Page 16 of Always Us

“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.

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