Silent As A Stone: Heart of Stone Series #10 Read online

  “Sometimes the road to happiness is rocky,” I said, needing to say something to ease the discomfort between us.

  Instantly, he shot down my suggestion. “There’s no happiness at the end of that road. That road doesn’t lead anywhere,” he said with a frown.

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  I wasn’t sure why I apologized other than that I didn’t want to see him so miserable.

  Shaking his head, he smiled, but this time it went all the way up to his eyes and made the area near his temples crinkle slightly. “I know what being happy feels like. It’s been a long time, but I remember.”

  Something in the way he looked at me made me think he was referring to that time I hadn’t thought of in forever. A time when I wasn’t afraid of everything and he wasn’t unhappy.

  I silently climbed out the living room window and ran as fast as I could across the yard toward the back of the property. The dampness from the dew just forming on the grass for the night touched my feet, wetting my skin and making running in my flip flops difficult. I’d gotten good at navigating across the estate in the darkness to get to the area of fencing with a hole in it that allowed me to reach the nearby town much quicker than taking the main road. I suspected Ethan had cut the fence open at some point to sneak around just like I was tonight.

  Out of breath, my heart pounded as I reached that point where I’d meet my partner in crime. That’s how I liked to think of him, and even though we technically weren’t doing anything criminal, I knew if my parents and Ethan found out what I was up to, they’d make sure I never left the house again, especially once they knew who I’d been sneaking out to see.

  Just outside the fence, he stood there in dark shorts and a white t-shirt. He waved at me, hurrying me toward him. “Come on! Did anyone see you this time?”

  No one ever saw me. My parents spent most of their time worrying about whatever Ethan was up to, so that left Tressa and me to our own devices. For her, that meant reading or hanging out with friends, and for me, that meant sneaking out whenever I could to see Cole.

  I ducked as I squeezed through the chain link fence, careful not to catch my clothes or my hair on the metal. “No, it’s good. My parents are watching some movie. They’re probably asleep since it’s after eleven.”

  Standing to my full height, I looked up at Cole and smiled. Nearly a foot shorter than him, I barely reached his chin if I didn’t stand on tip-toe. He pulled me into him and kissed me with a desperation that marked every moment we spent together.

  The son of a convicted criminal could be the best friend of a Stone, but he couldn’t be the boyfriend of one.

  “I missed you,” he said in a low voice that covered me like a security blanket.

  “Me too. We only have about an hour because I can’t risk being out much longer than that. Ethan is due back at midnight, so he’ll wake up the whole house when he gets home.”

  Cole slid his hands down my back and kissed me again. “Thank God for that stupid photography club and their field trips.”

  “Did you have any trouble getting out tonight?” I asked as we walked toward the woods where we always went to be alone.

  He shook his head and chuckled at my question. Since his father went away, Cole and his three brothers had been living with his grandmother, a woman in her seventies who only paid attention to the youngest of them, Chase. The other three boys ran practically wild, much to the dismay of every parent around, including mine. They’d known Cole since he was a little boy, so while they disapproved, they didn’t feel right barring him from my brother’s life.

  My life was an entirely different story. If they ever found out we were secretly dating, my father would kill him. Without a second thought. And I could only imagine what he’d do to me.

  I knew that and still I couldn’t say no whenever he texted me and asked me to meet him late at night. How could I? I loved him.

  “Diana, are you okay?”

  Cole’s question jarred me from my daydreaming about the past, and I quickly forced a smile and nodded. “Oh, yeah. Just watching all the fun everyone’s having.”

  “Because for a minute there, you didn’t look okay.”

  As he walked away across the grass toward the party, I thought about how much I hated that question. Are you okay? It was all anyone ever asked me.

  The worst part was the answer was always the same. I didn’t know if I’d ever be okay.

  But I wanted to be. I wanted that more than anyone could possibly know.

  Chapter Two

  Cole

  As I walked through the living room, I saw through the window that Rachel had found someone to drive her from the party. From the looks of the guy, he was some kind of linebacker. With nearly a hundred pounds on me, I guessed he might crush her if she didn’t take top.

  Whatever. Crush her or don’t, dude. She’s your problem now.

  Scanning the party guests as I walked back outside, I knew I’d have no trouble finding a replacement for Rachel if I cared to. The reality was that I didn’t know if I wanted to. For the past five weeks, I’d played boyfriend and girlfriend with her mostly because she’d pushed for it. A committed bachelor, I never looked forward to that whole scene. Women were fun to pass the time with, but I didn’t need one around twenty-four seven.

  I spied Ethan across the lawn and made my way over to him. Still the same guy since he got together with Summer, he’d probably bust my ass about losing my date, but it could be good for laughs.

  “Hey, man. I think you need a leash for that girl. One of Killian’s teammates just left with her,” he said with a smile. Ethan never disappointed.

  Summer’s mouth turned down into a pout. “Awww. I’m sorry, Cole. She seemed very nice. I had hoped you guys were moving toward something.”

  Before I could get a word out of my mouth, Ethan chimed in. “Yeah, they were headed toward her ditching him for a professional football player. Dude, you’re losing your game. You’re slipping, man.”

