Loving You (The Jade Series #3) (17 page)

“Several of them. Last summer when I was interning in DC, I had dinner at the White House. My dad and grandfather were there, too.” Garret says it like it’s no big deal.
 

“And the President was there?”

He presses the buttons on the dashboard that control the heat. “Well, yeah, along with some other people. The senator I worked for arranged it. All his interns were invited and then we each got to bring two family members.”
 

“And you never thought to mention this to me?”

“You said you’re not interested in politics.” Now he’s messing with the vents. “Are you warm enough? This air doesn’t seem very warm.”

“It’s the freaking President! I’m interested in knowing that my boyfriend had dinner with the President!”

He gives up with the vents and turns the heat on high. “The dinner wasn’t that great. You sit there and listen to a boring, old, rich guy with way too much power talk about himself.”

“He’s the President of the United States. You’re not impressed by that?”

“When I was younger I was. But then I learned about all the bribes and backroom deals and I lost faith in the whole system. It’s a joke. I don’t have any respect for those guys. And you shouldn’t either after finding out about Sinclair. That guy could’ve been president, Jade. And he was crazy.”
 

“He never would’ve been president. He wouldn’t have even gotten the nomination.”

“He was ahead in the polls. It could’ve happened.”

“I can’t believe you met a president. Or more than one.” I turn the heat down because now it’s starting to get too hot.

“Hey.” Garret nudges my arm. “Are you staying over tonight?”

“I always stay over on Saturday.”

“Okay. Just making sure you didn’t change the rules for a new semester.”

And just like that he changes the subject. Like he has nothing else to say about meeting the President of the United States. He starts talking about a movie that just came out, but all I can think about is him eating dinner at the White House. With the President!

Back on campus, it’s total chaos. It’s like everyone arrived in the brief time we were gone. Cars are double parked in front of the dorms. Music is blaring from stereos. Drunk people are stumbling down the sidewalk.

“Kensington!” We get out of the car and see Garret’s friend Decker approaching us. “Hey, Jade. When did you guys get back?”

“Earlier today. How about you?”

“This morning.” He removes a silver flask from his coat and takes a swig of whatever hard liquor it contains. He sees me watching him. “Sorry, Jade. I forgot about the no-alcohol thing.”

“It’s fine.” I don’t really care if he drinks around me. It’s a college campus. Everyone’s drinking around me.
 

He puts the flask back in his jacket. “There’s a party down on Maple Street if you guys are interested.”

“Not tonight,” Garret says. “You go ahead.”

“Okay, see you later.” He starts to walk away, then stops. “Oh, and just so you know. Blake hasn’t left for California yet so you might see him around. Anyway, welcome back.”

My stomach knots just hearing Blake’s name. I’d put the attempted rape incident out of my mind ever since Frank got sick. I was trying to forget it.
 

Our luggage is still in the trunk, so Garret grabs the bags and we go to my room.
 

“Why is that asshole still in town?” Garret sets my suitcase by the closet. “He should be gone by now.”

“Garret, relax. I’m not worried about Blake.” It’s not entirely true. I
am
worried, but I don’t want to admit it.

“Do you still have the taser and the pepper spray I gave you?”

“Yes. But Blake’s not going to come after me.” I go over to my drawer and grab some pajamas. “Let’s go upstairs and start our sleepover.”

He smiles as he pulls me against him. “What’s with the pajamas? You planning on actually sleeping at this sleepover?”

I smile back. “For part of the time.”

“I think we should institute a pajama-free option this semester.”

“I could go for that. But given how cold your room was earlier, I’m taking the pajamas.”

He leans down and gives me a slow, sexy kiss. “You won’t be cold when I’m finished with you.”

“I’m already feeling a little warm.”

He kisses my neck just under my ear. “Warm’s not good enough. I wanna make you hot. Now let’s go upstairs.”

I don’t tell him, but he’s totally making me hot—so hot I could do him right here and now, but we somehow make it up to his room.

Later that night as Garret sleeps next to me, I think back to last semester and how I felt when I arrived at Moorhurst. The Saturday before classes began was the first day that Garret and I spent together. I was so mean to him. I never thought I’d date him, so I didn’t see a reason to be nice to him. Now I’m in love with the guy, who of course took it upon himself to try the pajama-free option tonight and sleep naked.
 

I decide to give it a try myself. I slip my t-shirt off and scoot back into his chest until I feel his warm skin pressed against mine. I gently lift his arm up and place it around me. He wakes up briefly and kisses my shoulder as he notices me there, then falls asleep again.
 

I love our sleepovers.
 

I can already tell. This is going to be a great semester.

Harper gets back to campus late Sunday night. We’ve been calling each other over the break, but not as much as we said we would. I haven’t talked to her for a week now.
 

Classes don’t start until Tuesday so we agreed to spend Monday morning together before she devotes the rest of her day to “catching up” with Sean, which I’m sure is code for having as much sex as possible. They haven’t seen each other for almost four weeks.
 

“Tell me everything, Jade. What’s been going on since I saw you last?”
 

We’re sitting in her room with the coffees she insisted we drive to town to get.

“There’s not much to tell. I already told you what I did when I was in Des Moines. And I told you about going to New York.” I take a moment to sort through what things I can tell her and what I can’t. I can’t tell her anything about Garret’s family. I might let one of their many secrets slip out.

“Anything happen last week?” she asks.

“Garret’s ex-girlfriend tried to get back together with him.”

Her eyes bug out. “And it took you this long to tell me? I need details, Jade.”
 

