Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(51)

The one below it had me and RJ from when he’d shown up on campus—that was only a few weeks ago. He was asking me out, and not ten minutes later, Ramsey kissed me.

I rubbed the back of my neck as I kept scrolling down. Never read the articles about yourself. They would only frustrate you. In this case, me.

Problem: Daughter Like Mother?

A picture of Ramsey kissing me. Another of Johnny giving me the hug. A third of Dix with a hand at my lower back to get me in the car.

Not only does it look like the soon-to-be 18-year-old is following in her mother’s footsteps, it looks like she might be following her in the sheets.

My jaw fell open. That was disgusting.

As seen here, three of the guys she’s been spotted with are not only brothers, they’re her stepbrothers.

Then the article was off to the races, detailing my father’s marriage to their mother. The last few lines of the article made my blood boil though.

Spotted in Los Angeles, with no sign of Mommy anywhere. Problem Child with her mother’s lover, the adult film star Johnny Pound. So, not only is she after her stepbrothers, now she’s after her mother’s lover.

The urge to throw my phone surged through me. At the end of the article, it recommended a linked one.

Parents Group Calls for Boycott of Torched

Do we really want our children listening to trash rock by a girl with no morals?

I threw my phone.





Twenty-One





LACHLAN


The ringing of my phone had me rolling over to stare at it. Only the family rang through the do not disturb. I’d forgotten to change that. Mom’s face popped up on the screen as it continued to ring.

Yeah, no. I put it down and let it roll over to voicemail. Flopping onto my back, I hooked an arm over my eyes as I debated going back to sleep. The phone started vibrating like mad. If I didn’t look at her messages, I wouldn’t be lying when I said I didn’t see them. Maybe they didn’t come through.

Leaving the phone next to the bed, I dragged myself up and pulled on my running clothes. Ace had been getting clever about dodging me, but the heavy snowstorm meant she’d have to go to the gym.

I warmed up, then headed out and “forgot” my phone on the nightstand. Ramsey stood in the kitchen, his eyes bloodshot and his glasses on. Someone had skipped their contacts today. He gave me a baleful look.

“I didn’t do it,” I told him as I grabbed a bottle of water out and twisted it open.

“No,” my older brother informed me in that too patient tone. “You most definitely did it. So did I.”

The last three words came out almost grumpy. Yeah, he’d been caught kissing Ace. “It’s not happening again.”

He blinked at me. “What?”

“You kissing Ace. It’s not happening again.” I was a perfectly reasonable guy. She was determined to teach me a lesson and I was willing to take my lumps. My brother could even try to say he didn’t know how serious I was… he couldn’t say that after the news broke.

Rather than answer me, he just shook his head and turned back to the coffeepot. His phone was going off and Mom’s name came up. Ramsey barely even looked at it.

Like me, he skipped sending it to voicemail. “Avoiding Mom, too?”

Ramsey grunted.

“That wasn’t a no. If you want to answer it…” I reached for his phone and he pivoted to glare at me.

“Don’t you dare,” he snapped, and I chuckled, raising my hands as I backed off. “This isn’t a damn game, Lachlan.”

“Sure it is. We’ve been reading stories about her for years. This is just the first time we got swept up into it.” I didn’t actually mind that part. “Wish RJ wasn’t in those fucking pictures, or the porn guy.”

Or that asshole who had been taking her out dancing. But considering I knew how “accurate” the picture with me was and what they didn’t show, it gave me doubts about the rest.

“I don’t see her sleeping with her mother’s lover,” Ramsey said without any prompting. "I also don’t see why any of it was newsworthy.”

“Aww, you embarrassed?” Ramsey didn’t date much. Or when he did, he kept them far away from the rest of us. To be honest, I couldn’t think of his last girlfriend.

“No,” he lied, then shook his head as he filled his mug. “I just wish that something private could be kept private.”

That seemed unlikely.

“And it doesn’t bother you?” Ramsey challenged.

Scratching my jaw and grimacing at the stubble, I shrugged. There had been a lot of press that night in Los Angeles. Somehow, the wrecked car stayed out of it, and for that, I was glad. I hadn’t liked how terrified she’d been.

“Not a fan.” I could admit that much. The idea of staking my claim publicly? I could get behind that. “But, I like it even less that a couple of those pictures came from here on campus.”

Putting his coffee cup down, Ramsey picked up his phone. I took a long pull of water as he studied the images. “No one was around when she and I took that walk…”

“What were you walking? Your tongue?”

“Don’t be an ass,” Ramsey muttered. “I was just trying to tell her to stay away from RJ.”