Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(83)

He’d probably been lifting weights in his suite. He hated going to the gym. He’d gotten too much shit back when he was a fourteen-year-old senior or whatever. Weird how those memories drifted up from the ether. We’d been at the school then, too. Granted in younger grades, but I’d seen the crap he’d taken.

One of the reasons I made sure no one was in a position to ever give me that kind of shit. More than once, I’d gone after some of his tormentors. Nearly got kicked out of the school for it, and Ramsey ripped into me for risking my admission to the school.

“Holy shit,” Jonas muttered, and it pulled both my attention and Ramsey’s to where he stood in front of the open door to her room.

Ramsey crossed over to look inside. I wanted to see but I wasn’t moving. “What the—” He glanced back at her then at the room again.

“What?” I demanded.

Jonas turned his ashen-face to me. “Someone’s trashed it—there’s even shit on her bed.” He pulled out his phone to snap a photo then another, and finally a third before he came to me. “I’ll hold this,” he said, putting his hand over mine on the towel. I eased my fingers out from under it and then took the phone.

The images were a horror story. The room had been completely trashed. Clothing torn and destroyed. Books shredded. Paper everywhere… and the words “problem child” followed by “bitch” in all capital letters had been scratched into the wall over the bed.

The destruction was impressive and terrifying. The door pushed inward and I snapped a glare at it as security entered a step behind the pair of paramedics. They made a beeline straight toward me.

Jonas surrendered his spot as Ramsey moved to talk to greet security. Ace was still out when the paramedics had me move. Handing her over was one thing, but I didn’t move from being right there with her. Neither did Jonas. We tracked everything they did even as Ramsey went to show security her room.

“Is there any chance she could have done this herself?” one of the security guys asked.

“Done what herself?” Aubrey demanded from the open door, then she was across the room and I had to block as her gaze zeroed in on Ace. “What the fuck did you assholes do this time?”





Thirty-Four





KC


“I don’t give a fuck who found her, she’s my friend,” Aubrey sounded pissed. “She’s more than that. She’s my sister and we have medical power of attorney for each other.”

I was going to kill whoever made her this angry. My head hurt. The sound of her aggravated tones, pitched perfectly to carry, were a repeated punch to my brain.

“You don’t have to like it.” Oh, Lachlan was here.

“Shut up,” Jonas said. “She knows more than we do right now.”

“Stop,” Ramsey’s tone was bullish and aggravated. The intensity in his voice dragged at me. “This isn’t helping anyone. Let them do their jobs.”

Let who…

There was an increase in pressure on my left arm…blood pressure cuff? What was going on? I wanted to look around but opening my eyes took forever, it was like they were glued shut.

“Pulse and respiration are good. We’ve got an ambulance on the way…”

I didn’t know their voice, but I didn’t want to get in an ambulance. Hadn’t I already ridden in one this year? No, wait that was last year.

“I’m not feeling any movement to the bone. This is good. We won’t know if there is a fracture until we do x-rays…”

Right. Open your fucking eyes.

The first things I saw were the cool blue of Ramsey’s gaze, laser-focused on me. Well, all the Ramseys really. Was he a trio now? My stomach rolled as I tried to blink and get the dancing vision to meld back into one super Ramsey…

A laugh escaped me and that sound alone made my head hurt so bad, I swore there must be something stabbing into my skull itself.

“Kait,” Aubrey said, tears creeping into her anger-soaked voice. I tried to move my head and nearly blacked the fuck right out. “I’m right here, don’t do that—” She appeared in my line of sight, the line of her mouth going tight.

“No ambulance,” I managed to say. Or at least I hope I said that cause my tongue felt almost too big for my mouth. “No press.”

One would grab the other. I didn’t want either.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she warned, taking my hand in hers.

The other one was trapped and I couldn’t move it. Warm fingers gripped both hands, and I slowly shifted my gaze to where Lachlan sat, my other hand firmly in his. The haunted forests were on fire tonight, fury ablaze in his green eyes.

I tried to swallow, but that just made the pain in my head redouble as my vision blurred again and there were three Lachlans.

Yeah, I wasn’t sure I could handle three of them.

“Miss Crosse?” A voice I didn’t know pulled at my attention and I frowned as I tried to focus on an older man, light brown hair that was receding, clean-shaven, and dressed in a suit and tie. He reminded me of the guy cop on the show with Mariska Hargitay. Only with far less scowling.

“I don’t know you,” I said after giving myself a few breaths to get the spinning under control. Mouth breathing was awful, but something smelled awful. I really hoped it wasn’t me.