Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(65)

Jackie left me a message each day assuring me Pen was doing well on the new chemo protocol. She’d been sicker than expected, but, and Jackie emphasized this point, they had admitted her to the children’s hospital.

“I promise if anything changes, you’ll know. I will keep you in the loop. They admitted her because they were worried about dehydration and nutrition. Despite not feeling great, she’s in wonderful spirits and she keeps playing with the bear you gave her with you singing. Focus on class, keep your head up, sleep, and remember to eat. We’ll see you over the holidays.”

It was the same message over and over. It helped. It helped a lot. Yvette, Aubrey, and I were planning to do the first week of break in in L.A. at my mom’s house. She was still off at the Sunshine Retreat and hadn’t answered a single call or message. Trish had gone radio fucking silent again. Thankfully, Johnny had let me know he’d tried to see her but no luck.

Poor guy. I felt for him. I wanted to yell at my mom for treating him poorly. And I invited him to Christmas in L.A. if he was out there. He said he’d think about it, and when I promised pie from Davina, he said a firm maybe. Poor dude.

Even with the distractions, there was more gossip and news stories. I ignored them. Fortunately, it looked like Captain Douchebag hadn’t been booted from the school. That was good. A kiss wasn’t worth his job, even if he was a dick about it sometimes.

In fact, Captain Douchebag stood proctoring our literature final on Wednesday. All the literature classes for this level were taking the exam. The quiet in the room was downright unnerving. Even more, I swore I could feel his gaze every time it brushed over me.

Maybe I imagined it, but I stole looks periodically—yeah that wasn’t distracting at all—and each time, he was definitely looking at me.

Not. Helping.

It took me almost the entire time allotted to finish the exam. The fact it included two detailed essay questions made me reread, check, and rework twice. Words were important, and I had a feeling I was overthinking all of this, but I couldn’t help it.

Ramsey touched my arm after I turned in the test booklet. “Do you have a minute?”

Did I?

Um…

I shook off some of the sleepy and nodded. “I don’t have another final until tomorrow.” Awareness of Jonas waiting for me at the door—well, I assumed he was waiting for me, I motioned toward him. “Mind if Jonas hangs out?”

Surprise flickered across Ramsey’s face for a moment before he glanced at his brother, then he nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll be right with you both.”

I gave him a thumbs up as I adjusted the strap of my bag over my shoulder. It wasn’t my backpack or my book bag, just a standard purse. I didn’t normally carry one on campus, but we weren’t allowed to bring books or other materials into the tests.

There were other students threading their way out. Jonas caught my arm when I reached him and pulled me to the side just as Payton stumbled and hit the door frame. Fuck, that looked like it hurt. She shot a look of pure venom at me and I rolled my eyes.

Whatever. Apparently, the day I’d been born, I’d pissed in her Wheaties. I didn’t care, especially not right now. “Hey,” I said to Jonas. “Thanks.”

“No problem. She hates you.”

“Feeling’s almost mutual.”

A flash of a smile touched his lips.

“Do you mind hanging out a few?” I hadn’t expected Ramsey to need to talk to me, but I also really didn’t want to do this alone. For now, it would be better if I limited my time with Lachlan and Ramsey to when we had company.

Safer for all of us.

“Nope,” he said. “You don’t have to talk to him if you don’t want to.”

“I know.” I pulled the strap over crossbody and then leaned against the wall next to him as the testing hall emptied.

Lot of students in literature. The volume from the hall increased. It was like as soon as you passed through the door, you were free.

Yet, here I was waiting to talk to Ramsey. Why? Fuck if I knew. “It’s fine,” I told Jonas. “He asked. I don’t know what it is, but we’re almost done for the semester. Are you leaving Friday?”

“No,” he said, with a sigh. “Thursday night. No finals on Friday. Going to see my Dad before I go to Tahoe.”

“Cool.”

“You?” He eyed me and I lifted a shoulder. “Saturday. Aubrey has finals on Friday, and Yvette is driving down. We’ll fly together to California.”

“Spending the holidays—”

“Hey,” Ramsey said as the last student left. “Thanks for waiting.”

“Sure,” I said, facing him. Jonas didn’t say anything, but he was right there, like a comforting presence. There was something to be said about how quiet he could be. It irritated me when he would just sit there and stare before. I had no idea why.

Now, I got it. He didn’t talk unless he had reason. I could respect that.

“What’s up?” Suddenly, I wanted the biggest cheeseburger. Maybe fries and a shake. Oh, chili fries and a chocolate shake. No strawberry. My stomach growled and Ramsey shot me an amused look.

“I won’t keep you long if you’re hungry.”

He wouldn’t be keeping me at all, but I kept that to myself. Ramsey flicked a look at Jonas then at me.