Promising You (The Jade Series #4)

by Everhart, Allie

  “This isn’t goodbye. I’m not letting them win.”

  “There’s nothing we can do. If there was, I’d be doing it. Now I have some work to get done, so perhaps you could wait in the living room until Garret wakes up.”

  “Can I see Lilly?”

  “It’s best if you don’t. She’s grown very attached to you and seeing you one last time will only confuse her. We’ll come up with a story to tell her later.”

  I get up to leave.

  “Oh, and Jade, I don’t think I need to tell you this, but just so we’re clear, this conversation never happened. You know nothing about any of this, including what Arlin told you. Do you understand?”

  He says it in that threatening tone he uses whenever he tells me to keep his secrets. It always freaks me out.

  I nod. “Yes, I understand.”

  He turns on his computer, ignoring me.

  I don’t get Garret’s dad at all. Sometimes he acts caring and then two seconds later he turns cold and emotionless. It’s like turning a switch.

  I walk out of his office and go sit in the sunroom. My cell phone has a bunch of messages from Harper, so I check one of her voicemails while I wait.

  “Hey, Jade. Sean and I are at the airport. Our plane’s delayed because of Kyle Andermeyer, that actor from those kid movies. Sean what’s the name of those movies? Sean’s in the ticket line. He can’t hear me. Anyway the guy was a total jerk. He got on the plane drunk and was cursing and grabbing the stewardess’ ass and then he brought out some suspicious liquid and we all ended up having to get off the plane. The liquid turned out to be an energy drink, but now we have to wait for a new plane. Someone got the whole thing on video and posted it online. His career’s over. There’s no way parents will take their kids to his movies after they see that video. Anyway, just wanted to give you an update. Hope you and Garret are enjoying your reunion.” She giggles before hanging up.

  Harper always leaves really long voicemail messages. That was a short one. I check my text messages. There’s a whole string of them from Harper, mainly about how the video of Kyle has gone viral on the Internet and how people are trashing him online. She sent me a link to the video and told me to watch it but my battery is running low so I turn off the phone.

  I look for something to read. There aren’t even any magazines. I glance around at the house with its all-white decor. Carson’s house was so much better. It felt like a real home, not this stark white, hospital-look Katherine has created.

  It’s making me feel sick so I decide to go wait in the game room. As I’m walking over there, I stop when I get to the stairs.

  Why am I waiting down here? I should be upstairs with Garret. I don’t care if he’s asleep. I don’t even care if he reeks of alcohol. I just want to be with him.

  I make my way up the stairs and down to his room. His door isn’t locked so I go inside. He’s sprawled out on his bed, his head face-down in a pillow. I gently smooth his messy hair with my hand. He jerks up at my touch, then flips on his back, still asleep.

  Now that I know what’s going on, seeing him again makes my eyes tear up and my heart hurt. I literally feel pain in my chest as I think about us not being together anymore. This isn’t fair. There has to be a way to stop this.

  I kiss his cheek and lie next to him.

  “Jade?” He whispers it, his eyes still closed. I assume he’s saying my name in his sleep, but then I feel his arm lift up and land on my leg.

  “Garret? Are you awake?” I ask softly.

  He slowly opens his eyes. When he sees me there he bolts up, his body ramming against the headboard. “Jade, what are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you.” I try to hold his hand but he yanks it away.

  “No! You can’t be here. They’ll—”

  “They’re not going to kill me right this second. They have a good 20 years to get you ready. My being here right now isn’t screwing with their plan.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I know everything, Garret. I put the pieces together and figured out part of what was going on and your dad filled in the rest.”

  “What do you mean when you say you know everything?”

  “I know about the plan they have for you. I know about the organization. I know about your dad’s marriage to Katherine.”

  “What about their marriage?”

  “That it was arranged. He never wanted to marry her and now he can’t get divorced. Didn’t your dad tell you that?”

  Garret shakes his head no. He’s not as drunk anymore, but he doesn’t look good. His eyes are red and puffy and he’s rubbing his head like he has a headache.

  “Do you know about my mom?” he asks quietly.

  “Yes. And I’m so sorry, Garret.” I reach over and hug him. At first he’s tense, but then he relaxes and hugs me back like it’s the last hug we’ll ever have.

  “They killed her. They killed my mom. She’d be alive right now if they hadn’t—” He stops and it sounds like he’s softly crying behind my shoulder. I’ve never seen him cry and even if it’s a hungover, still-partially-drunk cry, it breaks my heart and fills me with overwhelming sadness. And because it’s his sadness I feel, it hurts ten times more than if it were my own.

  I used to be able to push away sadness and all the other painful emotions and bury them deep inside, but now I feel all of them. And I’m finally okay with that, because feeling them is part of living and I never would’ve realized that if it weren’t for the man who’s now holding on to me so tight I can barely breathe.

  I want him to keep holding on but he doesn’t. Instead, he takes hold of my arms and pushes me back so we’re face to face. “I’ll never let them hurt you. I’ll do whatever they say. I’ll do anything . . . anything at all to make sure they leave you alone.”

