious. “What is it?” I ask, studying him. “Oh, hell, you’re not breaking up with her, are you? Ana really likes you. I think she might even love you. You guys are great together. I know you don’t think you want this life, but Julian, it’s no big deal. You’ll work it out. You see how good it is for Mal and me. With your background, you can get a job anywhere. Or Ana can move; she can live here in New York. You can’t just throw it—”

  “She’s pregnant, Chad.”

  What the fuck? I take a large swig of my drink, tossing it back in a single swallow.

  I glance over at Heather, who’s looking at me but talking with Paul. Then I look over at Richard and Denise. I say to Julian, “I guess there really is something in the water.”

  “What?” he asks in confusion.

  “Nothing. So, uh . . . I
’m not sure what you want me to say. Are you asking me what you should do?”

  He shakes his head. “No.” He looks over at Ana as she laughs with Noreen, Megan, and Charlie. “I think I might want to marry her.”

  This night is turning into the most surreal night of my life. I’m starting to feel a disconnect between my mind and my body, like all of this is a dream happening to someone else.

  “Is that what she wants?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “I’m not sure. She just told me yesterday. But look at her,” he says. “She looks happy, doesn’t she?”

  “She looks happy, Jul-ann. You shuuu go fer it.”

  He scrunches his eyes at me. “Are you sure that’s your first drink, bro?”

  “Uh huh,” I say, laughing. But the laugh comes out of my eyes, the sound swirling into the room in brightly colored hues. “Somethin’s goin’ on.”

  A loud crash comes from behind us. I turn to see one of the distraught caterers who had dropped a glass of champagne.

  “I’ll deal with that,” Julian says. “Go drink some water.”

  I get up and float to my bedroom, walking through to the bathroom so I can splash some water on my face. When I lift my head up, I look in the mirror and see Mallory behind me. Actually, I smell her more than I see her. Because at this point, everything I see is little more than a blur. I need to lie down.

  “How strong a drink did ya make me, Mal?”

  She comes up behind me and whispers into my ear. “Let’s get you into bed, Chad.”

  I turn around and bury myself into her. She smells so damn good I can see it. I can actually see her smell. It’s like pink and purple flowers are coming out of her pores. I want to grab them. I reach out and feel her hot flesh under my hand. She’s so soft and welcoming. I let her lead me to our new bed. I’m already getting hard. I know what she promised me earlier and she’s about to deliver.

  When she guides me to the bed, I feel like I’m not even moving but that I’m stationary and things are moving around me. Every object has a tracer feel to it. Not trails like when you move a flashlight quickly, more like paths of liquid, like wormhole trails in sci-fi movies. Oh, yeah, I’m doing research for that film. That’s what this is. I should thank Mal for helping me.

  When she pushes me down on the bed, it’s in slow motion, the bed swallowing me up when I hit the soft duvet. I hold my arms out for her to join me, but when I do, my hands are white static, like I’m in a virtual reality game.

  Mallory leans down to kiss me and it’s like no kiss I’ve ever felt. Not only can I feel her kiss; I can see it. And when she puts my hands to her breasts, I can hear them as well as feel them. And I surmise this is the best fucking dream I’ve ever had in my life.

  She rips off my shirt and I rip off hers, seeing the sounds of her buttons as they fly through the air. She leaves me as I watch them float and suspend above my head. When Mal comes back, she sits beside me, holding something up to her nose as she laughs in delight. She holds something out to me, telling me I should sniff it and it will make all this even better.

  I just want to be inside her so I push her hand away, watching the wormhole trail as it moves. “Just need you . . . now.”

  She climbs on top of me, grinding herself into me as I try to touch as much flesh as I can, but our damn pants are getting in the way. I reach down to fix the situation.

  And then, I hear voices. Many voices behind me. But mostly I hear Mal. Which is strange, because Mal is on top of me. But when I turn my head to see the voices, I see Mal. She’s everywhere in the room. She’s yelling at me but I see her words more than I hear them.

  “Stupid bastard,” I see floating through the air. Then I hear something small hit the top of my head.

  More images appear in my bedroom, floating around me.

  “Can I kick her ass now, Thad?” I see someone say. “Or maybe I should just kick yours.”

  My body bounces off the bed along with Mal’s as she screams to be let go. Then I think I see Julian say, “you’ll have to wait in fucking line,” right before I see red wormhole trails before my eyes. And then . . . nothing.

  Chapter Thirty

  Mallory

  The sun set long ago and my behind hurts from sitting on the hard wooden planks for hours. Every time I think there aren’t any more tears for me to cry, I picture Chad underneath her in our bedroom—on our bed—and the waterworks start all over again. I’ve gone over it a thousand times. Why would he do that to me?

  There’s only one explanation and it breaks my heart almost as much as the fact that he cheated on me. Cocaine. He’s told me before the addiction is still there. The draw is still strong. I guess he wasn’t strong enough to resist it after all.

