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CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

I relive the entire event all over again for Frank.

He doesn’t speak until I’m done. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry I’m not there for you. How are you handling this? And be honest with me, Jade.”

“I’m really scared. I don’t know what to do. I need your help.”

I’m sure my response freaks him out. I never tell him how I’m feeling and I sure as hell don’t ask for help.

“If you want to press charges against this boy, you can. Don’t let his father bully you. This decision is yours. I should probably get you some legal counsel. I’ll call later this morning and get an attorney out there for you.”

“No. You don’t have money for that.” I feel my eyes tearing up at his offer.

“Don’t you worry about the money. That’s not your concern.” He pauses. “I know I’m not your real father, Jade, but I love you like you’re my own daughter and I’ll do whatever you need.”

Now the tears start running down my face. He’s never said that to me. It’s not like I didn’t think he felt that way about me, but hearing him say it confirms that it’s true. I suddenly feel the need to tell him about the threatening phone calls and my room being torn apart and the letter being stolen. Then I change my mind. All that stuff is in the past now and there’s no use worrying him about it.

“Frank, I don’t know what to do about Blake. I mean technically he didn’t actually rape me but he intended to. But is that enough? Will they even do anything to him for that?”

“They probably won’t, especially given his connections. But that doesn’t mean you can’t press charges.”

“So what do you think I should do?”

He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I can’t make that decision for you. Honestly, given what you’ve told me, if you press charges there’s a good chance this guy will try to turn it back on you and make it sound like it was your fault. I hate to say that but—”

“No, you’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that, but it sounds like something Blake would do.”

Harper sneaks in for the third time, seeing if I’m done. She notices I’m still talking and sneaks back out. It’s now 1 in the morning and she probably wants to get some sleep.

“I need to go, Frank.”

“Okay, but if you need anything or just want to talk, I want you to call us. Don’t try to do this on your own. Ryan and I are always here for you.”

We say goodbye and I go and open the door. Harper is standing in the hall waiting.

“I’m sorry I took so long.”

Harper comes inside and hugs me. “Don’t be sorry. You two needed to talk. And while you were on the phone, I cleaned everything up.”

“You mean in my room? All the—” I can’t even say the word.

“The blood. Yes. It’s gone. And I got rid of all your bedding. The sheets, the comforter, everything. I put new sheets on your bed. Abbi had some extra blankets and Sara had an extra comforter. So everything’s fresh and new. All that stuff he touched is gone.”

I hug her again. “Thank you. You totally didn’t need to do that. You’re a really good friend. I mean it. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” Truthfully, Garret is, but Harper is definitely the best female friend I’ve ever had.

“I didn’t think you should sleep over there tonight, so I called Sean and he’s bringing over his air mattress.”

There’s a knock at the door. “That’s probably him,” she says, answering it.

“Hey, babe,” I hear him say as they kiss at the door.

“Jade, this is Sean.” Harper is beaming just having him there. She’s definitely in love with this guy. I wonder if that’s what I look like when Garret’s around.

Sean walks up to me carrying the deflated air mattress. He’s really cute. I can see why Harper likes him. Average height but muscular with shaggy blond hair and really blue eyes. He does kind of look like a surfer.

“Hi, Jade.” He smiles, showing off a dimple in each cheek. “I’m sorry about what happened. If you need anything when Harper’s not around, just give me a call.”

“Thanks. And thanks for bringing the mattress over.”

“No problem.” He plugs the air mattress in and inflates it. Then he gives Harper a kiss before heading out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.” She shuts the door. “Isn’t he great?”

“Yeah, he seems really nice.”

She takes some sheets and a blanket from her closet and we make up the air mattress.

“Jade, do you want to talk about it?”

“No. I just want to go to bed.”

I try to sleep but I can’t knowing that Garret is sitting in a jail cell. I keep checking my phone for messages but I have none. You would think his dad could at least give me an update.

In the morning, I still have no messages, so I get up and go to class. I’d like to just skip class today, but I have a biology quiz and then later I have a presentation in art history.

After biology, I head back to my room. As I’m walking across campus, my phone rings. I have to stop to dig it out of my backpack.

It’s Garret’s dad. “Jade, I need you to come to the house this afternoon after class. I’ll send a car.”

“Where’s Garret? What happened?” I notice people staring at me. I’m not used to cell phones and I tend to talk too loud.

“He’s here at the house. We got him out on bail this morning.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“He’s meeting with our attorneys right now.”

“Please. Just for a minute.”

“All right, but this needs to be quick.”

His dad is being surprisingly nice to me. I figured he’d yell and scream at me, saying I’m the reason his son spent the night in jail.

“Hey, it’s me.”

