“Yeah. I called a few times but you didn’t answer so I figured you were with Harper.”
“Hey, Garret.” Harper doesn’t use her usual friendly tone. She’s clearly still mad at him. “Haven’t seen you around for a while.”
“I had to go out of town.”
“So what are you doing tonight?” she asks him. “Got any big plans?”
I give her a look to butt out but she ignores me.
“I don’t know yet.” He looks at me as if I should have plans for us. I wasn’t even sure he’d show up.
“Well, we should go.” I tug on Garret’s arm. “Have fun tonight.”
They all say goodbye, with Harper’s friends keeping their eyes on Garret the whole time.
“What’s up with her?” he asks as we walk down the hall.
“Nothing. She’s just in a bad mood.” I unlock the door to my room. I’m barely inside and Garret has me in his arms.
“I’ve missed you, Jade.”
He hugs me so tight it makes me laugh. “I’ve missed you, too, but you can let go a little. And maybe take your coat off.”
“Yeah. Okay.” He lets me go, then takes his jacket off and drapes it over my chair.
“It hasn’t even been a week, Garret. You couldn’t have missed me that much.”
He comes back over, putting his arms around me again. He seems taller for some reason. I wonder how tall he is—maybe 6’3, 6’4? His dad’s at least 6’5. Both of them tower over my 5’5 height.
“I don’t how long it’s been. I’ve lost track of the days. But it’s been too damn long.” He leans down to kiss me but I stop him.
“Wait. What happened to our friends-only agreement?” I’m dying to kiss him, but I want to know where we stand first. I need to know if his dad is going to keep driving us apart.
“That agreement is over.” He tries to kiss me again. I feel myself weakening but I somehow manage to hold him back.
“But we haven’t even been on a date yet. You promised me a date, remember?”
He smiles. “You’re right. I did promise you that.”
“So we should probably keep the friend thing going until we at least have a first date.”
“Seriously? You’re killing me here, Jade. It’s just a kiss.”
“Our date is tomorrow. I think you can make it.”
He pulls me closer. “I really don’t think so.”
Crap! Why does he have to be so damn irresistible? Be strong, Jade. It’s just one day. You can wait one day. But I can’t. I seriously can’t.
“Okay, just one kiss. And that’s it until our date. After that you—”
“I got it.” He whispers it against my mouth, then slowly and softly kisses my top lip, then the bottom one, then both. I guess that’s technically one kiss but there’s no way I’m ending this. Not yet. I part my lips and feel his breath mixing with mine as his tongue begins teasing my mouth. My body relaxes and nearly collapses into his. I feel him tighten his arm around me as his other arm travels up my back, his hand supporting my neck as the kiss heats up even more.
One kiss. Yeah, right. Five minutes later and we’re still standing here. I finally pull away and see him smiling, happy with himself for making that one kiss last so long.
I go over and sit on the bed. “We need to talk about stuff, Garret. I need to know what’s going on with you. And with us. We can’t keep doing this thing with your dad. Did you talk to him?”
Garret kicks his shoes off and sits back on the bed. “Do we really have to talk about this now?”
“Yes. I want to know what happened. And I need to know if your dad will be knocking on the door any minute now to yell at us again.”
“You don’t have to worry about him. I took care of it.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “See? I even got my phone back. And my car’s right outside.”
“So what did you say to him?”
“I told you. I had a talk with him and persuaded him to leave us alone.”
“You mean you blackmailed him. Do I even want to know with what?”
“It doesn’t matter. He won’t bother us anymore, at least for now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’ll try to find a way to blackmail me now so he can control me again.”
“So you’re saying this is only temporary?”
“Just forget it. I don’t want to get into this right now.”
“Well, I do. I want to know what’s going to happen. I hate these surprise visits from your dad. And what about your fake girlfriend? Do you still have to go out with her?”
He lets out a deep sigh. “Katherine, my wicked stepmother, still expects me to attend social functions with Ava. But it’s just some social functions. Once or twice a month. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me. I don’t like Ava going out with you, acting like she’s your girlfriend. Doesn’t this blackmail you used on your dad work for Katherine, too? Was it something having to do with company secrets?”
“No.” He hesitates. “It’s something he doesn’t want Katherine to know.”
“He cheated,” I say quietly.
“Present tense. Not past,” he says quietly back.
“Oh. Well, you don’t have to listen to Katherine. She’s not your mother.”
“I’ll deal with her next. I’ll figure something out. Now can we just not talk about that right now?”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Come here.” He opens his arms, inviting me in. I lie next to him, snuggling against his chest. “Let’s just do this for a while.”
I love being back in his arms again. And I’m happy that he finally stood up to his dad. But I don’t understand why he’s still agreeing to go to social events with Ava.
Ava lives on my floor. She went to some fancy prep school with Garret. She was on a reality TV show last year so she tends to get photographed a lot. The show was on a cable channel and Frank doesn’t have cable so I never saw it but apparently it was very popular. Anyway Katherine wants Garret to be photographed with Ava, thinking it will boost the social status of the Kensington family.
