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CHAPTER FORTY

GARRET

It’s done. I told Jade everything. Every last detail. And she’s scared, just like I knew she would be, which is why I didn’t want her to know. Her whole body is shaking, and no matter how tightly I hold her, I can’t get the shaking to stop.

“Jade, get up.” I push on her a little until she backs away. “Let’s go to the bed.”

“I’m not tired.” Her eyes are red and teary, and I can see from her face that she’s more than just scared. She’s terrified.

“Let’s just go lie down. You don’t have to sleep.”

I stand up and help her off the floor. We go to the bed and I shove the covers back and we get in. Then I pull the covers back over us.

“Just breathe,” I tell her as her shaking continues. I have her body pressed into mine, my arms completely around her.

“What if he sends someone after me? Like Roth? What if they’re in on this together?”

I didn’t tell Jade about my grandfather being friends with Roth and I’m not going to. She can’t handle any more than what I’ve already told her. I’ll talk to my dad about Roth and see if he thinks Roth poses any kind of threat. I don’t know why he would. He doesn’t care if I run the company or go to Yale. And I don’t know why he’d want me back in the organization after the embarrassment I caused him. He was the one pushing for me to be president someday and then I acted out last spring and made him look like a fool for picking me in the first place. If anything, the guy should want to kill me , not Jade.

“Nobody will hurt you, Jade. I swear. They’ll have to kill me first. And if I’m dead, my dad will protect you.”

“Don’t say stuff like that. You’re not going to die. You’re not going to leave me. Say it, Garret.”

I kiss her head. “I’m not going to leave you. Not ever.”

We lie there quietly and eventually her shaking stops and she falls asleep. I didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but there’s something about being in my arms that makes her sleepy. I don’t move, even though the arm that’s under her keeps going numb. I flex it a little, trying to get the circulation going again, but by the fourth time of doing this, I have to move it or I may not have an arm left. I slide it out from under her and she wakes.

“Don’t leave,” she whispers.

“I’m not leaving. I just needed to move my arm.”

She turns around and grabs hold of my shirt. “He’s still alive. He might still come after me.”

“He’s in a coma, Jade. He’s not going to recover.”

“What about the other members? I don’t believe you when you say this will end.”

“It will, Jade. It already has.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know who else is out there.”

“My grandfather was the one who was obsessed with trying to control me. Nobody else cares what I do with my life. Nobody at the organization cares. They have other things to worry about. They’re not going to waste time trying to go after me.”

“What about Lilly?”

“Lilly? What do you mean?”

“What will happen to her? Will they force her to go to whatever college they choose? Marry someone she doesn’t want to be with? Will she always be controlled by them?”

“I don’t know. I think my dad’s trying to get her out of it. I don’t ask because I know he won’t tell me anything.”

“I don’t want Harper to be part of this.”

“We can’t interfere, Jade. You know that.”

“Yes, but it makes me sad.” She lays her head on my chest and I feel her tears soaking through my shirt.

I kiss the top of her head and rub her back.

Jade was so happy last night, putting up the tree and the lights. Then Carson had to show up and destroy everything.

I have to find a way to make Jade happy again. Even just a little.

“I’ll be right back.” I move over and off the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“Just wait here.” I go in the living room and slide the tree into the bedroom, dragging all the cords with me. Then I plug it in and the twinkling lights fill the room. I put my phone in the speaker dock on the nightstand and play the Christmas music.

I get back into bed and Jade returns to her spot on my chest. I look down and see her gazing at the tree.

We stay there, watching the lights sparkle, not talking about Carson or my grandfather or any of that stuff. I’ll deal with the Carson issue later. Right now, I need to make Jade feel safe again. Then later, I need to convince her this is over so we can go back to how things were before my grandfather’s visit.

* * *

The next morning, I have class but Jade doesn’t. I offer to stay home with her but she insists I go. She seems better today than last night. Maybe now that she’s had time to think about it, she believes what I told her. That this is over. Probably not, but she does seem more relaxed.

I moved the tree back in the living room, and as I was leaving the house, I noticed Jade plugged the lights in even though bright sunshine is filtering through the blinds. She loves the tree and the lights. She doesn’t care if it’s daytime. She wants to see the sparkling lights.

On my way to campus, I check my messages. There’s one from my dad saying that my grandfather is still hanging on. I call him, but he doesn’t have time to talk, other than to say he hasn’t yet made it to the clinic to see my grandfather. But my grandmother’s there and apparently Katherine has stopped by a few times. I have no idea why, other than the fact that she’s one of the few people my grandfather actually likes. But he doesn’t even know she’s there so I don’t know why she’d bother going to see him, unless she’s trying to suck up to my grandmother.

