Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel)

by Samantha Christy

  “Still,” Mal says. “Maybe we should work on getting him a girl.”

  I roll my eyes at my uber-romantic girlfriend.

  “It’s just a shame all of our friends are taken,” she says. “He’s so handsome and fit. And he’s very nice.”

  I raise my eyebrows at her. “Am I losing my godlike status here?”

  She laughs and squeezes my leg under the table. “I just want everyone to be as happy as we are, that’s all.”

  I lean into her so only she can hear. “Not possible.”

  My phone vibrates with a text. I think it might be Kendra or John, so I check it. It’s my lawyer.

  Ron: Settled the McIntyre case this afternoon for 2M. Think we should have kept fighting this one, but I guess you have your reasons. I’ll send final paperwork for you to sign when you’re back.

  I let out a deep, tension-relieving breath. That’s the last of it. The very last shit from my past that has followed me around all these years. After the whole Megan debacle during Mal’s spring break, I told Ron I wanted to clean house, get all my pending cases dealt with no matter what the cost. He was afraid I’d be seen as an easy target, a money train for anyone who files suit against me. I just wanted the shit done. I want to start my life with Mallory on a clean slate. This news couldn’t have come at a better time.

  “What is it?” Mallory asks.

  I’ll tell her later. I always do. I have no secrets from her anymore. She knows all about the fights I used to get into when I was using. The nights I spent in jail for breaking Lennie McIntyre’s arms. The fact that I don’t even remember it, but am willing to pay the guy an amount akin to him winning the state lottery.

  I shake my head, telling her I don’t want to get into it here. She understands the message behind my eyes. She always has. “Nothing to worry about, babe. Nothing at all.”

  When we leave the restaurant, we’re followed out by some teenage girls who were dining with their parents. They are giggling behind us, each trying to get the other to ask me for an autograph. I also notice the drunk girls from the bar sitting on a bench out front. The ones who called my lovely girlfriend an ugly bitch. I decide to teach them a bit of an etiquette lesson. One that says: don’t try to hit on a man when he’s obviously on a date with his girl.

  I whisper my plan to Cole and he makes sure to plant himself between me and said drunk girls. I turn around and ask the shy ones, “Would you like to get some pictures? I could have my girlfriend take them, she’s really nice like that.”

  The sisters squeal at each other. “Oh, my gosh, yes,” the younger one says. She turns to Mallory. “You would do that for us?”

  “Of course,” Mal says, smiling. “Why don’t you get on either side of Thad and I’ll get you all in one picture and then we’ll get you each with him separately.”

  “That’s so nice,” the older one says, handing Mallory her phone.

  Mallory spends the next few minutes posing us in pictures that will surely make these girls the talk of their school. She’s laying it on thick for the drunk girls and I love that we’re on the same wavelength.

  After our impromptu photo shoot is done and I sign one girl’s shirt and the other girl’s hat, they thank me profusely and politely walk away.

  I can see the drunk girls bouncing around on the bench, getting out their phones. They think they’re next. I pull Mallory over in front of them. “Got your phones ready?” I ask them.

  They nod with excitement and hold up their devices.

  I dip Mallory back and plant a long, hard, wet kiss on her. I try to make it romantic but we both have a hard time not breaking into hysterics, so it doesn’t go quite as planned at first. But then as we taste each other, our kiss turns real, and everything around us becomes of no importance as we slip into our own little world. Like the cave. Like the igloo. Like every time the two of us are together.

  When we finally pull our lips apart, I turn my head to the girls, still holding Mal’s languid body. “I hope you got that, because it’s the only picture you’ll be getting tonight.”

  Then I take my thoroughly-kissed girlfriend and walk away.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Mallory

  As if this day weren’t bad enough already, Chad’s manager had to call him on the way to the set and tear into him for the kiss that went viral this week. Chad looks at me apologetically as I listen to his side of the conversation.

  “I told you I wasn’t going to hide Mallory anymore, Paul.”

  “Because I wanted her here.”

