“When did you get out of the darkness, Jade?”
My eyes flip open and I see Garret looking at me.
“Like when did you get completely out so that it was all light?”
I smile at him. “When I met you. When I got to know you and you made me feel like I mattered. Like I was worth fighting for even when I pushed you away. When you agreed to be my friend and didn’t force me to be more than that. Like I said today, I always had choices and those choices helped me get into the light so I could have a future and be able to support myself. But I was still lonely and afraid to get close to people. I still had darkness until I met you.”
He hugs me into his chest. “See? Another good speech. You just keep getting better and better with these.”
“And I didn’t plan that one either. I guess I should just wing it from here on out.”
A strong gust of wind blows, swirling the snow around our heads.
“Guess that’s the wind Ryan was talking about. You want to go inside?”
I lift my head up. “Can I have a kiss first? I love kissing you in the snow.”
“You can have as many as you’d like.” He cups his hands around my face and presses his warm lips to mine. It reminds me of when we kissed in the snow on our first date. I still get that same fluttery feeling I felt when he kissed me that night just over a year ago.
The wind blows again and I shiver. Garret breaks from the kiss. “You want to go inside now?”
“Yeah, the wind’s too cold.” I huddle next to him as we walk toward the house.
Ryan opens the door. “Jade, you might want to call Harper. She’s called twice since you came out here. I didn’t answer it but I saw her name on the screen.”
“Really? I hope she’s okay.” I race inside to the table to get my phone. “I’ll call her from the bedroom.”
Garret follows me in there. “I’m guessing it’s about Sean. You want me to listen in?”
“Yeah, because you’ll probably have to call Sean when I’m done with Harper.”
I call her and she answers right away. “Jade, I’m sorry to bother you when you’re with your family. Can you talk?”
“Yeah, of course. How are you feeling? Did the surgery go okay?”
“Yeah, it was fine. That’s not why I’m calling.” Her voice is shaky and it sounds like she’s crying.
I look at Garret. “Harper, is this about Sean?”
“He came to the hospital. I told him not to. I knew he didn’t have the money for a plane ticket, but he came anyway.” She sniffles. “But my parents wouldn’t let him see me. They told the hospital staff to keep him away. Now I don’t know where he is. I’ve called him a million times. Texted him. I’m worried about him, Jade. He always answers his phone. What if something happened to him?” She sniffles again. “I talked to one of the nurses and asked her if Sean told her where he was staying. She said he didn’t tell her, but that she thinks she saw him sleeping in the park last night.” Harper’s crying even more now.
Garret’s shaking his head, annoyed with Sean for not taking the money we offered him for a hotel room.
“Harper, don’t worry. Garret will call Sean and we’ll figure out what’s going on.”
“Can Garret call him right now? I have to know if Sean’s okay.”
“Yes, he’ll call him right now.”
“Thanks, Jade. And you’ll call me back, right?”
“Yes. Bye, Harper.”
We hang up and Garret’s already got his phone out. He calls Sean, putting the phone on speaker. It rings and rings but Sean finally answers.
“Hey, Garret.”
“Sean, where the hell are you?”
“I’m at my apartment.”
“I thought you weren’t flying back until Sunday.”
“Plans changed. I came back early.”
Sean sounds strange. He’s talking slow and his words are kind of drawn out.
“Jade just talked to Harper.”
“So you know what happened.”
“Yeah, but you need to call her back. She’s freaking out because you’re not answering her calls or her texts.”
“Why would I answer her? We’re not dating anymore.”
“What the hell’s going on with you? Why are you acting like this?”
“Because it’s over.” He slurs the last word. Garret noticed it, too. “And I need to accept that and move on.”
“Have you been drinking, Sean?”
“It’s Saturday night. That’s what people do.”
“You sound drunk.”
“Whatever. Maybe I am.”
“Just call Harper and tell her you’re okay.”
“Have Jade call her. I’m done talking to Harper.”
