Promising You (The Jade Series #4) (23 page)

“If this plan for you isn’t final yet and it’s not happening for months, then why am I being sent away on Monday? What’s the rush? Did they tell you to get rid of me?”

“No, not specifically. But you’re not part of the plan, and when talk of my future fake wife came up and I protested, they gave me the envelope about my mom.”

“So they never actually came out and told you to break up with me?”

“My dad said they never come right out and say stuff. They prefer more discreet tactics that make their message clear. The memo about my mom’s death made it very clear what could happen to you.”

“But they wouldn’t do anything to me anytime soon, right? I mean, it would look awfully suspicious if the girl you’ve been dating for months showed up dead. Even if they tried to cover it up, Frank would have his journalist friends all over that story trying to expose the truth. Then the public would always question whether you were a killer or not. That could destroy any chance of a future political career.”

“That’s true. I didn’t think about that.”

“So they can’t kill me. At least not anytime soon.”

“You’re really making my head hurt with all this. I think the hangover’s kicking in.”

“Let’s get some coffee in you. And I could use some food.”

When we open the door, Pearce is standing there. “I was just coming to get you, Jade. Are you ready to leave?”

“She’s not leaving,” Garret says.

“Well, hurry up and say your goodbyes then.”

“She’s not leaving as in she’s not going back to Iowa. She’s staying in school and finishing the semester.”
 

“Garret, you know the rules,” Pearce says. “We’ve already decided what’s going to happen here.”

“No,
they
decided. But like Jade just pointed out, they’re not going to do anything to her today or tomorrow or next week. And if they
did
do something to her, Frank would have every reporter in the country looking at me as a possible suspect.”

It’s like a light bulb went off in Pearce’s head. His eyes glaze over and he looks off to the side. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“I hadn’t either.” Garret puts his arm around me. “But my girlfriend is smarter than both of us and she’s figured out a plan that might get me out of this.”

Pearce still has that glazed-over look. “Once an idea like that was planted in the minds of the public, even if it wasn’t true, it would destroy your chances. A good percentage of the public would never vote for you. They’d hold protests telling people they can’t vote for a suspected killer.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want people to think I’m a killer. I just want them to dislike me enough that they’d never consider me for any political office.”

Pearce wakes up from his daze. “Say that again.”

“Let’s go downstairs.” Garret walks past him. “Jade needs to eat and I need some coffee. We’ll meet you in your office.”

His dad remains standing there while Garret and I go down to the kitchen.
 

“I think you just really confused your dad,” I say as I take a seat on one of the tall stools along the kitchen island.

“We’ll explain it to him later. So what can I get you?”

“Anything. But make it something quick because I’m starving.”
 

He opens one of the big stainless steel refrigerators. “We have some ham and cheese. I can make you a sandwich.”

“That works.”
 

He hands me a bottle of soda, then pulls out the sandwich ingredients and grabs some bread from the counter.

“I can make it, Garret. You don’t have to do it.”

“You’re not doing anything. After the way I acted, I owe you. I’ll be making all your sandwiches from here on out.” He puts the bread down and comes over to where I’m sitting.
 

“What are you doing?”

He doesn’t answer, but just picks me up and sets me down on the floor. He wraps his arms around me and holds me against his body. The tightness in my chest begins to unravel and I finally feel like I can breathe. I rest my head on his chest and just listen to the beating of his heart. It calms me even more so I close my eyes and just listen.

“I missed you so damn much,” Garret says softly. I feel him gently kiss the top of my head, then feel the warmth of his breath as he remains there, his head hung just above mine.

“I missed you, too.”

“I don’t mean just this past week. I mean when I thought you were gone. I missed you like I’ve never missed anyone. I missed the future I was going to have with you. I missed the feeling of having you in my arms like this. I missed hearing your voice and seeing your face and sleeping next to you. I missed all of it because I was sure it was gone. I kept trying to tell myself that it was for the best. That I had to do it to protect you, but it ripped me apart inside, Jade. I couldn’t fucking handle it, so I drank. And I know that’s not the way to handle shit, but I just wanted the hurt to go away.” He pulls back, and when I look at him I can still see the pain in his eyes. “I knew I had to let you go, but I didn’t know how. I could barely go a week without you, so how the hell could I go a lifetime without you?”