  “No. You listen. That’s your shit, not mine. This is the way it’s going to be.”

  “Nobody else fucking cares.”

  “Listen, I’m on set,” he lies. “There’s nothing we can do about it anyway. It’s out there. It’s done. Now let me go do my job so you can continue earning your inflated fucking paycheck.” I can hear Paul say something else when Chad pulls the phone away from his ear and hangs up on him.

  “Sorry,” he says.

  “It’s fine.” I’m not letting Paul ruin what was not only a fun night out with friends, but quite possibly the only intimate moment that will ever be recorded between Chad and me. Unlike the dozens of intimate moments he gets to record with beautiful actresses.

  I frown, once again thinking about what will happen on set today.

  “Hey,” Chad says, putting his hand under my chin and forcing me to look over at him. “Don’t let Paul get to you, Mal. Everyone else has accepted this. He’s a selfish prick; a whiny little kid throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get his way.”

  I shake my head. “I know. It’s not that.” I look down at my lap.

  He nods in understanding. “You’re worried about today.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m trying not to be a stick in the mud, but it’s hard knowing your boyfriend will be making love to another woman.”

  “I’ll hardly be making love to her, Mal.”

  “I saw Defcon One, Chad. You did it then. With Courtney—who you actually have made love to.” I can’t even help the tear that escapes my eye and rolls down the side of my face.

  “Stop the car, Cole. We need a minute, please,” Chad says.

  Cole pulls over to the side of the road and gets out of the car, giving us our privacy.

  Chad removes our seatbelts and positions us so we’re facing each other. “You are the only woman I’ve ever made love to, Mallory Kate. I promise you that with all my heart.” He takes my hands and rubs his thumbs across my knuckles as he tries to put me at ease. “Let me tell you exactly what will happen today. And it’s not what you might think. First of all, acting is hard. We get nervous before every take. All we’re thinking about is how we can deliver our lines to make everyone believe we are who we’re pretending to be. And most of us are terrified over doing sex scenes. Don’t think men aren’t afraid of having their naked bodies displayed for all to see. I mean, what if I have a zit on my ass today?”

  I laugh half-heartedly. “You don’t,” I say. “I checked thoroughly in the shower earlier.”

  My joke makes him smile. “Let’s just say I did have a zit on my ass. I’d be in makeup for an hour just so they could cover it up. Actually, I’ll be in makeup anyway just so they can put goo on my ass to make it look perfect. And then they’ll have me put on a cock sock.”

  My eyes widen. “A what?”

  “A cock sock. It’s a flesh-colored bag that holds all my junk. And Courtney will wear a similarly colored G-string. But it’s not what you think. It’s not as if we’ll be spending hours naked and smashing our bodies together. Most of our shots will be done with our pants on. There will only be a few takes when we have to strip down and, um . . . grind into each other.”

  I cringe when he says that. I close my eyes and wonder why I even decided to come on set today. I should have stayed at home, drinking heavily. “I shouldn’t be here,” I tell him. “Maybe it would be easier if—”

  “If you were at home imagining the wo
rst?” he asks. “Fuck that, Mallory. I need to have you here. You need to see for yourself there is nothing sexual about a sex scene.”

  “But what if you . . .” I nod to his lap and sigh. Of course he’ll get an erection. Not only will he be kissing and touching a beautiful woman, but one he’s been with before. Will he remember what it’s like to be with her? Before she turned to drugs? His body may respond to hers even if he doesn’t want it to.

  “It’s not going to happen, baby,” he says, tightening his grip on me. “It didn’t even happen when Courtney and I were dating. You’ll see how it is. There will be people around, telling us what to do and how to do it. Where to put a hand or mouth. We’ll have to do the same thing over and over until we are so bored with it we could scream. And when it comes to actually stripping down, they will have two cameras filming everything so we don’t have to do a lot of takes.”

  I nod. I know he’s trying to make me feel better. But I still can’t get it out of my head that he’ll be touching her. And for a minute, I hate myself for wishing Courtney were still using. If she were still doing drugs, she wouldn’t be this perky, nice, uber-friendly woman. The kind of woman Chad is drawn to.