“Jade shouldn’t have to get in the middle of this and neither should I. You need to call Harper yourself.”
“Can’t do it. Sorry.”
Garret sighs. “Fine. Jade will call her, but we’re not doing this again.”
“You won’t have to. I told you, Harper and I are done. It’s over.” He slurs his words even more.
“Sean, put the damn bottle down. It’s not going to help. And hey, what the fuck were you doing sleeping on a park bench in LA? You could’ve been killed.”
“Who told you?”
“Harper said a nurse saw you sleeping there.”
“Must’ve been Deloris. She’s a nice lady. She was the only one at the hospital who didn’t treat me like shit.”
“Sean, we’ve gotta go. Stop drinking and get some sleep. I’ll call you later.” Garret hangs up. “He’s too out of it to talk. I’ll call him tomorrow when we get back.”
I call Harper again. She answers on the first ring. “Did you talk to him?”
“Yes, and he’s fine. He’s back in Connecticut.”
“Why didn’t he answer my calls?”
I don’t mean to be harsh, but there’s really no nice way to say it. “You broke up with him, Harper. He’s not going to answer your calls.”
“I just thought maybe we could—”
“You can’t be friends with him. It won’t work.”
“Did he say that?”
“No, but you know you can’t.”
“I miss him, Jade. I miss him so much.” She’s crying again. “I just want to talk to him. I just—” She doesn’t finish.
“I’m sorry, Harper.”
“I have to go.” She’s sobbing now.
“Harper, wait.” I check the phone. “She hung up,” I say to Garret.
He’s in a daze, staring at the wall behind me.
“Garret, what’s wrong?”
“They got to him.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“They got to Sean. That’s why he’s acting like he doesn’t give a shit. That’s why he came home early.”
“Who got to him? Harper’s parents?”
“No. The organization.”
“What do you mean they got to him?”
“They threatened him, or they threatened to hurt his family if he doesn’t stay away from Harper.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. There’s no other reason he’d suddenly act that way. He wouldn’t even call Harper back after she left him all those messages. You know that’s not Sean. The Sean we know would’ve called her back right away. He wouldn’t let her worry like that. He cares about her way too much. That’s why he’s drinking. He can’t handle hurting her like this, but he had no choice. They threatened him.” Garret holds my arms and looks me in the eye. “This is serious, Jade. I mean it when I say to stay out of this. If Harper wants to talk about Sean, just change the subject. Don’t even mention his name.”
“Doing that will just cause her to ask more questions.”
“I don’t care. She’ll have to get answers from someone else. She’s not getting them from us.”
Once again, the organization is interfering with our lives. But this time, they’re going after our two clos
est friends.
CHAPTER SIX
6
GARRET
Jade and I are flying back to California in a few hours and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like our beach house and I like where we live, but I don’t feel safe there. What if my grandfather is having us watched? What if he changed his mind and decides to do something to Jade now and not wait until later? If he wants me to transfer to Yale, he can’t wait years to hurt her. He’d have to do it soon.
I feel like I can’t let Jade out of my sight, so how is this going to work? I can’t be with her every second of the day. But when I’m not with her, all I can think about is if she’s okay.
My dad still hasn’t called me. I’ve been sending him texts just to see if he’d respond, but he hasn’t. And now I really need to talk to him. If he won’t talk to me about my grandfather, I at least need to ask him about Sean. I need to know what’s going on with Kiefer.
The organization sent their people to threaten Sean, which means they want to hurry this along. They want to make Kiefer a member, but they can’t until he’s met all the requirements, and breaking up Sean and Harper was one of those requirements. I’m guessing the organization found out Sean wasn’t giving up on Harper so they took matters into their own hands.
What I can’t figure out is why Kiefer took so long to force Harper to break up with Sean. I’m sure Kiefer’s membership offer came with a deadline. Just like my grandfather, the organization likes deadlines. They probably gave Kiefer several months to do whatever they asked him to do in order to become a member. And yet he waited until last week to give Harper that ultimatum. So was Kiefer purposely stalling because he’s not sure he wants to be a member?
