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CHAPTER FORTY

GARRET

That was a good talk Jade and I had. We needed it. I knew moving here would be an adjustment and I knew Jade would stress about it. And I only made it worse by not telling her what’s been going on with me.

I don’t like hiding stuff from Jade but for whatever reason I keep doing it. I tell myself I do it because I don’t want her to worry, which is true, but not telling her just makes things worse. She senses something’s wrong and ends up worrying even more. I need to be more honest with her and tell her when stuff’s bothering me instead of trying to hide it. It’s something I need to work on. Jade and I both have things we need to work on.

“Look what I found.” I pull into the parking lot of an ice cream shop. It’s not an actual restaurant. It just has a window where you walk up and order. There’s a big wooden board on the side of the building with the menu on it.

“Did you see that menu?” Jade says as we park. “They must have 30 different sundaes on there.”

I get out of the car and go around to open her door but she’s already stepped out.

“Jade, why won’t you just wait for me to get your door?”

“I don’t need you to.” She kicks the door shut with her foot.

I grab her around the waist. “I want to. So let me be a gentleman and open your door.”

“I don’t like waiting. I’m very impatient.” She presses herself into me and gives me a long kiss that causes movement in my shorts.

“Jade. Not here.”

“What?” She laughs. “It was just a kiss.”

“You know what your kisses do to me.” I press back into her.

She smiles. “I like what they do to you.”

“I do, too, but we’re in a parking lot and there are kids around.”

She glances back at the kids in line at the window. “Then can we take the ice cream back to our place?”

“Let’s take it to that park where we had lunch and then I want to drive around some more.”

“Okay.” She sighs, like she’s upset that I turned her down.

I didn’t really turn her down. I plan to find an out-of-the-way place at the park and see if she’ll do it with me outside, just to mix things up a little.

“I don’t know if I can wait until later.” She whispers it in my ear as we walk toward the order window.

I love that Jade wants me that way. I always hear guys complain that, after a while, their girlfriends or wives don’t want to do it anymore. That they lose all interest in sex. But not my girl. We’ve been together a year and Jade still wants to do it all the time.

Maybe that will change someday, but for now I’m enjoying every minute of it. I can’t get enough of her. She turns me on like no other girl has. Sometimes just seeing her walk in the room makes my body react. If she kisses me or touches me and we’re in public, I have to force myself to think non-sexual thoughts to keep things in line down there. I know she does it on purpose. I do it to her, too, sometimes. I get her all worked up in a public place. But she doesn’t have to deal with the world knowing it, the way I, and all guys, do.

I peruse the menu board, holding Jade in front of me. “I’m getting you the Colossal Cookie Monster Mash-up.”

“No, you’re not.” She laughs and leans back into me, her ass pushing into the front of my shorts. Damn. Think non-sexual thoughts. Some kid screams next to me and I see his mom wiping his nose. Thanks, kid. That did the job.

“You love cookies and ice cream,” I say to Jade. “It’s perfect.”

“It has six scoops of ice cream and six cookies.”

“I’ve seen you eat more than that.”

She tilts her head back against my chest. “No, you haven’t. I’ve never eaten that much.”

“You need to.” I hold her in place and whisper in her ear, “I don’t like a flat ass.”

She turns and swats at my chest and whispers back, “I do not have a flat ass. And if I eat that sundae, I will have a big, flabby ass, which is not what either of us wants.”

We’re next in line and before Jade can speak, I say, “One Colossal Cookie Monster Mash-up.”

“You want two spoons with that?” the girl asks. She’s probably around 15. Her eyes are glued on whoever’s behind us. I turn to see a guy around her age, smiling at her.

I look back at Jade. “You didn’t want to share, did you?”

She narrows her eyes at me, then turns to the girl. “Two spoons, please.”

The girl rings up the order. “I need a name,” she says.

I give her my name and pay, then Jade and I wait off to the side.

“Garret, why are you trying to make me look like a pig?”

