Page 1 of Stone Promises

Chapter One

Chad

“Is it true you only have one testicle?” someone shouts.

I look up, only to be blinded by dozens of camera flashes.Damn it!

Even with the private entrance, secure hallways, and VIP lounges, we still have to go through TSA security like everyone else. And now pictures of me removing my belt while Courtney was conveniently draped over me like a cheap fucking suit will be tabloid fodder for days.

I look over my shoulder at my publicist. “Kendra?”

She nods knowingly. “I’m on it,” she says, depositing her phone into a security bin. “As soon as we get through the line.”

Kendra has proven to be worth her weight in gold. She probably works harder than most publicists out there considering my less-than-ideal past. She’s only been with me for a few months, since the pre-release screenings ofDefcon Onestarted last December. That was when the studio pretty much told me if this film doesn’t shoot me straight to A-list, nothing would.

As soon as we’re on the other side, being escorted to our private lounge in LAX, she’s chatting away on her phone trying to do damage control on what the press will surely twist into some kind of torrid ongoing affair between Courtney and me. And that’s exactly how Courtney would like it. Ever since I tossed her to the curb when I found out she was using, she’s tried her best to be connected with me every chance she gets.

Not that anyone seems to mind except Kendra and me. Hell, the studio and even my own manager drool over it. Everyone wants to see the leading man and woman get together. Sex sells. And off-screen sex sells even more.

After being secretly boarded through a side door into our first-class seats, I snag a seat by the window, wanting to get some shuteye on the five-hour flight to New York. Courtney sits down next to me and I roll my eyes and let my head fall back onto the seat as I reach for my earbuds.

“Courtney,” Kendra says, coming up to stand beside her, “I really need to borrow Thad for a while. I have tons of interviews to prepare him for. Would you mind?” The two women participate in a stare down.

Courtney huffs and picks up the small bag she had tucked under the seat in front of her. “Fine.” She looks around for an empty seat, finally taking the one next to Hayden, the actor who portrayed my arch enemy in the movie, but who is probably the closest thing I have to a true friend at this point. With the exception of Kendra maybe, but I’m paying her so she doesn’t really count.

I think back to the last time in my life I had genuine friends. Friends who likedChadStone, the kid who liked to play basketball. The kid who shaved the neighbor’s cat as a practical joke one Halloween. The kid who didn’t have an eight-figure bank account thanks not only to a random discovery by a talent scout in a shopping mall of all places, but also to inheriting a shitload of money from his grandparents.

Nine years. That’s how long it’s been since I haven’t had to question the motives of anyone who speaks to me. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve had a best friend who doesn’t share my last name. Ethan and Kyle, my two brothers, became my best friends when I was sixteen, after I left the only two people I’d never be able to replace when my parents moved me across the country. But my brothers both reside back in New York City now which makes it hard to see them as much as I’d like. And knowing I’m on my way there, that the Manhattan premiere ofDefcon Onewill allow me to hang out with them for two straight weeks, almost makes having to put up with that bitch, Courtney, worth it.

Every time I think of my brothers, I long for the normalcy they have. The practicality of a nine-to-five job that doesn’t hang in the balance if they say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, or put on a few pounds. A job that allows them to go to the goddamn grocery store without being mobbed by paparazzi and psychotic fans. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fans—most of them. It’s the fans who have put me where I am today, and it’s the fans who will decide if I stay here. But some of them just go too far and ruin it for everyone.

I love acting. It’s a job I never dreamed of pursuing. Hell, I’d only ever acted one time in a sappy play back in high school. For all I knew, I was going to teach high school history. Or maybe college. I hadn’t decided yet. But acting? No, that was Mallory’s dream—not mine.

Mallory. I close my eyes and sigh. I try not to think about her anymore. She represents everything that was ever normal in my life. Everything that is the opposite of who I’ve become. The man who isThadStone. Sometimes the line between Thad and Chad becomes blurred. Sometimes I wish I could just become that history teacher who goes home to his wife and kids at the end of every day. But I know it’s not possible. First, because I do enjoy my profession—if you take away the rabid fans, the overbearing press, and the general upheaval of normal existence. And second, because there is only one person I could ever see myself coming home to and she wrote me off years ago. Who can blame her after all the things I’ve done? After the mess I’ve made of my life.

“You okay, Thad?” Kendra asks, touching my forearm in a motherly way even though she’s only five years my senior.

“Yeah,” I say, shaking off unproductive thoughts of the past. “Thanks for saving me from the queen bitch of the universe again. Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“Ha! I wish,” she says.

I laugh off her comment. “You do not. I think Todd would have something to say about that.”

She shakes her head in amusement, her beautiful short auburn hair bouncing around her chin.

“What?” I ask.

“Do you know you’re the only one of my clients who even knows my husband’s name?”

“Get the fuck out of here,” I say.

“Really,” she says, nodding.

I ponder it for a second before saying, “Do you know you’re the only publicist who would give me the time of day last December?”

“Actually, I did know that,” she says, shrugging. “But I’d been following your career sinceMalibu 310and saw great potential there. I also saw a kid thrust into the public eye who didn’t have the first clue about how to deal with it. People make bad choices, Thad, but that doesn’t make them bad people.”

I nod, pretending to agree with her. But I know better. The things I’ve done follow me around like stink on shit, and Kendra is a saint to deal with all of it. She took a chance on me. I know that. And I don’t plan on letting her down. I’m different now. I know the studio and the fans see Thad Stone as the ultimate bad boy of Hollywood, but that hasn’t been who I am for a long time now. And they will all have to fucking deal with it.

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