I relax a little just hearing his voice. “Garret, I’m sorry about all this. I don’t understand what—”

“Jade, stop it. None of this was your fault. This all happened because of Blake. You didn’t do anything to cause this. And I swear I’ll fucking kick his ass again if he said anything to make you think that.”

Garret’s right. It’s not my fault he’s in this mess, but for some reason I still feel some responsibility for it. Maybe just by the fact that Garret’s dating me. Bad things always happen to me and now I’ve brought him along for the ride.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

“I’m fine. And Blake is fine. I just busted his nose. I’m sure he’s in pain from the bruises I left on him but I really don’t give a shit. He deserved it.”

“But there was all that blood.”

“I broke his nose pretty bad. He’s having surgery on it.”

“So he’s still pressing charges?”

“Yes. But we’re working on that now. I’m talking with our lawyers. I need to get back, but I’ll see you at the house later.”

We hang up and I go meet Harper for lunch but I can’t eat. I’m too anxious about this afternoon. Garret’s dad didn’t say anything about why I’m going to his house.

At art history class I manage to get through my presentation, but it doesn’t go as smoothly as I’d planned. I’ll probably get a B or C on it, breaking my string of A’s. Now I’ll have to study even harder for the final.

A driver is waiting for me when I get back to my dorm. He approaches me as I walk in.

“I just need to put my stuff away and then we can go,” I tell him.

“They want you to spend the night, so you’ll need to pack some things,” he says.

Spend the night? I don’t question the guy. He probably has no clue what this is about either. I go to my room and toss some clothes in a garbage bag.

When I get to Garret’s house, I notice a row of luxury vehicles lined up out front. I assume they belong to the legal team gathered inside.

Katherine greets me at the door. Well, greet’s probably not the right word. She doesn’t even say hello. She looks annoyed that I’m there and says “follow me” as she leads me to the study, which I’ve learned is just a name rich people use for a room that contains a lot of books. I go in there and find a bunch of men in suits sitting around a table. Garret sees me and bursts from his chair.

“Garret, we’re in the middle of something here,” the one lawyer says.

“Yeah, I know. I won’t be long,” he says as he leaves the room, dragging me with him. As soon as we’re in the foyer, he hugs me almost as tight as last night.

“Garret, what’s going on here? What happened last night?”

He takes me into the dining room so we can talk privately. “I spent the night in jail and got out on bail this morning. Blake’s charging me with assault.”

“But he caused this. You were just protecting me.”

“Yes, but Blake is pissed and so is his dad, so they’re trying to punish me. And that’s not all.”

“What do you mean?”

He takes both my hands in his. “Blake made up this story about you and him being a couple. He told the cops you’d been sleeping together for months.”

“That’s insane! I hate the guy!”

“I know. But he’s saying it to make it look like what he was doing with you was consensual and that I was jealous and that’s why I beat him up. That way we both get the blame and he looks like the helpless victim.”

“How did this even happen? How did he know to come to my room last night?”

“I fell asleep on the bus and he took my phone. He sent the text that told you to leave your door unlocked. When I got back, I dropped my stuff off and then I went to your room. Blake knew I was coming to see you. I swear he planned the whole thing. He wanted me to walk in on it.”

“So what happens now?”

“We need you to talk to my lawyers and go over what you’re going to say to Blake’s lawyers when you explain the story.”

“I know what to say. I’ll just tell them what happened.”

“You need to say it a certain way, Jade. Otherwise, they twist your words and give them a different meaning.”

“Fine. I’ll say whatever I need to say. I just want this to go away.” My eyes betray me again as they tear up. I never cry, but now it seems like I’m doing it all the time.

“Come here.” He draws me into his arms. “I’m sorry I got so out of control last night, but I couldn’t stand seeing him on you like that. I just lost it.” He pulls away and our eyes meet. “I’ll fix this, Jade. I promise.”

“How? Do you think he’ll drop the charges?”

“I can’t tell you everything right now. All I can say is that I know stuff about Blake that his father would never want to go public. Stuff that could get Blake in some serious shit that even his dad can’t get him out of. And if he doesn’t drop the charges, we’re going to use it against him. I’ve already discussed it with the lawyers.”

“More blackmail. More deals.”

“That’s how it’s done. I don’t like it, but that’s just how it’s done.”

“So why am I staying here tonight?”

“We didn’t know how long it would take with the lawyers. And I didn’t think you’d want to sleep in your room. At least not yet. Did you stay there last night?”

“No. I stayed with Harper.”

“Well, if you want to go back there, we’ll take you.”

“I don’t want to go back. I just didn’t want to be in the way.”

“You’re never in the way. And my dad said you could stay all weekend if you want.” He leans down to my ear to whisper. “But you’ll have to stay in your own room this time.”

I smile. “Yeah. I know. That was nice of your dad to offer. I think I might take him up on it.”

