by Eden O'Neill
“What do you mean you’re not with him? You’re not with the other guys and the team?”
He said no again, sounding like he was getting up. “Dad got me out of today’s game. And I wasn’t at school yesterday for the same reason. Didn’t you notice?”
A chuckle followed the question, but it was a bit dry, and since I hadn’t noticed, I pressed my face to my hand. “I hadn’t. I’m sorry. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Dad just said he wanted to hang out. He got us tickets to a concert last night, and we stayed overnight. He took off work and everything for it.”
Well, that was nice for him, but not nice for me. “That’s great, Ramses.”
“Yeah, it is. Everything okay with you? You sound kinda out of breath or something.”
Probably because I was walking now, in the middle of the ’burbs in a pair of shorts, hoodie, and flip-flops. Distracted, I started waving my thumb like a loon. Like someone would actually give me a ride around here.
“’Zona?”
I said nothing, and when I whined he said my name for real this time.
“December, you okay?” he repeated. “What’s going on?”
“We’re moving,” I cried, not able to hold it in. I squeezed my eyes. “My dad’s going crazy, Ramses. He’s making us move. Freaking out and saying we’re going to Chicago.”
“The fuck?”
“Right? I left. Just walked out. Told him I wasn’t going.”
“Okay, okay. Well, where are you? I’ll come pick you up.”
I waved what he said off. “You’re not about to leave where you are with your dad to come get me.”
“It’s not a problem. We just got back, early this morning actually. We just got in from breakfast. Tell me where you are. We’ll get this figured out.”
Seventeen
December
I swear to God I was the worst. I was the worst because I called my friend like a blubbering idiot, then proceeded to do the same on his couch for the better part of several hours. Several hours turned into all day, and not only did Ramses feed me, he let me gripe about my dad. I spilled everything, and around the third cup of hot cocoa, even Ramses looked exhausted.
Striding in from the hall, Ramses gave me that third cup in his living room, darkness settling in around his mansion. I’d literally been there all day and heard nothing from Royal. I’d called him several times.
“I don’t need to bother you anymore,” I said, tossing my phone on his couch. “As soon as he calls back…”
“It’s not a problem.” Ramses had his own cup of cocoa, setting it down on an end table. He looked so nice today, something I hadn’t really noticed due to my own self-involved blubbering. His dark polo and dress pants were really fancy. Catching me looking at them, he grinned. “We went golfing this morning. Hadn’t done that since I was a kid.”
“It sounds like your dad is really trying.” I folded my legs underneath me, damn if I’d spilled cocoa on this nice sofa. I guess I’d just add it to my list of bullshit I was unleashing on my friend.
Ramses threw long arms behind his neck, crossing his legs. He shrugged. “Seems to be. Anyway, I said the same about yours once upon a time, and it sounds like he’s let a screw go loose since then.”
The understatement of the year. I shook my head. “I don’t know what is up with him. He’s been acting crazy. You know he gave me mace? I think he wanted me to use it on Royal. Gave it to me basically right in front of him.”
Chuckling, Ramses leaned forward. He braced his hands. “That’s kind of funny, but can you blame him? This town is fucking crazy.”
“Don’t tell me you’re on his side.”
“There is no ‘sides,’ Arizona. It’s facts. Your dad just wants to keep you safe. Clearly.”
Albeit heavy-handed. I picked up my phone, but nothing from Royal.
“Don’t worry about Prinze.” Ramses lay back again. “Coach takes our phones during away games. Keeps us focused. Anyway, Prinze is probably showering up about now. Once he and the others are on the bus back home, I’m sure he’ll give you a call. You won’t have to stay with me.”
I gazed up, really a shit friend. “It’s not that.”
“I know.” His smile quirked right, actually touching his eyes. “I guess it’s just my pride a bit. He won, and I didn’t.”
“I didn’t know I was a competition.”