I need to know the answer to that. If he’s wavering, maybe my dad could talk to him and convince him not to do this. It would be risky for my dad to do that, but someone needs to talk Kiefer out of this and it can’t be me.
If Kiefer joins the organization, his life, and the lives of his wife and daughters, will be destroyed. And if he joins, Jade can no longer be friends with Harper. I haven’t told Jade this because I thought she’d figure it out herself, but she hasn’t so I’ll have to tell her soon. It’s going to be a huge loss for her to lose Harper, but we can’t be friends with someone who has ties to the organization. Obviously, Jade and I are already tied to the organization by way of William and my dad, but they’re family so we can trust them. But I don’t trust the other members, and Harper will eventually be married to one of them, which will make being around her too much of a risk.
“Garret, are you done in there?” I hear Jade in the bedroom. I’m in the bathroom, shaving.
I open the door, wiping the towel over my face. “Yeah, I’m done.”
She comes up to me like she’s going to kiss me but instead starts sniffing my face. “I love the smell of shaving cream. I have to sniff you before the smell is gone.”
“You’re funny.” I kiss her, mid-sniff, then walk past her into the bedroom. “Did you pack everything?”
“Almost. I just need to grab my makeup bag.” She comes out of the bathroom with it and tucks it in the suitcase. “Ryan has breakfast ready so we should get out there.”
As I walk to the door, she stops me, her arms around my waist. “It’s Sunday and I can’t go to Garret’s Pancake House.”
I brush the wispy strands of hair off her face and kiss her. “You can go next Sunday.”
“Can I pay for them ahead of time? Like when we get back?”
“There’s no pre-payments allowed but we can still do stuff, Jade. You don’t have to wait until next Sunday.”
“Good, because it’s been almost a week and that’s just way too long.” She leans in and whispers. “And we never got to celebrate our sexiversary.”
“We’ll celebrate it.” I kiss her, then open the door. “Let’s go eat.”
Jade wouldn’t have sex in Frank’s house so we haven’t done it since before we left. Truthfully, I haven’t been in the mood because of everything that’s been going on. I’m distracted and stressed and exhausted from my lack of sleep, so right now, sex isn’t even on my mind. That’s totally messed up and I don’t like feeling this way and I’m pissed that I do. I have a beautiful wife who wants to be with me and we’re newlyweds so I should be as eager as Jade is to get back home so we can do it. But I’m not.
I don’t know how long I can go on like this. Hiding this from her is nearly impossible. She knows I’m not sleeping, she notices when I don’t eat, and if I give her any indication I’m not in the mood for sex, she’ll definitely know something’s wrong.
“It’s all ready,” Ryan says as Jade and I walk in the kitchen. “Help yourself. We’re just eating at the counter today.”
“Works for me.” Jade hands me a plate and takes one for herself.
Ryan has platters of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon set out on the kitchen island.
“I went out this morning and got you these.” Ryan holds a tray of donuts in front of Jade.
“Donuts! Thanks, Ryan.” She takes two. “Frank, are you eating?”
“Yes.” He’s sitting in the living room, watching one of those Sunday morning political shows. “I was just listening to our new president to see what promises we can look forward to him breaking when he takes office in a few months.”
Frank walks to the kitchen and I hand him a plate. “Not a fan of Kent Gleason, huh?”
“It’s not just him. They’re all liars. Doesn’t matter what party.” Frank scoops some eggs on his plate. “And Gleason never should’ve been elected. Part of me thinks they rigged the voting machines to make him win.”
Jade looks at me, her hand frozen in place over the piece of bacon she was about to pick up. Luckily, I’m the only one who notices. She needs to get better at hiding what we know. She can’t react every time someone says something like that. People will get suspicious.