“I’m not. I was just kidding.” I kiss her, hugging her into my side. “Besides, that girl didn’t even notice. She was too busy flirting with the kid behind us. I’m surprised she even heard. We’ll be lucky if we get the right sundae.”

As we’re standing there I hear someone yelling my name. I turn to see a guy in a white Escalade pull up next to us. It’s Kyle and some other guys. Their windows are down. There’s a hot blonde in the front seat checking herself out in the visor mirror. Must be Kyle’s girlfriend.

“Missed you at the party last night,” Kyle says.

“Yeah. We were busy.” I nod toward Jade, my arm still around her. “This is my wife, Jade.”

The blonde hears me say ‘wife’ and immediately turns to look at us, as do the guys in the back seat.

“Hi.” Jade smiles at Kyle. His eyes trail up and down her body. It annoys me, but shit, she’s hot. Guys are always checking her out.

“Hey. I’m Kyle. This is Shandra.” She gives us a weak wave. “And the guys behind me are Jason and Wes.” They wave, too, then lose interest in us and look down at their phones.

“We’re having a party over at Jason’s place tonight,” Kyle says. “You interested?”

“No. Sorry. We’ve got plans.”

Jade nudges me. “We can go.”

I give her a look telling her I don’t want to.

“I forgot,” she says to Kyle. “We do have plans.”

“That’s fine. I just saw you guys here and thought I’d ask. There’s a party every night until classes start so just give me a call if you want to know where they are.”

“Order for Kensington,” the girl at the window yells.

I glance over and see the sundae sitting there. “That’s ours. I’ll see you later, Kyle.”

As Jade and I are walking off, I hear a guy in the car say, “Kensington? That’s Garret Kensington? As in Kensington Chemical?”

They take off. I wanted to keep a low profile at this school and now they know who I am. Maybe I could pretend I’m a different Garret Kensington. Then again, a quick Internet search and they’d know it was me.

We take the ice cream to the park we were at earlier, but this time I take out the blanket we keep in the trunk and spread it over the ground in a secluded spot tucked away in the trees, far away from the picnic tables.

“Why are we sitting back here?” Jade slips the plastic spoon in her mouth and slowly takes it out and that’s all it takes to get me going again.

“I wanted privacy.” I scoop up some ice cream, keeping my eyes on her.

“You wanted privacy to eat ice cream?” She takes another bite, then slowly licks the spoon.

Shit, that’s hot. Major movement in the shorts.

“Yeah. I did.”

She shrugs. “Okay.”

“You have ice cream on your lips.”

“Did you bring any napkins?”

“You don’t need one.” I take the spoon from her hand and toss it aside, then I lick the cold ice cream from her lips as I lean her back on the blanket.

She closes her eyes and I kiss her, my tongue tasting her mouth. I put my leg between hers and press myself against her so she feels what she’s done to me.

She moans, which is one of my absolute favorite sounds in the world.

“What are you doing?” she asks, breathlessly.

“You.” I say it forcefully as I reach down and unzip her shorts.

“Right here? Now? In the park?”

“You told me you’re impatient.” I run my lips across her cheek and over to her ear. “You said you didn’t like to wait. And just so you know…”

“Yeah?” she whispers.

I slip my hand down her shorts and she moans again.

“I don’t like to wait either.”

I pull the blanket over us so we’re completely covered, then get us both naked. And we do it. Outside. In broad daylight. Hidden, but still somewhat in public. It’s fucking hot. And Jade thinks so, too. I know, because she’s not exactly being quiet. She gets really loud at the end, like she forgot we’re in public. Which means the sex was good. It was good for me, too. Actually it was freaking awesome. Maybe because we’re outdoors. Something different than the bedroom. We’ll have to do this again.

“That was. . .” Jade’s struggles to catch her breath.

“Amazing,” I answer for her.

“Yeah. That.” She smiles. “I could do that all day. You’re really good at that.”

The comment makes me want to do it again. I love pleasing her, especially that way.

We lie there, listening to the waves. After a while, I assume Jade’s sleeping because she’s been so quiet. To wake her up, I lightly run my hand over her flat stomach.

