Page 66 of Haunted

“If I tell you, you have to promise me you’ll keep it a secret.”

“Are you in trouble? Is it something illegal?”

“What the hell?” She fisted her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side. “Who do you think I am?”

“Well, I thought you were my best friend, Jade Trumble, but friends don’t hide things from one another.” I gave her the sternest look I could muster, which—admittedly—wasn’t all that harsh.

“Look,” she lowered her voice,” it’s no big deal, really. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years for some extra cash.”

My mind immediately flashed to the past and my blood began to boil.

“I swear to God after everything I’ve told you about mymom, if you’re about to say you’ve been hooking, I’m gonna wring your fucking?—”

“No!” she shouted. “I'm not selling my body, Henley. I’m a freelance editor.”

“Huh?”

Grabbing my arm, she dragged me farther through the kitchen, past where Sal was slaving away behind the stove, until we reached the back door.

“I was the editor for the school newspaper in high school,” she started. “English was the one thing I was good at, the one thing my parents couldn’t ruin. After my grandmother died, the bills started to pile up, so I reached out to my old teacher and she put me in touch with a friend of hers. One thing led to another and now I have a handful of authors who send me their manuscripts to edit.”

“Holy shit. That’s amazing, Jade. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“They’re romance books,” she whispered.

“Hell yes! Does this mean you can get me some advanced reader copies?”

“Wait a second. You aren’t embarrassed by me?”

“Did you get dropped on your head as a baby? This is freaking awesome. Why would I be embarrassed?”

“Girls.” Betsy stuck her head through the swinging door which led to the dining room. “These customers aren’t going to serve themselves.”

Turning back to Jade, there were a thousand and one questions circulating in my head which, unfortunately, would have to wait for later.

“This isn’t over, missy.”

Over Easy was overly busy the remainder of the afternoon, leaving exactly zero time to grill Jade about her extracurricular activities. When four o’clock rolled around,a wave of excitement splashed through me just thinking about our upcoming conversation, except as we closed the doors to her car, Jade seemed off…distracted.

“What’s wrong? We don’t have to talk about the whole editing gig if that’s what’s bothering you.”

“No, it’s not that. Actually, I’m thrilled you know.”

“Then what’s going on?”

She flicked on her windshield wipers and blinker, pulling out of her newly designated, front row spot, which Shirley insisted upon ever since our run-in with Chase. The skies held heavy clouds, but at least for now the rain had slowed from the torrential downpour earlier to a fine mist. It had been a while since Huntington had seen this amount of precipitation. With the way it had come down, fast and furious, it wasn’t surprising to see how the streets had held on to the water; splashing it up against the undercarriage as we drove through the large puddles, which were more like small ponds, in the middle of the road.

“It’s Jett. He’s been acting weird.”

“Weird, how? Isn’t that the norm for teenage boys?”

“I guess it would be if Jett ever fit the mold of your average almost sixteen-year-old. He’s special though.”

“Okay?” I drew the word out, waiting for her to elaborate.

“He’s super smart. We’re talking genius level brains here.”

“Cool. I kinda thought something along those lines when he mentioned the whole skipping grades thing.”

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