I look at her, surprised. “You went shopping with my mom?”
She nods sadly, looking at the floor.
Damn it! Everything was perfect and I had to go fuck it up because I wasn’t upfront with her about everything.
Her chin quivers and she swallows hard. “Chad, just say what you’re going to say. Why did you even bother bringing me in here? Why did you come after me when you have her to go back to?”
“Megan isn’t my girlfriend,” I tell her. “She isn’t my mistress or my fuck-buddy or even a one-night stand. Whatever you think she is, I assure you it couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“I know what I saw on your phone. She said she needed you. She said she . . . l-loves you and . . . y-you said it back.” Her voice trembles as more tears pool in her eyes. “She thanked you for a quickie. And she called you Chad. Nobody calls you Chad unless they are very important to you.”
I nod. “She is very important to me, Mal. Besides you, she may be the most important person in my life.”
She shakes her head. “You’re confusing me. You say you aren’t cheating on me, yet you’ve hidden her from me. Why would you do that? Who is she?”
“Check your phone,” I say.
“Why?”
“I had Cole call my lawyer and he emailed you everything you need to read.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” She eyes me skeptically.
“I could tell you, but I’m not sure you’ll believe me. I want you to read about it for yourself.”
She reluctantly pulls out her phone and checks her mail. I know it will give her the information she needs. I just hope once she’s done reading, she doesn’t get up and walk out of my life.
It takes her a while to get through the document my lawyer sent. I can see every emotion as it crosses her face. I can see the shock that lets me know she’s reading about the accident I had when I was stoned out of my mind. I can see the sadness when she reads about a fifteen-year-old girl who was sent to the hospital in a coma because I had t-boned the side of her dad’s car. I cringe when a hand flies to her mouth to stop her startled gasp as she reads about the leg the girl had amputated in the aftermath.
She finishes the article, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Oh my God. Why didn’t I ever hear about this?”
“Probably because I have a damn good lawyer,” I say. “He did a lot of damage control and the particulars of the accident were never released because Megan was a minor. Also, Megan’s dad was sympathetic to me because he was drunk at the time, only he wasn’t tested because the accident was my fault. It was a huge wake-up call for both of us. I went to rehab for four weeks, and then I paid all her medical bills.”
“But why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.
“You know why,” I say, sick guilt rolling through me in punishing waves. “Your mom was killed by a drunk driver. I thought you’d hate me. I was sure you couldn’t be with someone who’d done what I’d done.”
She closes her eyes and I know she’s thinking of her mom. “Why didn’t you go to jail?” she asks.
“I almost did.” I should have. I run a hand through my hair. “Ron, that’s my lawyer, pulled some strings and got them to let me go right to rehab from the holding facility, putting off my arraignment in the process. And by the time I got out of rehab and met with Megan’s dad, he’d had a lot of time to think about things. He said it very well could have been him. That he had driven drunk more times than he could count. That’s why he wasn’t going to sue me for everything I was worth. And believe me, they could have used the money. He’s a construction worker and his wife is in retail management. He thanked me, can you believe it? He thanked me for getting him to quit drinking. It’s then that I told him I wanted to pay for Megan’s college education.”
I shake my head still not believing how much that family has done for me. “Can you believe he showed up at my arraignment and asked the judge not to put me in jail? He asked him to sentence me to community service, taking Megan to all her rehab appointments and working with other amputees. It was hard at first because Megan hated me for taking her leg, but it turned out to be one of the greatest things I’d ever experienced. I think her dad knew all along that she’d come around. He once told me she’d watched every episode of Malibu a hundred times.
“Megan and I grew on each other. The kid is smart. Like rocket scientist smart. And that first year, during the time her stump healed but before she got the Cadillac of all prosthetics, she studied her ass off to try to get into a good college. Before the accident, she was a C student at best. Now, she’s going to graduate with honors. And she’s been accepted to both MIT and Harvard. She wants to make advancements in the world of bionic prosthetics. Oh, and she took up running. She got a silver medal in the Paralympics last summer.”