A few stray tears run down my face. He puts his hand on my cheek and wipes them away. “I’m sorry, Jade, for how I acted earlier. Pushing you away like that. Telling you to leave. But I swear I was only doing it to protect you. I thought if I made you hate me, it’d be easier for you to go.”

I glance down. “I’d never hate you. It’s not possible.”

“I shouldn’t have given up so easily. I should’ve tried to find a solution. But at that meeting, I felt like there was no way out of this. All these rich, powerful men were sitting around a table with an entire outline of my future. And then when they threatened to hurt you, I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t—”

“Garret, stop.” I lift my head and our eyes meet. “Don’t talk about it. We’re going to fix this. We’re getting you out of this.”

He smiles, then takes my face in his hands and kisses me. And it’s like I can feel every ounce of love he has for me in that kiss. I can’t even describe it, but I know I’ll never feel a kiss like that with anyone but him.
 

He rests his forehead on mine. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I pull away before I start crying again. “Now go make the sandwich so I can eat and we can get to work on this plan.”

“Okay.” He hesitates. “But I just need one more.” He kisses me again.

“You better stop kissing me because you’re making me want to do things we don’t have time to do right now.”

“We’ll make time.” His lips brush mine as he says it.

I back away. “The sandwich, Garret.” I point to the plate across from us.

He keeps his eyes on me. “Jade, if this plan of yours doesn’t work, I don’t know what will happen with us. There’s a possibility that—”

I put my hand over his mouth. “We’ll talk about that when we need to, but we’re not talking about it now. Should I just make my own sandwich?”

He laughs. “I’m making it. Just hold on.” He returns to his spot across from me. “So how was the drive back?”

“It sucked because my idiot boyfriend wouldn’t answer the phone, so I assumed he was dead which ruined the trip.”

His eyes lift slightly as he cuts my sandwich in half. “Sorry about that.” He slides the ham and cheese sandwich over to me and reaches in a cupboard for some potato chips. “Besides that, anything else happen? Did Carson behave? Did he get back with his ex-girlfriend?”

“No. He said he wanted to date someone he could see everyday.”

“Like you,” Garret mumbles as he makes a pot of coffee.

“No, not me.” I take a bite of my sandwich. It’s really good. I always think food tastes better when someone else makes it. Or it could be because I haven’t eaten anything since last night. “For most of the trip Carson didn’t talk about you, but then in the last hour or so, he started telling me all these conspiracy theories.”

I’ve never told Garret about Carson’s obsession with the Kensington family, but I think it’s time to fess up.
 

“So Carson’s one of those freaks who believes that shit on the Internet?”

“Yes, and ever since he met you, he’s been digging up all this stuff about your family. And your company. He thinks your dad’s doing stuff that’s illegal and covering it up. That’s why Carson doesn’t like you and why he’s so protective over me.”

“Was that the first time he mentioned anything?”

“No, he’s been saying these things since I first met him. I didn’t tell you because you already hate the guy enough. I keep telling him he’s crazy so he’ll stop talking about it, but he keeps bringing it up. In the car yesterday, he said he thinks your dad’s part of some secret group and he claims there’s proof this group rigs elections and does other bad things.”

“Carson got all this off the Internet?”

“That’s what he made it sound like, but I think his uncle sends him stuff, too. His uncle’s a reporter in Chicago and he’s the one who got Carson interested in this conspiracy stuff. Anyway, Carson said some reporter ended up dead right before he was about to break the story about election fraud. Carson’s convinced that someone from your dad’s secret organization killed the reporter and covered it up. He didn’t say your dad did it, but he implied that your dad does stuff like that—has people killed if they know too much. And that soon you’ll be doing it, too.”

“What did you say when he told you all this?” Garret brings my empty plate to the sink, then takes a plastic container from the counter, opens the lid, and slides it over to me.