“Good. Now let’s go talk to the lawyers.” He puts his hand on my back, leading me out of the room, then stops suddenly and pulls me back. He leans down and kisses me. It’s a soft, gentle, caring kiss that makes me want to stay there in his arms until all the bad stuff goes away. “Okay, now we can go.”

We spend the rest of the evening going over what happened, detail by detail. The entire incident happened in just a few minutes and yet it takes hours to replay it to the lawyers who ask a million questions. I’m so embarrassed having to talk about something this intimate with complete strangers plus Garret’s dad, but I know I need to, so I do.

Afterward I go to the guest room—the one I was supposed to sleep in when I was there for Thanksgiving. It’s odd to be staying in the house with Garret’s whole family. But I’m still more comfortable there than back in my dorm room. I like knowing that Garret is just down the hall.

When I wake up the next morning, a tiny face with long blond hair is standing next to my bed.

“Hi, Jade.” It’s Lilly, Garret’s sister.

“Hi, Lilly.” I sit up. “What are you doing here?”

“Garret said you were sad so I brought you this.” She hands me the stuffed panda bear from her room.

“Oh, um, thank you.” I hold the bear, not sure what to do with it.

“He’s my favorite, but you can have him if he makes you feel better.”

She’s so darn cute in her pink pajamas. How did something so cute and sweet come from Katherine? Garret must’ve had a big influence on her.

“Do you wanna watch cartoons in my room?” Her big blue eyes light up as she says it. “Or we could have a tea party.”

I’m not in the mood to do either, but like Garret warned me, it’s nearly impossible to say no to her.

“Okay, let’s go.” As I put on my robe, Lilly reminds me to bring the panda bear.

She holds my hand and leads me to her room. The TV is already on playing cartoons.

“Do you want some tea?” she asks, still holding my hand.

“Um, sure.” I follow her to the tiny table and sit in one of the tiny chairs, setting the panda next to me.

She pours the imaginary tea, then sits down and pretends to drink it. “I always wanted a big sister.”

“But you have Garret. A big brother.”

“I know. But he likes football and boy stuff.” She takes another sip of tea. “Can I braid your hair?”

“Right now?” I run my hand through my hair, which is all tangled from sleeping.

She nods, excitedly.

“Okay. Let me brush it out first.”

Within minutes, Lilly has me drinking fake tea while watching princess cartoons and getting my hair braided.

I hear footsteps in the hallway and then the door opens.

“Lilly, have you seen—” It’s Garret. As soon as he sees me sitting there at the tiny table holding a tea cup with half braided hair, a huge grin forms across his face as he tries to hide his laughter.

“She got you good,” he says.

“Hi, Garret.” Lilly leaves my hair and runs over to Garret.

He picks her up. “What are you doing to my girlfriend?”

“Fixing her hair for your date tonight.”

“We have a date tonight?” he asks her.

She shrugs. “I gave her my panda because she’s sad.”

“That was very nice of you.” He puts her down. “Can you let Jade and me talk for a minute?”

She nods and runs off.

Garret gives me a kiss, then sits on the floor next to the tiny table. “How was the tea?”

“She came in my room and invited me in here. What was I going to say?”

“She really likes you. She asks about you constantly. And now that you played with her she’ll like you even more.”

“So what’s going on with Blake? Is anything happening today? Or do I have to wait until Monday to talk to the lawyers?”

“Well, you may not have to say anything. I just talked to my dad. Blake is home recovering from his nose surgery and he’s sticking with his story about you two being a couple. Now he’s saying you’re calling it an attempted rape just to get money from his family.”

“Are you serious? So now what?”

“We’re going for a deal. My lawyers are discussing it with them now.”

“By deal you mean blackmail? But Garret, you said that was a last resort.”

“Yeah, well, Blake pushed it too far. He keeps making up lies about you. Lies that could affect your future. I’m not going to let him do that.”

“And your dad went along with this?”

“It was his idea. This deal helps us both. I don’t have time to waste in some courtroom or a room full of lawyers trying to defend myself against something I had every right to do. My dad just wants this taken care of.”

Lilly reappears, running over to Garret. “Dad wants to talk to you.”

“Okay.” He gets up off the floor. “Lilly, why don’t you go have breakfast with Jade?”

She takes my hand. “Don’t forget your bear.”

Garret smiles as I grab the panda and stand up from the tiny chair, my hair still only half-braided. We all go downstairs together. Garret goes into his dad’s office and Lilly and I go to the dining room.

When I finish breakfast, the door to Mr. Kensington’s office is still closed. I can’t find Garret anywhere so I assume he’s in there. I go upstairs to shower and dress, then watch TV in my room and wait.

Around noon, Garret comes in and sits next to me on the bed. “It’s done. He dropped the charges.”