“You’re kidding me?” Mallory says, looking surprised. So many emotions bleed from her eyes right now. Pain. Disbelief. Ambivalence.
She points to my phone. “Tell me about the texts. The ‘I love yous’ and the ‘quickie.’ ”
“Prom dress crisis,” I say.
“Come again?”
I nod. “She found a dress she loved, and the store let her bring it home for the afternoon before buying it so she could try on her various prosthetics with it. She has several. One for running, one for when she wears flat shoes, and one for heels. She even has one she can swim with. She wanted me to come over and make sure I knew the exact color tie to get. And also to get my opinion about whether she looked fat in it or not.” I motion to my phone. “The quickie thing was just a poor choice of words on her part. But yes, I love her. I love her like a sister, Mal.”
“Let me get this straight,” she says. “You did cocaine and then drove a car, causing this girl to lose her leg. That prompted you to get sober and make friends with Megan, who then decided to go to college to change the world. College she couldn’t afford unless you paid for it.” She shakes her head. “And you’re taking her to her prom?”
“Uh . . . I guess that about sums it up.” I sit in the chair next to her. “Are you going to leave me now?”
“Leave you?” she says. She turns to face me and takes my hand. “Chad, I believe everything in this world happens for a reason. If you’d never had the accident, you might still be using drugs. You might even be dead.”
“She lost her leg, Mallory. Because of me. There is no reason for it. I’d rather be dead myself than have put her through that.” I hang my head down.
Mallory puts a finger under my chin and forces me to look at her. “If Megan hadn’t been the one you hit, she never would be going on to college. She never would have won an Olympic medal. She never would have had this incredible friendship with you—her idol. And her dad might never have gotten sober. I’m not saying it was good that it happened, but look at the facts; despite her losing her leg, all of your lives are better off, wouldn’t you say?”
For the first time since I saw the broken phone on my bedroom floor, I feel a glimmer of hope. “You’re not leaving me?”
She smiles and it makes me want to shout in victory. “No, I’m not leaving you, Chad. But you have to promise me you’ll never keep secrets from me again.”
I kneel before her chair, taking her head in my hands as I crush my mouth against hers, tasting her salty lips. “I promise,” I whisper into her mouth in between kisses. “I promise no more secrets. Ever.”
There’s a knock at the door and I stand up, pulling Mallory with me. “It’s for you,” I tell her.
“For me?” She walks over to the door and opens it.
Megan walks through, gracing us with her infectious smile. She looks at Mallory. “So you’re the lucky chick who gets to have his gorgeous babies?”
~ ~ ~
Mallory comes out of my bathroom and my jaw hits the fucking carpet. Ho-ly shit! The dress she’s wearing takes my breath away. It’s not skin tight like most actresses I know would prefer. This dress is so much better. The bodice is fitte
d and enticing, showing just enough cleavage to draw attention without being slutty. It shows off her slim waist, and the above-the-knee skirt displays her shapely legs while leaving what’s beneath it to the imagination. Of course, I don’t need to imagine. I’ve seen her. I’ve had her. More times than I can count now, yet it’ll never be enough.
“God, Mal.” I walk over to her and circle around her, my eyes taking in every inch of her gorgeous figure. “I didn’t think you could get any more beautiful, but I was wrong.”
She blushes. Making her blush is one of the highlights of my existence. If she weren’t all dolled up and ready to party, I’d throw her back on my bed for another round of make-up sex. We’ve been having a lot of that lately. I’ve had a lot to make up for. And when we haven’t been making love, we’ve been talking. Well, mostly I’ve been talking, telling her everything about my life from the minute I left her nine years ago until the second I saw her at the club.
“Thank you,” she says, her hungry eyes looking me over. “You clean up pretty well yourself.”
