Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(82)

“I run with Ace every day,” I reminded him.

We were almost to his door, but he paused to stare at me.

“You live with her, J, you should be able to talk to her—I was under the impression you’d gotten past the verbal blockage though…” I glanced behind us. “Maybe not.”

“She’s my friend, Lachlan.” There was a warning layered into that sentence.

“Is she now?” I raised my brows.

“Yes. I protect my friends.”

“You think you have to protect her from me?” Fuck, that actually stung. “What the hell?”

“You don’t listen. You and your friends dumped paint on her.” He was ticking the items off on his fingers. “I heard about you throwing her in the pond. You were hunting her down and kissing her constantly.”

“That was—”

“What?” Jonas met my hostility with absolute ice. “You knew who she was, just like I did. Just like Ramsey did. More—I told you I liked her.”

“You said you could like her.”

“At the beginning of the year, and then I said…”

A sigh ripped out of me. “You said a lot of things.”

“I said, ‘you know…she surprises me. A lot.’”

I barely remembered that.

“Then I said, ‘I like her. For real.’” He continued to stare at me.

Fuck. He had said that. “And you asked me for advice.”

“Kissing her wasn’t the advice I thought you would offer,” Jonas continued.

“Kissing her had nothing to do with you,” I said, locking my gaze on his. “Not one damn thing.”

His expression tensed, but I didn’t flinch. Kissing Ace had never been about Jonas. He was the last thing on my mind. I couldn’t even pinpoint why I wanted to kiss her the first time beyond just getting in her face and after that…

“You’re an asshole.”

“We established that,” I told him lightly. “Now, are you opening the door or am I?”

“You remember this isn’t your suite anymore, right?” But he was already pulling out his keycard.

“Yep, it’s why I offered to let you do it.” The fact the comment earned me another glare that devolved into rolled eyes just amused me. Jonas could be salty all he wanted. I’d kind of missed his comments to go with the sour looks.

He opened the door and a funky smell rolled out to greet us. No way Jonas forgot the trash. He had a sensitive nose and noticed it even when we bought the damn bags with odorizer in them.

“What the fuck—” Jonas’ question snapped off like ice cracking and I pushed in past him. Ace was on the floor, sprawled, and the copper scent in the air was blood.

“Call Ramsey,” I ordered as I crossed to where she was laying, face down. She was still in her uniform. She even had her damn shoes on. “Ace?”

I dropped to my knees to ease her over. There was a small puddle of blood on the floor; more of it spilled down her too pale face and stained the icy blue of her hair. There was too much of it.

“C’mon, Ace,” I said, putting a hand to her lips and the first wash of breath against my fingers sent relief spiraling through me. I wanted to get a look at the wounds.

“What happened?” Ramsey was there, just a touch out of breath. I didn’t doubt he’d run up the stairs.

“No fucking clue,” I told him. I wanted to check her skull, and find where the hell the blood was coming from. “We might need an ambulance.”

Wouldn’t the school shit on that? After all the negative press generated by the fire, having a student assaulted on campus…

The idea of someone just hurting her sent a red haze over my vision. “We need to find fucking RJ, too.” I knew that motherfucker was up to something.

“Here.” Jonas was there, thrusting a towel at me. “We need to stop the bleeding.” His face had gone ashen.

“Easy with her,” Ramsey ordered when I shifted my grip to take the towel.

“What do you think I’m doing?” I snapped. I had her resting against me and I didn’t give a fuck about the blood on my jacket. Soon as I knew she was all right, I’d be adding RJ’s blood to the pattern. Son of a bitch had his eye on her like he had on Kelly. I should have done fucking more.

She was definitely still bleeding and not moving. How long had we been here?

“We need to time this. I don’t know how long she’s been out already.”

“Fifteen minutes,” Jonas said, and I tracked to where he was holding her phone. “Maybe.” The screen was locked but a call failed notice popped up with the contact for campus security.

“Son of a bitch.” The only thing keeping my temper in check was the towel I had pressed to her head. If I lost it, I could hurt her.

“This is Ramsey Malone, RA, Apollo-Volusia Four. We have a security incident on the fourth floor. I need campus security and a paramedic. We have an injured student.”

She was more than just an injured student. Not for the first time in my life, I appreciated Ramsey’s grounded calm as he took over.

“We need to notify administration, and I need the fourth floor locked down,” he continued, and when I glanced at him, I found his gaze fixed on Ace. Unlike the three of us, Ramsey wasn’t in his uniform. Instead, he had workout clothes on, t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.