Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(104)

Sighing, Yvette said, “Oui. My ex-boyfriend.” The mocking tone just made me grin wider. “‘Course, he is now my boyfriend again and we have been working on our communication skills and figuring things out. He is attending college here and we ran into each other…”

“And one thing led to another,” I said. “Then your clothes fell off.”

“Oh no, I threw them off. Jean-Paul has always had a magnificent dick, and to be honest, I did miss it.”

Laughter spilled out of Aubrey, and I grinned. “Well, good to know his dick is still good.”

“Magnificent,” Yvette corrected. “But that is beside the point. As I said, I will volunteer Jean-Paul to help Jake and possibly Ian. He is very protective, too. They can come beat up those irritating boys because how dare they…”

Yeah. How dare they. The douchebags were just—douchebags. Aubrey and Yvette devolved into a debate about how awful the guys were, and I only half-listened while my toenails dried.

My one remaining guitar had come back from the shop “good as new,” but it wasn’t the same. Even though they’d done a great job of repairing it, it even felt different each time I tried to pick it up.

“Kait,” Aubrey said, and I dragged my attention back to the present. “How are things going over here?”

“Fine,” I said. “Perfectly polite. He does his thing, I do mine.” We were just two step-siblings sharing a suite. We didn’t watch shows or share meals, and though he still shadowed me on campus, he kept his distance.

Lachlan and Ramsey had both been there, on the periphery between the dance and spring break. Now I was back on campus and we were looking down the barrel of the end of the year.

Classes were getting tighter, but I cared less. Or maybe I’d just gotten used to it all.

Graduation was coming.





Mid-April turned warm on the campus. Warm, gorgeous skies and beautiful flowers helped me go back to running full-time. I needed it. Mom had emerged from her self-imposed exile to let me know she was considering taking another movie role. That she was ready.

They told her she was ready.

Her guru or whatever. Guilt raked claws through me because I’d kind of tuned her out. Yes, she was still at the Sunshine Retreat, and she’d been there for months. Hopefully, it worked; she sounded happier.

That was something, right?





I’d gotten my speed and my distance back even as I worked on staying focused. Jackie said they were ordering another battery of tests for Pen. We needed to know if this course of treatment had worked.

The fact they weren’t sure was making me insane. How could they not know? They figured out the first round of treatments wasn’t as effective, but she wasn’t that far from a third birthday, and we still didn’t know if all the treatments were working.





“We want to discuss the terms of a new contract,” Teddy said via the conference call. “You will be graduating soon, and you’ve had a two-year cooling-off period—if you want to get serious about your music again, well, now would be the time to do it.”

I glanced at Aubrey and she lifted her shoulders. Neither of us knew what we wanted to do.





We were closing in on finals week and the whole school had turned into a seething mass of chaos and tension. Running kept me sane.

“Ace,” Lachlan said as he fell in next to me. I could pretend I had the music cranked up.

But I didn’t. “Lachlan.”

“You have time to talk later?”

“We’re talking now.” I managed to even get the words out without huffing.

“You’re also running. I was thinking we could sit down—”

“No.”

“Ace—”

“I said no, Lachlan. Based on what you did to RJ, I’m going to assume you really do know what the words mean.” I slid to a halt and faced him. “So, no. I don’t want to talk to you later. I don’t want to talk to you all. In a few short weeks, I’m out of here and we never have to see each other again.”

“You’re still mad at me.”

I just stared at him. Not his brightest moment.

Blowing out a breath, he raked a hand through his hair. “I want to try and explain. Could you maybe trust me a little too—”

“Trust you? The last time I trusted you, I ended up in a room where I not only got to see, but hear a girl being sexually assaulted on a video that you set up to punish RJ. I’ve had nightmares about her cries for weeks, and you want me to trust you?” I stared at him. “I have two words for you, fuck and off.”

“Yeah, you’re still mad at me. I thought if I gave you some space…”

“Well, you might go back to the space thing. That was working for me.” With that, I turned and went back to my run.

Douchebags. They were all douchebags.

Daddy loved them best.

Then again, he was the biggest goddamn douchebag of them all.





“I finished another song,” Jonas said, his tone quiet. I hadn’t said a word when he came out, just made my coffee. I still made him his. Just like he still brought me food. But we didn’t talk.

This was breaking the rules of our armistice or whatever you wanted to call it.