“I’ve known your RA for years. She doesn’t care.”
“Well, even if that guy calls again there’s nothing you can do.”
“I guess. But I don’t want you to be alone if he calls.”
“I’ll be fine. But thanks for offering.” I kiss him quick. “It makes me want to keep you as a boyfriend. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He sits down instead of leaving. “I had another reason for coming down here. Besides the missing you thing.”
His tone is making me nervous. “Okay. So what is it?”
“We can’t go to New York next weekend. I’m sorry but I totally forgot that next weekend is that political fundraiser at my house.”
“But I thought you hated those things.”
I do, but I kind of need to go to this.” Garret’s not telling me something and whatever he’s not telling me is something I don’t want to know. But I don’t like him keeping secrets. He’s kept secrets from me before and it almost destroyed our relationship.
“What is it?” I ask, keeping my eyes on him. “Just tell me. I know you’re not giving me the whole story here.”
“It’s just that I . . . I used to date the guy’s daughter.”
“What guy?”
“The politician we’re having the fundraiser for. Royce Sinclair.”
“The guy who’s trying to run for president? The guy who could actually be president? You dated his daughter?”
“Yes. It was last summer when I was interning in DC. She was an intern, too. But it was nothing. We just—”
“Okay. Hold on. I’m still trying to process the fact that you dated a girl who might live in the White House soon.”
“My dad’s been friends with her dad forever, so it’s not that big a deal.”
“Is that why you dated her? Did your dad make you?”
“No. Actually I didn’t even tell him that Sadie and I were dating until we’d broken up. Anyway, I feel like I should go to this thing since it’s for her dad. Plus, like I said, the guy’s kind of a friend of the family.”
“And will this girl you dated be there?”
“I don’t think so. She goes to college in DC. She won’t come all the way up here for a fundraiser.”
“So this means what? You have to go with Ava?”
He nods. “Yes.”
I say nothing. Garret hasn’t had one of these functions for over a month. And now that he and I are officially dating, I don’t want him around Ava.
“You’re mad,” he says.
“Well, yeah. I don’t want Ava hanging all over you at this thing, pretending to be your girlfriend.”
“I won’t let her hang on me.”
“I don’t even want her touching you.”
“Jade, you know I’m not at all interested in her. I don’t even like her as a friend.”
“I know. But still.” I get into bed. “If you feel you need to do this, it’s okay. We can go to New York another time. I need to get to sleep. I’ll see you later.”
He gets up to leave, but stops before he reaches the door. “What if you came with me?”
“With you where?”
“To the fundraiser. What if you were my date instead of Ava?”
10
“Are you kidding? Your dad would totally kill you.”
“Forget about him. I want to take you to the fundraiser. I don’t know why I was even considering going with Ava.”
“There’ll be cameras and press all over this event. And not just the usual photographers for those society pages. They’ll have the national news. Major newspapers. You’re supposed to be photographed with Ava. Just think how mad your stepmom would be if you were photographed with me instead of Ava.”
“Great. I’d love to piss off Katherine.”
He sits on my bed and leans down to kiss me. “Would you go with me, Jade?”
“You’re insane. Get some sleep. In the morning you’ll come to your senses and realize you have to go with Ava.”
“I’m not taking her. If she wants to go, she can find someone else.”
“But you know you have to—”
He puts his finger to my lips. “Will you go or not?”
“You’re really serious about this?”
“Yes. I want to take you. And nobody else.”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it.”
He smiles. “They’ll have really good food. And a band. And dancing.”
“What would I need to wear? Because I only have one dress and it’s not very nice. Well, you’ve seen it.”
“I’ll take care of the dress.”
I laugh. “You’re getting me a dress? Do you shop for dresses much?”
“No. But I know people.”
“I don’t want you buying me a dress. You’ll spend too much.”
“If I’m making you do this, the least I can do is get you a dress. And shoes. And whatever else you need.”
“I still don’t know.”
“Think about it and let me know tomorrow.” He kisses me once more before leaving.
I’m suddenly in a much better mood now that he’s made this plan to take me instead of Ava. But I’m still worried. His dad scares me. And I’m sure he hates me even more now that Garret’s blackmailing him in order to be with me. If I show up at the fundraiser, who knows how he’ll react? And Katherine will be furious. That woman almost scares me as much as Garret’s dad.
The dining hall is usually quiet on Monday mornings, at least at 7, which is when I get there. I always bring a book to read or I study for whatever test I have that day. Today, I brought the biology homework that my idiot lab partner was supposed to do but didn’t.
“There you are.”
I look up and see Garret coming toward my table. He sits next to me and gives me a kiss. “I missed you,” he says, laughing.
I roll my eyes, smiling. “You’re going to say that all the time now just to annoy me, aren’t you?”
“You know you love it.” He takes a bite of my donut, which is next to my half-eaten apple pastry and untouched scrambled eggs. Despite my resolve to eat better, I still haven’t improved my diet.
“What are you doing up so early? Your first class isn’t until 10.”
