Promising You (The Jade Series #4) (27 page)

“That was only with Garret.”

“Well, I’m making it a rule with me, too. No more complaining if I offer to pay for stuff. I’m not saying I’ll pay all the time, but tonight I want to take my friend out for dinner. And don’t say it has to be fast food because I don’t feel like having that tonight.” Her ponytail is finally where she wants it. She turns away from the mirror and grabs her purse, linking her arm with mine and dragging me out of her room.

“Where are you taking me?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Maybe a sushi place.”

“Ugh,” I mumble.

She laughs as we go outside. “I was kidding. I know you hate sushi.”
 

It’s 7 now and everyone appears to be back from break. The parking lot is packed with cars.
 

Harper gets her keys out. “There weren’t many spots left, so I had to park down by Lisker Hall.”
 

 
When we get to her SUV a car pulls into the space next to hers just as I’m going around to the passenger side. The bright headlights blind me and I shield my eyes while I wait for the driver to turn the car off. I look up and see that it’s a black BMW. Garret’s car. Seriously? What are the odds? I sigh as I watch him get out of the car.

People are all around us on the sidewalk and in the parking lot, so it’s time to start playing my role of the ex-girlfriend, but it’s freaking hard when he’s right there and I just want to run up and kiss him.
 

I’m not sure what to do. Ignore him? Say hi? We should’ve discussed this before I left his house. Harper’s waiting inside her SUV and even though it’s dark out I’m sure she sees it’s Garret who pulled in next to her. I walk to the side of the SUV. Garret’s standing there, pretending to look at his phone.

“New outfit?” he asks, his eyes still on the phone.
 

“Yeah. It’s from Harper.” I smell his cologne and out of habit I step closer to him. He shouldn’t be allowed to smell that good when we’re not dating.
 

“I like it.” He’s trying not to look, but I catch him staring at my bare legs, then up to my fitted sweater and it totally turns me on.
 

“Kensington!” a guy yells out. He’s standing on the sidewalk in front of Garret’s car. “I gotta hear about Bermuda. Two girls at the same time? Was that shit true?”

Obviously the fake stories about Garret are already spreading.

“I should go.” I put my hand on the door handle but don’t open it.
 

“Hey, Shane,” Garret says to the guy. “I’ll tell you about it upstairs.”

Garret’s hand brushes the back of my skirt as he walks away.
 

I quickly get in the car before I lose all control.
 

“What did you say to him?” Harper whispers as if the people outside could somehow hear us talking in the car.

“Nothing.” I put my seatbelt on.

“You said
something
. The way he was looking at you I thought you two were going to jump in his car and do it.”

“He just hadn’t seen me wear this before so he asked if it was new.”

She starts the car and backs out. “I don’t know how this fake break-up is going to work. It’s obvious you two can’t get enough of each other. Maybe I need to give you some acting tips. I took lessons growing up. It’s basically a requirement for a kid in LA.”

“Yeah, I think you might have to. This is harder than I thought.”

Our brief encounter in the parking lot just proved it. Being forbidden from Garret made me hyperaware of everything about him. The pitch of his voice. His scent. His proximity to me. He barely touched me and my body got all hot and tingly.

“Jade.” Harper says my name in a way that sounds like she’s already said it several times.
 

“Did you say something?”

“I was thinking of going to Fresh, that organic restaurant. But it’s like 20 miles away. Are you in a hurry to get back?”

“No. That sounds good.” The farther away I am from Garret right now the better.
 

By the time we drive there, eat, and drive back it’s 9 o’clock. I thank Harper for dinner, then go to my room and watch my new TV. It’s still strange to have a TV in my room but I’m really glad Garret got it for me. It’ll hopefully take my mind off him.

Or maybe not.

As I’m flipping through the channels, I see a photo of Garret on Hollywood Today, a celebrity news show.
 

“Garret Kensington, on-again, off-again boyfriend of Ava Hamilton, star of The Prep School Girls’ Reunion, had quite a spring break,” the perky blond show host says. “Rumor has it he traveled to Bermuda on his father’s jet and hooked up with numerous women, despite recently getting back together with Ava. Fans of the reality show are saying Ava deserves better, but for now it seems that she and Garret are still together.”
 

