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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

We wake the next morning to loud knocking on the door. “Garret. Open the door! Right now!”

“Shit!” Garret quickly gets out of bed. “It’s my dad.”

“Your dad?” I whisper. “What is he doing here? What time is it?”

He checks the clock. “It’s 8. I don’t know why he’s here. Maybe there’s some kind of family emergency.” He takes his pajama pants off and puts on a pair of jeans.

“What do you want me to do?” I hurry out of the bed.

He tosses me my jeans. “Put these on. We’ll tell him we were heading out for breakfast.”

“Garret, are you in there?” his dad yells as the knocking continues.

“Yeah. Just a minute.”

I take his shorts off and pull my jeans on, then try to brush my hair with my fingers.

Garret opens the door just a crack. “Dad, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Mr. Kensington shoves the door open and storms into the room, stopping when he sees me. “What is she doing here?” he asks Garret.

“We were going to breakfast.”

“At this hour? You seriously think I’d believe you two got up this early on a Sunday to eat breakfast?”

“It’s not that early, Dad. Now why are you here?”

Mr. Kensington comes over to me. “Jade, my son and I need to talk. You need to leave.”

I glance at Garret.

“I’ll be right down, okay?” He says it, but he doesn’t sound confident.

“Don’t wait for him, Jade,” Mr. Kensington says. “He’s not going down to your room. He’s not having breakfast with you. He’s not doing anything with you anymore. This thing you have going with him is over.”

“No, it’s not.” Garret tries to keep his tone positive. “Just ignore him, Jade.”

I look at him, not sure what to do.

“Just go. I’ll be down later,” he assures me. But I don’t believe him.

I slowly walk out the door and down the hall. Garret’s door slams and I can hear Mr. Kensington yelling. “What did I tell you about that girl? From now on you’re seeing Ava and only Ava. You understand me?”

When I get back to my room, I collapse on my bed, trying to figure out what just happened. Who talked to Garret’s father? Blake? Ava? Those guys who came by Garret’s room last night? Why are all these people so obsessed with keeping Garret and me apart? Can’t they mind their own business? Why do they keep interfering?

I feel a tear run down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away. This is not worth crying over. It’s not a big deal. Garret’s dad got mad before and it didn’t stop us. This time won’t be any different. Except part of me fears that it will. This didn’t seem like just a warning. Mr. Kensington was furious. Last time he at least tried to hide his anger from me. This time he wanted me to see it.

My phone rings. I’m sure it’s Frank but I’m not in the mood to talk to him. I’m still angry at him but I’m getting over it. I don’t understand why he never told me the truth about my mom but I don’t want to fight with him about it. I just want to pretend the conversation never happened.

The phone continues to ring. I reluctantly get up and answer it.

“Hello.”

Nobody answers.

“Is that you, Frank?”

There’s silence again. I start to put the phone down, then stop when I hear a man’s voice.

“What did you do with the letter?”

I put the phone back up to my ear. “What?”

“The letter, Jade. What did you do with it?”

The voice doesn’t belong to Frank. It doesn’t belong to Ryan either. It’s a really deep voice and the man is talking slowly.

“Who is this?” I ask, trying to hide the fact that this person is scaring the crap out of me.

“Answer me. The letter from Julia. Do you still have it?”

A chill runs down my spine as I hear my mother’s name. My mother always went by the name Julie, not Julia, her real name. Frank said only her parents used to call her Julia.

“Tell me who you are or I’m hanging up.”

“If you hang up, I’ll just call back. If you don’t answer the phone, I’ll show up at your door. I won’t go away, Jade, unless you cooperate.”

My heart is banging against my chest and I’m sure all color has drained from my face. For a second, I think this is some cruel Halloween joke, but this man doesn’t seem to be joking.

“What do you want?”

“I want you to destroy the letter. I want you to burn it until it’s nothing but ashes. Do you understand?”

“Why? Why do you care about a stupid letter? I don’t even know what letter you’re talking about.” My voice is shaky. I take a deep breath hoping to steady it.

“Don’t play games with me. Do as I say and burn the letter. When you’re done, you’ll never speak of the contents of that letter again. You’ll forget that it ever existed. Now do you understand?”

“I’m not listening to some anonymous caller.” I try to sound confident even though my hands are shaking.

Silence fills the phone line for a few very long seconds. Then he speaks again. “It’s a shame about Frank’s condition. I’m sure you wouldn’t want him to take a turn for the worse. Or for Ryan to have an accident.”

My legs give out and I have to sit down. “You’re threatening me? Over a letter? Please. Just tell me what this is about.”

“I’ve told you what to do. Now be a good girl and do what you’re told. We’re watching.”

The phone drops from my hand. It hits the top of my desk, making a loud thud. I quickly pick it up again. “Hello? Are you still there?”

The man is gone. I hang up the phone and drop to the floor. I hug my knees to my chest as my whole body shakes.

I need to see Garret. I need to talk to him and have him tell me that everything will be all right. I need to be close to him so I can feel safe. But he hasn’t come downstairs and after seeing his dad’s outburst this morning, I’m sure Garret will never appear at my door again.

Now someone I don’t even know is after me. Calling me. Watching me. Threatening to hurt the people I care about. But why? Why is this happening?

Just when everything was going so well, life smacks me in the face knocking me back down. Reminding me that I can’t be happy. For some reason, I’m not allowed to be.

My past continues to haunt me.

And this time, I can’t run from it.