  “We’re not letting them do this, Garret.”

  “You can’t stop them. At this meeting they had all these charts and graphs and all these projections. Every part of my life will be planned out. And you’re not in it, Jade. You’re not allowed to be. You have to leave. If they did that to my mom, they’ll do it to you, too.”

  I shake my head. “No, I’m not leaving.”

  He holds my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “You have to.”

  I shove his hands away. “I’m not leaving so stop telling me to!” I swallow hard past the lump in my throat and take a deep breath, determined not to cry. “You’re one of the few people in the world I can stand being around. And even when you piss me off, I still want to be with you.” I don’t know why I’m joking at a time like this, but it makes Garret’s eyes soften just a tiny bit so I continue. “It’s true. You know how much I don’t like people. And I liked you from the first day we met.”

  He takes my hand, holding it gently in his. “No, you didn’t. You said I annoyed you at first.”

  “You annoyed me because you made me feel something. And I hate feeling shit. You know that.” I get serious again. “Garret, I know for a fact I’ll never find someone like you again. And I don’t want to. You’re it. You’re all I want. And I’m not letting you go.”

  He holds my hand tighter. “Jade, you know I want that more than anything but—”

  “Then we’re fighting this! We’re not just giving up.”

  “You can’t fight these people.”

  “Yes, we can! We just need to think. Go take a shower and wash all that alcohol off you and then we’ll talk.”

  He lifts my hand up and kisses it because he knows I don’t want his alcohol-smelling mouth on my face. “I had this whole welcome home thing planned for you. I was going to fill your room with flowers, but then the meeting happened and well…”

  “Go shower, Garret.” The lump in my throat keeps getting bigger as tears well up in my eyes. I need a minute to get myself together but he keeps talking.

  “I ordered you more of those Belgian chocolates. They’re in my room at school if you want them.” His gorgeous blue eyes are so full o
f hurt and sadness I almost can’t look at them.

  Dammit, he’s going to make me cry.

  “I was going to take you out for a really nice dinner tonight. And I had this box made for you. It’s filled with stuff for California like sunglasses and flip flops and . . . maybe it was stupid, but I wanted to do it because you were so excited about living there, which made me excited and . . . anyway, it’ll be delivered on Monday, but I guess you won’t be here so—”

  “Stop it! I’m not leaving on Monday! Just take your damn shower.”

  He goes in the bathroom and I slide off the bed and onto the floor, hugging my knees and letting my tears finally fall. When I hear the shower shut off, I stand up, wipe off my face, and plaster on my best fake smile as he walks back in the room.

  “Do you feel better?”

  “No.” He goes to his dresser and pulls out some clothes.

  “I’ve obviously never had a hangover, but I hear it can take a while to feel better.”

  “It’s not the hangover. Physically, I don’t feel that bad. Before I met you I drank way more than that.” He faces the window as he puts his clothes on. I wait until he’s dressed, then go over and hug him. But instead of turning to face me, he just stands there with his arms at his sides.

  Something happened when he was in the shower. His body is stiff and refuses to soften when I touch him. He must’ve built up a keep-away-from-Jade wall because now he’s cold and distant.

  He breaks free from my hug and goes and sits on the chair by his desk.

  I sit across from him on the bed. “Don’t you want to sit here with me?”

  He won’t even look at me now. “You’re making this harder, Jade. Why did you even come here?”

  I get up, placing myself directly in front of him. “What the hell kind of question is that? I love you. I want to be with you. After everything we’ve been through, did you really think I’d listen to your dad and just leave? Not even ask for an explanation? Not even try to talk to you?”

  His eyes are fixed on the floor and his arms are crossed. The emotion he expressed just minutes ago is completely gone. He’s shut down. Given up.

  “What happened while you were in the shower? Did you just decide you hate me now and you want me gone?”

  I stand there, watching him, waiting for him to respond. But he won’t answer me and he still won’t look at me.

  “I never should’ve trusted you, Garret. You lied to me when we first met and now I find out you’ve been lying to me this whole time.” I walk to the end of the bed and sit down with my back to him. “I guess it’s true. You can’t change people. You’ll always be a liar.”

  He storms over, landing in front of me and pushing on my shoulder to get me to look at him. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t been lying to you! I didn’t know about any of this until yesterday!”

  I jump up and get in his face. “I’m not talking about the plan. Or the organization. You lied to me about us! You said I could have this forever. You said if we ever broke up it would be because I did it, not you. You said that nobody could ever break us apart unless we let them. And like an idiot, I believed you! I believed everything you said! But it was all just lies!”

  “Those weren’t lies!” He yells it, then lowers his voice. “I meant all of that. But everything is different now. When I said those things I didn’t know this would happen. So it’s not fair for you to say that I lied. Because I didn’t.”

  “You lied, Garret! None of what’s happened should matter if you really meant those things. You should still want to be with me. But instead you’re breaking up with me!”

  He raises his voice again. “Are you fucking kidding me? You think I want you to leave? I’m fucking dying inside right now! I can’t even look at you! It’s killing me to have you here in my room, this close to me, knowing I’ll never see you again!”

