“Your dad texted me.”
“Why did he text you and not me?” she asks. “They didn’t egg his house or anything, did they?”
I shake my head. “No. They didn’t egg his house.” I reluctantly hand my phone over and show her the picture Richard sent.
Her hand comes up to cover her mouth as I watch horror cross her face. “Oh, God, Chad. How can people be so cruel?”
“I’ll have the police look into it. But I’m going to send Cole home with you.”
“What?” She gives me a crazy-eyed look. “That’s ridiculous. Cole is needed here, with you.”
“I need to keep you safe, Mal.”
“I need you to be safe, Chad.”
I blow out a sigh. “I’ll hire you your own bodyguard then.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard,” she says. “It’s just a jealous fan.”
“A jealous fan who could be psychotic for all we know. I’m not taking the chance. Either move out of your dad’s house to someplace more secure, or I’m getting you a bodyguard. Take your pick, Mal.”
I’ve never been so stern with her before. I hold my breath to see just how hard she’s going to push back. I watch as she processes what I’ve told her. I can read her eyes. She doesn’t know whether to be pissed at me for being an over-protective prick or relieved because I’ll do anything to take care of her.
“But what about my dad? If I leave, he will be left to deal with things. I want him safe, too. And where would I go?”
“First off, your dad is a big guy. Nobody is going to mess with him. And it won’t take long for word to get out that you aren’t living there anymore. I was thinking that maybe you could stay with Ethan or Kyle until we can find a place. I don’t think Melissa or Julian would have enough space for you to comfortably stay with them longer than a day or two.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not staying with Ethan and Charlie. They have a baby and don’t need me hanging around.”
“What about Kyle?” I ask. “He’s never home. He’s at the hospital pretty much all the time now that he’s an intern. His apartment is close to Melissa’s, so you and she could ride to work together.”
“I don’t know,” she says reluctantly. “It’s such an imposition.”
“You know as well as I do that he’d love to have you. He’s always thought of you as a sister, and soon you’ll actually be one.”
She shrugs. “That might work. But only if you don’t have to strong-arm him into it.”
“Strong-arm him? Hardly,” I say, laughing. “As soon as he tastes your cooking, he’ll never let you leave.”
My doorbell rings so I hop out of bed and pull on some sweatpants. Walking down the hall, I pray I don’t open it to find the eviscerated Teddy’s twin on my doorstep. But when I open the door, I see it’s even worse than I feared.
“Is it true?” Heather asks, plowing past me and into my living room before I can stop her.
“What the hell are you doing here, Heather?”
She crosses her arms and looks at me sadly. “How could you do this to me, Thad?”
“Heather, I don’t know what you’re on these days, but it’s made you delusional. I’m not doing anything to you. I haven’t been with you for almost four years. I’m engaged to Mallory and you need to respect that.”
“Respect that?” she scoffs. “You’re with a school teacher, Thad. It’s just wrong.” She walks over to me, getting too close for my liking. She puts a hand on my bare chest, violating me with her eyes. “We were good together once. We can be again.”
Mallory walks around the corner wearing her short robe, clearly looking like she just rolled out of bed with her mussed-up hair. Two things happen. Mal looks at Heather’s hand on my chest—hatred seeping from her eyes. And Heather scowls melodramatically at Mal, eyeing her from head to toe as if she’s a mangy stray, a pauper off the street.
I quickly step aside, out from under Heather’s touch and walk back to my front door which is still wide open. “Thanks for stopping by to congratulate us, Heather. I wouldn’t want to keep you any longer. I know how busy you are.”
Heather sneers at Mallory. “Congratulate,” she says dryly. “Whatever.” She walks past Mal and toward the door where she doesn’t even bother to lower her voice. “When you tire of her, I’ll be waiting.”
“You’ll be waiting forever, Heather. Because I won’t leave her.”
“Huh,” she says. “That’s not how I see it. You did it once, Thad. You’ll do it again.”
I point to the porch. “Out,” I tell her.
She walks through the doorway and I slam the door after her. Then I turn to Mallory. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea she was coming. I’m going to call the gate and have her banned.”
“It’s okay,” she says, sadly. “I know I’m going to have to deal with women who want you. If it’s not Heather, it will be someone else. It’s just . . .”
I step over to her and cup her face in my hands. “It’s just what?”
“Well, you and Heather were together for years,” she says. “And when I saw her hand on you. It just makes me wonder if you miss it sometimes.”
“Miss it?” I say incredulously. “Miss Heather? Are you kidding?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe not miss Heather, per se, but the fun you two had when you were together. I’ve seen pictures; read stories. You were young and wild. Do you ever miss the drugs, Chad? Do you crave them?”
“Oh, wow.” Deep fucking question. I take her hand, leading her over to the couch where I sit her down next to me. “To be honest, the answer is yes and no. Intellectually, I know drugs are bad for me and they lead to destructive behavior. But physiologically, my body does still crave the feeling I’d get from getting high. It’s why I never drink much. I don’t ever want to be in a position where I’ll make a stupid choice. I’m not sure drug addicts are ever fully recovered.”
She grips my hand, seemingly terrified.