  I know it’s his job. And I know this won’t be the last time he has to make love to someone on set. But it doesn’t make what’s about to happen any easier. “Still,” I say. “You’ll be touching her boobs. And she has pretty nice ones.”

  He laughs. “Not really,” he says. “I’ll be touching silicone.” He draws me onto his lap and takes my face into his hands. “I don’t have any feelings for Courtney. I won’t have any feelings for her. I love you, Mallory.”

  He kisses me so softly and tenderly, how could I be anything but putty in his hands? When he pulls away, I beg him, “Please don’t kiss her like you just kissed me.”

  “Kissing her will never be like kissing you,” he says. He traces my lips with his finger. “This mouth; these lips. I dream about them. They belong to me. And I promise you, mine belong to you. For as long as you want them.”

  “I’ll never stop wanting them,” I tell him.

  He smiles proudly. “I’m glad to hear you say that.” He motions for Cole to get back in the car. “Now, come on, we have a big day ahead. Both of us.”

  I’m not sure what he means by that. Usually, big days are reserved for big things. Good things. There’s nothing about today that is good. I’d just as soon go to sleep and wake up in tomorrow.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Thad, move your hand up higher,” David says. “You need to cover her nipple. Yeah, that’s good. Now tilt your shoulders to your right so we can get a clean shot. Okay, good. Courtney, lean your head back against the rock a little more; expose your throat. Nice. Okay. Let’s go people. Let’s get it this time. Stand by.”

  “Cameras rolling,” Jonah, the lead camera operator says.

  The clapboard makes an appearance and then David calls, “Action.”

  And then I watch my boyfriend, my love, my life, kiss and grope another woman for the third take today. And this isn’t even the worst part. They’re not naked yet. They still have their pants on. They’ve been shooting close-up shots of their heads and chests for the last two hours. Unfortunately for me, they left these scenes to do last thing, and all I’ve been doing today is obsessing over how it would go.

  The cast and crew have been giving me strange looks all day. I guess they feel sorry for me, having to stand around and watch this. Chad tells me it’s quite common to have significant others watch love scenes. I don’t know how they handle it. Because I just want to vomit.

  I close my eyes and hope it will be over soon. David yells, “Cut! Nicely done.” Then makeup and costume rush to them before the next scene. They spray beads of sweat on Chad’s back and fix Courtney’s hair to look more mussed up.

  When David calls action again, I watch Courtney and Chad tear each other’s pants off and then Chad presses her into the rock, grinding against her while kissing her once more. The scene ends and makeup comes over to brush something across Chad’s ass. I guess they don’t think it’s perfect the way it is. Stupid, stupid women. I bet they love their jobs right about now.

  Chad looks over at me while his hands are still on Courtney. He knows what’s coming next. I know what’s coming next. He gives me the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. He holds my stare, telling me with his eyes all the things I need to hear. Then he tells me with his lips as he mouths, I love you.

  Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them, I can see the transformation from Chad Stone to Lt. Jake Cross. He’s not my boyfriend anymore, he’s a superstar. He’s a man doing what he was born to do. And despite how I feel about what he’s doing right this minute, I have an overwhelming sense of pride when I look at him.

  “Let’s do this in one take, people,” David says as John looks at me with sympathetic eyes.

  I move off to the side so I can barely see what they are doing. The more obscure I can make this, the better. I don’t watch the monitors; those make it look too real. I watch the actors. I watch Chad lift Courtney into his arms, pressing her back against the massive boulder as he simulates moving inside her. I listen to them moan with pleasure. I watch his lips move down her neck like they have a hundred times on mine. And when it gets to be too much, I look over at the cameras and the microphones and the tents and trailers just to remind myself it’s not real.

  Then I watch Courtney throw her head back in ecstasy as my boyfriend makes her come. I hear Chad shout into the canyon as he simulates his own orgasm. I feel my heart lurch in my chest as a vise grips it, getting tighter and tighter until it almost snaps me in two.

