Page 72 of Stone Promises

“Yeah, she’s one of the good ones,” I say.

I introduce Mallory to several people. She impresses me with her ability to tamp down her nerves despite the fact that some of those people make much bigger headlines than I do. Easy conversation flows out of her as we make our rounds. She’s no wallflower. Quite the opposite. And I somehow feel that having her by my side increases my worth—if that makes any sense at all.

I find us a table so we can sit down. She won’t say it, but I can tell Mallory’s feet are hurting in her new shoes. I haven’t asked her yet, but I was hoping she might agree to keep them on later tonight. The little bows on the back, and the way they make her legs look—it’s damn sexy.

“Thad, Mallory—good to see you,” Hayden says, bringing Noreen over to sit with us.

“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” Hayden and I get into a conversation about rock climbing. He’s in training with me. He plays my arch enemy in theDefconseries and there’s a great scene where he will chase me through a series of ropes and rock mazes. We both secretly hope they will let us do most of the stunts on that one.

I have one ear in the girls’ conversation. They are talking about recipes. It’s such a perfectly normal conversation that it makes me smile. I reach over and grab Mal’s hand to let her know I haven’t forgotten about her.

Hayden stiffens in his chair. “Oh, hell no,” he says, looking behind me.

I whip around to see Heather Crawford standing in the patio doorway. She’s wearing a fire-engine-red dress that leaves nothing to the imagination, especially about whether or not she’s wearing a bra. Her long brown hair sparkles with glitter and her fuck-me heels make her look a lot taller than she really is. She sees me and smiles, dropping the hand of her date as she makes a bee-line towards us.

I glance at Mal, who looks about as green as her dress. Her desperate eyes meet mine and I feel helpless. I have no idea what’s about to happen, but knowing Heather, it won’t be anything good. All four of us stand up at the same time. Maybe we are all planning our escape.

Heather walks right past me and straight up to Mallory. “And you must be the new flavor of the week,” she says, her eyes raking over Mal as if she’s a parasite. She turns to me. “Who’s your new toy, Thad?”

I put my arm around Mallory’s waist, possessively pulling her against me. “Cut the shit, Heather. This is my girlfriend, Mallory.”

“Yourgirlfriend?”she asks like it’s a bad word. “Isn’t she a waitress or something?”

“School teacher actually,” Mallory says, extending her hand to Heather. “Isn’t it you who should be waitressing? I mean, isn’t that what all unemployed actors do?”

Hayden spits his drink out, laughing. I look at Mallory in awe. I’ve never been more proud. I didn’t think she had it in her.

Heather scoffs at Mallory’s hand, not bothering to shake it. “You don’t know anything about me, honey, so keep your snarky comments to yourself,” Heather spits.

“That’s some good advice,” Mallory retorts. “Why don’t you take it?”

Heather rolls her eyes, turning her attention to me. “Have you read the script yet? Isn’t it fabulous?”

I don’t care to have this conversation here. I’ve all but decided not to do the movie. I know Paul will probably kill me, but after what happened earlier this week with Mal, I just don’t want to put myself in that kind of position. It was a bad time in my life. I’ve no desire to dredge all that shit up again. “Not yet,” I lie.

“Oh, you have to read it, Thad. It will be so much fun getting everyone back together again. Don’t you think?”

The girl obviously needs a paycheck. And for some reason, she thinks she needs me. It’s been over three years since I dumped her, along with every other bad habit in my life. “I’m not sure, Heather. We’ll see.”

“What, you think you’re too good for us now? Lila, Caitlyn, and Joey have already agreed to do it. That just leaves you and Thomas—”

“I really don’t want to talk about work tonight,” I interrupt. “In fact, you’ll have to excuse us, Mallory and I were just about to go grab a drink.”

She leans into me. “I can get you something much better than a drink, Thad.”

Jonah Bateman comes up behind Heather, wrapping his arms around her. “There you are. You disappeared on me.”

She wriggles out of his arms. “Quit it, Jonah, you don’t own me. I was just talking with Thad and” —she turns to Mallory, smirking— “what was your name again? I already forgot it.”

“It’s Mallory,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Right. Mallory,” Heather says in her direction. “It sounds so . . . industrial. But at least you smell good. What perfume are you wearing?”

Her unexpected compliment catches us both off guard. I put my nose in Mallory’s hair and take a whiff. “Mmmm,” I mumble. “It’s‘Desire Me,’if I recall, right, baby?”

Mallory puts a possessive hand on my chest and smiles up at me. “That’s right.”

“If you’ll excuse us now,” I say, turning Mal and me towards the bar, Hayden and Noreen just behind us.

---