Page 73 of Promising You
I almost gag at her attempt to flirt.
Carson smiles back at her. “I played football in high school. I don’t play anymore.” He drinks his beer. “So how do you know Garret?”
Sierra’s in a daze, staring up at Carson, noticing the dimple and those deep brown eyes. She snaps out of it and glances over at Garret. “We went to high school together. Garret played football, too. He was quarterback.”
Garret played football? He never told me that. I thought swimming was his only sport.
“Quarterback, huh?” Carson nods at Garret. “So finding a date must’ve been easy.”
“I don’t remember. That was a long time ago.” Garret doesn’t like talking about high school. In fact, we’ve never talked about it, which explains why I didn’t know he played football.
“Garret and I went to homecoming together senior year,” Sierra says. “We were homecoming king and queen. Garret, you should show Jade the pictures from that night.”
“I didn’t know you two dated,” I say, glaring at Garret.
“We didn’t,” he says, keeping his eyes on Sierra.
“We just went to homecoming together.” She smiles at me with her glossy pink lips. “But we should’ve dated. Everyone said we’d make a great couple.”
Garret clears his throat. “Jade and I need to get going. Carson, just hang out with Sierra all night. She knows everyone here. She can introduce you to Decker if he ever gets here.”
“You sure you have to leave?” Carson asks, directing the question only to me.
“Yeah, we have plans. I’ll see you at class on Monday.”
“Bye, Garret,” Sierra says, as if I don’t exist.
We inch our way toward the front door. It’s so crowded now it’s hard to move. Garret’s ahead of me and I’m stuck behind a wall of bodies unable to get past.
And then I smell it. The familiar yet horrid smell that surrounded me on that awful night. I can still feel his heavy body holding me down. His giant hand shoved over my mouth so tight I could barely breathe.
My legs become numb and heavy and I can’t move forward. I have to know where that smell is coming from. It’s not from him. He’s gone. He’s in San Diego. That’s what everyone said. Someone else is wearing his cologne. It’s not him. It can’t be him.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
“Hey, shithead!”
It’s him.
I know that voice all too well. I still hear it in my head when I remember what he did to me.
The smell of him surrounds me now. I seriously think I might throw up. Right here. Right now. Stuck in a crowd of people.
I try to call Garret’s name but I can’t. My throat is so dry I can’t swallow, so I definitely can’t scream. And the music is so loud Garret would never hear me anyway.
“Kensington! I’m talking to you!”
The voice is getting closer. It’s like it’s right next to me. Shit, I think it is!
“Hey. What’s up, Ohio?” I feel his long fingers on my shoulder and jerk away from him, banging hard into the girl next to me.
“Watch it, bitch!” she yells at me.
I spin around and see Blake right in front of me, leering at me with that sick grin. The same one he gave me that night.
Someone yanks me back. It’s Garret and I can feel his anger as he shoves himself in front of me.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Garret screams it so loud that everyone around us stops and stares, their chattering quieted to a low murmur while the music continues to blare from the speakers.
