Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(90)

“You’re welcome.” Not for the first time, he waited until I settled on the sofa before he joined me. Only this time, he brought over a blanket. “It’s a little cold for shorts.”

“I’m out of actual pajama bottoms,” I admitted with a sigh. “Aubrey wants to go to town to get some but I just—I have bought two full wardrobes this year. I almost hate to buy more.”

“You could order some,” Jonas offered as he sat at the other end of the sofa. “I’d loan you mine, but they wouldn’t fit.”

“Well, if they had drawstrings,” I said, trying to keep it light.

"Ramsey’s have drawstrings,” he said after a minute. “I don’t like them. But he’s too tall.”

He didn’t offer up about Lachlan and I didn’t ask. “Maybe I’ll go shopping next week.”

“I can go with you,” he offered. It wasn’t the first time he offered something like that. Where I went, so did Jonas. I hadn’t missed how he and Aubrey made sure I was never alone in the suite, or between classes, or pretty much anywhere.

They’d become my unofficial guardians. It was very sweet.

“One thing at a time,” I said before taking a sip. “What do you know about Knots and Chains?”

“They are the only secret society on campus; they don’t allow others. That’s why there are no fraternities or sororities for the college students.”

“So, no Greek societies?”

“Nope.”

“Knots and Chains has been here since the school opened. I think it started as something for the legacy of the school’s founders and their hand-picked successors. They have a reputation for being a political force, but also good for business and careers. If you’re in Knots and Chains, doors open.”

I wouldn’t point out how weird that sounded, considering the name of it.

“Every year they tap a handful of students. No one knows the criteria, just that you have to be tapped by someone in Knots and Chains to be considered, then you have to unravel the knots and unlock the chains to get in.”

I frowned. “Okay, that's weird.”

He grinned, a real one flashing over his face as he laughed. I hadn’t seen much of these smiles.

“What? You don’t think it’s weird?”

Instead of answering, he looked thoughtful as his smile faded. “I guess it is weird.” He sobered. “It’s also dangerous. I was tapped a couple of years ago… If you aren’t a part of them, you aren’t supposed to know about them.”

“Clearly,” I responded when he glanced at me. “The whole ‘secret’ part of the name. Is that how you know them? You’re one of them?” But if he was tapped a couple of years before, why was he getting invitations now?

“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I was tapped. Didn’t make it to initiation.”

“Is it something you can tell me?”

“I’m not sworn to secrecy.” The blunt answer made me grin. “They tapped me. I was pretty sure I had been. I knew what it was, and I solved a couple of the riddles, followed the clues, completed the tasks, but then… nothing. The messages stopped after the Bonfire of the Vanities party.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know all of it. I think that was the night I was supposed to be formally in, but maybe I didn’t do it right. I didn’t really care. I just—didn’t know.”

“Well, they sound like they suck,” I told him, savoring the coffee and the company, if I was being honest. The idea of a secret society was kind of fascinating, mainly since it didn’t involve discussing all my issues. “I don’t really have time for secret societies or any more strange things happening. Not with everything else.”

“They are the ones who decide when to stop asking,” he told me. “You have to be careful…”

“I haven’t done all of them,” I pointed out, “and I don’t really feel like it now.”

“If they send you another and you decide to do it—I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to,” I said. “You’ve been doing a lot already.”

He didn’t shrug it off though. “You shouldn’t do it alone. Did Aubrey get tapped?”

I opened my mouth, but all at once I wasn’t certain. “I don’t know. I haven’t mentioned my invites to her—wait… you said you have to be tapped by someone in it?”

A single nod was my answer.

“If RJ was there…does that make him one of them?” To be honest, other than a few abortive attempts, I hadn’t really seen RJ. The last time was probably the day Ramsey asked me to not date him and stay away.

“Wallach isn’t a good guy.”

“Well, clearly you and your brothers agree on him.” Which, I guessed, should tell me something. “Lachlan all but attacked him and threw him in the pond. Apparently, he likes tossing people in the water.”

“Good,” Jonas said, sitting forward. “Don’t go clue hunting without me?”

“Since you asked so nicely,” I said, then closed my eyes. I was exhausted.

“How much homework do you have?” Jonas asked.