Lover: A Student Teacher Romance (Court University Book 4)

by Eden O'Neill

  Bri: LOL!

  Smirking, I eased my feet off my desk and pulled up my executive chair.

  Me: Anyway, you’re avoiding the initial topic of discussion. I’m treating you so I’m going to need to know your favorite places to go. We’ll go anywhere. Any place you want.

  I wanted to know these things about her, and though I had learned a lot, I could stand to know more. I knew her favorite color was blue now. Her favorite food was poached eggs. Like the woman could eat eggs for days, but there were so many more things I wanted to know.

  Bri: You don’t have to treat me. I can treat myself. Thank you very much.

  A typical Brielle answer, and I loved that I knew that. I was getting a lot of information, understanding her. We still had a ways to go, but I felt we were getting somewhere.

  Me: Make the list. And if you want, I’ll make one too. You can treat me. Show me off.

  I waited for the telltale eye roll emoji or comment about me being arrogant. I was really starting to know this girl.

  “Ramses, you have Mr. Johnson here to see you.”

  My secretary left after I lifted a hand to her. Time to get back to business.

  Me: Gotta go make that money, but I’ll get at you later.

  She’d been in the midst of a text (probably with one of those eye roll emojis).

  Bri: Okay. See you later. Miss you. *heart emoji*

  And did I love seeing that.

  I pocketed the phone after telling her the same, and by then, my door was opening again. I hadn’t seen Lance “LJ” Johnson since Royal and December’s wedding. He’d been one of Royal’s best men, of course, and even though I hadn’t seen him, that didn’t mean I didn’t constantly hear his name in the wind.

  For starters, he’d been buying up all kinds of properties across town, real estate and small businesses. Actually, I figured him being here was only a matter of time, considering that was the game Mallick Enterprises played.

  Why I’d been surprised to hear he wanted to meet with me today was because I knew the guy’s background. He’d come from poor, despite his rich friends Knight Reed, Royal Prinze, and Jaxen Ambrose. I’d heard LJ had gotten into the drug game for a while. (What can I say, people talked in this town). But I also heard, he’d put all that aside as of late and ventured into the stock market. He was apparently doing well for himself and that showed the moment he waltzed into my office covered head to toe in Armani.

  The guy had always had one of those surfer-dude looks, even back in high school. I was talking bleach blond hair twenty different shades and a tan that damn near challenged mine. The dude was pretty, I’d give him that, and he had that long blond hair cinched back today. The moment he saw me, he thrust out a hand but did one better once he took it.

  “Mallick, brother,” he greeted, slapping my back when he tugged me into a hug. “How’s the high life in the sky?”

  I had to say, treating me well, and I grinned, pulling back and looking at him. He looked so different from high school, but not far off from the wedding. Fly as fuck, he rocked a diamond-encrusted Rolex and a gold chain in his gray suit.

  My father’s voice in my head screamed “new money” at me, but I admired the guy. He wore whatever the fuck he wanted, self-expression as bold as the statement it made. People should be able to do and be whatever the hell they wanted to be.

  “No complaints here,” I returned, and not many today. Things were starting to look up, and really, I had no complaints.

  Our Court rings clanked when he slapped my hand a couple times again, and what a moment to be had. He and the other guys really were brothers to me. We shared a commonality, and like me, the others seemed to be rising above.

  We talked about that for a moment, our days in the Court and high school a bit before sitting down, and I put my hands out to him behind the desk.

  “How the hell you been?” I asked, smiling. “Seems like things are going well.”

  Well, indeed. Like stated, he’d been buying up all kinds of shit.

  It’d been enough to make a few people around here nervous, but mostly because they didn’t know his agenda. LJ was a new player, no ties to anyone in the inner circle. That naturally made people nervous. People doing rogue shit was nerve-racking. I’d never held concerns. I figured LJ would surface eventually with his objective, and even if he hadn’t, whatever. There was a piece of the real estate pie out there for everyone, and I knew something about this guy’s character. We’d gotten pretty acquainted during the wedding days, and he seemed like a stand-up dude, classy.

  He folded his fingers. “I feel like you’ve expected me to come through.”

  A shrug as I passed that off, which had him grinning. I did the same. “What you been up to? You planning on making your own city?”

  He chuckled. “It’s been that obvious?”

  Obvious enough, a flash of LJ’s smile when he tucked his hands under his arms. “I’m trying to get into the game. More specifically in Maywood Heights. This is home, and I want to start cementing some stuff here. Especially since we are graduating soon.”

  I nodded, understanding. “I thought you were going into architecture?”

  December had mentioned something during the wedding plans, and LJ also went to an Ivy League. He’d really been doing well.

  “I am. Have a few internship offers. I’ll need that knowledge for what I’m going to do once I finish whatever program I choose.”

  He had a guy bring in some documents then, like an actual guy holding his briefcase and stuff. He looked like nothing more than a college kid like us, and I smiled.

