Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(93)

When the door to the testing room opened an hour later, letting KC and Jonas out, I pushed up from my seat. I still had way more questions than answers. I also hated how exhausted she seemed. It was like someone had drawn her skin too tight over her bones.

“Hey,” I said as they turned to me. Jonas kept glancing at her, always seemingly aware of her every step. “All caught up?”

“Yeah,” KC said, lifting her hair with careful motions as she slid her bag over her shoulder and then crossbody. Her stomach growled and the sound seemed to echo in the silence. “Mostly just tired.”

“And hungry,” Jonas supplied the last, and they both grinned at each other. The brief flashes of their smiles settled some of my disquiet.

“You know what,” I said as I rose and put my notebook back into my messenger bag. “It’s Saturday and I’m clear until tomorrow morning. Let me take you guys off campus to eat and just get away from all of this.”

I needed it. Jonas needed it.

My younger brother cut a look at KC who stared at me with so much tiredness in her eyes, I wanted to just take them away for the weekend. Take her away—I shoved that thought right back into Pandora’s box and locked it.

This wasn’t about anything more than looking after my brother and my stepsister. Someone should be taking care of her.

“We can grab Aubrey, if you want,” I continued, and KC shook her head.

“We can ask, but she has a date.” That sounded promising. “What do you say?” She glanced at Jonas. “My gut was to just say no and go back to get some sleep, but…”

“Yeah,” Jonas said with a slow nod. “It sounds good.” Then he looked at me. “Think we can go to Jack’s Escape?”

I snorted. I probably shouldn’t. “We can—it’s a drive.”

“What’s Jack’s Escape?” KC asked. “And should we get coats?”

I motioned them to the door. “It’s kind of an indoor theme park, laser tag, bowling, pool, video games, and more pizzeria. The food is crap, but the games are fun.”

Jonas grinned for real. It was one of his favorite places, despite the chaos.

“It’ll be fun,” he said. “Long as none of the kids puke.”

KC laughed, genuinely laughed, as we headed out of the testing building. Jonas fell in at her side and I walked on the other. It was still early enough in the day, but it had begun to snow again.

“Do you bowl?” I asked, more curious than anything else.

“Yep,” she said. “We learned how to do that for a video. It’s way more fun than I thought.”

“What about pool?” Jonas said, and it was the most animated I’d seen him in a while.

There was a sly smile on her lips and I shook my head. “Yes, she knows how to do that, too. Okay, ten minutes, get into some comfortable, warm clothes, grab jackets, and meet back here. I’ll sign you both out.”

“Ramsey?” KC said as they turned to the stairs and I glanced at her.

“Yeah?”

“Are you inviting Lachlan?”

I hadn’t planned on it. Still, I quirked my brows. “Want me to not?”

She lifted her shoulders. “Just—wanted to prepare if he was going too…you know what, just ignore me. I’ll be back.” She started up the stairs, but Jonas glanced at me with one hand on the banister.

“Go,” I told him. “I’ll deal with Lachlan.”

How? I wasn’t sure yet. But I’d figure it out.





Thirty-Eight





KC


A FEW DAYS LATER…


“It’s not good news,” Bronson warned, his tone gloomy.

“Don’t think that way,” I cautioned. It was snowing again. The campus really had taken on a magical winter wonderland appearance. The Fire and Ice Dance was around the corner, and I had a date. “You heard what Jackie said the same way I did.”

“When did you become the reasonable one?” The grumble in his voice made me laugh. Nothing about the vandalism in my room or the assault had made it into the media. Even the ambulance visit barely registered a blip on the radar.

The school actually honored the NDA. It meant I could keep Jackie and Bronson from worrying about this. Davina knew, but she promised to keep it to herself. As had Dix, but he swore one more incident and he was moving to the campus and they could fucking try and remove him.

Where I would typically just argue against it, I had to admit the ferociousness in Dix’s tone had been as fierce as Aubrey’s defense. Even the guys had become my shadows. Jonas was always there. Lachlan and Ramsey were also always around. I couldn’t seem to get more than a foot outside my room before I had one of them there.

The twins had taken to checking on me more frequently. The softer rumors going around campus had been tolerable, but everyone seemed to know something had happened even if they didn’t know what.

Thankfully, it was just me and Aubrey making our way between buildings. I’d tucked a knit cap over my head to keep it warm. The constant company forced me to be more cautious about the calls with Bronson or Jackie about Pen.

“It had to happen some time,” I teased him. “But Jackie said the doctors were never going to make us promises about everything. They have to look circumspect and doubtful. We just have to rely on the tests to give us answers.”