Always Us (The Jade Series #8)

by Everhart, Allie

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  24

  JADE

  Garret and I go upstairs. It’s too early to go to bed but I want to change out of this dress. On the way to Garret’s room, we stop at Lilly’s door.

  Garret knocks once before going inside. “Hey, Lilly. I’m back. Is the movie over?”

  Back? Was Garret in here earlier? When did he have time to watch a movie with Lilly?

  I walk into her room. She’s sitting on her bed, hugging her stuffed panda. I see her red eyes and tear-stained cheeks and feel horrible that she was left up here all alone.

  Garret sits down next to her. “Hey, come over here.”

  She scoots over to where he’s sitting. He picks her up and holds her as he leans back into a stack of pillows arranged against the headboard. She sets her panda down and hugs his chest.

  I’m not sure if I should stay or leave. Garret’s the only one who can help Lilly right now and I feel like I need to give them time alone.

  “Jade, why don’t you go change clothes?” Garret says. “Wear something comfortable. It’s going to be a long movie night. It’s a princess marathon.”

  Lilly lifts her head up and smiles. “It is?”

  “That’s right. A whole night of princess fun. Just you, Jade, and me.”

  She wiggles away from him and hops off the bed. “I’ll get Jade a doll. You can have my panda, Garret.”

  I try not to laugh as I watch Lilly pick from her assortment of dolls. I still have the doll she gave me last year. Garret told me I could get rid of it, but I can’t do it. It’s special because Lilly wanted me to have it.

  “I’ll be right back.” I go down to Garret’s room and change into jeans and a t-shirt. I’m kind of excited about this movie marathon. I know it sounds strange because princesses aren’t my thing, but it’s not about the movies. After the night I’ve had, I just like the idea of being with Garret and Lilly, in her bright pink room, all three of us squished together on her tiny twin bed watching cartoons.

  When I get back to her room she’s got fluffy pink throw pillows lined up on one side of the headboard. I guess that’s my side and Garret gets the other, with Lilly’s spot in between us. She has a doll with brown hair and a purple dress sitting on my side of the bed.

  “I’ll be right back.” Garret heads down to his room to change.

  I take my place on Lilly’s bed, holding the doll in my lap. “Who’s this?”

  “That’s Lexi. She looks like you and she has a purple dress like you had when I met you.”

  “She does look like me.” I hold up the doll, inspecting her dress.

  Lilly sits next to me, holding a doll with long blond hair and a light green dress. She leans against me, brushing her doll’s hair with a tiny hairbrush. “Jade?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Were you sad when your mom died?”

  “Um, yeah. I was sad.”

  “And then it went away?”

  “Eventually, yeah.” I hope she ends this line of questioning quickly because I’m not good at talking about death. I don’t even like to think about it.

  “How long did it take?”

  “I don’t remember. It was years ago.”

  She stops brushing her doll’s hair. “It takes years to feel better?”

  “No. That’s not what I meant. My mom died years ago. I felt better in a few weeks.” It’s not true, but I’m trying to be positive for Lilly. I can’t say exactly when the sadness went away after my mom died. Honestly, I think some of it’s still there.

  “Is your dad going to die?”

  My dad? What is she talking about? My dad is dead. And then I realize she means Frank. I forgot I told her he’s my dad.

  “No. He won’t die for a long time.”

  “Because he’s not old enough?”

  So many questions. And why is she asking me and not her parents?

  “Yeah. He’s not old enough.”

  “Is your dad the same age as my dad?”

  “Almost the same. They’re just a few years apart.”

  “Okay.” She returns to brushing her doll’s hair. Whatever I said must’ve made her feel better because now she’s smiling.

  Garret comes in wearing a white t-shirt and blue striped pajama pants. Damn, I should’ve worn pajama pants. They’re way more comfortable than jeans. He’s carrying one of those reusable grocery bags.

  He sets it on the bed. “Look what I got.”

