Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (5 page)

“What girl?” He looks back at the table.

“Don’t look! She’ll see you.”

“Why didn’t you tell her I was married?” He smiles and gives me a kiss.

“She probably wouldn’t believe me.”

He nods toward the table. “Let’s go tell her. You can show her your ring. That way she’ll stop stalking me.”

“No. Just forget it.”

“Is there a map of the race course in there?” He points to the plastic bag the girl gave me.

“I don’t know. I didn’t look. Here.” I hand him the bag.

He opens it and sifts through the sheets of paper.

“Why do you want the map?”

“I just want to see where you’ll be.” He checks the map.

“I’ll be with all the other runners. Just look for the crowd.”

He’s acting weird again. Why does he care about the route? It’s a 5K. It’s a short loop, down and back.

He puts the map away and sets his hands on my shoulders. “When you’re out there, stay with the other runners, okay? Don’t go off the race route.”

I give him a funny look. “Why would I go off the route?”

“Just be careful. And don’t get hurt.”

I reach up and kiss him. “I love you, but you worry way too much about me. If anything, I should be worried leaving
you
here with Stalker Girl.”

“Jade, we should head over to the starting area,” Karen says as she stretches her arms behind her back.

“Okay.” I give Garret another kiss. “See you later.”

“Good luck.” He hugs me and says quietly to me, “You look really hot, by the way. Love you. Have fun.”

I’m wearing tight black running pants and a hot pink running jacket with black gloves. The jacket is tight like the pants because when it’s cold out, I like having the fabric close to my skin. I used the gift card Garret’s dad gave me to buy a whole new running wardrobe. I love buying running stuff. Sports bras, tank tops, running shorts, headbands. I love all that stuff.

The race starts and I keep pace with Karen, who runs what I’m guessing is a nine-minute mile. It’s slow for me but I don’t mind. This is for fun, not competition. We finish it in a half hour, then meet up with the guys who are waiting with bottles of water. Then Karen goes home to change, and Garret, Frank, and I head back to the house.

When we get there, Chloe is in the kitchen with an apron on, mixing something in a bowl. She comes over and gives me a hug. “Jade! Welcome home.”

“Thanks. And thanks for making dinner for everyone. It smells great in here.”

The whole house smells like turkey, but also like a bakery. She must be baking rolls.

“I was happy to do it. I love to cook.” She goes up to Garret and gives him a quick hug. Chloe’s a hugger, just like Harper. She hugs everyone.

I offer to help her cook but she won’t let me. She said Ryan’s her helper today. She has him wearing an apron and making some kind of casserole. It makes me laugh how she gets him to do this stuff. It’s only because he’s totally in love with her.

Chloe looks cute today. She’s about my height and has shoulder-length, straight brown hair with blond highlights. She’s wearing a dark orange, short-sleeve knit dress that hugs her curves. I notice Ryan eyeing her as she moves about the kitchen. She’s not fat, but she’s a lot curvier than I am, and Ryan likes a curvy girl.

As Chloe and Ryan make dinner, the rest of us watch the parade. Karen arrives at eleven, wearing a dark green dress with a patterned scarf. Frank has on a shirt and tie. He almost never wears a tie, but he wanted to look good for his girlfriend. Garret’s also wearing a shirt and tie, and I have on a dark purple dress, which is one of Garret’s favorites because he loves seeing me in purple.

We have Thanksgiving dinner at two, stuffing ourselves to the point we can barely move. The rest of the day we play games, watch TV, and talk. Frank has the fireplace going, which makes the house feel warm and cozy. Speaking of cozy, Frank and Karen were getting awfully cozy on the couch when we were watching TV. There was hand-holding and some kissing going on. Just on the cheek, but still. They thought nobody was looking, but I caught them several times. And when Karen was leaving to go to work, they were kissing goodbye at the door.

That night, the guys watch football while I look over my speech again. Then I call Harper. I was hoping to talk to her before the surgery but her phone goes straight to voicemail.

On Friday we hang out at the house, just being lazy. We watch movies and stuff ourselves with leftovers. It’s my kind of day. Karen and Chloe come over for dinner, then we all play cards. I keep my eye on Karen and Frank, watching them interact. I’ve decided they’re definitely in love. Garret thinks so, too.
 