After my morning class I go home for lunch, then take Jade with me back to campus since she has an afternoon class. I told her if she sees Carson not to talk to him and to go find security if he won’t leave her alone. But I don’t think he’ll show up again. He said what he needed to say. Now he’ll wait for some kind of response, but I’m not going to give him one. I’m going to have my dad handle this. Except I totally forgot to mention it to him when I had him on the phone. It’s probably good that I didn’t. I don’t trust that the phone line is secure. We need to discuss this in person.

It’s only one-thirty and Jade’s class is at two but mine’s not until three, so before my class I drive to the Christmas store, buy another tree and more lights, then go back home. I want Jade to feel better, and although another tree won’t change what I told her, it might put a smile on her face for just a little while.

The tree is for the bedroom so I bought a small one. It’s just three pieces, so only takes a few minutes to assemble. I add the lights and then tack another string of lights along the bedroom window. I don’t have time to change out the ceiling lights but this is good enough for now. I also bought an ornament. I stuff it in my drawer to give to her later.

I go to class, then meet Jade at the coffee shop a little after four. She’s smiling as Sara talks and laughs about whatever she’s saying.

I sit down and put my arm around Jade. “What’s so funny?”

“Just something Caleb did,” Sara says. “You want some coffee?”

I look at Jade. “You want to stay or go home?”

“Let’s stay.” She points to a Christmas tree in the middle of the room. “They put up a tree.”

“I decorated it,” Sara says. “That’s why it doesn’t look very good.”

Sara and Jade both put themselves down like that. I don’t understand it. Jade doesn’t do it nearly as much as she used to, but Sara does it constantly.

“The tree looks great, Sara,” I tell her. “And yes, I’ll take a coffee.”

“I’ll be right back.” She leaves.

Jade kisses me. “She said they’ll start playing Christmas music next week.”

“Then you’ll never want to leave.”

“I have my own tree at home and my own music. And I’d much rather look at the lights while snuggling in bed with you. Thank you for doing that last night. It made me feel better.”

“Good.” Just wait till she sees the tree I got for the bedroom. Hopefully, she’ll feel even better.

“So how was class?”

I’m surprised Jade’s not asking about my grandfather. I was prepared for her to bombard me with questions now that she’s had almost a day to think about it.

“It was okay.” Sara comes back with my coffee, then takes off again. I turn to Jade. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday but I met this guy at my entrepreneur class and he offered to be my mentor. He was speaking to the class about how he started his business. He owns that sporting goods store you like. WaveField Sports.”

“Yeah, I love that store.”

“I talked to him after class and he invited me to the headquarters in LA to follow him around for the day.”

“That’s great. What’s he like?”

“He’s 29, loves sports, loves surfing. I liked him. I think we’ll get along well.”

“Maybe he’d give you an internship this summer.”

“I don’t know. I just met him. We’ll see how it goes after I spend the day with him.”

“When are you going down there?”

“Probably not until January. He’s traveling a lot in December.”

“You seem really excited about this.”

“I am. I think it’ll be good.”

We stay there a little longer and Jade tells me about the courses she’s decided to sign up for next semester. She avoids any mention of what we discussed last night. I guess we both need a break from it. I’d prefer to never talk about it again, but I’m sure at some point she’ll ask me about it.

Since we’re already out and it’s dinner time, we stop and eat before heading home. I didn’t feel like making dinner. I haven’t for weeks. There’s been too much going on.

When we get home, Jade plops down on the couch. “You want to watch a movie?”

I drop the mail on the kitchen table and join her on the couch. “Maybe later.”

“Do you need to study?”

“No, I don’t need to study. Let’s go in the bedroom.”

She smiles. “Right now? It’s kind of early, but okay.”

Her mind goes straight to sex, which makes sense given what I said, but I didn’t think she’d want to do it. I thought after the stress of last night, she might not be in the mood. But sometimes after something stressful happens, she wants to do it. I think it’s less about the actual sex and more about the need to be close and intimate like that, which makes her feel more relaxed.

I stand up and offer her my hand. “Let’s go.”

I’ll just let her think we’re having sex. Who knows? Maybe we will.

As she gets up, I say, “Close your eyes.”

“Garret, I don’t want to try some crazy new sex thing tonight.”

I laugh as I walk her to the bedroom. “It’s not a crazy new sex thing. It’s a surprise.”

“That has to do with sex?”

“No. It has nothing to do with sex. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Then why are we going to the bedroom?”

“Just wait right there.” I face her toward the tree, which is in the corner, a few feet from the bed. “Keep your eyes closed.” I turn on the Christmas lights. The blinds are shut, but I close the bedroom door to keep out the light from the living room. “Okay, you can open your eyes.”

