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The woman was built like an Amazon and gorgeous to boot, a debutante in her previous life from what I understood. She came from money, married into money, and so now I knew even more why Ramses was on the level as much as he was. He came from legacy, wealth on both sides.
I mean, his daddy’s name is on half these buildings.
Well, not the buildings per se, but the development signage. There wasn’t a construction site in visible sight without the name Mallick on it. The only one I saw more than that was Reed, whoever that family was.
Yes, there was a lot of money in Maywood Heights, and many of the buildings themselves were graced with the name Prinze. Apparently, Ramses’s friend December was linked to money as well. I was assuming so since that was her new husband’s name.
Okay, so why are you thinking about her now?
Because I was obsessed, obsessed with him, and getting up, I passed off that I needed a continued break. Evie, of course, looked at me like I was crazy. I just fell, nearly splitting open my leggings, but I was ready.
Laughing, she jogged alongside me again, and this time when she brought up her son, I wasn’t completely blindsided, agreeing with her about how nice he was. Ramses was nice, charismatic, charming…
Handsome.
Had he not been in his twenties and my student, I may have been all over that. Oh, and of course, the fact he was the son of like the only friend I had in the world right now.
I didn’t have a lot of those at the present, lost a lot in the divorce. Everyone loved Alec Norrington, star lineman for the New York Giants. He was a big freaking deal, even now post-retirement.
The asshole.
I still had to see his face on Sports Center, grinning like an asshole just to spite me. It seemed he’d edged away from the booze enough to start making money again, like our divorce freed him up and made him actually want to do something with himself. Perhaps, losing it all made him stare his own life in the face.
I jogged to a stop. Evie did too beside me. She was easily twenty years my senior, but she was in better shape than me. That said something since I ran every day. She propped hands on her hips, getting her own few breaths in before taking a chug of her water bottle. She offered again, but I denied her.
“I suppose I just worry about him,” she said, still talking about Ramses. It hadn’t stopped, and I felt really shitty listening to that, too. She said he’d been acting off and wondered if I noticed anything at dinner the other night.
I’d answered honestly, of course. I mean, how would I know?
You don’t know him, right?
I didn’t technically. Anyway, this conversation was far too personal. I shouldn’t be talking to his Mom about him.
“I can’t help it, I suppose.” She laughed it off. “You know, being his mother.”
&nb
sp; God.
“He just…” She shook her head. “He’s dealing with a lot right now. Did I mention he used to go to Brown?”
She had during our run but hadn’t said why he left. He went to Brown, but he was here now, working and taking over their family’s businesses. The businesses thing was mentioned at dinner, in passing, but yeah, he was getting acclimated working for his family, whilst in school. Quite busy like he mentioned to me the day I cut things off initially.
Really all his priorities and his ability to juggle them made him just that much more appealing. Something else I needed to fight. Ramses may have his youth, but he was determined and appeared to have his life more together than me.
This stuff, his involvement with his family’s business endeavors, was all things mentioned in front of him, though. Not this Brown issue. Whatever it may be. Even still, talking about any of this stuff without him around felt weird. It was far too personal and didn’t seem to be my place to hear any of it.
Then again, this was my friend. She should be able to tell me things, right?
“What happened at Brown?” God, why had I asked? I really was obsessed. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re fine. He’d kill me for talking about it, but he got himself into some trouble.” She propped hands on her hips. “Anyway, our lawyers had to get involved. Now he’s here, working like a dog, and trying to get through school at the same time. It’s a freaking mess, and he doesn’t have to do it. I think he’s just working to try and prove he can do it all, that he’s okay, which he’s not.”
I wanted to ask what kind of trouble, goddamn me. Thank God Evie prattled on; otherwise, I would have asked.
“Anyway, I’m throwing all my business on you instead of asking how you’ve been.” She cuffed my arm, smiling and how I didn’t know Ramses was her kid floored me. He obviously held an ethnicity that differed from her own, maybe more than one but that smile couldn’t be denied. Evie liked to smile just as much as Ramses.
What kind of trouble had he gotten into?