Before going to bed, I call Harper again but she doesn’t answer. She’s probably still too out of it from the surgery. But I did get a text from her mom saying that everything went well.

Garret called Sean but he didn’t pick up. That’s probably not a good sign.

We haven’t heard from Pearce either. He didn’t call us yesterday because he had his parents over for most of the day. But I thought he’d at least call us today and ask about our Thanksgiving and tell us about his, but he didn’t. We haven’t heard a word from him, and Garret hasn’t tried calling him. I was going to call Pearce myself just to say hi but Garret told me not to. He said his dad’s busy and not to bother him. It seems weird, but whatever. I can’t worry about it. I need to focus on my speech, which is tomorrow. I don’t know if I can do it. I’m so nervous.
 

GARRET

It’s been two days and I haven’t heard a word from my dad. He said he was going to talk to my grandfather on Thanksgiving, but it must not have gone well because my dad said he’d call when this is over and he hasn’t. It’s not like I thought this would end after just one conversation, but I thought my dad would at least give me an update.

I still haven’t slept more than a few hours a night. I have no appetite but I’ve been forcing myself to eat so Jade doesn’t think something’s wrong. Well, she knows I’m not myself, but she’s convinced I’m coming down with a cold or the flu. Maybe I should just pretend I’m sick to throw her off track. I hate lying to her like this. I told myself I’d stop hiding shit from her and here I am doing it again. My dad needs to hurry up and end this because I can’t keep this up for much longer.

Now it’s Saturday and time for us to leave for Jade’s speech. She’s so nervous I thought she might throw up. She hasn’t yet, but she looks like she could. The speech is at her old high school in the auditorium. There’s supposed to be about 50 people there. Jade gave her valedictorian speech to 350 of her classmates and their parents so this should be easy, but I think she’s nervous because for today’s speech she has to talk about herself and she’s not comfortable doing that.

We arrive at Jade’s high school at noon. Her algebra teacher, the guy who helped plan the event, greets us in the hallway. The guy is old and bald with thick glasses, wearing a plaid shirt and khaki pants. He gives Jade a hug and thanks her for doing this, says hi to Frank and me, then takes off to get the auditorium ready.

“How’s it feel to be back?” Frank asks Jade.

“Not much has changed. It still smells like sweaty gym socks and notebook paper.”

Jade’s holding my hand. Her hand is all clammy because of her nerves. I need to get her mind off the speech so I say, “Why don’t you show me around?”

“There’s nothing to see. It looks like any other high school.”

Actually, mine looked nothing like this. My prep school looked like a castle, all stone on the outside with ivy growing up the sides. And the inside was kept immaculate with shiny hardwood floors, walls that were kept freshly painted, and a hand-carved wooden banister on the staircase.

Jade’s school has cracks in the walls and floor, banged up lockers, and it smells like sweaty socks, just like she said.

I pull on her hand. “Come on. Give me a tour. We have some time to kill.”

Frank takes a seat on the bench outside the auditorium. “You two go ahead. I’m going to wait here.”

Jade shows me her old classrooms, her locker, and the gym. Her hand isn’t as clammy anymore so I think my distraction technique is working.

We walk outside and check out the track. Jade was on the track team sophomore year and the cross-country team junior and senior years. The football field is next to the track and some guys are out there playing football.

“I told you there’s nothing to see.” Jade starts moving side to side and shivers a little and I know it’s from her nerves and not the cold.

“Hey.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “Relax. You’re going to do great. Just remember you’re doing this for them. Not you.”

She takes a deep breath. “Keep telling me that because it helps. It really does. Otherwise I feel like I’m in speech class being graded.”

“I’ll tell you again before you go on stage.” I hug her. “But you need to relax, Jade. Seriously. You’re shaking. Let’s go back inside.”

As I go to open the door, it swings open and a guy walks out. He does a double-take of Jade and says, “Jade?”

Jade looks up and sees the guy. She seems surprised. “Um, hi.”

“Didn’t expect to see
you
here. How have you been?”

“Fine.” She must’ve gone to school with this guy, but she must not have liked him because she’s not acting happy to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“My parents moved, so now we’re in this district. My little brother goes here.” He nods toward the football field. “He’s over there playing football.”