“Don’t,” she whispers, her eyes still closed.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t touch me like that or we’ll end up doing it again.”

I feel my body already preparing for it. “Is that a bad thing?”

She opens her eyes. “No, but we probably shouldn’t do it here.”

“Why? I like the great outdoors.” I skim my hand along the curve of her hip and down her leg.

“I do, too, but we might get caught.”

“That’s what makes it exciting.” I whisper it in her ear and see her smile as my hand moves up her inner thigh.

Her eyes close again as her lips turn up. “Okay, but just one more time.”

I laugh a little, then kiss her and we do it again.

Afterward she sits up. “We forgot our ice cream.”

I look over at it and see that it’s now a soupy puddle in the bowl. “You could eat the soggy cookies.”

“That sounds good actually.” She wiggles into her shorts, then slips her t-shirt on. When she’s fully dressed I flip the blanket off us and get up to dress myself.

“Garret! You’re naked!” She practically yells it, which makes me laugh.

“Why don’t you just announce it to the world, Jade?”

“What if someone walks by?”

“Then they’ll be amazed.” I grin. “And if it’s a girl who walks by, she’ll be very jealous of you.”

Jade rolls her eyes and laughs as she digs her spoon in the bowl searching for the soggy cookies. She finds some and takes a bite, closing her eyes. “These cookies are so good. They’re even better when they soak up the ice cream.”

“My mom used to do that, too. She’d wait for the ice cream to melt into the cookies and then she’d eat them.”

Jade smiles. “Your mom had good taste.”

“Yeah, she did. I wish you two could’ve met. She would’ve loved you.”

Jade looks down, her face sad and concerned. She knows how much I miss my mom. It’s been 10 years but I still really miss having her in my life. It was hard not having her at my wedding last summer. And for a moment, I pictured her there, meeting Jade and telling me how happy she was that I found the kind of love she had with my dad. I even pictured her and my dad together, dancing next to Jade and me. I really missed my mom that day. There’s something about those big moments in life that remind you how much you miss the people who are no longer around.

“Hey.” I lift Jade’s chin up. “It’s okay. I can talk about her. I like talking about her.”

“I know. You just sounded sad.”

I smile. “I’m not sad. I’m good.” My phone rings. It’s my dad. “Hey, Dad. You still coming tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be there around 4. Does that work?”

“Sounds good.”

“Pick a place for dinner. It’s your belated birthday dinner so it’s on me. Are there any good restaurants around there?”

“No, not really. Shitty diners. Fast food.”

“Is there someplace nicer that’s near there?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to check.”

“Well, find a place. Wherever you want to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Dad.”

I hang up just as Jade returns from tossing out the bowl of liquid ice cream. She joins me on the blanket. “We should probably go to the grocery store. We didn’t buy much last time and now we’re having a guest. We need to stock the fridge. What are your dad’s favorite foods?”

“We don’t have to get him anything. He’s only here a couple days and we’ll be going out to eat. I doubt he’ll eat anything at our place.”

“We should still have stuff for him, just in case.”

“Why are you doing all this for my dad? First you want to clean the house and now you want to get his favorite foods? You weren’t this way when he came to our place for the wedding.”

“We’re married now. It’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s not.”

Jade’s getting nervous about my dad’s visit. She really wants to impress him, which is sweet, but totally unnecessary. He’s already impressed by her. And after everything we’ve been through the past year, he sees her as his daughter. He’s almost as protective of her as I am.

Jade has come to really like my dad, which is shocking given how he treated her last year. But the past few months, she’s seen him step up and be a real father to me, and that’s when she really started to like him. Then at the wedding, he took her aside and talked to her for several minutes. I don’t know what he said to her, but after that, she liked him even more. She even talks to him on the phone when he calls. Sometimes she talks to him longer than I do.

“My dad likes you, Jade. You don’t have to try to impress him. He’s already impressed by you. You took his irresponsible drunk son and turned him into a respectable mature man.” I smile. “I am respectable and mature, right?”