They cut away to Ava walking through a parking lot wearing big sunglasses, tight dark jeans, and a low-cut black sweater.

“Garret’s always been a bad boy,” she says, tossing her hair around as she walks. “I can’t change him. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with him. I’ve always been attracted to bad boys.”

“So you’re still dating him?” someone off camera asks. The camera shakes a little as the cameraman tries to keep up with her.
 

“Yes.” She gets into a black SUV and drives off.

They cut back to the show host. “Sources say Kensington nearly destroyed the house he rented in Bermuda and trashed the beach behind the property.”
 

They cut to the fake footage I watched earlier in Pearce’s office. An old man with a deep tan and white hair says, “That kid broke everything in my house and left the place uninhabitable. I won’t be able to rent it out again for months. And then he doesn’t even apologize. His parents should be ashamed.”

The host appears again. “We contacted Kensington’s PR rep but haven’t received a response. Stay tuned for more updates.”

I flip the channel and find an old movie to watch just as my phone rings.

“Jade, are you okay?” It’s Frank. I totally forgot to tell him the story I told Harper.

“Yeah, why?”

“Chloe just called Ryan and said that Garret was in Bermuda destroying some guy’s house.” Frank doesn’t mention the girls.
 

Ryan picks up the other phone. “That asshole’s cheating on you! I swear, I’m going to kill him!”

“Both of you need to calm down and let me explain.”

I tell them the made-up story I told Harper.

“We didn’t realize the fans and the photographers had become so aggressive,” Frank says. “I know it’ll be tough for you to be away from Garret, but I think it’s for the best, honey.”

Once I’m convinced Frank and Ryan bought the story, I say goodbye and watch the rest of the movie. But my mind wanders to the situation I’m now stuck in. It’s hard to fathom that just a few days ago everything was going great, and today I’m part of a conspiracy to make Garret one of the most hated men in America. Not to mention the fact that I’m one of the few people who know that our presidents are chosen by a small group of rich, powerful people and not the public. It’s a secret I wish I didn’t know and one I can never tell anyone. Doing so would definitely get me killed. Not that anyone would believe me.

Monday morning I check my phone and find three messages from Carson. I’m sure he heard the Garret news by now and can’t wait to ask me about it. Or more accurately, he can’t wait to gloat. This is like a Christmas present for him. Garret misbehaving? I’m surprised Carson didn’t text me ‘
I told u so’
a thousand times.
 

I arrive at physics class with not a minute to spare hoping to avoid any pre-class conversation with Carson. But then the professor is late. Of course.

“I’m sorry about Garret,” Carson says when he sees me. He doesn’t sound the least bit sorry.

“It’s no big deal.” I pull my laptop from my bag and set it up on the table.

“No big deal? Did you hear what he did?”

“Yes. But he can do whatever he wants. We’re not together anymore.” I don’t look at him as I get my laptop fired up. “I broke up with him last week. That’s why Garret is acting this way. He didn’t want us to break up.”

Carson is quiet and when I glance over at him, he’s staring at me like he doesn’t believe me.
 

“Listen, Carson. I didn’t tell you about this during our road trip because I didn’t want another one of your lectures about Garret and how I never should’ve dated him. So on the drive back here, I just pretended to be calling and texting Garret but I really wasn’t.”

“You could’ve told me. I wouldn’t have lectured you. I swear. Do you want to go somewhere after class and talk about it?”

“No, I’m okay. I had a lot of time over the break to think about things and although part of me still loves Garret, it just wasn’t working. I don’t fit in his world. He knows that. He just doesn’t accept it.”

“Are you still talking to him?”

“I haven’t since we broke up, but I’m not going to ignore him. If I see him on campus I’ll still say hi and be friendly. It’s not like I hate him.”

“Even after what he did last week?”

“I knew he was like that when I met him. You’ve heard the stories about him from high school. He likes to drink and party and be with lots of different girls. He gave that up when he was with me, but now that I’m gone it makes sense that he would do that stuff again. I can’t worry about what he does.”

“Sorry I’m late everyone.” The professor appears, hurrying to the front of the room. “Bring out today’s notes and let’s get started.”