  I feel hot tears stream down my face as I watch my boyfriend make love to his ex.

  I double over and put my hands on my knees, embarrassed that I’m having this visceral reaction. I’ve never been so happy to hear the words, “Cut. Print that.”

  I discreetly wipe my eyes as I watch Chad and Courtney put their robes on. I take a breath for what feels like the first time in hours. Finally, Noreen comes up behind me. She’s left me alone this afternoon. I think everyone knows I didn’t want to be handled. I needed to get through this myself.

  Chad is watching me, clearly needing to get to me, but someone has pulled him aside. Courtney is walking back to her trailer but stops when she sees me. We haven’t talked much over the course of filming, but when we have, she’s been nothing less than professional and insanely nice.

  She smiles at me, but it’s a sad smile. “He’s all yours now,” she says. “You are one lucky woman. I hope you know that.”

  There’s no ill intent. No malice in her words. Just sincerity. I wish she and Chad hadn’t dated. Not just for obvious reasons, but because I like her. I think we could have been great friends. I watch her walk back to her trailer. And I’m almost positive I see her wipe a tear off her face when she gets there. She loves him. She loves him like Julian loved me. She gets to pretend Chad is hers, but at the end of the day, he goes home with me. And for the first time, I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her because I know what she’s missing. And I’m pretty sure she does, too.

  There’s some commotion by Chad. He’s being put back into costume which confuses me because I thought they were done. Usually, when David goes off set, that means they call it a day. But John asks everyone to get set up for one last shot over at the rock formation they used for Chad’s climb scene last week. As everyone scrambles to get the cameras and the gear, John walks over to me. “We need to re-shoot the climb. It shouldn’t take long. You can wait over there.”

  Chad shrugs at me and walks over to take his place.

  There isn’t much pomp and circumstance, they don’t even go through all the normal motions of shooting a scene. I guess if they just need some extra footage to work into what they already have, it’s not such a big deal.

  Chad easily scales the rock that is only fifteen feet high where they have him climb. It looks much high
er from the viewpoint they get on camera. When he gets to the top, he looks down on me with a huge smile. “Mallory, you have to see this,” he calls down to me. “The sunset will be awesome from up here.”

  I look around at the crew, embarrassed that he’s spoken to me when he should be filming. Nobody else seems as surprised. I give him a ‘WTF’ look and he laughs. John’s assistant comes over, bringing me a harness. She kneels down and waits for me to put my feet through. “What’s going on here?” I ask her.

  She shrugs. “I just work here,” she says. “I do what they tell me.”

  She secures me into the gear and I put on rock-climbing shoes that just happen to be my size. She escorts me to the bottom of the rock formation. I look up at Chad, still freaked out by what he wants me to do. He wants me to climb up to him. In front of everyone. I’ve only done this a half dozen times. I’m awkward and unskilled. They will laugh at me. If he wanted to go climbing, why didn’t he just send everyone away?

  “Come on, Mal,” Chad yells down at me. “Live a little.”

  I look at the crew just standing about. And I think someone left the camera rolling. “Uh, you guys don’t have to hang around.”

  “We know,” John says, but nobody moves an inch.

  I guess they don’t think I can do it. Or they plan to catch me if the rope breaks and I fall. I find my footing and climb as fast as I can. Faster than I’ve ever done it before. The last thing I need are people staring at my ass longer than necessary.

  When I make it to the top, Chad pulls me into his arms. I reluctantly let him, after all, there are people watching us. And I’m pretty sure the crowd grew bigger on my way up.

  He smiles down at me, gently removing my helmet before he removes his own. “I know today was really hard for you. I can’t even imagine having to watch you do what I did. You are so strong and brave and I thank God every day that you came back into my life.” He shifts his weight nervously from foot to foot. “I wanted you to have a good memory,” he says. “Of these rocks. This place. I want to wipe everything you saw today from your thoughts. Because none of that is real.” He motions a finger between us. “This is real. You and me. This is all that matters.”