  Lilly looks in the bag. “Licorice! And soda!”

  “And bags of popcorn. Charles made us some snacks but don’t tell your mom.”

  “I won’t.” She grabs a string of licorice.

  Katherine doesn’t allow Lilly to have candy, so if she catches us, she’ll be mad. But I think she left. When I was coming back to Lilly’s room, I looked down the stairs and saw Katherine with her coat on, heading out the door.

  So much for the comment Pearce made earlier. Family time after eight? Yeah, right. Katherine’s gone. We can’t find Pearce. And who knows where Grandma Kensington went? At least Garret, Lilly, and I are having family time.

  Lilly has some candy and soda and falls asleep, all within a half hour. Garret and I stay on her bed and finish watching the princess cartoon. Garret sneaks his arm above Lilly’s head and around my shoulder, his hand dangling down. I thread our fingers together and use my other hand to eat my licorice.

  To an outsider, tonight would’ve seemed completely crazy. Nonstop drama. Secrets revealed. And it all ends with a princess cartoon. But now that I’m part of this family, it doesn’t seem strange at all. Just a typical Friday night at the Kensington mansion.

  The next morning at eight, I leave to pick up Harper at Moorhurst. Garret had planned to go with me, but then decided to stay home and talk to his dad, who we still haven’t seen since last night.

  Harper can’t drive yet because of her shoulder so I’m picking her up, which means I had to borrow one of Pearce’s Mercedes. I’m afraid to drive it because I’m afraid I’ll get in an accident. Pearce has so much money he wouldn’t care, but I’m still nervous driving his car.

  As I approach the Moorhurst sign, I get an anxious, queasy feeling in my stomach, like I had when I first arrived on campus last year. I don’t know why I keep feeling this way whenever I come back here.

  Before I left this morning, Garret reminded me to think of all the good things that happened at Moorhurst and forget all the bad. So that’s what I’m trying to do. I see the big stone buildings where I used to have class and it makes me think of going to English class with Garret and the notebooks we shared. Then I see some girls running toward the trail I ran on a million times last year. I remember racing Garret on that trail the weekend before classes started. He told me he liked me and I thought he was going to kiss me. He didn’t, but I really wanted him to.

  As I drive into the parking lot in front of my old dorm, someone pulls out and I take the spot, then realize it’s the same spot where Ryan parked on the night I arrived here and met Garret for the very first time. I was so mean to him. I couldn’t figure out why some guy I just met would want to help me move into my room.

  I get out of the car and see Jasmine coming out of the dorm. Her hair is longer, but other than that, she looks the same.

  “Jade, is that you?” She comes over as I lock the car.

  “Yeah. I came by to get Harper.”

  “You look great!” She smiles really wide, staring at my face. “Something’s different. You look more mature or something.”

  “Really? I don’t feel any different.” The wind blows hair in my face and I secure it behind my ear.

  “Oh my God!” She grabs the hand I was using to fix my hair. “Did you get engaged?”

  “I got married. Last summer.”

  “You did not!” She keeps hold of my hand.

  “I did.”

  “Why didn’t Harper tell me?”

  “I don’t know. I guess she didn’t think about it.”

 
The truth is I told Harper not to tell anyone at Moorhurst because I don’t want them to know. I don’t want the people here gossiping about Garret and me or trying to find out stuff about us. I just want them to forget about us.

  Jasmine’s attention quickly switches to my ring. “This ring is gorgeous! And it’s huge.” She drops my hand. “Wait. Who did you marry?”

  “Garret.”

  “Garret Kensington? After he did all that stuff? Trashing hotel rooms and the drugs and crashing all those cars?”

  I shrug. “He’s changed since then. And I love him so I had to marry him.”

  “I get it.” She grins. “You like a bad boy, huh? I do, too. Only usually you can’t get one to marry you.”

  “I gotta go, but it was good seeing you, Jasmine.”