After class Carson walks back to the dorms with me. “You want to have dinner with me tonight?”

He’s asking me out already? Wow. I thought he’d at least wait a couple weeks.

“I’m not ready to start dating again.”

“Dating? I thought we’d just eat at my dining hall. I wasn’t asking you out. I just didn’t want you sitting alone at dinner. That’s all.”

“Oh.” I stop in front of my building. “Well, I usually eat dinner with Harper.”

“Then maybe some other night. See ya, Jade.” He turns and walks off to his dorm.
 

Despite what he said, his invitation seemed like a date. An innocent meal in the dining hall would lead to a meal at a restaurant and then a movie and soon we’d be dating, at least in Carson’s eyes.
 

I hadn’t considered all the ramifications of not dating Garret. I’m single again, which means guys might ask me out.

This fake break-up is getting even more complicated.

21

The next few days I try to occupy every minute so my mind doesn’t drift to Garret. I haven’t seen him on campus or in the dining hall. He’s changed the route he takes to class and his eating schedule to avoid running into me. And thank goodness he did because I’m so Garret-deprived right now I’d probably jump him in the cafeteria if I saw him there. I’m so worried about that actually happening—well, not about jumping him, but more like kissing him with maybe a little groping—that I’ve actually been practicing how I’ll react when I finally do run into him.
 

On Thursday I go to morning classes, then drive to a restaurant in town to meet Arlin and Grace for lunch. I’m really nervous. Although Arlin is nice, I have no idea what his wife is like. If she’s like Royce’s wife, the only other Mrs. Sinclair I’ve met, I’m in trouble. I didn’t like that woman at all. When she met me, she immediately asked for my last name so she could assess how much money I was worth. And when she didn’t recognize the name as being anything of value, she looked at me like I was just that—of no value, completely worthless. If she only knew I was her husband’s daughter.

I’m meeting Arlin and Grace at a small cafe that’s in an old house. Not a run-down old house, but a historic house that’s been turned into a restaurant. I’ve been there one time with Garret. The food is good but it’s expensive. The chef makes up the menu each day and there are only four or five items to choose from. The last time I was here it was filled with people around Arlin’s age and today is the same.
 

I tell the hostess I’m meeting Arlin Sinclair and her face suddenly perks up and a huge smile appears. “Yes, right this way.” She leads me to their table.
 

“Mr. Sinclair, Mrs. Sinclair. Your guest has arrived.” She quickly walks away, almost like she’s nervous. I’m guessing she knows that Grace and Arlin are billionaires and it has her on edge. She probably wishes she was the waitress getting a tip from these people. I wonder who she thinks
I
am. She must assume I’m important if I’m eating lunch with these two. That would explain the overly enthusiastic greeting she gave me at the hostess stand.

Arlin stands up along with his wife. She’s very small, not more than 5’2, with delicate features. Her straight, chestnut-brown hair hits just below her chin, styled in a clean-cut bob just like she had in the photo Arlin showed me. She has on a plum-colored, short-sleeved dress with a patterned scarf draped across the neckline.

“Jade, good to see you again,” Arlin says. “This is my wife, Grace.”
 

She extends her hand and smiles. “Hello, Jade. I’m so happy to finally meet you.”

I can already tell she’s not like the other Mrs. Sinclair. I can hear the sincerity in her voice and see it in her eyes. She really
is
happy to meet me.

Arlin motions for us to sit down. We’re at a small round table that barely fits four people. One of the chairs has been removed, so I center myself in the space that’s left so that Arlin and Grace are across from me.
 

The table is silent. This is awkward. For all of us.
 

“Should we go ahead and order?” Arlin asks, breaking the silence.

We all look down at the small paper menu that lists today’s entrees. Everything here is gourmet, so even if it sounds normal it will have some special sauce or strange ingredient that turns it into something you’re not expecting. The waitress arrives and I order a sandwich, Arlin orders the salmon, and Grace gets a salad.

Then we sit there again in silence. Grace keeps staring at me. She’s probably noticing the similarity of our eye color. Our eyes are the exact same shade of green. My mom didn’t have green eyes and neither did Royce, so it must only show up when two recessive genes come together.