  Since I didn’t have the option of slugging him for that crack, I mouthed, “Fuck you,” and flashed Summer a smile as Ethan headed off to grab the two of them fresh drinks. “Your boyfriend’s in rare form today.”

  “I think he’s worried about Diana,” she said far more seriously than I expected her to answer.

  Confused, I felt like I walked in on a movie halfway through. “Why? She looked fine to me when we were all over near the carriage house talking. She even got to see the first act of my breakup with Rachel.”

  Glancing over, I saw Diana standing alone at the carriage house right where I’d left her a few minutes before. She looked the same as she always did.

  “You know how these things are for her. He’s just overprotective.”

  Now I felt even more baffled. Why would hanging out at her parents’ house on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May be a problem?

  “Summer, I’m going to be honest. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. I’ve known Diana as long as I’ve known Ethan, and she seems the same as always. What’s going on?”

  She stared at me wide-eyed for a long moment before tugging me by the arm to a more secluded spot away from the party. Summer had never been shy about talking to me, but at this moment, she seemed unsure what to say.

  What the hell was the mystery here?

  “Cole, you’re Ethan’s best friend, so I’ll be as nice as I can with this. I get that you’re all about being the player and living the lifestyle that goes with that, so maybe you don’t care about sensitive things like what Diana goes through all the time and especially at events like this. Fair enough, I guess, and if Ethan tolerates that, okay, but he does care about her and so do I. Minimizing what she goes through every day is a dick move, though. Sorry if that offends you, but there it is.”

  Being told off twice in the span of thirty minutes hadn’t been in my plan for this day, particularly since it was Summer doing it this time. Any other person talking to me like that would either get a
quick but nasty response or ignored and walked away from, but this was my best friend’s girlfriend, so I had to temper my urge to shoot from the hip.

  And, to be honest, she hadn’t said anything wrong about the kind of guy I was. Even more, I was more than a little curious about what the hell she could be talking about when it came to Diana.

  I tipped my glass to finish the last of my beer and looked around to see if anyone could hear us. Nobody was close, so I leaned down and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about here, Summer. Again, I’ve known Diana for nearly all my life, and I don’t see anything different about her. Is this a jealousy thing because Tressa got engaged before her? Trust me. I’m sure if Diana wanted to be married, she would. She’s got everything any decent guy would want.”

  Summer seemed to stop listening after my question about Diana being jealous about Tressa’s engagement and stormed away as she mumbled something about guys being assholes. A pretty general statement of fact, it still didn’t explain what the hell I’d done to offend her or what the great mystery was about Diana that she knew about and I didn’t. Since she’d known Ethan for a fraction as long as I’d known him, I had to figure he’d told me about what she was talking about and I’d forgotten. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

  By the time I got a refill of my beer and returned outside, Ethan had found me and looked about as pissed as I expected him to be after my conversation with Summer. Before he even reached where I stood, he snapped, “What did you say to Summer? Not that I don’t agree that you’re an ass, but what did you do to impress that opinion on her in the last fifteen minutes?”

  “I have no idea.” I raised my right hand and continued, “I swear. She was talking about how hard this is for Diana, and all I said was I didn’t understand why it would be. She told me that was a dick move, although I have no idea why, and when I asked if Diana was jealous because Tressa got engaged first, Summer stormed off and called me an asshole. Those are literally the high points of our conversation, and to be honest, I still have no fucking idea what the hell is going on with you Stones today.”

  Ethan took a deep breath, and I prepared myself for the punch he’d throw in a moment. I wasn’t a high school kid anymore, so he wouldn’t be able to take me as easily as the last time he slugged me, but the look of anger in his eyes told me this time could hurt just as much. Nothing like having two women ball you out and then getting hit by your best friend. The afternoon may have been a record asshole outing for me.

  He let the air out of his lungs in a frustrated whoosh, and like his girlfriend, guided me toward a more secluded spot away from Tressa and Killian’s guests. When he stopped, he sighed and shook his head.

  “I never told you about this because I didn’t think I should be the one to tell anyone, but I guess it’s time you knew since you’re practically a member of the family.”

  “One who’s been treated like the red-headed stepchild today,” I said in an attempt to lighten the mood between us. It didn’t work.

  Lowering his head, Ethan stared at the ground as he began to talk. “Remember that accident she and I were in like eight years ago? She had some pretty bad injuries and spent a week in a coma?”

  He looked up at me and the anguish in his expression took me by surprise. I’d never seen him look like this in the over twenty years I’d known Ethan.

  “Yeah, I remember. But she came out of it and your parents found the best doctors in the world to fix her up.”

  Nodding, he sighed again. “Yeah, the outside is practically perfect, except for a few scars from one of the surgeries. The inside’s a whole other story, though.”

  “What are you talking about, the inside? What does that mean?” I asked, wondering what the hell he could be referring to when it came to Diana’s insides.