  “You, too. Say hi to Garret for me.” She gets into her car, which is in the parking spot next to mine.

  Walking in the dorm, I instantly smell whatever odor I could never identify but didn’t like. It’s like a mix of dust and old building smell combined with nail polish remover and assorted perfumes. Not a pleasant smell, but it’s better than the guy’s floor, which smells like beer and sweat.

  As I knock on Harper’s door I see a girl coming out of my old room. She has black hair with neon green stripes in it and piercings on her face. She’s dressed in all black; black cargo pants, black tank top, and a black hoodie. She doesn’t at all look like the typical rich, preppy Moorhurst student.

  “Jade, you’re early.” Harper pulls me into her room and hugs me. “I feel like I haven’t seen you forever.”

  “I know. It’s been too long.” I stand back and look at her. She looks pretty, as always, wearing skinny jeans and a white sweater, her hair straight and slightly longer than when I saw her last. Her arm’s in a sling, tucked against her side.

  “How’s your shoulder?” I ask her.

  “It’s fine, but I can’t really move it so it’s hard to do anything, like get dressed or do my hair. I used to have Sean—” She stops herself.

  Before she broke up with him, Sean would help her get ready every morning. He even helped her with her hair.

  “Anyway, I have to get the girls on the floor to help me now.” She fakes a smile but I can see how much she’s hurting. She can’t hide it from me.

  “So who’s the girl who has my room now?”

  “Sydney. She’s a freshman. She’s the Kensington scholarship winner this year. Didn’t Pearce tell you about her?”

  “No. I didn’t even think to ask. I’m kind of surprised he picked her.”

  “I know. She’s got the whole goth thing going, but she’s really nice. And super smart. Like genius smart.”

  “How do you know she’s smart?”

  “She has a really high IQ and she’s good with computers. She can hack into most any system. She told me she hacked into the FBI servers when she was 15. Can you believe that? The FBI! How is that even possible?”

  “Did she get in trouble?”

  “Since she was a minor they let her go, but she had to promise never to do it again. She said she didn’t look at anything on the server. She just did it to prove that she could.”

  Maybe I’m thinking too much like Carson with his conspiracy theories, but I find it suspicious that Pearce would pick this girl for the scholarship. Is he thinking he might be able to use her skills? Having her hack into government servers, or any server, could be advantageous, both for his business and for the organization. He could find out information or delete files he needs to have disappear.

  “Where is she from?”

  Harper rifles through her dresser drawer and takes out some earrings. “Somewhere in Montana. She was raised by her dad. Her mom died a long time ago.” She hands me the earrings, big gold hoops. “Can you put these on me?”

  “Sure.” I carefully fit the earring through the hole in her ear. “I talked to your parents last night.”

  “I don’t want to talk about them. They stopped by here to take me to breakfast this morning and I wouldn’t go so they left. They’re flying home later today.”

  “Harper, you can’t ignore them forever.” I slip the other hoop in her ear. “It’s almost Christmas break. When you’re home, you’ll have to talk to them.”

  “I’m staying with a friend from high school who lives in Pasadena. I’m not going back to my parents’ house.”

  “Not even for Christmas?”

  She sighs. “I don’t know. I have to think about it. They want me there, but right now I’m too mad at them to agree to it. If I was still dating Sean they wouldn’t have let me come home for Christmas, so going there is almost like letting them win.” She loops her healthy arm in mine. “Let’s get out of here and go to my favorite coffee shop. Remember how I used to make you go there all the time?”

  “At least now I can afford a coffee.” We walk to the parking lot and I point to the car as I unlock it. “It’s this one.”

  “Nice car. Pearce loaned you his Mercedes, huh?”

  “It’s just one of many. I think he has five of them and they’re all black.”

  On our drive to the coffee shop I tell her about Lilly and how sad she was and how she kept asking me about death.

  “I think Katherine’s lost interest in her,” Harper says as I park in front of the small brick building. The place has a new sign that’s shaped like a coffee cup.