“I wanted to get your answer about the fundraiser.”
“I don’t know, Garret. I don’t want to start some big fight with your family.”
“Stop worrying about them. They’re not your problem.”
“But what about the photographers? They’ll be taking photos of us.”
“I was thinking about that last night. This isn’t going to be like those charity events I go to. The photographers will be taking pictures of Royce Sinclair and all the other important people there. They won’t even be interested in us.”
“But what are you going to do about Ava?”
“She’ll leave us alone. She has a boyfriend.”
“That’s never stopped her before.”
He lowers his voice, even though nobody’s around. “It’s different now. Her boyfriend is the mechanic who works on her Mercedes. Blake’s seen the two of them out together. And when he saw Ava at a party last week she was drunk and admitted she was dating the guy. Her parents would kill her if they knew. Well, they’d take her designer clothes and her car away, and then they’d kill her.”
“So you’ll threaten to tell her parents if she doesn’t let us go together? That’s blackmail, Garret. Seems like you’re doing a lot of that lately.”
“Well, she asked for it.” He takes another bite of my donut. “Now can you just give me an answer about this?”
I take a sip of my soda as I think about it. “You really want me to go?”
“Seriously, Jade? Have I not made that clear by now?”
“Okay. I guess I could go.”
“Finally.” He gets up. “I need to go make some calls about the dress.”
“Can’t we just get something at the mall? What are you wearing to this thing?”
<
br /> “The mall doesn’t have what we need. And I’m wearing a tux. It’s formal dress.”
“You’ll rent a tux but you didn’t want to wear the bowling shoes? What’s the difference?”
“I don’t rent the tux. I have my own. Several, actually.”
I feel stupid for not knowing that. Of course he would own a tux. He goes to these formal events all the time.
“I’ll see you later, Garret. I need to finish this bio homework. My lab partner bailed on me again.”
“Do you want me to kick his ass? Because I can do that now. As your boyfriend, it’s one of my jobs to kick the ass of anyone who pisses you off.”
I laugh. “No. I think we can skip the ass kicking. The semester will be over soon anyway.”
Garret and I don’t see each other much for the rest of the week. He’s either at class or in the pool. His coach has them training all the time. But he stops by my room every night offering to stay over in case the threatening phone calls start again.
The strange thing is that the guy hasn’t called back. And the letter still sits in my drawer. I keep taking it out, thinking I’ll read it again, but then I don’t. Garret’s right. It just brings up more questions. Questions I probably don’t want the answers to.
On Friday afternoon, Harper stops by my room after class to tell me about the date she has with Sean later.
“He said he’s making me a gourmet meal but he won’t tell me what it is.” She stands in front of my mirror, pulling her hair back different ways, then letting it fall at her shoulders again. “I think tonight’s the night. I think I’m gonna have sex with him.”
“Harper, you said you weren’t going to rush things.”
She flops down on my bed, scooting back to put her feet up. “I know. But we’ve dated for weeks now. And he’s so damn hot. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Yeah, but you don’t want a repeat of what happened with Cole.”
“Sean’s not going to dump me after we have sex. He’d never do that. He’s too sweet.”
“Are you sure? You might just be blinded by his hotness.”
“No. He really is sweet. He does all these little things that Cole would never do. Like last week we were in my car and he noticed that my wipers were wearing out so he went and bought me new ones and put them on. He said it wasn’t safe to drive with bad wipers. Come on, Jade. You have to admit that’s sweet.”
Before I can answer, there’s a knock on the door. I open it to find a guy in a delivery uniform holding a garment bag and a shoebox. “Are you Jade?”
“Yes.”
“These are for you. Where would you like them?”
Harper’s now standing next to me at the door. “Ooh. Is this your dress for tomorrow night?” She takes the garment bag from the guy.
I take the shoebox. “Thanks,” I say to the guy. He waits for a moment, then walks off. I shut the door, wondering why he was acting so odd.
“Harper, was I supposed to give that guy a tip?”
She’s staring anxiously at the garment bag, which she hung in my closet. “What are you waiting for? Come see your dress.”
I join her at the closet and open the bag. Inside is a long evening gown in a deep purple color. It has three-quarter length sleeves, a rounded neckline, and an open back. Purple is my least favorite color, but I actually like this purple. It’s such a deep purple it almost looks black.
When we first met, Garret told me I should wear purple saying it would bring out the green in my eyes. I told him I’d never wear purple because one, I think it’s an old lady color and two, I can’t stand my green eyes and have no interest in drawing attention to them. Plus, I only wear black and white, at least when it comes to shirt colors.
Harper gasps as she runs her hand along the dress. “It’s gorgeous! And the fabric. . . I wonder what it is. He must have had this dress custom made for you. Don’t you love it? Try it on.”
I put the dress on while she checks out the shoes.
“These are like $3000 shoes,” she says as she holds up a pair of black heels.
“No pair of shoes is worth that much money. He better not have spent that much. If he did, I’ll make him take them back.”