  A look of pain settled into his face. “She’s never really recovered from the accident. Since then, she’s been dealing with a lot of psychological things. She rarely leaves her hotel room at the Richmont Midtown where she’s lived for years. Summer’s gotten her to go out more in the past couple years, but it’s been hard. That accident fucked her up pretty bad, and in the eight years since, she’s been a mess. Just being here with all these people is a huge step for her. That’s what Summer meant before.”

  His words stunned me. For years, I thought Diana lived with some guy in some penthouse in the city. Ethan rarely talked about her, and when he did, he made it sound like they were getting together to hang out like any ordinary brother and sister would. I never had any hint that she’d ended up living any other kind of life than the one she deserved.

  “I had no idea,” I said quietly, suddenly worried that the people a few yards away might be able to hear what we were talking about.

  Ethan nodded sadly. “I don’t tell anyone, so don’t feel like I was intentionally keeping it from you for some reason. You’ve always been nice to her, so it wasn’t that. I just didn’t tell people because I didn’t want to hurt her again. Don’t get me wrong. She’s much better than she used to be. It’s just hard for her. Something happened after that accident that injured her far more than what the car did to her physically.”

  My brain worked to process everything my friend had told me so far. It sounded like Diana had PTSD after the car accident. But surely her doctors would have medicated her so she could handle everyday things.

  “Didn’t the doctor give her something? Haven’t the drugs worked?” I gently inquired.

  Ethan shrugged and shook his head again. “She won’t take them. She’s been like that ever since we were kids. Unless she was at death’s door, she wouldn’t even take cold medicine.”

  “But they would help her, wouldn’t they? Why not take them and feel at least a little better?”

  The sadness on my best friend’s face deepened. “Because she felt like a zombie when she tried them, and she doesn’t want to feel that way. She’s caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. If she takes them, she isn’t as afraid but she doesn’t feel much of anything. If she doesn’t, she’s not walking through life like she’s sleepwalking, but all that fear is there all the time. She can’t win either way.”

  We stood there in silence, Ethan blankly looking past me toward the house while I tried to focus on the carriage house porch to see if Diana still stood there watching everything that was happening from afar, close enough to be a part of the festivities but far enough away to feel safe. I didn’t know what she feared, but I guessed being around so many people having a great time didn’t help.

  I couldn’t see her there anymore.

  “Well, thanks for telling me. I’ve always liked Diana. She deserves better than the hand she’s been dealt.”

  That sounded supremely condescending, but that wasn’t how I meant it. The problem was I couldn’t tell Ethan how much it bothered me to hear this about Diana because he could never know how I felt about her.

  Ethan forced a smile and chucked me on the arm. “Thanks. Do me a favor and keep this to yourself, okay? She’d be horrified if she found out I told you.”

  I wanted to ask why, but that would only lead to a different conversation I didn’t want to have.

  “Of course, man. Not a word.”

  “Thanks. I better go find Summer and tell her you’re not the asshole she thinks you are.”

  “It’s an easy mistake to make. I’m not exactly the greatest guy in the world,” I said, not trying to be self-effacing. I really wasn’t a terrific guy most of the time.

  As Ethan disappeared into the crowd of partiers, I thought about the girl I knew back when Diana and I snuck around to be together. Sweet and funny, she made me smile at a time in my life when nothing else could. We were so innocent then.

  Well, at least she was. Everything my family had been through my senior year in high school stole any shred of innocence I had left, replacing it with an ugly reality that changed me practically overnight.

  But when I was with Diana, all the problems I had to deal with
disappeared. The ugliness of being Anthony Knight’s son faded away for a few short hours when I was with her.

  I wandered around the party, smiling at women as I passed them by, and eventually I found myself walking toward the carriage house. Diana stood alone looking toward the party, and although I knew I shouldn’t, I felt drawn to her now after what Ethan told me.

  “In case you’re wondering if you’re missing anything, let me assure you. You aren’t. You’ve seen one engagement party, you’ve seen them all,” I said with a smile.

  Diana narrowed her eyes for the briefest moment and then shook her head. Smiling, she said, “I’ve never been to an engagement party. Are they all like this?”

  “Pretty much, although I do have to admit you Stones always put on the best parties. I mean, come on. You couldn’t order a bluer sky. I’m beginning to think Tristan Stone controls the entire universe.”

  My playful jab at her father landed just as I intended, and she giggled. “My father did want this day to be perfect for Tressa, so you might be right.”

  Our conversation quickly dwindled to awkward silence, so I said, “Tressa and Killian seem to be perfect for one another.”

  “They are. I’m very happy for her. She got exactly the kind of man she wanted in Killian.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that since I’d long suspected Tressa didn’t like much of what she saw in men, so I kept silent. I could joke around with Ethan with comments like that, but not Diana.

  As we stood there in silence, my mind travelled back to when she and I first got together. Feeling strange after what I heard about her a few minutes before, I found myself wondering if she ever thought of the time we spent for those couple months in high school.

  And before I knew it, the words I shouldn’t have said had come out of my mouth.

  “Do you remember that first night we snuck out and ran across the yard right over there?” I asked, pointing toward the back of the estate.

  She blushed and looked down toward the ground. “I can’t believe you still remember that.”