Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(88)

Pen.

So many questions.

I went back to the picture of KC and the guy. I’d never seen him in the news with her and on none of the gossip sites. Was he the father?

Despite the curiosity consuming me, I stacked the pictures together and set them carefully on her night stand. There had been a board in here with pictures pinned to it, but that was in pieces.

Leaving her room, I retreated to the sitting room and a new drink. Sliding an earbud in, I turned on a podcast and went to work sorting out the shredded pieces of music. I got most of her song back together. Four of the five pages were there, and I got them mostly intact, but I couldn’t find the fifth or it had been turned into so many little pieces it was unrecognizable.

I grabbed a soda and finished most of it as I pieced together some assignments. Some notes—they didn’t make any sense, but there were lyrics jotted down. I recognized the need.

One of the last pieces I reconstructed was a Knots and Chains challenge. I had one similar to it: the riddles and the scavenger hunt would identify the where and the when.

The riddles worked out to something happening in roughly ten days.

The night of the Fire and Ice Party.

Was that what all of this was about? An initiation gone wrong? For all that they were a secret society, I’d heard about some of the insanity to do with them and their initiations. I’d been tapped once, but it ended up going nowhere.

Then nothing for two years, until this one. Now they were after KC, too. I had a few of the invitations in my room. I hadn’t cared about it, but maybe I should.

My eyes were sore and gritty when the clock hit five and Lachlan texted me.

Lachlan



Running. Then bringing food. How is she?





I stared at the message for a long moment, then answered.

Me



Sleeping





I’d heard nothing from them all night, so I hoped that was good. It had to be—Aubrey was too protective. I stared at the stack of papers, the few I’d been able to save. Then I thought about the damage to her room and the photos in there.

If she had a baby while on tour, or even on one of their breaks, they could have hidden it. Maybe that was why she came to school? She needed time to heal?

Twice I glanced at my phone and debated hitting Gibs’ contact and calling him, but twice I put it down. Should I call him? Would she want me to call him?

I didn’t think so.

After another hour of staring, I tried her mother’s apartment in New York. The number was actually written on one of the pieces of paper.

Five minutes later, I stared at my phone. KC’s mom was in rehab.

Again.

The lady didn’t call it rehab, she said a retreat, but that was what most people called rehab.

How long had she been there? The press hadn’t said a word, so maybe they were keeping it quiet?

I was still chewing on that question when Lachlan texted that he was there.

So. Many. Questions.

I flicked my gaze to the taped-together pieces. But only one I really wanted an answer for—who hurt her. I wouldn’t leave enough of them to be put back together.





Thirty-Six





KC


“Hey,” I said as Jonas snagged my backpack before I could even stand. He’d been my self-assigned personal escort everywhere since I returned to classes. Aubrey had gone back thirty-six hours after I got out of the hospital, more because I made her than anything else.

“Anything after this?” he asked as I stood. I still had to take my time and not rocket to my feet.

“No,” I said, checking my phone. My head was still sore, and I had a checkup the following day. “I don’t think so.” I scanned the list. “We have a make-up test Saturday morning at the testing center—two tests.” Jonas, like me, had missed three full days of class, and he hadn’t returned until I did.

“We can study tomorrow evening,” he said. “If you need it.”

“What about you? Are you ready?” I smoothed down my jacket and made sure I had the umbrella before I followed him toward the hall.

Jonas shrugged. “Mostly. It’s not that hard.”

I hid a smile because he wasn’t being arrogant at all. He meant it exactly how he said it. The work wasn’t hard, nor was the material.

“Good, when I want to double check stuff, you’ll be my guy.”

A hint of a smile touched his lips while he waited for me to set the pace. I’d definitely been doing better, though it had taken forever to get the headache to go away. Running was still not a hot idea. I’d made the mistake of pushing it.

I’d puked five minutes later and ended up missing three morning classes because of the blinding headache. So, now, baby steps were the name of the game. Jonas acting as escort helped a lot.

No one collided with me. I didn’t have to balance my bag on the stairs. If I needed to take my time, I did. Whether I was going up or down the stairs, he was right in front of or behind me to keep me from falling.

“Want to grab food on the way back?” He waited until we were downstairs to ask. The rainy days had turned frigid again, and the snow blanketed the campus. It was kind of picture perfect.

“We can order food when we get to the room.” I didn’t really want to go to the dining hall. It was so loud there, and Jonas never relaxed when we were there. “Don’t ask what I want,” I continued, hiding a smile as he frowned. “I don’t know yet.”