“Jade, you’ve got to stop fighting with him about money. He’s not trying to buy your love or whatever you think he’s doing. It makes him happy to buy you things. And I’m sure it hurts his feelings when you yell at him every time he tries to do something nice like this.”
“Can you help me with the zipper?”
She races over and zips me up. The dress is a perfect fit. As if it really was custom made for me. It fits every part of my body perfectly. I don’t how that’s even possible. I just gave Garret my dress size, not my measurements.
“I totally love that dress,” Harper says. “And that color is so good on you. Here, try on the shoes.” She hands them to me.
For high heels, they’re actually pretty comfortable. Plus, I like the extra height they give me. Garret won’t have to bend down so far to kiss me.
Harper stands back and looks at me. “Wow. He did a great job with the shoes and the dress. I didn’t think Garret had it in him. And he pulled this together in less than a week? That’s impressive. So where are you getting your hair done tomorrow? Maybe I’ll come with you. I could use a manicure.”
“I’m doing my own hair. You know I don’t have money for a salon.”
She gives me a look that says I can’t be trusted to do my own hair. It’s true. I’m not very good with hair. Or makeup.
“Let me do your hair and makeup. I did it for your birthday dinner and you liked it, right?”
“Yeah. Okay. If you don’t mind. Can you help me get out of the dress?”
After she helps me, she hurries off to get herself ready for her date. I have no date tonight because Garret has swim practice. He wasn’t supposed to, but asshole Blake skipped one of the practices last week and now the whole team has to make it up on Friday night. Did I say how much I hate Blake?
Around 10, Garret stops by. He’s wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and navy athletic pants. How is it possible that he can look so damn sexy in any type of clothing? There’s a light layer of stubble on his face and his hair is still wet from showering off after practice. I love how his hair falls onto his forehead when it’s wet. It’s so hot.
As soon as he walks in the room, I shut the door and kiss him before we even say hello. A long, deep, passionate kiss. I can’t help myself.
“So I take it you liked the dress?” he asks when I finally let him go.
“Yes. Thank you. It’s beautiful. You did a really great job. And the shoes, too. But you shouldn’t have—” I stop myself before I mention money, remembering Harper’s comment.
“I’m glad you like them.” Garret’s eyes are sleepy. I can tell that he’s exhausted from all the swim practice, plus school, and getting the dress, and whatever else he’s got going on.
“You should get some sleep, Garret. You look worn out.”
“Not yet.” He leads me to the bed to sit down. “I’ve got something for you.” He reaches into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. He smiles as he pulls out a small box and hands it to me. “Here. Open it. It goes with the dress.”
I open the box to find small, teardrop-shaped diamond earrings. “Are these real?”
“Of course they’re real. Try them on.”
“I can’t take these.” I shut the box and hand it back to him.
He looks hurt. I guess Harper’s right. It really does make him happy to buy me stuff.
“You don’t like them, do you? I can get you something else. I went to all these different stores trying to find what I thought you might like. But I guess I should’ve just let you pick them out. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never bought a girl jewelry before.” He seems embarrassed.
I feel horrible. I’m sure he got a lot of help with the dress and the shoes, but the earrings he picked out himself. And I rejected them.
&
nbsp; “Garret, no. I love the earrings. I was just worried about the money. That’s all.” I take the box back and put on the earrings. “How do they look?”
“Well, I like them. But what do you think?”
I go over to the mirror. The earrings sparkle from every angle. And they’re just the right size. They’re exactly what I would’ve picked out.
“They’re perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His eyes are getting sleepier. Even his voice sounds tired.
“You need to sleep.” I pull on him until he stands up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I have practice at noon, but wake me up before that and we can have breakfast.”
“I think you need to sleep until noon. I’ll just see you when you pick me up to leave for the fundraiser.”
“Sounds good.” He slowly walks out like he’s already half asleep.
I close the door and return to the mirror to admire the earrings. I’ve never had anything so beautiful. Could it really be that Garret has never bought a girl jewelry? It can’t be true. Maybe he just forgot. Or maybe he really does like me more than the other girls he’s dated.
Even after the months we’ve spent together, part of me still can’t believe Garret could possibly like me as much as he says he does.
11
On Saturday morning, I go for a run on the track. It’s cold, but not as cold as it was earlier in the week. And the snow that fell has already melted.
I’m feeling anxious about tonight, like maybe I shouldn’t be going to this thing. People will be staring at me, wondering why someone like me is even there. Thinking about it makes me even more anxious and I have to do sprints to burn off the nervous energy.
“Jade.” Garret’s walking toward the track wearing sweats and carrying his duffle bag. He looks much more awake now.
I run over to him. “Hi. Going to practice?”
“Yeah, but I saw you here and had to make a detour.” He kisses me. “Sorry I was so out of it last night.”
“It’s okay. I know it’s been a busy week.”
“I slept in so I’m all rested up for tonight. I usually hate these things, but now that we’re going together I’m actually looking forward to it. I can’t wait to see you in that dress.”
Knowing You (The Jade Series #2) Page 8