“Sometimes.” She laughs. “Not always.”

“Either way. He likes you, so stop stressing about his visit tomorrow. By the way, he wants us to find a restaurant for dinner. Remind me to check online later. There’s no place here he’d want to eat at. We’ll have to drive up the coast.”

“Why don’t you ask that football player friend of yours? He knows the area. He probably knows of a place.”

“He’s not my friend. I just met the guy.”

“He seems to want to be your friend.” Jade picks up my phone and hands it to me. “Just call him.”

I scroll down to Kyle’s number. When he answers, I put him on speaker.

“Hey, Kyle. It’s Garret. You busy?”

“Not at all. What’s up? You need directions for the party tonight?”

“No, I just called to see if you knew of any decent restaurants around here. Like a nice dinner place.”

“There’s nothing around here but there’s a seafood place about 30 minutes north.”

Jade scrunches up her face at the mention of seafood, so I ask, “Does the place have more than just seafood?”

“Yeah, it’s a big menu. And the place is right on the water. There’s a steakhouse next to it if you want that instead. I can’t think of the name, but I’ll text you later with it.”

“Great. Thanks.”

“Taking the wife out for dinner?” He chuckles.

“My dad’s coming to town and he wants to take us out.”

“Hey, I heard your name being called at that ice cream place. You’re not Kensington as in the Kensington, are you?”

I hesitate, not sure if I should tell him. But he’ll find out one way or another. “Yeah, I’m that Kensington.”

“Shit, really? What the hell are you doing going to Camsburg? I mean, it’s a good school and all, but it’s not exactly Yale. Didn’t your dad go to Yale?”

I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Yeah.”

“And Harvard business school, right?”

“You got a crush on my dad or something? You seem to know a lot about him.”

“I’m just impressed. That’s all. I’m a business major. I follow business leaders and your dad’s someone I really admire. You think I could meet him while he’s in town?”

“I don’t think so. He’s not here for very long.”

“Okay, well, enjoy the restaurant. Oh, and your wife—Jade, was that her name?”

“Yeah. What about her?”

“Fucking hot.”

I see the shocked look on Jade’s face.

“Thanks. See ya, Kyle.”

I hang up and Jade laughs. “He thinks I’m hot? I didn’t even put makeup on today. He must’ve just said that to get you to be friends with him.”

“You’re hot, Jade. This isn’t the first time a guy’s told me this.”

“Who else said it?”

“Practically every guy at Moorhurst.”

“You’re lying.” She leans over and kisses my cheek. “But thank you. That’s sweet.”

“I’m serious. After a while I told them to shut the hell up. I don’t like other guys checking you out, saying you’re hot. They knew you were mine, so they shouldn’t have been saying that shit.”

“If that many guys thought I was hot, why didn’t anyone ever ask me out during our break-up?”

“Because they knew I’d kick their ass. After Nic asked you out, I made it clear that no other guy was to ask you out.”

“You did? They must’ve thought you were some possessive psycho.”

“I didn’t give a shit what they thought. I didn’t want them bothering you.”

“You could’ve told me that. Here I thought the Moorhurst guys had no interest in me. I wondered why not one guy besides Nic and Carson ever asked me out.”

“Carson asked you out?”

“He said it wasn’t a date, but he invited me to dinner and a movie. Everyone knows that’s a date. I turned him down, of course.”

“That guy’s not even around anymore and I still hate him.”

“Hey, I didn’t know your dad went to Harvard and Yale.”

“Yeah. And everyone who knows that always asks me why I didn’t go to one of those schools.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“My dad practically forced me to go to Moorhurst. He wanted me close to home because he didn’t trust me and he wanted to keep an eye on me.”

“Yale isn’t that much farther away.”

“Yeah, but—” I lower my voice. “Presidents go to Yale. Now that I know what was planned for me, I understand why my dad never encouraged me to go there.”

“But back then, he didn’t know about the plan.”