“You got another tree!” She turns and hugs me. “And you put lights on the window? When did you do all this?”

“I did it before class. Do you like it?”

“I love it! Thank you.”

“I know you like having a tree in the bedroom and I didn’t have time to get a real one so I got this one. We can still get a real one later.”

She goes and lies down on the bed, propping her head up on the pillow. “I think I’ll just stay in here all night and look at it.”

I go over to my drawer and pull out the ornament. It’s wrapped in red tissue paper. I lie next to her and hand her the ornament. “Here. I got you something.”

“Just because?” She holds it up, inspecting each side.

“Just because.” I kiss her cheek. “Open it.”

The ornament is a silver heart that says ‘Our First Christmas’ with the year engraved below it. It’s nothing great but it’s something to put on the tree.

“Garret, it’s perfect. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I take it from her and go put it on the tree, then return to the bed. “What do you think? Our first ornament.”

“I like how the lights shine off the silver. It’s really pretty.”

I watch her as she looks at the tree.

“Jade.” I cup her cheek, directing her gaze back to me.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want to talk about what I told you yesterday, but I need to know if you’re okay. So are you?”

“I’m hoping this is over now, so I’m trying to move past it. Like you said, your grandfather will be gone soon, so he can’t hurt me. And if other people are after us, or after me, what are we supposed to do? Live in fear for the rest of our lives? I don’t want to do that. I’ve been doing that for months now and I’m tired of it. And as for this thing with Carson, maybe your dad could handle it and leave us out of it. He has connections with people who can maybe get Carson off track. Send him off in a different direction.”

“Yeah, we’re not going to be involved with any of that. I’ll talk to my dad and let him handle it. Carson won’t be bothering us again.”

Jade smiles. “His name is Justin. We keep calling him Carson.”

“He’s Carson to me. I don’t know who the hell Justin is. The whole thing is stupid. Like he really thought he’d uncover all these secrets by pretending to be a student? All he did was annoy people. Most of all you and me.”

“Let’s not talk about him. He’s ruining my Christmas spirit.” She sits up and takes her sweater off and then her bra.

“What are you doing? Getting into your pajamas? It’s only six-thirty.”

“I’m not putting pajamas on.” She takes her jeans off.

“You’re just stripping?”

“You said we were coming in here to have sex.”

“Um, no. I never said that.”

“You didn’t?” She takes her panties off and tosses them on the floor. “I thought you did.”

“No. You just assumed that because I asked you to go in the bedroom.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll just sit here naked then and look at the lights.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” I get naked with her. I don’t want to rush this tonight. I’m going to take my time, kissing and touching every part of her like I did the other night.

“You want a massage?” I say it in her ear and kiss the area just below it.

I see her smiling. “Okay.”

She flips onto her stomach and I run my hands in long strokes up and down her back. My eyes wander to her cute round ass, the one that caught my eye the first time I saw her back at Moorhurst. That cute little ass was sticking out the back of the car as she reached in to get her stuff. My mind couldn’t stop imagining what was under those shorts. And now here it is. Hot. Sexy. And all mine.

My hands keep going lower with every stroke, eventually skimming over the curve of her ass. She moans a little, which only makes me want to do it again. I slide my hands up her back, then down again, cupping her ass and squeezing a little. Damn, she has a great ass. I leave my hands there, deciding she needs her ass massaged as well. As I’m doing that, I kiss her back, starting at the top of her spine and working my way down, then up again to the nape of her neck. I see her lips turn up and part a little. She’s breathing fast. I’ve been teasing her a long time now and I can tell she’s getting impatient.

“Garret.”

I put my lips over her mouth and kiss her. “Yes, Jade.”

“Do it. Don’t wait.”

“I’m not done with the massage.” I give her ass one more squeeze, then slip my hand between her legs. “This is the best part.”

She grabs the sheet with her hand, balling it in her fist. “Garret.”

“You’re so beautiful.” I kiss her shoulder. “So damn beautiful.”

She smiles. “Please.”

I love making her wait. Making her beg. I leave soft kisses down her back and keep touching her until she’s at the edge. Then I flip her over and slide inside her. I’ve tortured her long enough, and touching her got me so turned on I can’t hold out much longer. I move fast and deep, and moments later, she digs her fingers in my back and makes the noise she always makes. As her body relaxes, I finish up, then remain over her, propped up on my arms.

I look into her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She brings my head down over her shoulder, running her hand through my hair.

This is how it should be. Jade and I going to class, having dinner together, and spending our nights having sex or just lying in each other’s arms, sleeping or watching TV.

Just a normal day. A normal life. That’s all I want. And in a few days, when my grandfather’s gone, we’ll finally have it.