Page 116 of Promising You
“Thank you.” He shakes his head as he watches me wobble on my crutches.
“Goodbye, Garret,” I say, urging him to leave. He finally does and I make my way slowly across campus.
By the afternoon, I’m already better with the crutches. I even arrive at the science building ten minutes before physics class starts. Carson is standing outside talking on his phone. He hangs up when he sees me approaching.
“Jade, you should’ve called me. I would’ve walked over here with you and carried your backpack.”
“I need to do it myself. I need to practice getting around campus with the crutches.”
“I’m surprised Garret didn’t walk you to class.”
“He wanted to, but I wouldn’t let him. So is our chem paper ready for tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I just need to read over it once more.” Carson holds open the door to the science building. As soon as I’m inside he steps in front of me, blocking my path to the elevator. “Jade, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, what?”
“Are you lying about how you got hurt?” Carson has this serious look on his face, like he’s really concerned for me.
“No. I told you. I fell when I was running.”
He puts his hand on my arm. “So Garret didn’t do this to you?”
“What?” I almost laugh it’s so ridiculous. “Of course not! Why would you even say something like that?”
“Because I don’t trust that guy, or anyone in his family. They’re bad people, Jade. I’ve been doing some more research and I really think you need to stay away from them.”
“I assume you’re doing this research online? You know that most of the stuff on the Internet isn’t true, right?”
“I’m serious. These people are dangerous. You don’t want to be involved with them.”
“And how are they dangerous?”
He glances around as if someone might be listening in. “The people around them seem to keep coming up dead.”
“Like who?”
“Royce Sinclair.”
I freeze, wondering if Carson somehow knows what really happened to Sinclair. But that’s impossible. He can’t know.
I’m taking too long to respond and I have to say something to get his suspicious mind from pursuing this theory any further. “That guy killed himself. And Garret’s dad gave Sinclair’s campaign a ton of money. He wanted the guy to be president, so why would he kill him?”
Carson looks down at the floor, scratching his head like I’ve confused him. “Okay, so maybe that’s not the best example.” He looks up again. “But other people Pearce Kensington knew, or had business dealings with, have turned up dead.”
I roll my eyes. “That doesn’t mean he killed them. People die all the time.”
“They’re freaking loaded, Jade, which doesn’t make sense because Kensington Chemical doesn’t make enough money for them to be that rich.”
“Maybe they’re good at investing their money.” I start to move but he grabs my arm.
“Every politician Pearce Kensington has supported for the past 20 years has ended up winning.”
“Yeah? So?” I yank my arm back.
“Don’t you find that suspicious?”
“No, I really don’t.” I go around him to the elevators.