“You have nothing to worry about, Mal. I’m not doing drugs again. Ever. If I do, I give you permission to publicly flog me, shame me, string me up by my testicle.”
She shakes her head and then looks at me with serious eyes. “I wouldn’t do any of that, Chad. But I would leave you.”
I smile at her and nod. “I know you would. I would expect nothing less. But I’m not going to fuck this up by being a . . . what did you tell me never to be that first night we made love?”
“Stupid bastard,” she says.
“Right. I’ll never be a stupid bastard.” She relaxes into the couch causing her robe to gape open, allowing me to see the curve of her bare breasts. “But I will be a horny one if you keep teasing me with what may or may not be under that robe.”
She smiles seductively at me. “I’ll let you in on a secret. There’s nothing under it.”
“Oh, there’s something under it, all right,” I say, peeling it away from her body like layers of an onion. “And I plan to explore every exquisite inch.”
As soon as my hands touch her skin, she moans. God, I’m going to miss this when she leaves tomorrow. I plan on spending every waking minute until then touching her body. Kissing those lips. Feeling her writhe beneath me. I am a composer and she is my muse. And we’re about to make beautiful fucking music together.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Mallory
“Thank you so much, Kyle. You really didn’t need to go through all the trouble,” I say.
He brings my last suitcase into his guest room. “You’re family now, Mallory. It’s what we do for each other.”
I laugh. “I almost forgot. You are ever the philanthropist. I bet you don’t stop until you’ve cured the world of homelessness. And cancer.”
“And hunger,” he adds.
“You and your brother,” I say. “Do you know he feeds almost every homeless person he sees?”
“Really?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me in surprise.
I nod. “He does,” I say. “But he doesn’t
think it’s very tough-guy of him so he keeps it on the down low.”
He laughs, shaking his head over what I’ve revealed about Chad. “And what about you, Mallory? I’ve heard you do good work at Hope For Life.”
“I try,” I say with a frown. “But I haven’t been very good at it lately, traveling the country with the movie star.”
“Didn’t Charlie tell you?” he says, looking confused. “She not only took over your Tuesday-night shifts, but now she has Piper Mitchell volunteering there as well.”
My jaw drops.
“Don’t look so surprised,” he says. “You have this way about you that makes everyone want to be a part of your world. Most of all, my brother. He’s a lucky guy, Mallory.”
“I’m the lucky one, Kyle.”
He hands me a key. “Stay as long as you like. Just don’t scream my brother’s name in bed when he visits. That might be more than I can handle.”
I feel my cheeks heat up. “Duly noted,” I say. “And, um, when you want to bring women home, I can go crash at Melissa’s or Julian’s.”
“Ha!” he says. “Who the hell has time for that? Being an intern is kicking my ass. Hey, did you know your dad came by over the summer to congratulate me for getting an internship at his hospital? I always liked him, you know. His new girlfriend seems nice. Young, too.”
“She is, on both counts. She’s not quite forty yet while he’s pushing fifty. I think they’re afraid to say anything to me, but I saw some of Denise’s things at the house when I was packing up today. I wonder if she’s been staying there. Oh, my God, maybe she’s going to move in now that I’m pretty much gone.”
“Would you be okay with that?” he asks.
I think about how happy my dad has been these past months. Then I think of all those miserable years he spent after my mom died. He deserves this. He deserves it more than anyone. I nod. “I think I would.”
“Then you should tell him, Mallory. He’s probably scared shitless to say anything. I’m sure you giving him your blessing would mean the world to him.”
I smile, thinking of all the happiness my dad and I have been lucky enough to experience this year. “I will. Thanks, Kyle.”
“I’m off to work now. I won’t be home for forty-eight hours, so don’t worry.”
“That must be awful,” I say. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it.” He leans in to kiss my cheek and then picks up his keys off the entry table.
I get his attention before he walks out the door. “What’s your favorite meal?” I ask.
“Lasagna. Why?”
I shrug. “After working for forty-eight hours, I think you should be able to come home and eat something you love.”
He winks at me. “How about you just blow off my brother and let me keep you?”
I laugh as he closes the door behind him.
I get started unpacking my clothes. I can’t help but smile. I feel like Chad must feel a lot of the time, a nomad without a home, wandering from rental house to guest house to hotel room. But I’m so happy to finally be living in the city. And in as little as a few weeks, Chad will be living here right along with me.
~ ~ ~
It didn’t take long for the vultures to come out. It’s all over the tabloids that Chad and I have split, and only a week after they were announcing our engagement. Don’t these people have better things to do?
There’s a picture of me someone must have snapped in the airport. It shows me sad and alone. Of course I was alone; Chad didn’t have a ticket so he couldn’t go through security with me. The good news is at least now I don’t have to go through the main entrance anymore, so the only paparazzi we run into are at the curb. A fellow passenger must have taken the picture of me at the gate.
More pictures entail Kyle hugging me when I arrived at JFK and him escorting me home to pack my things and go to his place. So now I’m mending my broken heart by sleeping with Thad Stone’s younger brother. Do people really believe this crap?
And since Chad and Courtney are still wrapping up last-minute filming, they are being rumored to have reconciled. Paul must be salivating over that story.