I’m wearing a pair of black jeans with a white shirt, tan jacket, and black tie. Mallory walks over to me and untucks my shirt. “There, you look very celebrity chic now.”
“Since when did you become an expert?” I ask.
“You pick up a thing or two by watching Entertainment News Weekly,” she says.
I frown. “Mal, I wish you wouldn’t watch that shit.”
“What?” She smiles innocently. “ENW is not a sleazy tabloid show, it’s actually pretty good.”
“Still, don’t—”
“Believe everything I see,” she says, completing my thought. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”
I hold my hand out to her. “Come on, Cole’s waiting.”
Mallory is exceptionally quiet on the way to Ana’s house. As Cole pulls into the circular driveway I ask her, “Is something bothering you?”
She shrugs. “I guess I’m a little nervous. After all, I’m about to walk into a room full of famous people.”
“Well, you already met Ana, Hayden, and Noreen,” I say. “That only leaves a few dozen people for you to meet. Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure Ryan Gosling has other plans tonight.” I wink when I say the name of her secret crush.
She gives me a look of annoyance. “Not helping,” she says.
We’re escorted through the front door and directed to Ana’s back patio. It’s decorated with tiki torches and large white paper lanterns. There’s a summer kitchen that has been set up as a bar, tables and chairs under a pergola covered with vines, and attendants walking around with trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
Ana spots us and comes over to say hello. “Hey, Mallory, nice to see you again.” She kisses her cheek and then mine.
“You, too, Ana,” Mallory says. “You have a lovely home and this is magnificent.” She motions around the beautifully landscaped backyard.
“Thank you,” Ana says with pride. “But I can’t take all the credit. It was pretty much like this when I bought it last month.”
Mallory flushes and she elbows me. Hard. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Ana. I didn’t realize this was a housewarming party.”
Ana laughs, putting a reassuring hand on Mallory’s arm. “Don’t worry, it’s not.” Then she motions for a waiter, grabbing a glass of champagne for Mallory. She tells him, “Please get a bottle of water for Mr. Stone.”
More people arrive and Ana excuses herself to greet them. Mallory turns to me. “I really like her. She doesn’t pressure you to drink.”
“Yeah, she’s one of the good ones,” I say.
I introduce Mallory to several people. She impresses me with her ability to tamp down her nerves despite the fact that some of those people make much bigger headlines than I do. Easy conversation flows out of her as we make our rounds. She’s no wallflower. Quite the opposite. And I somehow feel that having her by my side increases my worth—if that makes any sense at all.
I find us a table so we can sit down. She won’t say it, but I can tell Mallory’s feet are hurting in her new shoes. I haven’t asked her yet, but I was hoping she might agree to keep them on later tonight. The little bows on the back, and the way they make her legs look—it’s damn sexy.
“Thad, Mallory—good to see you,” Hayden says, bringing Noreen over to sit with us.
“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” Hayden and I get into a conversation about rock climbing. He’s in training with me. He plays my arch enemy in the Defcon series and there’s a great scene where he will chase me through a series of ropes and rock mazes. We both secretly hope they will let us do most of the stunts on that one.
I have one ear in the girls’ conversation. They are talking about recipes. It’s such a perfectly normal conversation that it makes me smile. I reach over and grab Mal’s hand to let her know I haven’t forgotten about her.
Hayden stiffens in his chair. “Oh, hell no,” he says, looking behind me.
I whip around to see Heather Crawford standing in the patio doorway. She’s wearing a fire-engine-red dress that leaves nothing to the imagination, especially about whether or not she’s wearing a bra. Her long brown hair sparkles with glitter and her fuck-me heels make her look a lot taller than she really is. She sees me and smiles, dropping the hand of her date as she makes a bee-line towards us.
I glance at Mal, who looks about as green as her dress. Her desperate eyes meet mine and I feel helpless. I have no idea what’s about to happen, but knowing Heather, it won’t be anything good. All four of us stand up at the same time. Maybe we are all planning our escape.
