Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(105)

“If I put it on your door, will you look at it?”

Turning to face him, I sipped the coffee. “No.”

He blinked.

“I don’t want to look at it. If you want Dad to do another of your songs, get him to add the lyrics to it. He used to be good at it.” I grabbed the toast as it popped up. “I have to meet Aubrey at the library.”

I was almost to the door when he said, “I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

“Yeah well, you spend enough time with Gibson Crosse and you figure out he’s going to do whatever the hell he wants. But enjoy being the favorite,” I said and despite all my attempts, I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice.

It wasn’t Jonas’ fault that he was the favorite. Anymore than it was my fault or Bronson’s that we’d been born, or any of the members of ‘we could have been in a condom’.

Pivoting, I looked into his gray eyes for the first time in weeks. “Be careful with him, Jonas,” I told him.

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because he has a way of making you feel like you’re the center of the world, then moving on and leaving you spinning. Just be careful—I gotta go.”

There, I warned him.





“Your mother is getting married,” Trish said and I pulled the phone away to stare at it for a moment then put it back to my ear.

“What?”

“She’s getting married, the first week of June, and she wants you to be the maid of honor. I’ll send you all the details. Make sure you’re free and update me on your measurements so I can get the dress ordered—”

“Trish,” I cut into her. I’d heard nothing from Mom in months and she was out of her retreat and now she was getting married. “Who is she marrying?”

“Oh, I don’t know, honey,” Trish said. “I don’t really worry about that part. She’s had a string of broken engagements, this will probably go the same way…”

“Is it Johnny?”

“No,” Trish said with almost audible wince. “Oh honey, she didn’t tell you?”

Of course ,she didn’t. “They broke up.”

“Yeah, at Christmas.” And Johnny hadn’t said a word because he was a decent guy.

Fuck.

“Just make sure you’re here for the wedding, okay?”

“Sure…why not…”





It was pouring rain when I finished my second to last final for the year. One more. Just one more and I was free. I pushed out of the building with the flow of students on their way toward freedom.

I pulled the phone out of my bag and turned it on to check. The only times I shut it off were for tests. The message on my screen robbed me of all the relief finishing the exam had given me.

Jackie



Call me.





I went hot then cold as I pressed her contact and hurried away from the other students. I didn’t care if I got wet.

“That was fast,” she said in an almost too bright tone. “I thought it might take you a little longer.”

“Finals week,” I told her. “I’m almost done.”

“Oh, honey, then go focus on your—”

“Jackie,” I said, trying to quell the sinking feeling in my stomach and the hard slap of my heart that seemed too damn loud. “Tell me.”

It was bad news.

Her soft sigh shredded me. “The chemo isn’t working. They want to try another cocktail, but she’s got to get stronger again and right now…”

Heat burned in my eyes. It isn’t working. They want to try another. The last couple of rounds had taken a lot of out of Pen. They were worried about the weight loss. She also had a cold. She was back in the hospital.

I angled away from the buildings as Jackie went over everything the doctors said. I didn’t care about the hair plastering to my scalp or the rain soaking through my shirt.

“So,” Jackie said. “This is where we are. Bronson’s already been tested. He’s not a match. But you need to be tested next.”

“I’ll do it as soon as I’m there. Have we checked everyone else?”

“Only Trace is older than you and Bronson. He’s not taking calls. Or at least, he isn’t taking mine. Everyone else is too young for this, at least right now. We’ll just cross the bridge when we come to it.”

Trace didn’t take a lot of people’s calls. “I’ll call him. We don’t talk as much, but he usually takes my calls. Can you see who I need to talk to about booking the appointment and what I need to do?”

I checked my watch, the pain clogging my throat made it hard to even talk. “My final exam is the day after tomorrow. I’ll get flights booked for that evening.” I didn’t need to be here for graduation. The grand experiment had been a grand fucking flop. “I’ll get there as soon as I can. Fuck, I can just blow off the last test and come now.”

“You will not,” Jackie said firmly. “You will finish the last exam, take a beat, catch your breath, then come home. Even if you got here tomorrow morning and tested as a match, it could be a week or two before they would even move on it.”

Oh.