The hate mail has subsided since I moved in with Kyle last week. I suspect either people have moved on, or Kyle and my dad are running interference for me.
I try not to think about the tabloids as I lie on my bed and put together my first week’s lesson plans. I’m excited to meet my new students on Monday. I think fourth grade is the best grade to teach. For the most part they sit still when you tell them to, and they haven’t yet developed attitudes.
I had a hard time putting my classroom together last week with the constant interruptions. A lot happened over the summer and I swear each of the fifty-five teachers at my school plus all the staff had to come and grill me about it. I think I should have just held a school press conference to get it all over with at once.
My phone rings and I look at it to see Chad’s handsome face on my screen. My heart skips a beat. I think it has done that ever since I was a kid. Every time I look at him it happens. It’s like he has this invisible tether to my heart and when I see him, or even think about him, he pulls the strings like I’m a puppet under his control. I never understood what ‘pulling heartstrings’ meant until Chad. Now he is the very definition of them.
“Hi!” I answer excitedly.
“Hey, you,” he says, the low timbre of his voice resonating through my entire body. “What’s up with you today?”
“Just making my lesson plans. You?”
“Enjoying the day off,” he says. “If I’d known we were going to get the whole weekend off, I’d have flown out.”
“It’s fine,” I tell him. “I’ve been super busy getting ready for school. I’ll still see you next weekend, right?”
“Yes. And I think I’m about to make it even better.” I can hear the smile in his voice and it makes me sit up on the bed in anticipation.
I’m afraid to even hope what he means by making it better. I know what I want it to mean. I know what I need it to mean. And I want so badly for him to say it. “Really? Why?”
“David thinks we’ll be pretty much done by Thursday. So, although I might have to fly back to L.A. a few times in September, I’m pretty much good to go.”
“Oh, my gosh! Really? Did you sell the house?”
He laughs. “No. It’s only been on the market for ten days, Mal. But I don’t care if I sell it or not, I’m moving to New York. And now comes the even better news. At least I hope you think so.”
“What could possibly be better than you moving out here next weekend?”
“God, I love you,” he says. “Do you know how much you pump up my ego?”
“Chaaaaaad,” I whine. “Tell me the better news.”
He chuckles into the phone. “I know we were going to go apartment hunting together, and if you don’t like it, I’ll just forfeit the deposit. But a place came available in Ethan’s building, and since they sell like hotcakes there, I went ahead and put money on it this morning.”
“That’s a nice building. Of course I don’t mind. But, uh, Ethan owns the only penthouse. And while I in no way think we need something that big, won’t your sibling rivalry get in the way?”
“In Ethan’s mind, he’ll always be older, richer and better looking than me. It wouldn’t matter if we owned the fucking Freedom Tower.”
“As long as you’re fine with it, I’m fine with it,” I say.
“I looked at the apartment online. I’ll send you a link to it as soon as we hang up. Charlie said she would go down and walk through it with you today if you have time. The best part is that it’s a quick sale. The owner doesn’t even live there and wanted to unload it fast. We can even keep whatever furniture you want and replace the rest. He said we could move in right away and close at the end of the month.”
I smile from ear to ear. I know the apartment will be great, but I couldn’t care less what it looks lik
e. I could live in a cardboard box with this man if it meant we’d be together. “We can move in next weekend?”
“I’ll fly in Friday. How does Friday night sound?”
Being without him is like missing a part of myself. I haven’t felt quite right. I feel like I’m a clock that has a broken second hand, and it just keeps ticking away in the same spot over and over. Nothing is the same when he’s not with me. I look down at the ring on my finger. The ring that says he’s mine. “I think Friday just might be my favorite day ever,” I say.
“I think we’re going to make so many favorite days you won’t be able to pick just one.”
God, this man.
“I love you, Chad Christopher.”
“I love you, Mallory Kate.”
~ ~ ~
I stand in the foyer and look around at the open-floorplan apartment. If I could put two words together, I might be able to thank Charlie for meeting me here. But I can’t. I thought Chad might feel inferior to his brother not being in the penthouse like Ethan is. But I can already see, the penthouse has nothing on this place.
“There are two bedrooms and an office down that hall,” says the manager who let us in. Then he points to another hallway off the living room. “The master suite is over there.” He hands me two Post-It note pads, one green and one red. “Put the green stickers on the furniture you want to keep and the red tags on the furniture you want gone. You can return the key to the concierge desk when you’re finished.”
I still can’t speak. I’m too busy taking in the twelve-foot ceilings, the quartz countertops, the incredible view.
“Thank you,” Charlie says to the manager before he closes the door behind us. She walks around in front of me, laughing. “Would it surprise you to know I had the same reaction when I first saw Ethan’s place? I believe I called him Richie Rich.”
I finally put my eyes back into my head and stare at her in confusion. “But you grew up with a famous mom, didn’t you live in places like this?”
She shakes her head sadly. “Besides her Oscars, my mother won the award for crappiest mom to ever live. And she pretty much snorted most of her earnings up her nose. So, no, I never knew what it was like to live like this. It’s one of the reasons I was eager to help out over at Hope.”
Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel) Page 28
