Mad Boys (Blue Ivy Prep, #2)(95)

“Pfft, you have nothing to be sorry about. I just—I feel like each time I look away, you might not be there when I look back.” Emotion clouded her expression and she gripped my hand. I squeezed hers back. “That’s unacceptable. You know that, right?”

I crossed my heart, then hugged her. “I’m not going anywhere without kicking and screaming.”

Her groan-filled laugh dragged over me. “That doesn’t help.”

“Yes, it does,” I teased as I leaned back. “Now, go have fun with Forrest. We’ve had enough gloom this week. I’d love to hear some good stuff.”

Studying me, Aubrey squeezed my arms. “Promise not to go off alone? Not even to run in the snow and the quiet to get your head together?”

Yeah, she knew me. “I promise. If I need to run, I’ll go to the gym and I’ll see if Jonas wants KC-watch.”

“The answer to the last is yes,” she said with a smirk.

“Go away now,” I said before she started and she chuckled, even if she looked pointedly at my door. Withdrawing, I closed it and waited until I heard her door close on the other side before I leaned back against the door and sighed.

I hated being separated from her, and at the same time, she was right there. A note from Jonas was pinned to my door.

Have to meet with my adviser. Couldn’t change appt. Be back by dinner. Text if you have to go somewhere.

Below it, he’d written his number.

All this time and we’d never exchanged phone numbers. Then again, we didn’t have the most conventional of relationships, even for a friendship. I put his number in my phone, then fired off a message.

Me



It’s KC. Got your note. Making sure you have my number too.





He answered with a thumbs up on the message, but nothing else. Then again, he was meeting with his adviser. I carried his note into my bare-bones room. The idea of decorating it for anyone else to trash or burn just didn’t sit well with me.

The note also reminded me of the fact he’d left me a note that first day of school and I had no memory of it, at all. Did I not just see it? I didn’t remember throwing a message away from him. Maybe I did? The only one I remembered possibly tossing was the note from Sydney, cause she said she’d…

Oh shit, had there been two notes? It was like the memory of it was right there, just vague and uncertain. Kind of like the rest of me. Guilt raked through me. Jonas seemed to believe me, but it made me wonder. Was it as simple as a miscommunication that kicked off all the shit?

Or was it more?

Did I care to keep digging at the old wound or should I just let it close?

By the time I'd changed and made coffee, I still hadn’t come to a decision. I set up in the living room, periodically checking my phone for messages. Aubrey sent one with a picture of herself dressed for her date. She looked awesome.

Said they were going off campus to eat and then to a movie. I wished her luck. She deserved every good thing that could happen to her, I just wished that the thing with Forrest wasn’t a source of anxiety for her.

The lack of guitar hit me again as I sat down and then I glanced at the space beneath our coffee table. Jonas had pulled out an electronic keyboard and set it in the living room for me. I didn’t even know he had it, but he said he played with headphones on most of the time.

Setting it on my lap, I played through Jonas’ song a few times, just getting a feel for the music. It was halting and jerky. I liked piano. I could play keyboards. I could play a lot of instruments, but the guitar—

Frustrated as tears burned in my eyes, I put the keyboard aside and scrubbed at my face. I hated that it was gone. What if I never got it back?

A knock at the door jerked my head up and I frowned at it. Rising, I glanced at the bat Jonas had hung on the wall near the door. Moving closer, I kept my hand off the doorknob before I said, “Who is it?”

“Hey, Blue,” RJ called in a loud whisper like he wanted me to hear but was also keeping his voice down. “I’m here to pick you up.”

“For what?” I checked my phone. There were no messages from RJ on it. We hadn’t spoken in weeks. Hell, I hadn’t even seen him,

“You know what for, you finished the last puzzle.”

The last puzzle—so he was part of Knots and Chains. “I can’t.” Jonas wasn’t here and we were doing it together.

“Come on, Blue,” he said, his tone coaxing and warm. “You finished all the plays, but there’s one step left…”

“Look,” I said, straightening. “RJ, I’m not—”

“It’s okay, Ace,” Lachlan’s voice shocked me. “You can open the door.”

Yanking it open, I stared from Lachlan to RJ. “What the hell are you two doing together?” Had I actually entered the Twilight Zone?

The corner of Lachlan’s mouth curved upward and the shadows inhabiting his haunted eyes eased. “C’mon, Ace, you know you wanna know. It’ll be fun.”

I did want to know but…

There was something about the way he looked at me. He wanted me to trust him for some reason. I cut a look at RJ who wore a cocky smirk. It was like they’d body swapped or something.

And that thought just creeped me out.

“Give me a sec,” I said, shutting the door. Opening the message to Jonas I told him RJ and Lachlan were here for “it.” Should I go or not?