Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(94)

“I hate this shit,” he muttered, his voice dipping. “I hate that everything is wait and fucking see.”

“Me too.”

The silence stretched out between us as Aubrey and I just walked.

“Tell me something fun? Or good?” Like me, Bronson sometimes just needed something to hold onto. A positive thought or moment. Something that said we were going to be okay. “You guys hitting the studio after you graduate?”

I cut a look at Aubrey. What we were doing after graduation was still up in the air. I’d been writing again, but after the wreck of my room? Yeah, I hadn’t really managed the music as much. Jonas had been trying to help. He really had.

Unfortunately, each time the urge to write hit, the absence of my guitar sucked my muse dry. I had written damn near every song with it. Every. Single. One.

It was like someone had cut off my hand.

“We’re debating it,” Aubrey said when my tongue wouldn’t unglue it from the roof of my mouth. “Though I think a vacation is in order. Yvette and I want to kidnap Kait and run away for a month or two. Maybe we can disappear into the mountains or to a beach and write a new album.”

That sounded heavenly. I threw her a grateful smile and she winked at me while hooking her arm through mine.

“That sounds fun. Don’t disappear too far away though.” It was his turn to caution me and I grinned.

“Don’t worry,” I said, still smiling. “You’ll never lose me. I’m like a bad penny…” The next few words clogged in my throat as we rounded the corner, nearly colliding with Ramsey. “I always turn up.”

Bronson chuckled even if my smile faded. “Good. Talk soon?”

“Promise,” I murmured, we ended the call and Ramsey glanced from me to Aubrey then back.

“Can we help you?” Aubrey asked when he still said nothing. No amount of warmth could chip the ice in her cool tone.

“Just coming to check on you,” Ramsey said, searching my expression with his blue-eyed gaze. He’d been doing that more and more. I’d catch him staring at me, a lot like Jonas used to, with the most enigmatic expressions. “You girls were late making it back.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows raised. “Protective I get, but you might not want to tell us you’re tracking how long it takes us to get from point A to point B.”

“We took the long way,” I said, before tucking my phone back into my bag. “Something up?”

Please say nothing is up. While I’d been stumbling around trying to get my equilibrium back, I’d gotten a little too used to him—well, to all of them really—being around. If that didn’t set off alarm bells, I didn’t know what did.

“No,” he said, almost gently, and hot on the heels of the worried convo with Bronson, relief spilled through me. “Nothing like that. I just wanted to make sure you—both—got back all right.”

The hesitation wasn’t lost on me. “Thanks.”

“Are you both still going to the dance?” I really couldn’t read his tone on that one. I kept forgetting about the dance, but Jonas and I were going together if we went. I still needed to put together an outfit for it.

“Tomorrow,” I said. “Maybe—depends on how I feel.” How Jonas felt too. To be honest.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he said, stepping aside so Aubrey and I could continue.

“We got it covered,” Aubrey informed him, that chilly tone dipping to another layer of frigid. I shot her a curious look but kept my questions to myself until we were at the room. Jonas wasn’t in the suite and Aubrey hesitated…

“You have a date,” I reminded her. “And I have some writing to do…” Jonas had set sheet music on my door that morning and it was the first time he’d given me any since everything went down.

While I might not succeed, I really wanted to try.

“I can cancel,” she said, leaning against the doorframe.

“You can, but I don’t want you to.” I set my backpack down. “Really, you and Forrest haven’t seemed—”

“In sync?” Aubrey shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s focused on what he needs to do and so am I. I like him, but I’m not changing my life for him.”

“Is he asking you to?”

“No,” she admitted, then frowned. “He’s not asking for anything, really. It’s just…” She shook her head as one of our neighbors passed. Melanie? Melody? Mindy—her name was Mindy. She lifted her chin, but she didn’t say anything. She also had on a headset and was dressed to workout. As soon as she disappeared, Aubrey shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re eighteen. He’s great. But he has plans and so do I, and you know…he might end up just being that guy I dated for a year.”

“Then go date him,” I said. “Go have fun with him and don’t worry about me.” At her bland look, I raised my hands. “I’m locking myself in. Then I’m gonna play with some music and see what I can get done. I promise to make sure someone is with me if I leave.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” she said. “You know that, right? This year has been brutal for you and I hate it.”

“I know.” It had been brutal for all of us. Yvette was on the warpath. “I’m sorry…”