Page 105 of Stone Promises

I feel the treehouse shake as Chad climbs up the ladder. Before he gets all the way up, he pushes a sleeping bag through the entrance. I wipe away the tears that spill over my lashes when I realize it’s the same old sleeping bag I brought up here as a kid. He must have asked my dad for it. When he completes his ascent, I push the rolled-up bag out of the way and catapult myself into his arms.

“I love you,” I say at the same time that he says, “I’m sorry.”

Then he says, “I love you,” when I say, “I’m sorry.”

Then we simultaneously ask each other if we’re okay. Then we laugh through our tears. Then we kiss through our tears. Then we hold onto each other like we’re the lifeboat that will save us from drowning.

When I can finally get myself to pull away, I take in his face in the moonlight. “Can I see?”

He pulls out his phone and turns on the flashlight. I trace my fingers lightly across the red and purple bruise that surrounds his left eye. “Does it hurt?”

He shakes his head. “Not nearly as much as my heart does. I’m so sorry this happened. It’s all my fault, Mal. If I had never gotten mixed up with her. With drugs . . .”

I take his whole face in my hands. “This is not your fault, babe. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I’m the one who insisted they come into the party. I invited Paul. You did nothing wrong. And you know if this wouldn’t have happened tonight, she probably would have found some other way. At least this way, Julian was there, and Kyle, Ethan, and my dad. They had your back. If they hadn’t called the police and figured this all out, it could have turned out much differently.”

“It scares the shit out of me to think how this could have turned out. What if I’d . . . God, Mal, what if I’d slept with her? I thought she was you. She smelled like you. She looks like you. She was in our bedroom.Ourfucking bedroom.”

Tears stream down his cheeks at the thought of what that would have done to him. To me. To us. “Shhhhh,” I say, pulling him close to me. “I’d still love you, Chad. Even if that happened. I promise you I’d still be here.”

“It was like I was in a dream,” he says, holding me tightly. “I knew everything that was happening to me, but it was like my mind was disconnected from my body. Reality was altered. The laws of physics didn’t exist. I remember all of it. Every detail. You offered me coke, but I wantedyoumore, so I pushed it away. Then when you came in the room, there was two of you, the one on top of me and the one yelling at me. And then I was being punched by Julian, but I didn’t feel a thing. I didn’t even know it was Heather until they told me later at the hospital.”

I shake my head in utter disbelief. “I can’t believe she did that. Did she think she’d get you hooked on drugs again?”

“I guess so,” he says. “She was desperate for work. Desperate for the pathetic life we once shared. Paul was in on it, too. Although he claims he didn’t know about the drugs. I don’t believe him. Not even Paul would be so dense to think that bitch could seduce me.”

“So what’s going to happen to him?” I ask. “Julian said he wasn’t arrested like Heather was.”

“There wasn’t enough evidence to hold him.”

I frown in disgust. “He should have to pay for what he did.”

“Oh, he will,” he says. “If nothing else, at least he’ll feel it in his wallet.”

“You fired him?” I look at him with a reluctant smile.

“Hell yes, I fired him. So did Lila. And I’ve called two other people who I know he represents. So I’m pretty sure by this time tomorrow, the only clients he’ll be able to get are the small, furry, four-legged kind.”

“What will you do? Who will be your manager?”

“Kendra is already putting together a list.” He sees the concern etched across my face. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. If Paul knows what’s good for him, he won’t fight me on this. I’m fairly confident a few of our party guests recorded the whole thing, and Julian tells me Paul cried like a fucking baby.”

I can’t keep my hands off him. I want our bodies close, so I can protect him.

He points to the sleeping bag. “Let me set that up for us. We can lie here and stare at the stars like when we were kids.”

“Good. I think I’d like to sleep here,” I tell him, as he spreads the bag open. “Because there is no way I’d be able to sleep in that bed.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” he says. “I’ll burn the damn thing. Hell, we don’t even have to go back there if you don’t want to. We can find a new place.”

“I love that apartment, Chad. But the bed has to go. I’d never be able to look at it again without picturing how she was leaning over you and how you were touching her.”

“And the perfume,” he says, cringing. “It has to go, too. While I love it on you, it’ll always remind me of what happened.”

I pull away and look at him in confusion. “She was wearing my perfume? Did she steal if from my vanity? Wait—it’s still packed. How . . . ?”

He shakes his head as if in pain, still clearly affected by tonight’s events. “Do you remember last spring at Ana’s party when Heather asked about your perfume? I thought it was strange and completely out of character.”

My hand comes up to cover my gasp. “Oh, my God. Was she planning this all along?”

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