Page 5 of Stone Promises

“He hasn’t changed, Mel. It seems every other week he’s got a different girl on his arm. Anyway, I think he’s with the co-star of the movie.”

“Courtney Benson? That girl doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

I raise my brow at her. “You’re a little biased, don’t you think?”

“Just saying it like it is, sister. What could it hurt, calling him? You know, just to get closure if that’s what you need.”

I shake my head again. “No. It just hurts too much. The drugs. The women. The promises he broke.”

“What promises did he break?” she asks.

I trace the circular base of my wine glass. “All of them.”

At that moment, Julian comes through the pub door, saving me from further explanation. I watch him walk towards us, pain evident on his otherwise swoon-worthy face. Besides Melissa, he is my best friend. He has been since I was six, with the exception of those three years afterhebroke my heart, too.

Julian could give Chad a run for his money in the looks department. Both are devilishly handsome but almost completely opposite. While Chad has light-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a permanently sun-kissed complexion, Julian’s hair is dark, his eyes matching my green ones and his skin fair. We’ve often been accused of being brother and sister.

He slips into the booth beside me and puts his arm around my shoulder. I lean into him. Much like when we were kids, words aren’t always necessary. He kisses the top of my head.

“Let’s go get our girl drunk,” he says to Melissa. “She can crash at my place again.”

“Steve and I really don’t mind when she sleeps on our couch,” Melissa says.

“Of course you don’t,” he says. “But you know how she gets when she’s drunk. She might want to talk shit out later.”

I raise my head off his shoulder. “Sheis sitting right here, guys. Don’t I have a say in this?”

“No,” they both say together.

Melissa slips out of the booth and motions to the door. “Come on, let’s go find a club, dance our asses off, and remind you who your real friends are.”

Chapter Three

Chad

“Anything?” I ask Kendra.

“Nope,” she replies through the speaker of my cell phone.

Both of us are busy on our laptops trying to figure out if Mallory was photographed last night. I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I page through the tabloid and news magazine sites. There are plenty of pictures of me and the cast at the premiere. Several cell phone photos from the after party. Loads of pictures pairing Courtney and me together through blatantly doctored-up photos. We’ll deal with that shit later; anything else has become a minor annoyance compared to what could happen if my royal fuck-up ends up costing Mal her privacy.

“Look up for a second please, Mr. Stone,” the makeup artist asks, obviously annoyed that I’m trying to work while she is.

“I’ll be there in five,” Kendra says. “Interviews start at one-thirty, that’ll give me enough time to vet the questions.”

I check the last few sites before putting away my laptop, making my makeup artist happy. A few minutes later, she hands me off to the stylist who puts crap in my hair to make it look like I just got out of bed. Why does it take a paid professional to create that look? I swear she spends ten minutes on one chunk of hair, making sure it is positioned just so over my forehead.

“Perfect,” Kendra says, walking through the door. “But then again, you’d look great having actually just rolled out of bed.”

“Ha! Exactly what I was thinking,” I say. Then I shrug at my seemingly conceited words. “I mean the rolling out of bed part, not the looking great part.”

She winks at me, patting my shoulder. “I know what you meant, Thad. If there is one thing I’ve learned about you these past months, it’s that you are the least vain person in show business.”

“You should have seen him five years ago,” Ethan pipes up from the corner of the room.

Kendra walks over to greet him. “Hi, Ethan. Nice to see you again. We didn’t scare you off last night with all of the craziness?”

“Not a chance,” he says. “I just took my little brother out to lunch. He asked me to keep him company for a bit before I have to head back to work.”

---