But Ava acts like she wants to date Garret for real. Only because she doesn’t want him dating me. That’s why she’s been telling his dad that Garret and I have been hanging out together. So to think of her even pretending to be his girlfriend makes me beyond angry.
“What did you do all week?” Garret asks.
“Not much. Just went to class. Did homework. Speaking of that, aren’t you way behind missing a week of classes like that?”
“I got all the assignments online. I’m not that behind. Although I do need to do some homework tomorrow. If you want, we could study together.”
“I don’t think you’d get much work done.”
He laughs. “Yeah, that’s true. Hey, after I’m done studying I have to spend a few hours in the pool. Do you want to come with me? You seemed bored last time, so you don’t have to.”
“I wasn’t bored. I liked it there.” Garret’s on the swim team so he spends a lot of time in the pool. I actually love going there with him. I get to hang out and stare at his almost-naked, extremely hot body. What’s not to love? “Maybe I’ll swim, too.”
“Then let’s go after lunch. The pool is usually empty on Saturday afternoons.”
Last time Garret and I swam together we’d just met. Things started heating up between us to the point that we quickly moved out of the friend category. And then my mother’s voice started getting into my head and ruined everything. It was awful. I started yelling at Garret and pushing him away. I don’t even remember everything that happened. But it changed things between us. Ever since then, he’s been cautious around me, afraid to do anything more than kiss me.
The room gets silent and I know Garret wants to talk about the letter and the threatening phone call. I’m sure he’s waiting for me to bring it up.
“Garret, I haven’t heard anything more from th
at guy who called, so let’s just forget it ever happened, okay? Just forget I said anything about it.”
He sits up, forcing me to do the same. “That guy isn’t going away. He wouldn’t make that call and then never contact you again.”
“Well, I still have the letter and he hasn’t called back.”
“Where’s the letter? Can I see it?”
“No. Because you’ll take it and get rid of it. And I’m not ready to do that yet.”
“I won’t do anything with it. I just want to see it.”
“I don’t want you to read it. It was only meant for me to read and I don’t want anyone else to. Not even Frank. Besides, I already told you what’s in it.”
“But there were no names mentioned, right? She didn’t say who did that to her?”
“No. That’s why I don’t get why this guy is harassing me about it.”
“I don’t know either. But don’t go trying to dig up more about this, Jade. You’ve already talked to Frank about it. So just let it be. Don’t go looking for more answers.”
“I don’t like being bullied like this. I should be able to find out stuff about my own mother without being threatened.”
“Yes, but that’s not going to happen. Promise me you’ll let this go.”
“Fine. Whatever. But I’m keeping the letter.”
I can tell Garret isn’t happy with my decision but I can’t get rid of it. That letter showed a side of my mom that I’d never seen. She was like a whole different person. A person I would’ve actually liked and maybe even loved. And the letter is the only thing I have to prove that person existed.
4
“Do you want to go do something?” I ask, hoping to get Garret’s mind off the letter. “Or are you tired from the trip?”
“I can sleep later. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really have anything in mind. I was just asking.”
“I haven’t eaten since this morning. We could go get some food.”
“Okay.” I crawl over him on the bed but he grabs hold of me before I can get up, our faces aligned for a kiss.
“Did I tell you how much I missed you?”
“Yes,” I say, waiting for him to kiss me. He doesn’t.
“Good. Just wanted to make sure I told you.” He lets me go and gets up to grab his coat. “You know, I just realized that nobody has insulted me for an entire week.”
“Funny you should mention that because I was just going to say that you seemed a little out of shape. I mean, you haven’t worked out for what? A week? You’re starting to lose those swimmer abs.”
He yanks his shirt up. “Shit, you’re right. I better hit the gym tomorrow.”
I still find it hilarious how offended he gets by my insults. And the fact that he actually takes them seriously.
The truth is that his abs are freaking amazing. So is his chest, his arms, his shoulders, his ass. Basically he’s in awesome shape. And I want to kiss him so bad right now but I can’t. I told him we had to wait until that first date. Now I totally regret saying it, but I’m insanely stubborn so if I said it I can’t go back and change my mind. If I did, he’d know I was too weak to resist him. Which I am. But he doesn’t need to know that.
We go to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. He orders two meals for himself, claiming that he’s really hungry. But then he only eats part of each meal and makes me help him out. It’s a trick so he can pay for my meal.
I don’t like people paying for stuff for me, even Garret. That makes going out a real problem because I have very little spending money. I normally get mad when he pays, but I keep quiet about it tonight and just eat his Chinese food.
“So what are we doing tomorrow night?” I ask as we’re waiting for the check. “What’s this big date you’ve got planned?”
He leans back in his chair. “I don’t have anything planned. What do you want to do?”
“Garret, you made this huge deal about our first date and now you have nothing planned?”
“Well, there’s not much to do around here. We could go see a movie but that seems kind of boring. And I don’t get the whole movie date thing. You can’t even talk to the person so what’s the point?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to go to a movie.”
