Page 108 of Choosing You

“It doesn’t matter. He won’t bother us anymore, at least for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he’ll try to find a way to blackmailmenow so he can control me again.”

“So you’re saying this is only temporary?”

“Just forget it. I don’t want to get into this right now.”

“Well, I do. I want to know what’s going to happen. I hate these surprise visits from your dad. And what about your fake girlfriend? Do you still have to go out with her?”

He lets out a deep sigh. “Katherine, my wicked stepmother, still expects me to attend social functions with Ava. But it’s just some social functions. Once or twice a month. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal tome. I don’t like Ava going out with you, acting like she’s your girlfriend. Doesn’t this blackmail you used on your dad work for Katherine, too? Was it something having to do with company secrets?”

“No.” He hesitates. “It’s something he doesn’t want Katherine to know.”

“He cheated,” I say quietly.

“Present tense. Not past,” he says quietly back.

“Oh. Well, you don’t have to listen to Katherine. She’s not your mother.”

“I’ll deal with her next. I’ll figure something out. Now can we just not talk about that right now?”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Come here.” He opens his arms, inviting me in. I lie next to him, snuggling against his chest. “Let’s just do this for a while.”

I love being back in his arms again. And I’m happy that he finally stood up to his dad. But I don’t understand why he’s still agreeing to go to social events with Ava.

Ava lives on my floor. She went to some fancy prep school with Garret. She was on a reality TV show last year so she tends to get photographed a lot. The show was on a cable channel and Frank doesn’t have cable so I never saw it but apparently it was very popular. Anyway Katherine wants Garret to be photographed with Ava, thinking it will boost the social status of the Kensington family.

But Ava acts like she wants to date Garret for real. Only because she doesn’t want him dating me. That’s why she’s been telling his dad that Garret and I have been hanging out together. So to think of her even pretending to be his girlfriend makes me beyond angry.

“What did you do all week?” Garret asks.

“Not much. Just went to class. Did homework. Speaking of that, aren’t you way behind missing a week of classes like that?”

“I got all the assignments online. I’m not that behind. Although I do need to do some homework tomorrow. If you want, we could study together.”

“I don’t think you’d get much work done.”

He laughs. “Yeah, that’s true. Hey, after I’m done studying I have to spend a few hours in the pool. Do you want to come with me? You seemed bored last time, so you don’t have to.”

“I wasn’t bored. I liked it there.” Garret’s on the swim team so he spends a lot of time in the pool. I actually love going there with him. I get to hang out and stare at his almost-naked, extremely hot body. What’s not to love? “Maybe I’ll swim, too.”

“Then let’s go after lunch. The pool is usually empty on Saturday afternoons.”

Last time Garret and I swam together we’d just met. Things started heating up between us to the point that we quickly moved out of the friend category. And then my mother’s voice started getting into my head and ruined everything. It was awful. I started yelling at Garret and pushing him away. I don’t even remember everything that happened. But it changed things between us. Ever since then, he’s been cautious around me, afraid to do anything more than kiss me.

The room gets silent and I know Garret wants to talk about the letter and the threatening phone call. I’m sure he’s waiting for me to bring it up.

“Garret, I haven’t heard anything more from that guy who called, so let’s just forget it ever happened, okay? Just forget I said anything about it.”

He sits up, forcing me to do the same. “That guy isn’t going away. He wouldn’t make that call and then never contact you again.”

“Well, I still have the letter and he hasn’t called back.”

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