Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(30)

Flecks of spit landed against my face as she yelled at me.

Yeah…

She raised her hands as if to shove me again.

No.

I raised an arm, using my hand and wrist to divert her shove away from me. It was her turn to stumble this time. She let out a little sound of outrage. Or maybe she just screamed.

I didn’t care.

When she whirled around to face me, I slapped her right across the face. The blow made my palm burn and then she charged at me. My coffee cup went flying. Splattering us with espresso, milk, and chocolate.

What a waste. Her slaps landed, but so did mine. I got a fistful of her hair and jerked her around. Yanking her stupid blonde hair, I shoved her forward at the same time. She bounced against the sink.

She fumbled for something in the sink and I dodged the bottle of shampoo she flung at me. It hit the wall with a noisy thud. Then she threw a few more items. I blocked one and dodged another. The third hit my wrist hard enough to bruise and pain shot through my hand.

Bitch.

The water was on in the sink and I grappled with her, twisting her arm in a painful fashion to get her to drop the next item she planned to throw. The sink was filling up with water and I shoved her—face down—into it.

Her screams were silenced for a moment as she flailed and water went everywhere. Twice she shoved back at me and the third time, my hands slipped and she caught me in the cheek with her elbow.

I staggered back. Pain bloomed in my face, but I curled the fingers of my right hand into my palm and got my thumb out of the way.

We’d all learned to jab, hit, and defend ourselves. Just a fact of life on the road. I punched her. It magnified the pain in my hand, but watching her go down was satisfying as fuck.

One moment she was glaring up at me, and then she let out a real scream as she rushed toward me. I never got to make contact because an arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me upward.

Ramsey was between us, he had a hold of Payton, dragging her back as Dix all but carried me to the other side of the room and put himself between me and everyone else.

The others included Aubrey who stood in the doorway, her expression a comical mixture of shock and fury. What startled me was Jonas stood right next to her, the scowl on his face terrifying.

Thank fuck he wasn’t staring at me, but at his brother and the little bitch determined to hump both of his brothers.

“What the hell is going on?” Ramsey demanded.

“She attacked me,” Payton screamed, instantly bursting into tears. “She was going to kill me.” Then she threw herself at him and despite the pain in my face and my hand, I just rolled my eyes.

“She’s a psychopath,” I said without an ounce of her manufactured dramatics. “No fucking way am I sharing a room with her…”

Or anything else.

Ever.





Thirteen





RAMSEY


Determination, not rage, flooded KC’s eyes. The red mark on her cheek promised a bruise, water splattered her shirt, there was coffee on the floor, and the air around her solidified from chaos to almost tranquil.

It didn’t matter what happened next, she’d made up her mind. I could read it in the lift of her chin, the professional mask sliding over her face and the total lack of tears and weepiness. Payton, if anything, seemed to grow louder. The fact she sniffled against me was uncomfortable enough. Add in the soaking wet hair and the water trail it created on my clothes just added to the overall unpleasantness. Combine all of that with the total lack of dramatic meltdown coming from KC and it was a stark contrast.

“Rooms are at a premium,” Aubrey said slowly. “Not sure we’re gonna find an empty…”

“I have one,” Jonas offered. I wasn’t the only one who jerked my gaze to him. Payton sniffled loudly and straightened.

“Thank you, Jonas,” she said in that tear-soaked voice. “I accept.”

“No,” Jonas said abruptly and with his characteristic lack of tact. “Not you. KC. KC can stay in my suite. There’s a whole empty room there.”

Fuck…

I barely had time to process that before Payton started sobbing all over again. The sound was…obnoxious.

“Why?” The question came in that husky, smoke-damaged voice. It was hard to believe the sound came from the same person who sang some of the fluffiest pop songs. It also made me hurt for her.

“What?” Jonas pivoted to face her.

“Why are you inviting me to stay?”

Because he was absolutely crazy about her. The crush had been troublesome in the beginning, then downright dangerous as Jonas had grown more and more obsessed.

KC moving in with him was not the best idea. He didn’t always handle emotional conflict well, especially when he wasn’t sure how he should react. Jonas didn’t process like the rest of us. Not normally a problem, but the last year it had escalated into violence…

“If we have to,” I said slowly. “KC can stay with me. The RA suites are larger…”

The look KC sent me was not encouraging. The sobs from Payton cut off, she lifted her face. The faint redness to her eyes the only real betrayal of her tears. With her palms, she wiped her damp cheeks.

“Why can’t I stay with you?” Payton demanded, genuine hurt in her voice. Payton really needed to stop all of this. It was one thing to be playful, but this was not that. “Then the antisocial bitch can stay here with her bitchy friend.”