“Then tell me what you want to do.”
The waitress is back with the check and Garret gives her his credit card.
“Let’s go bowling.” I say it mainly to see his reaction. I’m sure rich-boy Garret has never stepped foot in a bowling alley.
“Hmm. Bowling.” He thinks about it. “I don’t know how to bowl.”
Exactly what I thought. He’s never bowled. “It’s super easy. You just toss a ball down a lane and try to hit the pins.”
He laughs. “Yeah. I know what bowling is, Jade. I’ve just never done it before.”
“Then I’ll teach you. What do you think?”
“If that’s what you want to do, then we’ll do it. But do they really make you wear those shoes that other people have worn?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes. We can bring a can of disinfectant if you’re that worried about it.”
“I was kidding. I’ll be fine.”
The waitress is back with his credit card. I’m surprised it worked. I figured his dad would have canceled it.
“So tell me, Jade. Why bowling? Are you a good bowler?”
“Actually I am. Sophomore year I dated this guy whose dad owned a bowling alley so I got to bowl for free whenever I wanted. I got pretty good.”
“How long did you date this guy?”
“I don’t know. A couple months maybe. Long enough to get good at bowling.”
His eyebrows raise. “And did he expect something in return for this free bowling?”
“If he did, he didn’t get it. I can’t really remember but I’m sure all he got was some kissing. Maybe second base.”
“Okay, that’s enough. I really don’t want to hear about the other guys you went out with.”
“Garret, are you jealous of a guy I dated in tenth grade?”
“No.” He glances away. “I just don’t need to hear about it.”
“I don’t mind hearing about the girls from your past. Go ahead. Tell me about them.”
He shakes his head. “There’s nothing to say. I don’t think about those girls anymore.”
“My first week at Moorhurst Sierra told me you were a real heartbreaker. Her words, not mine. So what did she mean? Did you date a bunch of girls and dump them?”
He scoots his chair out and stands up. “All right. No more questions. Let’s go.”
I don’t push the topic. I’m not sure I want to know about his past relationships.
When we’re back on campus, we go up to his floor. It’s so quiet on Friday nights. Nobody is around. We basically have the whole residence hall to ourselves.
I’m a little nervous being in Garret’s room again, worried his dad’s going to barge in and yell at me for being there. But I relax once we get comfy in Garret’s giant bean bag chair and watch a movie. It’s like things are right back to the way they were before last Sunday.
After an hour I start to get sleepy. “I can’t stay awake. I think I need to go to bed.”
Garret helps me up. “I’ll walk you to your room.”
“That’s it? You’re not gonna try to convince me to sleep up here with you?”
“I can’t.” He smiles. “I’ve been away from you for too long. I may not be able to control myself.”
I smile back. “That’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“First date, remember? Then we’ll go from there.”
Garret insists on having this first date before he’ll go beyond kissing me. He wants us to be officially dating. It’s completely ridiculous, but it’s also kind of sweet.
“All right,” I say with an exaggerated sigh.
He walks me back to my room. I get into bed, but I can’t sleep. Ever since that call last Sunday I’ve had trouble falling a
sleep. Earlier in the week I tried reading before bed. It worked, so I get a book and try it again. Within the hour, I’m asleep. But not for long.
Around midnight the phone rings. I hurry to get up but my feet get tangled in the sheet and I fall out of bed on the hard floor. I hear the phone again and think that maybe it’s just a bad dream, but then shooting pain comes from my knee where it hit the floor and I know I’m awake.
The ringing continues. As before when this happened, my mind considers that it could be Ryan calling about some emergency with Frank. I decide I should answer it.
“Hello?”
The person on the other end of the phone is silent.
“Who is this? Is anyone there?”
It’s silent again and I feel like I’m in one of those horror films where the crazy killer just sits on the phone and listens, then finally announces he’s in the room ready to murder you. I turn on my desk lamp, still holding the phone.
“Is someone there or not?” I raise my voice, hoping to sound angry instead of scared.
There’s still no response. I slam the phone down on the receiver. I race over to my closet to make sure someone isn’t hiding in there, then I yank a sweatshirt off the hanger and put it on. The phone call gave me chills and now I’m freezing.
Although I try not to be the type of girl who runs to a guy for protection, I feel like I have to now. It’s not so much for protection. It’s more that I don’t want to be alone. I take my room key, lock my door, and bolt up to the second floor, sprinting down the hall to Garret’s room.
“Garret, are you in there?” I knock repeatedly until the door opens.
“What’s wrong?”
“That guy called again.” I push past him into his room, out of breath from running up here so fast.
He closes the door. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. He just listened. I don’t even know if it was him. But it totally freaked me out.” I put my arms around Garret, latching onto him like I’ll never let go. Given that I rarely hug him, or anyone, my actions prove how scared I am.
He hugs me almost as tightly. “Stay up here tonight. I should’ve just had you stay here earlier. I wasn’t thinking. Of course you don’t want to be alone at night.”
Knowing You (The Jade Series #2) Page 3
