Page 131 of Choosing You

He nods. “Yes.”

I say nothing. Garret hasn’t had one of these functions for over a month. And now that he and I are officially dating, I don’t want him around Ava.

“You’re mad,” he says.

“Well, yeah. I don’t want Ava hanging all over you at this thing, pretending to be your girlfriend.”

“I won’t let her hang on me.”

“I don’t even want her touching you.”

“Jade, you know I’m not at all interested in her. I don’t even like her as a friend.”

“I know. But still.” I get into bed. “If you feel you need to do this, it’s okay. We can go to New York another time. I need to get to sleep. I’ll see you later.”

He gets up to leave, but stops before he reaches the door. “What if you came with me?”

“With you where?”

“To the fundraiser. What if you were my date instead of Ava?”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

“Are you kidding?Your dad would totally kill you.”

“Forget about him. I want to take you to the fundraiser. I don’t know why I was even considering going with Ava.”

“There’ll be cameras and press all over this event. And not just the usual photographers for those society pages. They’ll have the national news. Major newspapers. You’re supposed to be photographed with Ava. Just think how mad your stepmom would be if you were photographed with me instead of Ava.”

“Great. I’d love to piss off Katherine.”

He sits on my bed and leans down to kiss me. “Would you go with me, Jade?”

“You’re insane. Get some sleep. In the morning you’ll come to your senses and realize you have to go with Ava.”

“I’m not taking her. If she wants to go, she can find someone else.”

“But you know you have to—”

He puts his finger to my lips. “Will you go or not?”

“You’re really serious about this?”

“Yes. I want to takeyou. And nobody else.”

“I don’t know. I need to think about it.”

He smiles. “They’ll have really good food. And a band. And dancing.”

“What would I need to wear? Because I only have one dress and it’s not very nice. Well, you’ve seen it.”

“I’ll take care of the dress.”

I laugh. “You’re getting me a dress? Do you shop for dresses much?”

“No. But I know people.”

“I don’t want you buying me a dress. You’ll spend too much.”

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