“Yes, but he didn’t want me to start down a path for any type of political career. Politicians tend to go to Ivy League schools, not schools like Moorhurst. I actually wanted to go to Harvard for my MBA but when I mentioned that to my dad, he suggested other schools. At the time I thought he was trying to tell me I was too stupid to go there but it all goes back to this political thing.”

“Did, um, Royce go to Yale?”

I need to get us off this topic. I don’t want Jade thinking about this. Every time she thinks about Royce or the organization, her mind goes back to last year and I’m trying to get her past all that. Of course, I’m not really past it myself, so I guess I can’t expect her to be either.

“Jade, let’s not talk about him.”

“I just wondered. I know Arlin went to Harvard, so maybe that’s where Royce went.”

“No, Royce went to Yale. He was there the same time my dad was. They actually lived in the same dorm, on the same floor.”

“Oh. I guess I didn’t know they’d been friends for that long.”

“I don’t know if they were friends back then, but they knew each other.”

My dad’s never admitted it, but I’m guessing he was forced to be friends with Royce. The Sinclairs are a powerful family and because of that, I’m sure my grandfather made my dad be friends with Royce, just like my dad picked my friends back in high school.

“Did your grandfather go to Yale, too?”

“Yeah. That’s another reason he’s unhappy with me. He expected me to go there. You should’ve heard him when my dad told him I was going to Moorhurst instead. It was March of my senior year. My dad didn’t want me around when he told him so I went to my room, but I could hear my grandfather yelling at my dad. He told him he was ruining my future. After that, the two of them didn’t speak again until they saw each other at my graduation.”

“Do you ever wish you’d gone to Yale?”

“No.” I kiss her. “If I’d gone there, I wouldn’t have met you. And I had to meet you. You’re the only person in the world for me.”

“I am?” She smiles and her serious tone turns happy and lighter. “How do you know that?”

“ Everyone knows that, Jade. You and I are meant to be together. So if I hadn’t gone to Moorhurst, I would’ve had to spend the rest of my life looking for you. And you’d be left wandering around looking for me.”

She laughs. “You really think I’d just be wandering around?”

“Yes. It would’ve been a sad, pathetic life for both of us.”

She laughs again. “Sounds like it.”

“Luckily, we found each other and everything turned out the way it was supposed to.” I kiss her again. “You ready to go to the store?”

“Yeah.” We get up and she takes the blanket and shakes it out a little. “We should go to some football games this fall. What position does Kyle play?”

“Quarterback.” I take Jade’s hand and walk toward the car.

She stops. “The freaking quarterback of the football team is trying to be friends with you?”

“I guess. Why?” I keep walking, taking her with me, our hands still attached.

“That’s so annoying. You go to the gym for an hour and make friends with the most popular guy at our school.”

“We’re not friends. I don’t even know him. And why is that annoying?”

“Because making friends is so easy for you. Can you give me lessons or something?”

“You don’t need lessons.” I open the car door for her. “You’ll make friends.”

We go to the store and then home. Harper calls Jade just as we pull in the driveway. I send Jade inside, telling her I’ll carry the groceries in.

As I’m getting the bags from the trunk, I see a white car driving slowly by the house. It’s an older model Toyota Camry with a dent in the front end. I noticed it parked on our street yesterday.

I take the groceries into the house and when I come out again, I see the car turning around at the end of the street. It looks like a guy’s driving it. He drives back, going even slower than before.

Something doesn’t feel right. Why is he going so slow?

As he approaches my driveway, I get a better look inside the car. The guy has dark hair and is wearing sunglasses and a black t-shirt. He looks like he’s in his late twenties.

He turns his head and notices me watching him. He guns the engine and takes off down the street.

“Hey! Wait!” I run to the end of the driveway. I try to get a license plate number but he’s too far away.

What the hell was that about? Why did he speed off like that when he saw me? Is he casing the place, planning to rob us? Or is it something else? My chest tightens and I inhale some deep breaths to loosen it up again.

I can’t be this way. I can’t live in a constant state of fear of what might happen. It’s just a car driving down the street. The guy was probably just looking for an address.

But my gut tells me it’s more than that.