“Look, Jade. Name brand.” Ryan’s holding up a carton of orange juice. “Remember when we used to have to buy the generic brand and water it down?”
Jade relaxes and picks up her bacon. “Yeah, it was gross. That’s why I drank soda for breakfast.”
“Real orange juice.” He takes a sip of it and smiles. “Having money is awesome.”
Just like Jade, it doesn’t take much to make Ryan happy. He’s used to having nothing, so undiluted, brand name orange juice is a big deal to him. Even though he has money now, he’s still careful with it. He doesn’t spend much. But at least he got some new clothes. He used to have on the same clothes every time I saw him. It’s like he only had one pair of jeans and a few t-shirts and they all looked really old. Other than clothes, Jade said he’s only used his money to pay for school and to buy his car.
“We never took the car out,” I say to Ryan.
“Yeah, I was just thinking that. Let’s go after breakfast.”
Jade reaches across me for the salt. “Garret and I need to be at the airport at ten, Ryan.”
“We won’t go very far. And your flight leaves at noon. You don’t need to be at the airport at ten.”
“He’s right, Jade.” I grab a piece of bacon. “That’s way too early.”
“Okay, but if we miss our plane, I’m blaming both of you.”
We finish breakfast, then Jade offers to clean up the dishes so Ryan and I can go for a drive. It’s only nine-thirty, but Jade’s already getting anxious, convinced we’ll miss our plane if we don’t leave for the airport soon.
“We’ll be back around eleven,” I say as I follow Ryan to the garage.
“You better not be gone that long!” Jade yells from the kitchen. “Garret, did you hear me? Turn your phone on.”
I just laugh. “We should probably get back by ten or she’ll have a panic attack.”
Ryan hits the garage door opener. “Jade’s always been one of those people who likes to be early. Like way too early.” He gets in the car and waits until I’m in the passenger’s side, then says, “In high s
chool, Jade went to a party at seven forty-five because her friend said it started at eight.”
“Which means it really starts around nine or nine-thirty.”
“Yeah, exactly. So she got there and nobody was there. Nobody showed up at eight either so she just left. I had explain to her that you always add at least an hour to whatever time they tell you.”
He backs the car out, then stops. “Did you want to drive? Sorry, I didn’t even think to ask. Here, let’s switch places.” He undoes his seat belt.
“No, that’s okay. You can drive.“
Ryan nods. “I guess you’ve already driven one of these before. You have a six series so this is a step down. Or several steps.” He fakes a smile. “We can just skip the drive. We don’t have to do this.”
“What are you talking about? I want to take it out.” I motion him to go. “Hurry up. Show me what it can do.”
“Okay.” He smiles for real this time as he backs out onto the street.
This is one of the downsides of being rich. You can’t share stuff with people. I don’t mean material stuff, but experiences. Like the orange juice thing. I grew up drinking fresh squeezed orange juice, so I can’t really share in Ryan’s excitement over a carton of brand name orange juice. And even if you do show excitement, the person doesn’t believe you. I’m sure Ryan thinks I’m just playing along, pretending to be excited about his car. The truth is, I am excited. The car is brand new and I haven’t been in this year’s model and I love cars, especially BMWs. So I want to take it for a drive. But even if I tell Ryan that, he won’t believe me. He’ll think I’m just being nice.
“I’ll take it on the interstate,” he says, “but I can’t speed because there’s always cops sitting there.”
I glance around the inside of the car. “I like the interior. Newly designed this year, right?”
“Yeah, and part of the outside, too. They narrowed the front and changed the hubcaps.”
He turns onto the on-ramp and hits the gas. We take off, merging onto the interstate.
“Nice acceleration, huh?” Ryan’s beaming. He loves this car. I love mine, too. So that’s an experience we can share. Doesn’t matter what car you have. If you love it, you get that same feeling. That same excitement from driving it.
Always Us (The Jade Series #8) Page 6