“You’re not.” That smile faded, his voice serious. “At least that wasn’t how it started.” His jaw moving, he severed eye contact, and I did feel bad. Clearly, he had feelings for me once and maybe still did.
Getting up, I came over, setting my cup down on the table. “You’re one of my best friends, you idiot, and I’d hate for us to lose that because you’re an idiot.”
The smirk bounced his shoulders, and I tapped his arms until he opened them up for me to hug him. That long wingspan fell around me, warmer than I remembered. God, did I miss him.
“I’d hate that too,” he admitted, falling away until I was under just one of his arms. He pulled a blanket, wrapping it around me. “I suppose I’ll get over you eventually. I hear Brown University has lots of prime college ass to get over a saucy little minx like you.”
I’d forgotten he got into that ritzy school, the genius.
I punched him—repeatedly in his gut until he took that previous comment he said back, and though he eventually did, we both ended up laughing. I’d miss him. I’d miss these days. I completely planned on defying my dad and staying here, but Ramses was leaving. He’d gotten into a great school and was leaving like everyone else.
“I’m going to miss you.” I tipped my chin, pointing at him. “Promise me you’ll text when you go away to school.”
Long fingers wrapped around mine. “I wouldn’t dream of it any other way. You got me to come back to this place. Face my demons head-on.”
I supposed he had, and now, he had his dad too. Mayor Mallick definitely didn’t deserve any forgiveness from his son, considering the way he’d treated Ramses in the past, but it wasn’t about that. Ramses being happy was all it was about.
Ramses and I sat there together before we heard other voices, pulling apart when those voices sounded closer. A door slammed somewhere in the house, followed by several steps in the direction of the hallway.
“You have to help me, Ibrahim.” Principal Hastings… the Principal Hastings from my school stood in the hallway. He looked completely disheveled, hair askew and not himself, when he stood in front of Ramses’s dad, Mayor Mallick.
The mayor slid his hands into his lounge pants pockets. He wore a bathrobe, clearly about to go to bed. He placed a hand on Principal Hastings’s shoulder. “You need to go fix your marriage, Leonardo. I’m sorry. You can’t do this anymore.”
“You don’t understand—”
Ramses cleared his throat, both men looking in our direction. Mayor Mallick instantly stared away, but Principal Hastings fell right back into that headmaster facade.
His jaw clenched, he moved his hand over at least two days of stubble before pointing at the mayor, his brother. “Then screw you.”
Ramses and I both shot back, harsh words from someone who usually never said such things. Not once had I ever caught Principal Hastings being anything but a professional stick in the mud.
That didn’t appear to be the case now, and I didn’t miss when he cut his eyes in, of all places, my direction. I’d describe the look he gave me as nothing short of a sneer before he clipped the mayor’s shoulder and left the man standing there in the hallway.
The mayor approached the open living room doors, placing his hands on the knobs. “Keep it down in here, okay, kids?”
Ramses sat up. “Dad?”
A question in that word his father clearly didn’t want to answer, he merely closed the doors to the living room, leaving both Ramses and me sitting there with nothing but questions.
I raised my cocoa cup. “What’s that about, you think?” I mean, none
of that was any of my business, but it was too weird.
Ramses grabbed a pillow. “Probably the divorce,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow. Ramses shrugged. “Sounds like Unc is going through one. They haven’t told me about it, but I heard my dad on the phone this morning. Sounds new.”
Ugh, that was horrible. I warmed fingers on my cup. “I wonder what happened. Mrs. Hastings… Lena is so nice. I met her at your family’s Christmas party.”
Idly, I wondered how someone so nice could be with such a stiff like Principal Hastings, but again, none of my business.
Ramses tossed the pillow. “From what I understand, he didn’t call it off.” He picked up the remote. Turning on the TV, he let some random movie play before staring back at me. He smiled. “Hopefully, they get it figured out.”
Eighteen
Royal
I threw my fist so hard into Ramses Mallick’s motherfucking door I nearly shot my fist through the wood. He opened on the third knock, just barely getting a “What the fuck, Prinze” in before I shoved past him.
