Page 69 of Stone Promises

He’s twenty feet from me and that’s close enough. I hold up my hand. “No,” I say. “Stay back.”

He pulls his shattered phone out of his shorts, holding it up for me to see. “It’s not what you think. I swear.”

I hear a crowd gathering, but don’t have the energy to care. All my energy was spent on heartbreak in the cab ride over. “What I think is that you’ve been fucking someone else!” I shout. “It’s pretty damn clear.”

Chad looks around and I follow the direction of his eyes. Paparazzi are running towards us. They always camp out at the airport in hopes of finding celebrity photo ops. My heart fractures even further. We are about to break up in the most public of ways and it’s going to make people salivate.

Chad takes a few steps forward, motioning to the gathering crowd. “Do you really want to do this right here, Mal?”

More tires screech behind us. I look over and see Cole running fromhiscar.

“Get me a secure fucking room,” Chad says to him through his gritted teeth.

I watch Cole run over and talk to a guy with a badge and not ten seconds later, they both come over to Chad. “Mr. Stone, right this way.” The guy with the badge then turns to me. “Miss? Follow me, please.”

My instinct is to keep walking into the airport. But I can see in Chad’s eyes that he’s not going to let this go so easily. He wants to win. Have his cake and eat it too. Part of me wants to let the whole bloody scene play out in front of the paparazzi. Let the carnage fall where it may. But then for just one second, I think of my job. My students. What kind of example would I be setting if I aired my dirty laundry for all to see?

I nod at the guy with the badge and let him escort me into a private, unmarked entrance. We walk down a hallway and into a small reception area. It looks like a ticket counter, but there is only one. I guess this is where the VIPs get to check in. We’re escorted into a small room next to the counter. It has a couch and three chairs and I wonder what it’s used for if not exclusively for asshole celebrities and their soon-to-be ex-girlfriends to fight in.

Chad whispers something to Cole and then Cole closes the door, leaving Chad and me alone in the room.

“I can explain,” he says, sitting down and putting his elbows on his knees, fingering the broken screen of his phone.

“If you can explain that away, you’ll earn a goddamn Oscar,” I tell him, pacing the room.

“I’m not cheating on you, Mallory. I love you. I don’t love anyone else—not in that way. I know what you read looks really bad, but I swear you’ll understand once I explain it to you.” He closes his eyes briefly and then focuses on the floor. “You’ll understand, but you may still hate me.”

I’m not sure there is anything else he could have said to grab my attention more. How could I hate him any more than if he were cheating on me? I take a seat in the chair farthest from him, wiping another tear off my sodden face. “I’m listening,” I say. “Talk.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Chad

I hope Cole is quick about the errand I sent him on. Thank goodness he doesn’t have to go far. I need all the help I can get on this one. When I found my shattered phone on the floor and read the texts on the screen, there was no doubt in my mind that Mallory had run. I would have run myself—after I hunted down and kicked some dude’s ass, that is.

I don’t think I’ve ever driven so fast in my life. It was a miracle I didn’t get pulled over. But I had to get to Mallory. I don’t even want to imagine what it would’ve been like for her if she’d gotten on that plane thinking I’d cheated on her.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I ask her, stalling.

“Don’t beat around the bush so you have time to think up excuses,Thad. Just get to it; I have a plane to catch.”

There was a time when I loved it when she called me Thad. Now it’s just a reference to the asshole I once was and that she thinks I still am. And I hate that she had to spend her own money on airfare. “You already booked a ticket?”

“No. But I will as soon as we’re done here.”

“I hope that’s not true, Mal. But if you still want to leave after what I tell you, I’ll change your return ticket for you. You shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

“That’s right, I forgot. You Stones are always buying stuff for people. Howgenerousof you,” she says sarcastically.

“What’s that supposed to mean, ‘we Stones’?”

“Sorry,” she says, looking guilty. “I didn’t mean to put your mother in the same narcissistic groupyoubelong to. She took me shopping today and bought an outrageously expensive dress for me to wear Friday night. It’s in the back of your closet, by the way. Please have her return it for a refund.”

I look at her, surprised. “You went shopping with my mom?”

She nods sadly, looking at the floor.

Damn it!Everything was perfect and I had to go fuck it up because I wasn’t upfront with her about everything.

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