Stone Cold Charade (A Stone Family Novel) (9 page)

Lost dreams taste sour,
he
thought as he watched the last of his dreams slowly slip through his fingers,
for
good this time
. There was no going back. He had to make sure she despised
him completely. After tonight, they would have no future. Not wanting her to
keep dreaming for something that he could never give her. They could never have
a life together.

Alex felt her heartbreak and turn to ice
in her chest. He was making sure that she understood clearly that they had
nothing left between them, not even friendship. It hurt more than anything ever
had in her entire life. A true friend would never set out to humiliate her in
the way that he had just mercilessly done. He had turned her own body’s
response to him against her, just to show her that she was not as grown up as
she believed, and that he knew she had feelings for him. Well he had nothing to
worry about. She would never bother him with her unwanted company again. When
she turned to look at him, he gave her a look of contempt.

“Next time you want to play with the big
boys, think about the consequences, you may not like the outcome. You play with
fire, and you’re liable to get burned,” he said hauntingly, giving her one last
hard, unforgiving look as he stepped towards the door.

“I’ll remember, cowboy. You just
remember that it goes both ways. Fire can also consume; body and soul.” she
said bitterly to his retreating back. Wanting him to know the fire she had
started in him moments ago would haunt him, never to be repeated, because Ty
was replaceable to her. He hesitated for one second, understanding the
underlining message, before regaining his stride and walking out of the
kitchen.

Waiting for her heartbeat and breathing
to return to some semblance of normalcy before returning to the party, she
replayed what had happened over and over in her mind. Hoping that none of her
heartache was visible on her face, she left the kitchen wondering how she had
been so foolish as to think he cared for her in a romantic way. He had never
cared for her at all. Lost in thought, she rounded the corner in the hallway.
When she heard Ty talking to the same group of men he had been earlier, she
froze. She couldn’t hear the question they asked, only his response.

“It would be great if I didn’t feel like
a babysitter, watching a bunch of spoiled brats. Max is as loony as everyone
says! He and his granddaughters are stuck up snobs who think the working class
owes them! They think people who work for them are just there for their
personal enjoyment and entertainment,” he felt Alex’s approach and refused to
turn around to see the shock that he knew would be evident on her stunned face.

Alex was locked into place, too
mortified to leave. She couldn’t believe she was actually hearing him
correctly. His friends were too far around the corner for her to hear anything
but their muffled response, but there was no mistaking his next betrayal.

“Alex is a pathetic, lonely rich girl
with too much time on her privileged hands. She’s just a frightened, frigid
little virgin afraid of her own shadow. A man would have to want to sleep with
an icicle to take her into his bed. Besides, she looks like something the cat
dragged in on a rainy day with that outrageous hair and chubby body,” he
declared, laughing.

She saw the look of repulsion on his
friends’ faces and felt the color leave hers before surging back up into her
cheeks as they heated with embarrassment. Hastily, she looked around to see if
anyone had noticed her presence, praying that no one had. Not wanting anyone to
know that she had overheard the conversation she backed up. Slowly, not wanting
to draw anyone’s attention, she escaped down the hall toward the back door.

He fooled all of them. Ty’s final act of
betrayal against her and her family was a tough pill to swallow. She had just
been a bothersome kid he was forced to be subjected to because he worked for
her grandfather! His treachery shredded apart her confidence and crushed who
she believed she was. His caring and friendship had all been a carefully
orchestrated charade.

Alex's thought of all the things she had
shared with him though the years. The moments replayed in her mind, burning a
hole in her brain. She had revealed all of her dreams and fears to him, and he
had been laughing at her behind her back the entire time! The hardest part was
the realization of how stupid she must have appeared to him, pouring out her
heart to someone who could care less what happened to her or how she felt. It
had just been a job. Ty was like everyone else. He was being nice to her and
her family because of what he had to gain from them! She would never be able to
trust him again, or anyone else, for that matter.

Spinning around Alex slipped out the
back door, the silent tears running down her anguished face.

When he was certain she was no longer
behind him, Ty excused himself from his friends. He had known the exact moment
that she had returned to the party, and he intentionally allowed her to
overhear what he said about her. He wanted to hurt and embarrass her, and he
watched through a window as she fled the party moments after he had succeeded.

Deciding to go shortly after Alex left,
he drove Amanda to her apartment. She realized he was upset, and wisely decided
not to remark on his strange behavior at the party. Instead, she looked out the
window in silence.

As he said goodnight to her at her door,
he came to the conclusion that his relationship with Amanda was coming to an
end. It didn’t matter anyway. Alex and Jenny were leaving for school soon and
he didn’t know how much longer he would be staying in Wilkinson. It was just a
matter of time before he broke it off completely anyway.

When he got home, he went straight to
the liquor cabinet, something he rarely did. Sitting in the recliner next to
the fireplace, he proceeded to get as drunk as humanly possible in order to
stop from thinking about what he had just done. He had set out to kill what
Alex felt for him, and he was certain that she would never speak to him again;
not after humiliating and embarrassing her and her family in public the way he
had. He toasted himself in silent mockery, knowing he had succeeded more than
even he had imagined.
No one could say he did anything in half measure,
he thought wryly.

Showing up for work the
following day with a killer hangover, he learned that Alex had left the ranch
to sign up for early enrollment at a college in California. She was never
coming back. She had walked out of his life forever. He succeeded. He killed
what was between them. Nothing was ever going to be the same.

Not long after that, he
joined the military and decided to leave Wilkinson. He vowed never to return.