“Where is she?” I bit, having been calling his ass for the past two hours. I had Knight, LJ, and Jax scouring the city for places the two could be. She’d called me, and I missed the calls since I didn’t have my goddamn phone. I hadn’t gotten it until after our away game at Kingston Prep, and after I tried to call her, she didn’t pick up.
Ramses had been MIA as well, my calls alternating between both of their phones. The whole thing was sketch as hell, and this fucker was nothing but the opportunist. December told me how he’d gotten her to be his fake girlfriend so he could play out his little revenge plot on me. She hadn’t said it exactly that way, but in so many words, I knew that’s what was up.
Mallick wasn’t speaking fast enough, and taking the initiative, I forced my way through his home. He shut the door behind me, stalking after me, and when the asswipe attempted to grab my arm, I shoved him away.
I directed a finger. “Keep your goddamn hands off me.”
“And you keep quiet in my house.” He got in my face, a bold motherfucker. “My whole house is asleep. December is sleeping.”
“Where is she?” I got even closer, nostrils flaring. “You got two seconds.”
We were in a stare-off, me and this guy. The dick actually had sleep in his eyes, looking tired himself…
Had he slept with her? I’d kill, destroy everything in his life the way he knew it. I’d end him with not even a blink, and I think I only allowed my mind to escape the thought because he waved me to come with him.
“She’s on the couch,” he said, my breath releasing a little. He scrubbed through messy, dark hair when we approached the living room. “We both were.”
I lost his voice as I saw her, approached her. He had her curled up on his couch, blankets tucked around her.
I went there immediately, sitting with her. I touched a hand to her cheek, and she barely moved, such a heavy sleeper.
“She’s okay?” I asked, cupping her face. I could breathe again, my thumb brushing her skin. “What’s up with her dad?”
Her voicemails had been frantic and her texts the same.
Ramses joined us both on the couch, pinching his pant legs up like a little priss before sitting. He laced fingers across his chest. “Sounds like he wants them to move. According to December, he’s been freaking out. Really heavy-handed with her lately. He seems nervous, scared.”
Scared…
He had given her that mace, and maybe after losing Paige, he was turning a new leaf on how he was handling things. I thought the mace had been for me, but really, he did have reason to worry. Paige’s killer was still out there.
I brought December into my lap, holding her. Her body curled on me, and I made sure she was held close. She seemed okay, just sleeping. I tipped a chin in Mallick’s direction. “Where did you sleep?”
Like I said, the motherfucker had sleep in his eyes, and he rolled them as he grabbed a blanket from the other side of the sectional couch. He pointed there. “Over on that side. We were watching a movie. Fell asleep…”
“And that’s all?”
“Yes, Prinze.” Bunching the blanket, he tossed it. “She loves you. You don’t have to worry about that.”
I wasn’t worried, but I didn’t like that he was up on her, that she called him when she couldn’t get to me.
I held her close, forgetting about him. Thank God that was the last fucking game of the season. I wasn’t going to leave her alone again, whether she didn’t want to get up early or not.
“And I guess you love her,” Ramses observed, but actually hadn’t sounded spiteful about it. If anything, he looked content, that he cared but not necessarily in an aggressive away.
My attention drifted away and back to December. “Thanks for taking care of her.” The words felt foreign in my mouth, and I nearly spat saying them.
The ass grinned like a motherfucker. “No problem. Happy to help. She’s my friend.”
I did know that, that he was her friend. That’s the very reason I’d thrown him a bone when it came to that haze. If I’d allowed him to get hurt, her friend, December would have never forgiven me, and that’s one thing I couldn’t have. She’d never have been able to look at me again had I allowed something to happen to Mallick, and that’s something I understood early. It didn’t matter how I felt about the guy. December cared about him, and I had to respect that.
