Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(67)

I set the pizza slice down and wiped off my fingers before I picked up the can of soda.

“Did I want him to kiss me? I can’t say I didn’t think about it last year.” If I were being really honest, I thought about it a lot… “That was before he was such a dick about everything… okay he’d been kind of a dick, but he wasn’t Captain Douchebag yet.”

Jonas blinked. “Captain Douchebag?”

I grinned “Well, you guys were Douchebags One, Two, and Three.”

“He’s the captain now?” Amusement stole across his face. “Which one was I?”

“Douchebag number one.”

He grinned, but it was fleeting. “Why?”

“Cause you were an ass in the hall that day when I ran into you. I apologized and you were all dark brooding stares and cutting comments.”

“Oh.”

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a total douchebag now.”

“But I’m still kind of a douchebag.”

“Yeah, and I’m a bitch.” I hadn’t forgotten that comment. “Might be why we’re doing okay right now.”

“But are we friends?” Jonas asked.

“I don’t know,” I said after a long moment. “What do you think?”

“I think I’d like to be friends,” he said slowly, “with you.”

“Kaitlin Crosse,” I said as I extended my hand to him.

He wiped his own fingers off before he grasped my hand. “Jonas Dekkar.”

“Nice to meet you, Jonas.”

“Nice to meet you—Kaitlin, or KC?”

“My friends call me KC.”





Twenty-Seven





LACHLAN


Connecticut was a postcard for the holidays. Snow blanketing the land, the woods, and just giving it that perfect hush like the whole area just held its breath. So different from Tahoe.

No one ever listened to me when I said there was a visceral difference to the taste of winter depending on what part of the country you were in. I bet the rest of the world was the same. Maybe I’d add that to the bucket list of items I wanted. Taste the snow everywhere in the world.

The drive passed swiftly, if not quietly. I’d never been so glad to have tucked my baby into valet at the airport before we left. Especially as I followed the winding roads back to the school.

My phone vibrated away in the cradle where it was charging, and I just ignored it and the messages coming through. Gaze on the road, I didn’t need to worry about what any of them were saying.

Ramsey had tried to intercede. He just didn’t have it in him to stay the fuck out of it. Jonas had been silent, but the look on his face when I slammed out of the living room had been telling.

He was pissed.

Once on campus, the hush trailed me all the way to parking. It was technically just the day after Christmas. I lucked out on finding space on the redeye when my calls to Dad had gone to his secretary. He was at some “retreat” for the holidays.

Translation, Dad was shacking up with a new mistress and wanted to burn off some stress between her thighs before the world went back to work. I could appreciate the idea. Fuck knew, I’d love to be buried between a pair of very specific thighs right now.

Only I had a feeling Ace wouldn’t take the edge off me in any way, just make me want more. I wanted her so fucking much right now, my hard-ons were getting permanent zipper imprints from their regularity. I hadn’t jacked off this much since I first discovered how good it felt.

With everyone gone, I got to take advantage of covered parking, slotting the car right into a handful of spaces that were available. Leaning back against the seat, I sat there with the car idling.

Maybe I should have gone down to L.A. Jonas and Ramsey had been discussing Ace and Los Angeles, but they both clammed up when I was around. Nice to see my brothers were getting along and unified by something.

Assholes.

Smothering a yawn, I shoved open the door to the car and climbed out. I needed a stretch, then a good run. A long one. After, I’d shower, then try to sleep. The agitation buzzing under my skin had only grown worse on the flight and not better.

I’d even tried listening to Ace sing to get myself to relax. That just left me with another fucking boner.

Obsessed. Absolutely obsessed and I couldn’t deny it anymore. I had photos of her on my phone. Some I’d saved from social media and the stupid gossip sites—which I’d also found myself searching religiously. Desperately hungry for any word of her.

It had been ten days since the last time I saw her in person, and it was killing me. The worst part of all of this, I wasn’t the melodramatic one. If I could just text her, that might help—but I didn’t actually have her number. Go fucking figure.

If Ramsey and Jonas had it, they were not sharing. Once back inside, I turned up the heat in Ramsey’s suite. They turned it all down when the dorms were empty to barely warm enough to keep shit from freezing.

Absolutely economical. Absolutely fuck the idea of huddling in a freezing suite. In my room, I dropped my bag in the closet, stripped down and changed into running clothes. Irritation kept me pretty warm at the moment.

Layers for running in the cold were necessary. I needed the moisture-wicking below the jacket to keep as dry as possible while also not inviting freezing too. Once I had my shit on, I dug around for my headphones.