Page 67 of Eat You Alive (Court Legacy 4)

I wondered when that had changed.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Ares

I had to pull some strings to get the Coach bus but not many.

My grandfather even hooked me up with a driver.

Lucas Gray worked for my grandpa, and though I didn’t have much of a relationship with my gramps, he’d been very adamant about calling when I needed something. Things with him and my whole family were complicated. He hadn’t always been around, but when my parents had become open to him being there, I’d decided I didn’t have much of a problem either. I wasn’t best friends with my grandfather or anything, but we’d had coffee a time or two and some good conversation. He’d had reasons for not being around, and when he’d come back, he’d done all he could to make that up.

He’d done more than enough.

Of course, that was a story for another day, and I was happy to see Lucas. He worked as my grandfather’s security, and just like my grandpa, he extended himself to myself, Sloane, and our younger brother, Bru. I hadn’t seen Bru in a while, but this was expected considering how far he’d gone away for school. He probably wouldn’t be coming through until around holiday break, and I wasn’t disappointed the visit wasn’t now.

I already had enough to juggle.

Lucas took my hand outside the bus, grinning. “Everything’s all set for you, Mr. Mallick.”

“Come on, Luke. You know you can call me Wolf or Ares.” I was trying to get better about being open to my real name. Being vulnerable or whatever. I’d had a tough year, but that didn’t define me. I grinned. “How’s Grandpa?”

“Doing well, and he’s looking forward to hearing from you. Says he hopes your return to school has been a good one and hopes that referral he gave you worked out. For the doctor?”

I could hear my buddies and Sloane in the bus. We were all hitching a ride to town together for the weekend. Sloane, Dorian, and myself because we usually did, spending time with our folks and all that. Wells and Thatch did because, once again, they were lazy fucks and brought their laundry home for their staffs to do.

Their laughter loud, I angled close to Lucas. “Thank him for me.”

“Will do. I’m sure it makes things a lot easier for you. No more scheduled appointments and all that.”

Grandpa Mallick had hooked me up with my own personal doctor, someone whose job was to make me a priority and abide by my schedule. I had a busy one, so that’s what I told my grandpa when I asked him for the referral from Johns Hopkins.

“Definitely works better for your schedule,” Lucas said, the two of us on the same wavelength there. He smiled. “And remember Dr. Easton can make house calls whenever you need him. Your grandpa told me to mention that to you.”

We’d been doing mostly virtual up until this point.

I shook Lucas’s hand, thanking him again. By then, we both heard the rolling luggage, and when I glanced back, I frowned.

Red…

She was supposed to tell me when she was ready, not dragging her bags herself.

But that was exactly what she was doing, her mouth dropped open. I hadn’t told her how I’d be getting her to Maywood Heights, but I guess she could see now.

The Coach bus took up a good portion of the dorm’s parking lot, but surprisingly, not many stares had been in its direction. People probably figured one of the university’s teams or clubs was using it.

Not my friends and me.

“Wolf.” Fawn paused on the sidewalk, her hand on her bag. She had those jeans on again, the ones that made her ass look thick as fuck and had my eyes wandering. This probably wasn’t a good idea, us traveling two hours together, but I wasn’t going to turn away from an opportunity to keep her close. We needed to be together, as much time as we could.

If I had it my way, that time wouldn’t be spent with my parents,lying to my parents,but I was looking at a bigger picture here.

Staying focused on that, I sprinted over to Red.

She pushed her sunglasses into her vibrant hair. “This is our ride?”

I told her I’d hook her up, grinning. “Good enough?” Honest to fuck, I was still curious about why we needed the accommodation, but I didn’t and wouldn’t bug her about it. I was trying to earn a semblance of trust with her.

Like stated, we needed to be together.

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