He had to respect what I was to her too, what I’d always be to her. I played with the necklace I gave her, the ring mine but the chain from my mother. Her wedding ring went to me after she died, another thing to shove the dagger in my dad’s face and lead me into years of physical and emotional abuse. She left me pretty much everything personal that held meaning to her, and eventually, I had her ring melted down and turned it into this chain. I wore that thing basically every day, my connection to my mom.
That was all the more reason to give it to December, my heart hers now, and I didn’t regret that.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you a question, Prinze, and seeing as how you’re here and everything…”
“What?” I glanced Mallick’s way, more than ready to go, but I guess I would entertain one question. He’d been there for December, and I supposed I owed him that.
Mallick’s chin lifted. “December told me how you sent her to Arizona. I’m assuming to get her out of this town, away from all this bullshit?”
Since he was right with his assumption, I nodded. “So what?”
“So it got me thinking.” He scooted to the edge of the couch, his fingers laced together. “Why Arizona? I mean, did you even know anybody there?” He lifted a shoulder. “I guess I just find that an odd place to send someone, you know?”
It wasn’t, not really. I brushed December’s cheek. “I did know someone.”
“Who?”
I gave him a look like he was an idiot, and when his eyes flashed, I knew he finally fucking got it.
He put a hand to his chest. “Me?”
“Don’t make a thing of it.” I shook my head. “I figured it was better having her someplace far away where I at least knew one person.”
“But me?” His mouth parted. “You hated my ass.”
“Still hate,” I corrected. I dampened my lips. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t think you’d have her back if she ever came across you.”
Mallick did some terrible things to me, some bullshit, but as much as he was a bully and an asshole, when it came to the few serious relationships I knew he’d had in his life, he’d been ride or die. He’d been someone one could trust if they were on his side, and maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I recalled that.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Really don’t make a thing of it. It’ll never happen again.”
“Oh, I won’t,” he said, chuckling, then stared at December. “She’ll never know how much you actually like me.”
I panned to see a grin, one I flipped the bird at. No, she’d never know I didn’t actually ha
te him…
I wondered when that changed.
Nineteen
December
A sizable weight hugged my side, and at the sound of a purr, my eyes shot open. I stifled a scream at the sight of a pair of jungle eyes and nearly fell off the bed when an actual tiger stared at me. It slinked its skinny tiger self in my direction, and when it plopped its weight against me again, it took me a second to realize I’d seen her before.
“Oh my God, you scared the shit out of me.” I ran my hand down Dinah’s back, Royal’s cat Dinah, and the big sweetie fell to her back. She stretched out like an oversize kitten, not the mini tiger she was.
I grinned, getting her behind the ears, and gazing around, I recognized the room as well. Large, oak bed and dark silk curtains. They matched the ones lining the windows embedded in crimson-colored walls. This was Royal Prinze’s bedroom, and if the sight of his room and large jungle cat didn’t tune me in on that, the smell of his sheets did. They hummed of masculinity, reeked of him, and I basked in it while I rubbed on Dinah.
“You’re going to make Hershey jealous, you know that?” I said, lifting her weight. I lowered her to my belly. “If I come home smelling like cat, she’s going to seriously hurt me.”
Dinah didn’t care, a big ole softy, which was crazy considering her size. Jax, when he’d brought me here once, told me she was a softy, but I hadn’t gone near her since her sheer size freaked me out. With her now, I saw exactly what he spoke about, and I guessed her breed was some kind of savannah cat or something equality exotic. Jax had told me this was Grace’s cat, Royal’s sister.
Smiling, I sat up. I wondered where Royal was, but not necessarily how I’d gotten here. I mean, I obviously walked but remembered being a little disoriented since I was so tired. Royal came to get me at Ramses’s sometime in the middle of the night. He’d picked me up and everything, a true royal prince as he hugged me to his side and placed me in his Audi. He apologized for not getting my calls, for not coming to me exactly when I needed him, but I’d told him not to worry about it. I had a friend take care of me just fine.
