Page 41 of Stone Rules

“And you just assumed I’d go?” I wave a hand at the limo. “And what’s with all the pomp and circumstance?” I narrow my eyes at him. “And how did you know I wouldn’t be working?”

I whip my head around to see Skylar standing in the doorway of Mitchell’s. She winks and waves at me before turning around, disappearing back into the restaurant.

“A conspiracy?” I ask him.

“Something like that,” he says. “After all, I’m practically part of the family now that I’m in on poker night.”

I roll my eyes. Then I look at his shirt again. And then down at my uniform. “But I’m not dressed properly. I’ll need to go home and change first.”

“There’s no time,” he says, opening the door to the limo. “We’ve got it covered. Don’t worry about a thing.”

We?I eye the inside of the dark limo speculatively.

“Oh, come on, Tate. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

I’ve never been one to back away from a challenge, so I give him a cheeky sneer and then duck into the limo. Inside, I slide along the long black seat, making room for him to scoot in beside me. I’ve never been in a limousine before. My mother never let me ride with her to premiers. It smells like leather and scotch and high-end perfume. If rich had a smell, this would be it.

When my eyes acclimate to the dark interior, I realize we’re not alone. “Oh, hello,” I say to the two people sitting along the seat that is perpendicular to this one. My eyes snap to Ethan in question.

“Charlie Tate, this is my brother, Chad Stone and his friend, Nicole.”

“Nikki,” she reaches over Ethan’s brother to shake my hand. “Wow, you have soft hands for someone who does manual labor.”

Manual labor?“Uh . . . thanks?” I say, still trying to figure out what is happening here.

I look at his brother, Chad. He’s so darn familiar, I ask, “Have we met?”

He laughs and looks at Ethan.

“She’s been out of the country for several years,” Ethan says, as if that explains their amusement.

My eyes dart to Ethan’s. “How did you know that? I never told you that.”

“Poker,” he says. “It’s amazing the kind of information you can learn from a bunch of drunk guys at poker night.”

My spine stiffens and a sick feeling worms through me. I don’t know about Griffin and Gavin, but I do know that Piper shared my secrets with Mason when she was trying to hide her own. What if he told Ethan?Oh, God. I look at him and try to see if there is any hint of disgust over what he would feel if he knew.

“Relax,” Ethan says, putting a hand on my thigh. “They just told me how you and Piper traveled overseas after high school. It actually sounds amazing. I’d like to hear about it sometime.”

“Oh.” I can’t help the sigh of relief that comes after.

Chad holds his hand out to me. “It’s actually quite refreshing to meet someone who doesn’t know everything about me.”

I shake his hand. “Why should I know everything about you?” I look between the three of them.

“Maybe it’s the name you don’t recognize,” Nikki says, hanging all over Chad like a cheap suit. “Does Thad Stone ring a bell?”

“ThadStone?” I ask. I turn to Chad, studying him. “You’reThad Stone?” Things start to make sense and my heart races. But not for the reason most women’s hearts race when they meet him. My heart races because I hate actors. I hate everything about them. The way they think they own the fucking world and everyone in it. The way they look down on other people. The way they feel they are completely above the law.

He laughs. “Yes. But by the way you’re looking at me right now, I’m not sure I want to be.” He winces. “We didn’t, uh . . . hook up or anything a few years back, did we? I’m pretty sure no matter how effed up I was I’d have remembered you.”

My jaw drops and my eyes focus on Nikki, who doesn’t seem to be the least bit affected by this conversation as she sips her glass of champagne.

“What the fuck?” I ask him, turning to Ethan because I’m completely confused.

“My little brother didn’t handle his sudden stardom as well as we had hoped,” he explains. “Chad went a little wild those first few years. I’m not afraid to say he scared the shit out of us with his reckless ways. But he’s good now. Got it out of his system.”

I eye his brother skeptically. No wonder he looked so familiar. I get it now, and itwasthe name that tripped me up. Thad Stone was the star of one of those high school drama series with a zip code or an area code or some stupid code. I never watched it, but even overseas, it was hard not to hear about all the hype surrounding the hottest new show to hit prime time television. It was cancelled a few years later and since then, I guess he’s starred in a few movies. He’s no Brad Pitt or Zac Efron, but he’s certainly on the radar.

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