Heather walks right past me and straight up to Mallory. “And you must be the new flavor of the week,” she says, her eyes raking over Mal as if she’s a parasite. She turns to me. “Who’s your new toy, Thad?”
I put my arm around Mallory’s waist, possessively pulling her against me. “Cut the shit, Heather. This is my girlfriend, Mallory.”
“Your girlfriend?” she asks like it’s a bad word. “Isn’t she a waitress or something?”
“School teacher actually,” Mallory says, extending her hand to Heather. “Isn’t it you who should be waitressing? I mean, isn’t that what all unemployed actors do?”
Hayden spits his drink out, laughing. I look at Mallory in awe. I’ve never been more proud. I didn’t think she had it in her.
Heather scoffs at Mallory’s hand, not bothering to shake it. “You don’t know anything about me, honey, so keep your snarky comments to yourself,” Heather spits.
“That’s some good advice,” Mallory retorts. “Why don’t you take it?”
Heather rolls her eyes, turning her attention to me. “Have you read the script yet? Isn’t it fabulous?”
I don’t care to have this conversation here. I’ve all but decided not to do the movie. I know Paul will probably kill me, but after what happened earlier this week with Mal, I just don’t want to put myself in that kind of position. It was a bad time in my life. I’ve no desire to dredge all that shit up again. “Not yet,” I lie.
“Oh, you have to read it, Thad. It will be so much fun getting everyone back together again. Don’t you think?”
The girl obviously needs a paycheck. And for some reason, she thinks she needs me. It’s been over three years since I dumped her, along with every other bad habit in my life. “I’m not sure, Heather. We’ll see.”
“What, you think you’re too good for us now? Lila, Caitlyn, and Joey have already agreed to do it. That just leaves you and Thomas—”
“I really don’t want to talk about work tonight,” I interrupt. “In fact, you’ll have to excuse us, Mallory and I were just about to go grab a drink.”
She leans into me. “I can get you something much better than a drink, Thad.”
Jonah Bateman comes up behind Heather, wrapping his arms around her. “There you are. You disappeared on me.”
She wriggles out of his arms. “Quit it, Jonah, you don’t own me. I was just talking with Thad and” —she turns to Mallo
ry, smirking— “what was your name again? I already forgot it.”
“It’s Mallory,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Right. Mallory,” Heather says in her direction. “It sounds so . . . industrial. But at least you smell good. What perfume are you wearing?”
Her unexpected compliment catches us both off guard. I put my nose in Mallory’s hair and take a whiff. “Mmmm,” I mumble. “It’s ‘Desire Me,’ if I recall, right, baby?”
Mallory puts a possessive hand on my chest and smiles up at me. “That’s right.”
“If you’ll excuse us now,” I say, turning Mal and me towards the bar, Hayden and Noreen just behind us.
“Who let that bitch in?” Hayden asks.
Hayden always has my back. He didn’t know Heather before, but he’s come to hate her after some long conversations we’ve had. And after Hayden and I became good friends last year, Heather tried to use him to get to me. Luckily, he sees through all her superficial bullshit as well as I do.
“I didn’t even know she was dating Jonah,” Noreen says.
“She’s probably not,” Hayden tells her. “I’m sure she used him to get into Ana’s party.”
“Why would she do that?” Mallory asks.
Hayden and I share a look. “Because she can’t seem to get it through her dense skull that I don’t want anything to do with her,” I say.
Mallory gasps. “She’s still in love with you?”
“God, no,” I say. “We were never in love.” The thought of it makes me ill. Love? No. I’m not even sure I liked her. We enabled each other. We allowed ourselves to be out of control with one another. We lived in our own train-wreck of a world.
“It’s more like a psychopathic obsession,” Hayden jokes.
I shoot him a traitorous stare.
“She’s obsessed with you?” Mallory asks in abhorrence, tightening her grip on my hand as if to protect me. “Is she stalking you, Chad?”
Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel) Page 21