  His eyes are wide awake now and he’s breathing fast. He’s finally coming out of the comatose fog he was in. I knew he felt that way about me, and about us, but I needed him to say it. I needed to get some type of emotional response out of him so he’d stop acting like this was over. Like he’d shut down and given up.

  “You WILL see me again!” I yell back at him, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I’m right here! And I’m not going anywhere, so stop trying to send me away! Stop telling me to leave!”

  “I don’t have a choice! Don’t you get that? They fucking own me, Jade!”

  “No! They can’t have you! I won’t let them!”

  The room gets quiet, but I hear his breathing, fast and heavy. I wipe the tears off my face and try to get control of myself. I can’t break down. I need to think. There has to be a way out of this. They can’t take him away from me. I need him. And he needs me. And what we have is so real and so rare that I refuse to let it be taken from me without a fight.

  I look up and see Garret studying me, like he’s not sure what I want from him.

  “Garret, if you really—”

  He doesn’t let me finish. He draws me into him and puts his lips just inches from mine, hesitating because he knows if we start this, it’ll be that much harder for him to force me to leave. I gently kiss him and feel him giving in. He pulls me closer and kisses me back. It soon becomes a deep, intense kiss that for a moment takes my mind off all the events of this horrible day. I focus on the familiar feel of his soft lips and his warm breath and his strong arms around my waist.

  I can’t imagine ever having anyone else kiss me. Or hold me. Or be with me. I only want this. Him. Forever.

  The thought wakes me into action, and as much as I want the kiss to continue, I pull away. “Garret, we have to talk. We don’t have much time and we need to come up with a plan. Our own plan, not their plan.”

  “There’s no plan we can come up with that will fix this. If we try to keep this going in secret, they’ll find out. If I don’t follow orders, you know what will happen.”

  “Yes, so you need to think differently. You can’t just tell them no. You need a different approach.”

  “Like what?”

  I take a moment to think, forcing my tired brain to work. “Like what if you weren’t so popular with people anymore? Would this group still want you to be president?”

  “They’re going to make sure I’m popular. That’s part of the plan. They build on the popularity I already have. So if people online say I seem trustworthy because of the way I smile, then they’ll make sure I’m smiling in every photo, at every event. Yesterday they said people think I’m loyal because the fake me hasn’t cheated on Ava. Older people said I seem responsible because I’m not seen at clubs and because I have short hair and don’t have tattoos. This group plans to use stuff like that to make me even more appealing to voters.”

  I pace the floor hoping it will help me think better, but it doesn’t. My cell phone dings and I pull it out of my pocket. “I swear I turned this thing off.” As I go to shut it down, I notice more texts from Harper.

  Text 1: Kyle Andermeyer just got booted from the airport.

  Text 2: Still waiting for our flight. We’re sooo bored.

  Text 3: My dad called. Said Kyle just lost a movie role worth $4M!

  Text 4: Finally getting on the plane!

  “What are you reading?” Garret asks.

  “Just some texts from Harper. Some actor delayed their flight because he was being an ass. She said he just lost a—”

  “Lost a what?”

  An idea hits me and I feel a rush of energy as I think of the possibilities.

  “That’s it,” I say.

  “What’s it?”

  “I think I have an idea.”

  17

  I hold up my phone. “These texts from Harper about this actor. That could be you, Garret.”

  “You want me to be an actor?”

  “No. Well, kind of, but not like you’re thinking.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Just go with me here. You know Kyl
e Andermeyer, the guy who stars in all those kid movies? Anyway, he was being a total ass on the plane and they couldn’t take off. Everyone was delayed at the airport for hours. Harper said one of the passengers got video of the guy and posted it online just minutes after it happened. Within the hour Harper said the story was all over the Internet. Social media. Celebrity websites. Fan blogs. And now Kyle just lost a huge movie role. All because the public turned against him.”

  “Yeah? So?”

  “The public turned against him, Garret. He lost a big acting job because the studio thinks people won’t go to the movie if he’s in it. Do you see what I’m saying?”

  “No, but I’m kind of slow right now.”

  “If we could generate the same type of bad publicity for you so that people turn against you, don’t trust you, maybe even hate you, then there’s no way you could even be considered for this plan.”

  “Huh.” He pauses to consider it. “But by the time I run for office people will have forgotten about what I did when I was 19.”

  “Not if you do something people won’t forget. We’re not talking about losing an acting job here. We’re talking about the presidency. People expect more from a president than an actor. A few bad things may be all it takes for people to decide that you’re not presidential material. The point is that the organization won’t want to take a chance on you if the public doesn’t like you or can’t forgive you. You’ll lose the starting base they think they have to build from.”

  “I don’t know, Jade. They seemed determined to make this work.”

  “It’s not up to them. The public will decide your fate. If they hate you, there’s no way they’d vote for you, even 20 years from now. And if you ended up running and winning the election with little public support, it would draw attention. Reporters would be all over that. So even if that group messed with the voting machines to make sure you got elected, they wouldn’t get away with it. Too many people would be looking into how you won.”