  The thing is, I know he hates her. He would have never been with Heather if he hadn’t gotten high. But it really doesn’t matter anymore. Even if he wouldn’t have been with Heather, I would still have left him. And he knows it. Yet he still did it. Stupid bastard.

  He promised.

  “There you are. Jesus,” I hear someone say behind me, following an exasperated sigh. I close my eyes, squeezing more tears out. I don’t want to see anyone. Not even my best friend.

  Julian climbs the rest of the way into the treehouse and sits down next to me. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere, Mallory. Everyone has been worried about you. Chad was right. He knew you’d be here.”

  I shake my head in anger. “Don’t, Julian. Don’t even say his name.”

  “It’s not what you think, Mal. It’s not even close. You ran out so fast,” he says. “Shit hit the fan after you left. In more ways than one.” He holds up his hand for me to see, using his phone to illuminate the inside of the treehouse.

  His hand looks bruised and swollen and I’m hoping the stupid bastard’s face looks a sight worse. The last thing I remember—other than Chad’s hands all over Heather—is Paul asking us to come quickly and then Julian and Hayden rushing past me into the bedroom.

  I look at Julian like he’s crazy. “Not what I think? It’s obvious to me what happened, Julian. They had their shirts off.” My throat stings and my heart hurts as I say the painful words. “He . . . He was touching her. They were both high, I’m sure. If that’s what he wants, fine. She can have him. I don’t want him anymore. Not after that.”

  But the thing is, that’s all a lie. Even though he’s betrayed me in the worst way, I keep hoping it’s all just a terrible joke. Some big misunderstanding. Because I do want him. I love him. I’ll never love anyone but him. And I’ll never be the same without him. But that’s exactly what I am now—without him. And there is no way it can ever be any different. I won’t take him back. Not ever. Not after what he did.

  “I know that’s what it looked like, but Mallory, I need you to listen to me. I need you to hear what I’m telling you. Chad didn’t use cocaine. He didn’t cheat on you.”

  I scoff at him. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that wasn’t Chad. Does he have some evil twin I don’t know about? Because that would be the only explanation that would even come close to making any of this okay.”

  Please, oh please, let him have an evil twin.

  “The whole night was orchestrated so you’d walk in on them, Mal.”

  “What? What do you mean?” I shake my head and then look up through the hole in the ceiling, catching a sliver of the moon. “It doesn’t matter if I was meant to see it or not, the fact is it happened.”

  “Look at me, Mallory. Listen.” He cups my chin and moves my head towards him so I have no choice but to watch his face as he speaks to me. “His dickhead manager set it all up. He didn’t want you two together. And he wanted Chad to do the movie he kept turning down. So they came up with a plan. Heather drugged him. It wasn’t cocaine, although it looked like she tried to get him to do that, too. She put PCP in his drink. Angel dust. Kyle said it’s a quick-acting hallucinogen that loosens you up and makes you feel invincible.”

  I stare at him in disbelief. “How do y
ou know all this? How can you be sure Chad isn’t trying to cover up his actions by blaming everyone else?”

  “Lila told us,” he says. “She was beside herself after everything went down. She just thought they were there to convince Chad to do the movie. It was her job to distract you so Heather and Paul could corner him and talk him into it.”

  I blow out a deep breath. “The tour of the apartment,” I say, remembering how Lila seemed overly interested in everything I showed her.

  I nod. “Yup. Lila had no idea about the drugs. Or at least that’s what she told us before the police came.”

  I snap my eyes to him. “The police?”

  “After I punched Chad, I realized he would never do that to you, Mal. He loves you more than I’ve ever seen a man love a woman. And then it all started to make sense. I mean, why would Paul tell you that you were needed in the bedroom? And why would he call the rest of us along? So I pinned Paul against the wall until he cried Uncle. He said he had no idea she was going to drug him. But at the time, nobody had said anything about Chad being drugged. Then Ana dumped Heather’s purse on the floor and saw a tiny non-descript bottle of liquid along with a bag of cocaine. We asked her what was in the bottle. She wouldn’t say, but she insisted Chad took it willingly. That’s when we called the cops. I stayed at your place while Kyle and an officer took Chad to the hospital. A urine test confirmed the presence of PCP.”

  I gasp. “Oh my God!”

  “They tested his blood, too. Nothing else was found in his system, not cocaine—nothing. Paul, Lila, and Heather were all taken for questioning, but Heather was the only one arrested. She’s been charged with possession, not to mention assault and battery.”

  My hand comes up to cover my mouth, trying, but failing to hold in the cries that pour out of me. She drugged him? Assaulted him?

  “Ethan thinks the hate mail you got was probably from her as well. She’s been obsessed with him for a while now, so it makes sense.” He scolds me with his punishing stare. “He told us about the package you got last week. You can’t keep that shit from us, Mallory.”