  “Lost interest in who?”

  “Lilly. It’s like she doesn’t care about being a mom anymore. She spends all her time with her boyfriend. She’s never home, and when she is, she ignores Lilly.”

  I shouldn’t be talking about Katherine with Harper. I don’t want to accidentally spill what I know. It’s another huge secret that I’ll never be able to tell Harper, or anyone else.

  I hold open the door to the coffee shop. “Looks like they got new tables.”

  “Yeah, they did some renovations over the summer.”

  We order our coffees and find a booth to sit in. That nervous feeling I had earlier is gone now that I’m with Harper. Being with her at this coffee shop is a good memory. We had a lot of good talks here.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you.” She sets her coffee on the table. “I saw that guy, Carson, on campus the other day.”

  And the nervous feeling is back. “At Moorhurst?”

  “He was on my floor. I think he was looking for someone. Maybe he’s dating one of the girls.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t live here anymore.”

  “How do you know where he lives?”

  “I don’t.” I say it too fast. I smile and calmly say, “I just thought he might’ve moved.”

  “He could still be here in Connecticut. There are a lot of colleges here.”

  “So you didn’t talk to him?”

  “No. I just saw him in the hallway.”

  That’s strange. Why would Carson be at Moorhurst? And why would he be on Harper’s floor? Is he spying on the students he thinks have ties to the organization? Or maybe he’s interested in Pearce’s latest scholarship winner. Sydney, the computer genius. Maybe he wants to use her hacking skills to get into Pearce’s computer.

  Harper’s talking and I’m not listening so I shove Carson out of my brain and focus on what she’s saying. We stay there for almost two hours, but it goes really fast. That’s how it always is with her. Once we start talking, we lose track of time. It shows what good friends we are, even now, living on opposite coasts.

  Last summer we both worried that our friendship would end, but it’s the same as always. No matter where we live, Harper will always be my friend.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  25

  GARRET

  I’ve been calling my dad ever since he left last night. Now it’s ten-thirty in the morning and he’s still not home. He hasn’t called me back and I’m getting really worried. I call him again just as he walks in the front door.

  “Where were you?” I ask him.

  He takes off his
coat and gloves and hands them to the maid. He’s wearing the same suit he had on last night but his tie is undone and his shirt is wrinkled. “Garret, I just walked in the door. Meet me in my office in an hour or so.”

  “We need to talk. This can’t wait.”

  He sighs, heavily, and rubs his forehead. “All right.” He notices the maid walking away. “Marta.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I need some coffee. Could you bring some to my office, please?”

  “Of course, sir.”

  I follow him into his office. “Where have you been all night?”

  He takes a seat at his desk. “I had some things to take care of at work.”

  “What happened with Roth?” I sit in the chair opposite his.

  He checks his phone. “Nothing. I simply asked him to leave. He wasn’t invited.”

  “Why did he say he’d see me soon? When would he see me?”

  “Garret, why do you let that man get to you? Stop worrying about him. I’ll deal with him.” He checks his phone again. “Now what do you need to tell me?”

  “This guy who went to Moorhurst last year showed up at our place last week. He’s the guy I told you about that kept bothering Jade last semester, telling her all this stuff about our family.”

  My dad nods. “Yes. Justin. I know who he is.”

  “How did you know his real name?”

  “Because I’ve been investigating him ever since he started following me a few months ago.”

  “Last semester he said his name was Carson. He pretended to be a student but he’s really 24 and—”

  “A reporter in Chicago. Yes, I know all this. Get to the point.”

  My dad is really on edge today. Usually he isn’t this impatient. And why does he keep checking his phone? He did it again just now.

  “He said that he knows you’re part of the organization but that he can’t prove it. He said his sister had evidence of election fraud but that she was killed before she could show it to anyone.”

  There’s a knock on the door, then the maid comes in with a mug filled with coffee. She hands it to my dad.