Knowing You (The Jade Series #2) (23 page)

“Nobody said I could. The officer didn’t even mention that as an option.”

Jasmine sighs as she steps farther into the room and closes the door. “He didn’t mention it because he knows who Blake’s father is. He was probably told not to bring it up to make sure there wasn’t a public record of you accusing Blake of this. Plus the officer knows that you’d never win a case with Blake’s dad as attorney general. He has too many friends in too many high places.”

“So what’s the crime I’m involved in?”

“Garret’s arrest. You’re a witness. I’m so sorry about this, Jade. I’ve known Garret forever and I know he was only doing what he thought was right, but Blake’s dad won’t let him get away with it. Now you really should call Frank.”

As she leaves, I collapse on Harper’s bed. I feel like I’m under water gasping for breath. There isn’t enough air in the room. I try to take a deep breath but can’t.

“Here’s your phone.” Harper hands me the cell phone Garret bought me. “I’ll leave you alone so you can call.”
 

I don’t feel ready to call Frank. I hate telling him bad news. It just makes him stressed and stress makes his MS worse, which is why I never told him about my room being broken into or the harassing phone calls. I didn’t want him to worry. But I know I need to tell him about this.
 

I dial Frank’s number. He answers on the first ring.

“Jade, is something wrong? It’s after midnight. Why are you calling so late?”
 

“I have something to tell you.”
 

20

I relive the entire event all over again for Frank.
 

He doesn’t speak until I’m done. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry I’m not there for you. How are you handling this? And be honest with me, Jade.”

“I’m really scared. I don’t know what to do. I need your help.”

I’m sure my response freaks him out. I never tell him how I’m feeling and I sure as hell don’t ask for help.

“If you want to press charges against this boy, you can. Don’t let his father bully you. This decision is yours. I should probably get you some legal counsel. I’ll call later this morning and get an attorney out there for you.”

“No. You don’t have money for that.” I feel my eyes tearing up at his offer.
 

“Don’t you worry about the money. That’s not your concern.” He pauses. “I know I’m not your real father, Jade, but I love you like you’re my own daughter and I’ll do whatever you need.”

Now the tears start running down my face. He’s never said that to me. It’s not like I didn’t think he felt that way about me, but hearing him say it confirms that it’s true. I suddenly feel the need to tell him about the threatening phone calls and my room being torn apart and the letter being stolen. Then I change my mind. All that stuff is in the past now and there’s no use worrying him about it.

“Frank, I don’t know what to do about Blake. I mean technically he didn’t actually rape me but he intended to. But is that enough? Will they even do anything to him for that?”

“They probably won’t, especially given his connections. But that doesn’t mean you can’t press charges.”

“So what do you think I should do?”

He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I can’t make that decision for you. Honestly, given what you’ve told me, if you press charges there’s a good chance this guy will try to turn it back on you and make it sound like it was your fault. I hate to say that but—”

“No, you’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that, but it sounds like something Blake would do.”

Harper sneaks in for the third time, seeing if I’m done. She notices I’m still talking and sneaks back out. It’s now 1 in the morning and she probably wants to get some sleep.
 

“I need to go, Frank.”

“Okay, but if you need anything or just want to talk, I want you to call us. Don’t try to do this on your own. Ryan and I are always here for you.”

We say goodbye and I go and open the door. Harper is standing in the hall waiting.
 

“I’m sorry I took so long.”

Harper comes inside and hugs me. “Don’t be sorry. You two needed to talk. And while you were on the phone, I cleaned everything up.”
 

“You mean in my room? All the—” I can’t even say the word.

“The blood. Yes. It’s gone. And I got rid of all your bedding. The sheets, the comforter, everything. I put new sheets on your bed. Abbi had some extra blankets and Sara had an extra comforter. So everything’s fresh and new. All that stuff he touched is gone.”

I hug her again. “Thank you. You totally didn’t need to do that. You’re a really good friend. I mean it. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” Truthfully, Garret is, but Harper is definitely the best female friend I’ve ever had.

“I didn’t think you should sleep over there tonight, so I called Sean and he’s bringing over his air mattress.”

There’s a knock at the door. “That’s probably him,” she says, answering it.

“Hey, babe,” I hear him say as they kiss at the door.
 

“Jade, this is Sean.” Harper is beaming just having him there. She’s definitely in love with this guy. I wonder if that’s what I look like when Garret’s around.

Sean walks up to me carrying the deflated air mattress. He’s really cute. I can see why Harper likes him. Average height but muscular with shaggy blond hair and really blue eyes. He does kind of look like a surfer.

“Hi, Jade.” He smiles, showing off a dimple in each cheek. “I’m sorry about what happened. If you need anything when Harper’s not around, just give me a call.”

“Thanks. And thanks for bringing the mattress over.”

“No problem.” He plugs the air mattress in and inflates it. Then he gives Harper a kiss before heading out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.” She shuts the door. “Isn’t he great?”
 

“Yeah, he seems really nice.”

She takes some sheets and a blanket from her closet and we make up the air mattress.
 

“Jade, do you want to talk about it?”
 

“No. I just want to go to bed.”

I try to sleep but I can’t knowing that Garret is sitting in a jail cell. I keep checking my phone for messages but I have none. You would think his dad could at least give me an update.

In the morning, I still have no messages, so I get up and go to class. I’d like to just skip class today, but I have a biology quiz and then later I have a presentation in art history.
 