“I told him he shouldn’t believe what he reads on the Internet.” The container has homemade cookies inside. I take two chocolate ones and slide the container back.

“Did he believe you?”

“No. But he’ll never believe me. He’s convinced this stuff is going on.” I take a bite of the cookie. So good. Charles makes great cookies.

“That’s a problem, Jade. If he’s that obsessed with me or my family, he could find out what we’re up to with this plan of yours and ruin the whole thing.” Garret goes to put the lid on the container and I reach over and grab one more cookie.

“I’ll deal with him. Maybe we’ll have to make up a conspiracy to post online to keep him occupied. Get him off track.”

“Who knew you were so devious? This is a whole new side of you I’ve never seen.” He smiles as he holds the lid over the cookie container. “You good now?”

“Hmm, maybe one more.” I grab another cookie.

The coffee machine beeps and Garret pours himself a cup.

“I could use some of that,” I say. He gives his full cup to me and pours another one. “So I guess our summer in California is off.”

He comes over and stands in front of me. “It’s not off. Even if I can’t go, you’re still going. I already paid for the place. Harper and Sean will be there, so it’s not like you’ll be alone.”
 

“I can’t go there with all this going on. Or if it doesn’t work, then—”

“Jade, whatever happens with this, you can’t stop living your life.”

“There’s no way I can go live in California without—”

He presses his lips to mine, then pulls away just slightly. “No matter what happens, you’re going to live on the beach this summer. You’ve been looking forward to this ever since we first talked about it and you’re not going to miss out because of me.”

Just the thought of being there without him makes my eyes watery, but I don’t want to cry so I try to lighten the mood. “You’ve seen Harper and Sean together. They can’t keep their hands off each other. I can’t watch that all summer.”

He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Then bring some books and read on the beach. Or take a nap under an umbrella and listen to the waves.”
 

I force out a half-smile, refusing to cry. “Maybe you’ll still be able to go.”

“I don’t think so. Our plan may take a while to have an effect which means the final vote will probably get delayed into the summer. Come on. Let’s go talk to my dad.”

He helps me down off the tall stool. “How’s your knee? With so much going on I forgot to ask.”

“It’s better. I’m ready to go running again.”

He puts his arm around me and leads me out of the kitchen. “You’re not going running. We have enough problems to deal with. We don’t need you tearing your knee open again.”

As we get near Pearce’s office we hear him talking to someone, so we stop just outside his door. Pearce sees us waiting. “Come on in. We were just discussing some things.”

We walk in and Arlin is sitting there. He gets up when he sees me. “Jade honey, it’s good to see you.” He hugs me, which is still strange, but I let him. I’m not okay with him calling me ‘honey’ either, but he’s old and that’s probably what old people do.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him.

“I came to check on you and give you a ride back to school, but Pearce said we needed to discuss some things first. He said something about an idea you had.”

I explain the idea to them. They both listen, not asking any questions.
 

When I’m done, Pearce looks over at Arlin. “I think it’s worth a try. What do you think?”

“It’ll make a lot of people angry.”

“But their plan for Garret doesn’t even start until the fall.”

“Yes, but time and effort is being put forth now in anticipation of that.”

“All the more reason to get this started immediately.”

“We have to change the minds of more than half of the members. That’s never happened before.”

“I know the realities of this, Arlin.” Pearce looks across his desk at Garret and for the first time ever I see real emotion in Garret’s dad. He usually acts so strong and stoic. Even when Garret was shot, he kept his emotions hidden. But now he looks panicked, fearful, and furious that his son’s future is being taken away.
 

“We’re doing this,” Pearce announces, his eyes still on Garret. “If you don’t want to be involved, Arlin, I understand.”

I look at Arlin, hoping he was serious when he told me he’d do anything to help me.
 

“If that’s your decision, then tell me what you need and I’ll take care of it,” Arlin says. “In fact, it’s probably best if I manage the operations side of this instead of you. If you get caught, Pearce, well . . . you know what will happen.”