Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(52)

Oh, he had my attention. “That prick was there?” I’d already knocked the shit out of him once. I was starting to think I needed to just bury him. “Speaking of which, why the fuck is he back on campus? He’s not going to the college.” I’d checked.

“Mentor program.”

I stared at him, but he didn’t crack a smile or a joke. Scoffing, I shook my head. No way. “For fucking real?”

Ramsey sighed. “Unfortunately. His parents and the dean are close, he needs more counseling and service experience, so he’s back on campus to mentor younger students.”

That just made my blood run cold. “They aren’t giving him any girls, right?”

“Far as I know,” Ramsey said with a sigh. “I haven’t been able to find out much other than he is a mentor and he’s specifically working with one of the political clubs. But he is trying to get KC to go out with him.”

“He has a death wish.” One I was more than happy to grant.

“You can’t kill him.”

“No, I can kill him. I just have to be prepared for the consequences.” Currently, I was on the side of worth it, if it meant he never so much as glanced at Ace again. “I will not let what happened to Kelly happen to her.”

I couldn’t survive it. Kelly…

“Don’t,” Ramsey said firmly. “Don’t go there. We’re not going to let any of it happen. This is one good thing about her being Jonas’ roommate.”

Yeah, he hated RJ too. Course, currently he also hated me—us. “Jonas isn’t talking to you, is he?”

Yeah, I didn’t expect him to answer that. As it was, Jonas had gone cold as soon as the news broke. Long fucking flights back from Tahoe.

“Go stalk her running,” Ramsey said. “That’s where you’re heading, right?”

“Maybe.” But since he didn’t want to answer my questions, I headed out to lay my eyes on the beautiful blue-haired menace that preoccupied my waking hours. Even when I should be focused on tryouts for a college team or looking to go semi-pro, I was here…chasing a girl.

The next couple of weeks were interesting. I’d never been the subject of that kind of gossip before. Mom always kept us out of all of it. She blended into the background when they came to see Gibs, and otherwise, she didn’t want us spoiled by the spotlight and the ten seconds of notoriety and fame.

Look at KC. The girl had a reputation…

She did. But I had to wonder how much of that was real and how much of it was bullshit.

More than a few students threw me some side-eye. One of the jerks made some crack about fucking my sister and I didn’t have to lift a finger, Jonas came out of nowhere and popped him.

When he got called to speak to the dean, I accompanied him. After all, I was a witness and I didn’t see anything except Jonas trying to help a guy tripping. His face catching on Jonas’ fist must have been an unfortunate accident.

Since it was our word against dipshit’s, Jonas got a warning and I got a dirty look.

“Still not talking to me?” I asked when he stalked away as soon as we were outside.

He didn’t even bother to lift a middle finger.

“Ouch, baby brother, that hurts.”

Still nothing.

My phone rang and I checked it. Mom had been persistent as fuck for days. I don’t think we’d heard from her this much in a two-week period since we started at Blue Ivy. It was too hard for her to talk to us on the phone. She missed us too much.

Not Mom.

Dad.

“Hey,” I said as I answered. “Everything good?” We didn’t talk that much during the week. Most often, I got a call on Sunday nights or we scheduled one. He tended to be busy on the day to day, and if he had a court case? Yeah. He was doing well to remember my name.

“It’s fine. I wanted to talk to you about this girl in the news…”

“Ace?” I glanced around the hall, then ducked outside. If I was going to have a conversation about her, I didn’t need anyone listening. I didn’t give a shit what they said about me, but I preferred to not be weaponized.

“The lead singer of… Torched,” Dad said with a question mark at the end. “Is that an actual band name?”

“Yes, Dad,” I said, chuckling. “A little too pop for your tastes though.”

“Huh,” he grunted and the wheels on his chair squeaked as he sat back. I could picture him in his office. He’d been doing legal work for labels for years. But it wasn’t for their music, he just enjoyed the work. He preferred a harder, grittier rock. He was one of Gibs’ biggest fans. “Regardless, I think you need to think about this before you get too involved.”

Get too involved? I paused and glanced up at the gray clouds moving in. It smelled like snow out here. One of my favorite seasons, here or Tahoe. Anywhere that involved the cold.

“Dad, are you calling to give me dating advice?” Because that was just not us.

“Fuck no,” he said with a laugh. “I’d be a terrible source. Clearly.”

No comment.

“That said, you have plans. A sports career you’re planning on building. You wanted to get into the pros and then coach, maybe train… getting involved with someone like—KC—Kaitlin Crosse, is she Gibs’ girl?”