After biology, I head back to my room. As I’m walking across campus, my phone rings. I have to stop to dig it out of my backpack.
 

It’s Garret’s dad. “Jade, I need you to come to the house this afternoon after class. I’ll send a car.”

“Where’s Garret? What happened?” I notice people staring at me. I’m not used to cell phones and I tend to talk too loud.

“He’s here at the house. We got him out on bail this morning.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“He’s meeting with our attorneys right now.”
 

 
“Please. Just for a minute.”
 

“All right, but this needs to be quick.”

His dad is being surprisingly nice to me. I figured he’d yell and scream at me, saying I’m the reason his son spent the night in jail.

“Hey, it’s me.”
 

I relax a little just hearing his voice. “Garret, I’m sorry about all this. I don’t understand what—”

“Jade, stop it. None of this was your fault. This all happened because of Blake. You didn’t do anything to cause this. And I swear I’ll fucking kick his ass again if he said anything to make you think that.”

Garret’s right. It’s not my fault he’s in this mess, but for some reason I still feel some responsibility for it. Maybe just by the fact that Garret’s dating me. Bad things always happen to me and now I’ve brought him along for the ride.
 

“Are you okay?” I ask him.
 

“I’m fine. And Blake is fine. I just busted his nose. I’m sure he’s in pain from the bruises I left on him but I really don’t give a shit. He deserved it.”

“But there was all that blood.”

“I broke his nose pretty bad. He’s having surgery on it.”

“So he’s still pressing charges?”

“Yes. But we’re working on that now. I’m talking with our lawyers. I need to get back, but I’ll see you at the house later.”

We hang up and I go meet Harper for lunch but I can’t eat. I’m too anxious about this afternoon. Garret’s dad didn’t say anything about why I’m going to his house.
 

At art history class I manage to get through my presentation, but it doesn’t go as smoothly as I’d planned. I’ll probably get a B or C on it, breaking my string of A’s. Now I’ll have to study even harder for the final.

A driver is waiting for me when I get back to my dorm. He approaches me as I walk in.
 

“I just need to put my stuff away and then we can go,” I tell him.

“They want you to spend the night, so you’ll need to pack some things,” he says.

Spend the night? I don’t question the guy. He probably has no clue what this is about either. I go to my room and toss some clothes in a garbage bag.

When I get to Garret’s house, I notice a row of luxury vehicles lined up out front. I assume they belong to the legal team gathered inside.
 

Katherine greets me at the door. Well, greet’s probably not the right word. She doesn’t even say hello. She looks annoyed that I’m there and says “follow me” as she leads me to the study, which I’ve learned is just a name rich people use for a room that contains a lot of books. I go in there and find a bunch of men in suits sitting around a table. Garret sees me and bursts from his chair.

“Garret, we’re in the middle of something here,” the one lawyer says.

“Yeah, I know. I won’t be long,” he says as he leaves the room, dragging me with him. As soon as we’re in the foyer, he hugs me almost as tight as last night.

“Garret, what’s going on here? What happened last night?”

He takes me into the dining room so we can talk privately. “I spent the night in jail and got out on bail this morning. Blake’s charging me with assault.”

“But he caused this. You were just protecting me.”

“Yes, but Blake is pissed and so is his dad, so they’re trying to punish me. And that’s not all.”
 

“What do you mean?”

He takes both my hands in his. “Blake made up this story about you and him being a couple. He told the cops you’d been sleeping together for months.”

“That’s insane! I hate the guy!”

“I know. But he’s saying it to make it look like what he was doing with you was consensual and that I was jealous and that’s why I beat him up. That way we both get the blame and he looks like the helpless victim.”

“How did this even happen? How did he know to come to my room last night?”

“I fell asleep on the bus and he took my phone. He sent the text that told you to leave your door unlocked. When I got back, I dropped my stuff off and then I went to your room. Blake knew I was coming to see you. I swear he planned the whole thing. He wanted me to walk in on it.”

“So what happens now?”

“We need you to talk to my lawyers and go over what you’re going to say to Blake’s lawyers when you explain the story.”

“I know what to say. I’ll just tell them what happened.”

“You need to say it a certain way, Jade. Otherwise, they twist your words and give them a different meaning.”

“Fine. I’ll say whatever I need to say. I just want this to go away.” My eyes betray me again as they tear up. I never cry, but now it seems like I’m doing it all the time.

“Come here.” He draws me into his arms. “I’m sorry I got so out of control last night, but I couldn’t stand seeing him on you like that. I just lost it.” He pulls away and our eyes meet. “I’ll fix this, Jade. I promise.”

“How? Do you think he’ll drop the charges?”

“I can’t tell you everything right now. All I can say is that I know stuff about Blake that his father would never want to go public. Stuff that could get Blake in some serious shit that even his dad can’t get him out of. And if he doesn’t drop the charges, we’re going to use it against him. I’ve already discussed it with the lawyers.”

“More blackmail. More deals.”

“That’s how it’s done. I don’t like it, but that’s just how it’s done.”

“So why am I staying here tonight?”
 

“We didn’t know how long it would take with the lawyers. And I didn’t think you’d want to sleep in your room. At least not yet. Did you stay there last night?”

“No. I stayed with Harper.”

“Well, if you want to go back there, we’ll take you.”

“I don’t want to go back. I just didn’t want to be in the way.”

“You’re never in the way. And my dad said you could stay all weekend if you want.” He leans down to my ear to whisper. “But you’ll have to stay in your own room this time.”