He reaches around my waist this time, pulling me into him. “What’s wrong with you? Are you mad at me or something?”
“No.” I try to squirm away.
“Jade, what the hell? We just had a great weekend. Why are you mad at me? I didn’t do anything.”
I break free from him and pick up the magazines sitting on the floor. “This is why.” I hand them to him.
“You’re mad at me about some magazines?” He takes them over to my bed and sits down. “I had nothing to do with this. I told you these things are all lies.”
“Then how do you explain the prom photo? Did you take Ava to prom? You made it sound like you two weren’t even friends in high school.”
He holds up the magazine. “This was a group photo. Ava was standing next to me and they cropped it so it would look like we were together. I didn’t take her to prom.”
I feel like an idiot, but then I remember Ava’s comment about dating him. “So you two never dated? Even when you were 15? That was all just a lie?”
He sets the magazines down. “Wediddate when we were 15. But only for a month, if that.”
“And you didn’t think you should tell me this?”
“I didn’t think about it until you brought it up. I was drinking a lot back then. I barely even remember dating her.”
“You didn’t . . . you know, do anything with her, did you? I mean, you were only 15 so—”
His eyes shift down to the floor.
“Garret, please tell me you didn’t sleep with her.”
He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
“You slept with Ava?”
Anger is growing inside me so fast I feel like I’m losing all control over it. I need to get it out of me. I need to run. It’s cold out, but I have to get rid of this anger. I go to my drawer and pull out a sports bra and my running pants.
Garret meets me at the dresser. “Jade, just let me explain.”
“What’s there to explain? You slept with the girl I hate more than anyone else at this school.” I turn my back to him and rip my shirt off. I quickly switch bras, then yank my jeans off and try to maneuver my legs into the tiny opening of my running pants.
“Would you just stop for a second?” He spins me around and puts his hands on my shoulders. “It was a long time ago. I wasn’t even the same person back then.”
My tight running pants are nearly impossible to get on from a standing position and it’s even harder when Garret’s holding me down like this. My pants aren’t even up to my knees when he scoops me up and places me on the bed, sitting me up against the headboard.
“I need to pull my pants up. I can’t move my legs.”
“Good. It will force you to listen.” He holds my arms by my side. “You can’t get mad at me over stuff from my past. I didn’t tell you about Ava because it was four years ago and I only dated her for a few weeks. We had sex one time. That’s it. The rest of the time we just hung out at parties and drank. I don’t even remember taking her out on a real date. It was nothing. She’s making it sound like more than that to create drama for the show.”
“So you never took her on a date, but you had sex with her? That’s great to hear.”
“I was drunk when it happened. It was at a party. We went in a room and things went too far.”
“Was she your first?” I can barely look at him. Just thinking about him with Ava makes my chest tighten up. “You were only 15, so I guess she had to be.”
He looks down and shakes his head side to side. “No, she wasn’t my first.”
“I probably don’t want to know the answer to this, but when exactly was your first time? Were you younger than 15? Please say no.”
“I had just turned 15. I was at a summer leadership camp up in Maine. The girl was from Boston. She was 17 and we never talked again after that week.”
