Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(64)

“Rams,” she pleaded, “I need you.”

I was doomed.

A knock on my door ended abruptly with Lachlan leaning in. “Hey, I was gonna get—what the fuck are you doing here?”

The last part of that question came out positively hostile, and I’d never been so glad to see my younger brother. I cut a look at him.

“Goddamn, Payton, you’re not a whore. Stop acting like one.” Lachlan stalked forward. “Can’t you see you’re upsetting Ramsey’s delicate sensibilities.”

Normally, I’d be offended, but he wasn’t wrong.

He didn’t wait for a response from either of us as he walked across my floor—in shoes, dammit, I’d have to sweep—then scooped up her discarded clothes from the bed. He paused to face us both. “Unless you invited her? And I mean, I don’t judge, but trust me when I say listening to her is not worth what her mouth can do.”

“You are such a bastard, Lachlan,” Payton spat, and the sound of her hand slapping him echoed through the room.

“Hardly news, sweetheart,” Lachlan told her dryly. “All three of us are bastards, something you know. Now… take your shit and your cosmetically enhanced tits and get the fuck out of here.”

He didn’t actually wait for her spluttering to form into syllables as he half-dragged her and her clothes to the door of the suite. Then he opened it, thrust her outside with her clothes.

“Now get lost before I get a squirt bottle to spray you with like the irritating cat in heat you’re behaving like.”

“You son of a—”

He shut the door, then dusting off his hands before he looked at me. “You should change the sheets. You’ll never sleep on those now, and I need to wash my hands.”

I couldn’t really argue because he wasn’t wrong. Ten minutes later, he leaned against the doorframe, watching me put the new comforter on. The rest of the bedding was sacked up to be picked up for laundry.

“You know,” Lachlan said in a far more sober tone of voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t flirt with the schoolgirls. You couldn’t handle it when you were a senior. Granted, you were young, but I heard the rumors and I remember. You shot up that last year. No way the girls didn’t notice you.”

“We’re not having this conversation,” I told him as I set the e-reader down on the nightstand. “You also need to stop thinking you're the center of the universe.”

He snorted. “I don’t need to be the center of everyone’s universe…”

“Just Kaitlin’s.”

Eyebrows raised, he shrugged. “Ace and I get each other. Not sure you’d understand. You prefer the safety of your academic bubble. Real world isn’t so friendly, bro.”

I frowned.

“But your sex life, or lack thereof, is not why I am here—though if you do decide to tap that with Payton, glove up.”

A sigh escaped me. “You dated her for fourteen months.”

“No, I fucked her for fourteen months. Payton and I have never been exclusive, and I can’t stand talking to her ninety percent of the time. She was a casual warm hole in the dark and I enjoyed plugging it.”

“And you wonder why Kaitlin wants nothing to do with you?” Did he hear himself?

“Shows what you know about girls. I never lied to Payton or led her on. Not doing it with Ace now, either. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk about.”

As rattled as I was by her surprise visit, it took me real time to notice the sober expression Lachlan wore. It wasn’t snark or sarcasm. “What happened?”

“Initiation is being set for January, and they gave her to RJ.”

“He needs to go.”

“Yes, he does,” Lachlan said as he straightened. “Are you in? Finally?”





Twenty-Six





KC


Finals week was brutal. Jonas and I spent the week mostly ignoring each other—no, not ignoring. He grabbed food one night, I got it the next. We both set up in the sitting room to study or work, but we were able to work in silence.

If we wanted music, we put on earbuds. I ran every morning, but winter storms kept me in the gym. Starting Monday, Jonas followed me to the gym. Surprised, I’d given him a questioning look, but he just put on his headset and walked on the treadmill next to mine.

What amused me was he brought a book with him and had it open in front of him as he moved. He didn’t try to engage me in conversation. Instead, he walked and studied while I ran. As odd as it seemed that first day, the next morning, I had a bottle of water waiting for him when he came out to join me.

Lachlan showed up on the second day, too. It amused me that Jonas claimed that treadmill right next to mine while I took the one on the end, leaving Lachlan nowhere to join me.

His bruised eye looked better, but I had a feeling Jonas itched to give him another one. It was just this little splash of sunshine in the middle of the intense week. I caught Lachlan watching me in the mirror more than once.

I also noticed Jonas glaring at him. It was almost comedic, the three of us not talking but looking at each other. It kind of reminded me of a sitcom where the music should get more and more Benny Hill-like.

Right, finals were going to drive me right down the rabbit hole to a mental break. It was coming. I just needed to make it to the last day of the semester before I cracked.