Page 128 of Always Us

“He has to. Harper can’t end up with that man. He’ll hurt her.”

Tears stream down my cheeks and Garret wipes them away. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you. It’s no use knowing this when we can’t do anything about it.”

“But you’ll talk to your dad? Please say you’ll talk to him.”

“I will, but what’s he gonna do? He can’t get on the organization’s bad side. Then he’ll be the one getting punished, and they’ve already done enough to ruin his life. Kiefer will just have to tell them no and deal with the consequences.”

“What am I supposed to do when I talk to Harper? I won’t be able to just pretend everything’s fine. She’ll be able to tell something’s wrong, so what do I say to her?”

“Jade.” Garret gently rubs my hand. “You need to know something else.”

“No. I can’t hear any more bad news.”

“You have to.”

“Fine. Just hurry up and get it over with.”

“If Kiefer becomes a member, you can no longer be friends with Harper. You can’t have any contact with her. No phone calls. No texts. Nothing.”

“What? No!” I yank my hand back. “Harper’s my best friend! I’m not letting them take Harper like they tried to take you.” I’m crying again and Garret forces me into his arms.

“I’m sorry, Jade. But this is how it has to be. Deep down, I know you realize that. You’re just not ready to accept it.”

“I hate these people! Why do they have to be this way? Why do they have to destroy lives and hurt people? I don’t understand how they can be so evil.”

“Money and power can do that to people. It takes away their humanity, their compassion. And the members who aren’t like that, like my dad, have to pretend it’s someone else doing this stuff. My dad has two sides, but we only see one of them. You wouldn’t want to see his other side. I think William’s the same way. And as for the other members, I think they just get numb to it. They stop feeling and caring and just go along with whatever they’re told to do.”

My phone rings and I stare at it, not sure if I should answer it. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now, especially Harper. How can I just pretend nothing’s wrong when I know she’s in danger? When I know that she’ll soon be forced to marry a man who has a history of abusing women?

I let the phone go to voicemail, but a few minutes later it rings again. I go over and pick it up. It’s not Harper. It’s Sara.

“Hey, Sara, can I call you back later?”

“Oh. Are you busy?”

“Kind of. Why?”

“I know it’s finals week so I hate to ask you this, but I wondered if you could watch Caleb for an hour, maybe not even that long. I just got a call for a job interview at a law firm and the guy asked if I could meet right now. He’s going out of town tomorrow and wants to do a quick interview before he leaves. His office is really short-staffed and they need to hire someone to answer the phone and file paperwork. The job would just be two days a week for now, but he said it might become full-time in a few months.”

I don’t feel like babysitting right now, but I have to help her out. Sara really needs a better job.

“Um, sure, I’ll come over. I need your address.” I’ve never been to Sara’s apartment before. I think she’s avoided having me over there because it’s really small and run-down and she’s embarrassed by it. I wish she wouldn’t worry about stuff like that. I’d never judge her for living in a crappy place. It can’t be any worse than the house I grew up in.

“Thanks, Jade. I really appreciate this.” She gives me her address and I jot it down.

“I’ll be there soon.” I hang up and grab my keys. “I have to go watch Caleb for an hour.”

Garret gets up. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He opens the door for me. “I miss the little guy. I haven’t seen him for a while. And like you said, if I’m there, he won’t cry.”

I’m glad Garret offered to come with me. I’ve never babysat before. I keep offering to, but then it never happens. I’ve spent a lot of time with Sara when she has Caleb with her, but I’ve never been alone with him for more than a few minutes.

We drive to the address she gave me. It’s in an area of town I’ve never been to before. It’s full of abandoned buildings with the windows broken out. There are some guys hanging out on the street and they eye Garret’s black BMW and watch as he parks it along the curb. It’ll probably be gone when we come back out.

The entrance to Sara’s apartment building is locked. I look up her apartment number so she can buzz us in. But then someone walks past us and holds the door open, making the locked door basically useless for security purposes.

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