Alex adjusted as best
she could the first couple of weeks at college. Having relied on Ty most of her
life, she felt out of her element. It was hell, missing her family and Ty. He
had always been her compass and strength, even when they fought. That part of
her life was over. There was no going home, again. The only aspiration she had
even known growing up had been his love and friendship, and without those
things she felt adrift in a world she didn’t understand. Everything was
confusing and different at college, not as it was on the ranch. The loneliness
ate at her, making her feel broken. Her classes and getting settled seemed to
take up most of her time. Finally calling home to check on everyone, she was
shocked to learn from her grandmother that Ty had left the ranch the same week
she had.

The depression hit hard
after that. She found even her classes could not make her want to crawl out of
bed in the morning. A friend, trying to break her out of her funk, asked her to
go to a local nightspot a stone’s throw away from campus. It was a popular
hangout for the students. Reluctantly, she agreed and was introduced to Steven
Parks, a boy who was in a band that performed there. A quick friendship emerged
as she and Steven talked about his music. Over the next couple of weeks, the
two found they shared the same basic interests. As they grew to become close
friends, Steven's antics made her days less dull and made her life easier.
Somehow she found the strength to start composing again.

Spying a sheet of music
in her room one day, he saw the lyrics and snagged it. After getting
interrogated, she reluctantly confessed that she had written a few songs. After
looking over the sheet music, he started in on her. He was relentless in his pursuit
from then on, pleading with her to play them for him and the band. Agreeing,
despite her better judgment, she played them one of her songs. The group fell
instantly in love with her music and words. Her haunting voice and skill as a
singer convinced them to draft her into the band. Apprehensively, she started
to rehearse with them, deciding to take a chance and break out of her safe
shell to shine in the spotlight. She had nothing to lose. Ty was gone from her
life and was not coming back.

With Steven’s help and
guidance, Alex set about rebuilding herself. The first order of business seemed
to be the relentless workout regiments that Steven instigated to lose her
persistent baby fat. The next, was an entirely new wardrobe under Steven’s
close scrutiny. Joining ranks, her roommate taught her how to best apply
cosmetics to enhance her natural beauty. She also suggested the professional
hairstylist she used. Last on Steven’s list was corrected surgery for her
astigmatism to lose the glasses once and for all. The band was staggered and
enchanted by the startling transformation. She had completely altered her
appearance, resembling nothing of the old Alex.

After she started
performing with the band, she had a new confidence about her. It showed in her
voice and the way she carried herself. Working with the band gave her an
amazing new perspective on herself. One she was sure Ty would never have
recognized. On stage, Alex created a safe world where she was free to indulge
herself, pretending to be another woman. She felt sexy, vibrant, and
uninhibited in front of an audience.

Steven stated
flippantly one day that when she sang it was as if the whole audience went up
in flames watching her. They burned for her, especially the men. She remembered
what Ty had once warned her about; playing with fire. Contemplating what Steven
said about the audience burning for her, she found her stage name. Fire was
born. The band was ecstatic about the name and decided to make it the backdrop
for the bands new name. They unanimously decided to call the group Fire and
Ice.

When a record company
offered the group a recording contract, Alex had had little choice but to
enlist her grandfather’s help, and to do that she had to confess who she was.
The band had never suspected that she was one of the infamous Stone Girls. It
flabbergasted them to learn her true identity. They understood why she felt she
had to carry on the facade. Afraid they would change their attitude towards her
after learning the truth, she was humbled as, remarkably, it didn’t affect
their opinion of her.

Max arranged everything. He even found
them a manager and a tour crew. Alex dropped out of college due to the
whirlwind of popularity the band created. Their fame grew faster than anyone
had expected, especially Max. He of course hated the fact that Fire was an
international superstar before her second album hit the stores. Alex became a
millionaire in her own right before she had even turned twenty.

Even so, it wasn’t about the fame or the
money. It was always about the music for her and the band. It was about the
passion of bringing a song to life, reminding the fans what falling in love for
the first time felt like, or to reminisce about the one love that got away. It
was her story. Her past put to music. She loved sharing a piece of herself that
she had locked away, hoping that in doing so she could ease their pain.

Over the years, they witnessed other
groups and musicians burn out or spiral out of control due to the pressure the
industry placed on them, not to mention drug abuse. All of them, from the very
beginning, made a pact. They would never allow that to happen to them. They
were family. It’s what made Alex get up and work to be better than the last
performance every day, that and the fans. They were all counting on her to
write the new album. Ty, or no Ty, she had a job to do. He was the past. Her
music was all that counted now, not a past that she couldn’t rewrite.

Waking with a start, Alex overheard the distant
sound of a car door slamming. The unmistakable call of cattle lowing filled the
room. She stretched under the bedding, trying to recall what city or continent
she was in. With her traveling schedule, she didn’t always know where she was
until she allowed her mind to catch up with her awakening body. Recognizing the
furniture around her, she immediately knew she was at her sister Sam’s.

Catching sight of her
reflection in the mirror on top of the dresser, the events of earlier flashed
in her brain, bringing with it anger and confusion. She had been so caught up
in the past and her battle with Ty that it slipped her mind that she had just
gotten off a ten-hour flight from Spain. Maybe acclimating to the time
difference would explain why he had affected her so uncharacteristically. Her
body was just acting out of whack because of jetlag she assured herself.

As Alex swung off the bed and headed for
the shower, she glanced at her watch and noticed it was getting close to
dinnertime. If she wasn’t downstairs shortly, Martha would send a search party.