“What grade is he in?” Jade hides her hands in her coat pockets and glares at the guy. She definitely doesn’t like him, which means
I
don’t like him.

“He’s a sophomore.” The guy’s eyes haven’t left Jade for a second, and I don’t mean just her face. He was checking her out. All of her. She has her coat unzipped and I just saw him trying to look down her shirt. I don’t know who the fuck this guy is, but he’s not going to look at my wife that way.

“Hi, I’m Garret.” I shove my hand in front of him. “Jade’s husband.”

The guy ignored me until I said ‘husband.’ Then his eyes shot up and met mine, but he’s too shocked to say anything.

“Don’t know how to shake hands?” I’m still holding my hand out. “It’s pretty simple.”

I hear Jade snicker as the guy shakes my hand. He has a weak handshake. I hate weak handshakes.

“Might want to work on your grip, there,” I say, just to be an ass. “And
you
are?”

“Josh.” He stands up straighter, shoulders back. I’m still taller than him. He’s about 6’1. I’m just under 6’4. He looks at Jade. “Was he joking? You’re not really married, are you?”

Jade holds up her hand and shows him the ring. “Actually, I am. Garret and I got married last summer. I met him in college.”

“The college you got the scholarship to?” He flips his hair back. He has one of those haircuts where it’s too long in front, which he probably thinks is what girls like, but it just looks stupid because it’s always hanging in his eyes.

“How’d you know about my scholarship?” Jade asks him.

“I dated some girls here who knew you.”

“Why were they talking about me?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. That’s what girls do. They talk about each other. So you’re really married?”

“How many times does she need to say it?” I raised my voice, which I didn’t mean to do, but this guy’s really getting on my nerves.

He ignores me and keeps talking to Jade. “You live out east somewhere?”
 

“I used to, but now we live in California.” Jade pulls her coat closed because the guy keeps glancing down at her chest.
 

I’ve had enough of this asshole. I put my arm around Jade. “Come on, we need to go.”

I lead her past the guy, opening the door for her.

“Jade, wait. Why are you here?”

She pretends she didn’t hear him as we both go inside.

“Who was that guy?” I ask as we walk down the hall.

“Just some asshole I used to date.”

Jade didn’t date much before we met. She told me she only dated like five guys in high school.

“How long did you date him?” I don’t know why I care. I can’t stand thinking of her with another guy so I shouldn’t even be asking.

“About a month. We went to homecoming together.”

Jade only went to homecoming one time. Senior year. And the guy she went with is the guy she lost her virginity to. She told me the story. She said he went to another school, they dated for a few weeks, he invited her to his homecoming, had sex with her that night, and never called again.

“That asshole was the guy?” I spit out the words as I think about the idiot with the weak handshake and floppy hair sleeping with Jade. That guy took her virginity. Never called her again. And now he tries to act like they’re friends? Like he did nothing wrong? That fucking pisses me off. And this is not the time to mess with me. I’m already fired up with rage over my grandfather and this guy’s adding gas to the flame.
 

Jade sees my anger and doesn’t answer my question.

I stop walking. “Jade. Was that the guy?”

“Garret, it doesn’t matter now. It was a long time ago. He’s an ass. Big deal. A lot of guys are.”

“Not with you they’re not.” I storm back toward the door.

“Garret, stop!” Jade grabs my arm and yanks on it. “I’m giving a speech in 20 minutes. You can’t go beat up Josh.” She puts herself in front of me.

“I can take him down in 30 seconds. Plenty of time to make it to your speech.”

“Yeah, and you’ll go to jail. You already got in trouble last year for beating up Blake. You can’t beat someone up again.”

“After what he did to you he deserves to have his face bashed in.”

“And you could end up in serious trouble.”

“I’ll take the risk.” I can’t get past the door because she’s blocking it. “Jade. You need to get out of the way.”

“No. Stop it. I mean it. He’s not worth it.” She looks into my eyes and I can see that she’s scared. Scared I’ll do something that’ll take me away from her.

Fuck. She’s right. What am I doing? I’m a grown man. I’m married. I can’t do this shit anymore. Two years ago, I would’ve beat the guy unconscious. But now? As much as I want to do that, I can’t. I have responsibilities. I have Jade.