Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(70)

Then I walked in on…a very shirtless Lachlan ripping into a very naked Payton in the hall outside of Ramsey’s suite. My stomach lurched at the whole scene. Payton glared daggers at me. A momentary touch of pity for her rather unfortunate and humiliating situation died a rapid death.

“What are you staring at?” Payton demanded.

“No fucking clue,” I said, her words jarring me out of the shock. Unlike her, I had no desire to film her degradation. “And I don’t want to know either.”

Shifting my grip on the food bag, I turned and took the steps two at a time. I didn’t slow until I got to the fourth floor and back inside the “safety” of the suite.

Locking the door behind me, I put the food in the little kitchenette and got changed back into comfy clothes. While some of my peace had been disturbed, I refused to give into the unsettling encounter.

Honestly, if they wanted to play crazy sex games in the hallway while it was freezing cold—I seriously didn’t want to know anything about it. That was an uncomfortable image that would likely stick in my head for way too long.

Fortunately, some Love is Blind, garlic bread, and lasagna helped to chase away some of the discomfort from that whole thing. When I was done eating, I washed up and pulled out my guitar. The rest of the afternoon, into the evening, I worked on writing a new song of my own. I wanted to write one for Pen.

Or maybe I was writing it for me.

I worked to build the harmonies so the three of us could sing it for her. Whether we ever recorded again or not, trying to sort out all my conflicting feelings on the subject hurt…

Pen was too little to be fighting this battle. Jackie warned me from the beginning this would be tough and I had to deal with my feelings on all of it. It was okay to be overwhelmed and to need a break. That all of this wasn’t on me…

She was terrific, and I was so damn glad that Jackie had Pen’s back through all of this. She was precisely who Pen needed. Unsurprisingly, Dad had been a no-show.

I made it through the first third. It was going to be balladic. Nothing else was working for me right now. Most people wrote music before they wrote lyrics; I worked the other way around sometimes.

How it worked for me indeed depended on my involvement. Aubrey and Yvette were both way better at the basic music. I heard music, but always in lyrics. I could hear the words before the melodies. Jonas seemed to hear nothing but melodies.

It was kind of sweet.

My hand was cramping from playing and writing. It had also gotten super late. There was no sign of Lachlan or Payton—thank fuck—so I cleaned up, set the music aside to work on the next day, and crashed.

Knocking on the door woke me. It took a minute for me to even realize someone was knocking. The thump was muted; it didn’t quite carry through the closed door to my bedroom.

It was definitely dark as fuck in my room, and I didn’t even have a nightlight on. Groaning, I sat up. What time was it? The knock came again.

Then again.

Fuck, whoever it was, wasn’t going away. I shoved back the blankets and glanced around the room—I needed a baseball bat. After yanking the door of my room open, I headed to the suite door with my phone in hand. I nearly jumped when there was another knock right as I got there.

“Who is it?” I demanded.

“It’s me, Ace.”

Lachlan.

I stared at the door. “What?”

A soft chuckle carried right through the wood. It was a luscious, dark sound that teased right over me. “It’s Lachlan, Ace…open the door.”

I debated it. Seriously.

But he didn’t knock again or say another word. Finally, curiosity won out over wariness, so I unlocked the door and opened it. Sure enough, Lachlan stood there, dressed in running gear, with his coat and gaiter in hand.

“Morning, Ace,” Lachlan said with a smile as he looked me over. I probably had dried drool on my face and a pillow impression on my cheek. I wasn’t awake enough to care about that right at the moment. “I figured you’d be up. It’s time to run…”

“It’s—” I finally looked at my phone. “Five in the morning.”

“You always run early,” he said, the corner of his mouth curving. “It’s been a while, and I thought we could enjoy the run together—there’s fresh snow and it’s still snowing…”

I twisted to look at our window before glancing back at him. “I gotta get dressed.” Then I closed the door, locking him on the other side.

Fuck, I didn’t even look at my phone when I crashed. I stumbled back to the bedroom. It didn’t take me long to drag on my running clothes and brush my teeth. Fully dressed, I opened the door to Lachlan again. He was leaning against the wall and straightened.

“I’m making espresso ‘cause it’s too early to be uncaffeinated. Do you want one?” Look, words worked when you got the blood pumping. Thinking could come online as soon as I soaked enough coffee into my brain.

“Sure,” he said, another smile flirting with his lips. “Do I stay out here like the abandoned stray or can I come in out of the cold, Ace?”

I snorted. “You are so not a stray.” But I waved him inside. I dropped my jacket on the sofa on my way to the kitchen. It didn’t surprise me that he followed.

“Thank you,” he said with another chuckle. “I think.” Instead of looming over me, he settled against the counter while I pulled the shots. I did a quad for me. Dealing with Lachlan was not for the weak.