I recap the story for her. “I don’t think Sadie will be calling him again anytime soon.”

“Did Garret really tell her you two might get married someday?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure he was kidding. He just said it to get rid of her. And it worked.” I take a sip of my coffee. “Oh, and Garret and I decided to get an apartment together this summer.”

She almost spills her coffee. “What? That’s major news! Why didn’t you call and tell me?”

“We just decided it the other day. We’re going to rent a place on a beach in California. I was thinking we could come see you once or twice.”

“Once or twice? If you’re gonna live in California this summer I want to see you guys all the time. This is crazy. I can’t believe you two are doing this. I mean, it makes sense that Garret would. He’s totally in love with you. But I can’t believe you’d agree to live with him. You always act like you’re afraid to get serious with him.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. So where in California?”

“Garret thinks we should go somewhere north of LA. He’s going to ask his dad’s real estate agent to help us find a place.”

She picks up her phone and starts tapping on the screen. “Tell him not to. I know people who could get you a better place and a better deal, not that Garret cares about the price.”
 

“We need a good deal because I’m paying for half the rent. I need to find a job out there. I was thinking of waitressing.”

She puts her phone down and looks at me funny. “Waitressing won’t get you enough money to afford a place on the beach. Not even enough to pay for half of the rent.”

“How much are these places?”

“Depends on where you go and how big of a place you want. Like a one or two bedroom beachfront condo could be anywhere from
 
$2000-$6000 a week. More if it’s new or really nice. I’d plan for around $4000.”

“A week? So $16,000 a month?”

“Yeah. That’s about average.”
 

“I didn’t know they cost that much! That’s completely insane. Who has that kind of money?”

“Most people just rent them out for a week, not the whole summer. But you could probably get the price down since you’re staying for the summer.”

Suddenly all my excitement about the summer is gone. I knew a place on the beach would be expensive but not
that
much. Why didn’t Garret tell me this? Because he knew I wouldn’t go. That’s why.

“Are places that much on the East Coast, too?” I ask her.

“Some are more than that. Garret would know. He said his family rented a house on Martha’s Vineyard last summer. Ask him how much that cost. I’m sure it was a fortune. What do you care? His family is loaded. A few thousand dollars a week is nothing to them.”

“I don’t want Garret paying for everything. I wanted to at least pay for half of the rent. But there’s no way I can afford that.”

“Jade, just let him pay for it. You guys are gonna have so much fun. I should try to talk Sean into living in California this summer. He keeps telling me he wants to learn to surf.”

Harper spends the next hour telling me everything she did over break. Then she tells me what’s new with her family. Her dad’s a Hollywood director and just started work on a comic book superhero movie. Her sister, Kylie, is an actress and Harper’s mom is now managing Kylie’s acting career. Kylie got a side role in a teen vampire movie which is supposed to be huge. According to Harper, Kylie has been hanging out with the lead actress in the film and now has paparazzi following her around everywhere. Harper’s other sister is a model and travels all the time for photo shoots, but she was home over the holiday.

“Jade, here.” Harper tosses me a small wrapped box she took out of her suitcase, which is still unpacked and sitting on the floor.

“What’s this?”

“A Christmas gift. I saw it and thought it would be so cute on you.”

“Harper, we said we weren’t exchanging gifts. I didn’t get you anything.”

“Just open it.” She stands there waiting for me.

I unwrap the box to find a denim mini skirt. I usually don’t wear skirts. In fact I don’t even own one. But if I were to buy a skirt, this is the one I’d buy. The denim has that worn look and the back pockets are frayed a little. I recognize the designer label. A pair of jeans from that designer is easily $300, so I know the skirt cost a lot.

“Thanks, Harper. This is exactly my style.”

“It’s from the spring collection.” Harper’s totally into fashion. Whenever she talks about clothes or shoes her eyes light up and she gets this eager tone to her voice. “I’ve never seen you wear a skirt, but when I saw this I thought it would be perfect for you.”

I hold it up. At least it’s not too short. Harper tends to wear really short skirts.

“I got you some other stuff, too.” She starts pulling more clothes from her suitcase. “And don’t say I spent too much because I didn’t buy any of this. It was all sent to my sister by companies that want her to wear it. It’s like free advertising. If the paparazzi get photos of her, these designers want her wearing their clothes. Anyway, this stuff was too big on her and too small for me. But I think it might fit you.”

She hands me a slightly longer, fuller skirt made from a thin, almost sheer fabric. “How small is your sister?” I ask, holding it up.

“She’s tiny. Like 90 pounds tiny. Anyway, that skirt would be great with a tank top and some sandals.” She hands me a stack of t-shirts. “You can toss these if you don’t want them. My sister gets way too many t-shirts. She already gave a ton away but I saved these for you.”

“You’re giving me all of these?” I flip through the stack, noticing all the colors. Harper knows I only wear black or white shirts, so I’m guessing this is her attempt to get me to wear different colors. And maybe I will. Garret always says he’s tired of seeing me in black or white. I’m kind of sick of it myself.
 

“And these, too.” She hands me a couple sundresses. “These will be perfect for your summer in California. If I’d known you were doing that, I would’ve got you some bikinis.” She gets her phone out. “I’ll text my sister and have her save some for you.”

I don’t bother stopping her. She’s getting me those bikinis whether I want them or not, and it
would
be good to have some for the summer.

“I need to get over to Sean’s. Do you need help taking this stuff to your room?”

“No, I can handle it. Thanks again for all this. It’s like I’ve got a whole new wardrobe.”