  This guy had a legit entourage, only missing the women. Though, I knew him to be settled down romantically. I’d met his girlfriend Billie at the wedding too, of course.

  With his stuff, LJ laid it all out on my desk. He had a business plan, one he slid over to me.

  “I plan on looking out for the little guy,” he said, taking his seat while I thumbed through what he gave me. “I’m talking affordable housing, nice but without the markup. And also, businesses that are affordable and cater to regular people. It’s so hard to get a damn come-up in this town. The plans I have for the properties I’m buying will help with that and also provide safe neighborhoods for people to live.”

  I saw that, all that, and surprisingly, his plans weren’t just altruistic.

  The guy could stand to make an actual profit on the endeavor. He simply looked out for the little guy first, which was the exact opposite from how things were done traditionally.

  “Some of these are Mallick properties,” I mentioned, which had LJ grinning wider.

  He nodded. “Hence, why I’m here in front of your lovely face, brother.”

  His manservant came back in, this time with an offer for said Mallick properties listed in great detail in a binder.

  LJ had the figures listed under each property, and as I turned the pages, I actually chuckled at the sight of them.

  But not because they were low.

  “Shit, you’re not playing,” I said. At another exorbitant figure, my brow dashed up. “This is like triple what these properties are worth.” Anyone would have thought he’d lost his mind, mostly my board. “Does Knight know you’re doing this?”

  Knight Reed, his buddy and another of Royal’s best men, headed Reed Corp. Had since his grandfather, Gerald, died our junior year. This was well known in our circles, and like me, Knight had a board running things until he graduated from school. I’d just decided to get involved with my family business early, and his was technically number one in the real estate and development game. At least, when it came to Maywood Heights.

  The Reeds and Prinzes built this town, partners in its creation. The Prinzes had their names on everything, and the Reeds help them build the empire. The Mallicks, my father and the other members of our family who later emigrated over, came in late, but our income was more diverse. Mallick Enterprises was global, but my father always had full backing from the Reeds and Prinzes.
>
  I mean, they made him mayor.

  Funded his campaigns and everything.

  At the mention of his friend, LJ lifted his eyes to the heavens.

  “Oh, he knows.” He sat back, opening his hands. “I went to the fucker first. Wanted to buy some of his properties.”

  “And?”

  “Completely shut my shit down.” He chuckled. “Knight may be my boy, but he’s also a competitive prick. I think it actually got him off I was trying to get into the game.”

  Not surprising, knowing him. The dude was scary, but in this case, had both LJ and me laughing.

  He braced his arms. “Ain’t getting any help from him. I’m on my own with this. A one-man show.”

  Something told me he wouldn’t be for long. He wasn’t just trying to get ahead but build something, help people. I opened my hands. “I’ll deep-dive more into this, but I’m going to be real, man. I do answer to people.”

  Even with as big as the offers were that didn’t mean my people would say yes. Some of them thought the same way as Knight. Though, obviously not for the same reasons. What LJ and Knight had was a friendly rivalry, but in business, people could be money-grubbing douchebags.

  Some of the board might want to white knuckle the properties just maintain their current status in the game. Stupid, I knew.

  I did make the final, final decisions around here, but going all rogue after just arriving probably wouldn’t be a good idea. I had to pick my battles, and people already thought I was crazy for buying one art gallery. They didn’t trust me, thought me young and naive, and with all the drama I came in with, the Brown shit…

  “I get it.” LJ shook my hand, the pair of us standing. “Just let me know.”

  I certainly would. I actually really admired the guy, coming in here and putting it all out there when he was new. It also took a lot to do what you wanted to do. It took bravery.

  And that was something I’d forever respect.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ramses

  Honestly, taco night with Mom nearly got canceled that night. One, because it was yet another night Bri’s and my schedules clashed and I couldn’t see her. She didn’t feel comfortable schmoozing up to my mother while the pair of us secretly fucked behind the scenes. And two, I found myself so wrapped up in LJ’s business plan I hadn’t wanted to leave the office. I’d actually brought all that shit home with me, pretty engulfed. By the time I looked at the clock to meet my mom for dinner, the hour had gotten away from me. I called her to cancel, but she wasn’t having that.

  Before I knew it, she’d driven over to my house. My actual home in Maywood Heights. My condo on campus was just a place to keep my stuff while I went to school, but I saw it more than the old colonial-style I’d purchased my freshman year of college. My inheritance had opened up around then, and naturally, I’d needed a place near my mom.

  These days, it was merely a place to rest my head on days I worked too late, and Brielle had never come here. I hadn’t asked since I barely stayed here myself.

  I had people to keep up on it, dust and what have you, while I was away, and Mom made herself right at home the moment she arrived with her arms filled with bags upon bags of food. She knew how I ate so she brought a lot.

  “Don’t you worry. I’ll get everything all set,” she said, making me spend time with her. I told her I was bringing work home with me, but she insisted. She eyed me. “I see you basically once a week, and you won’t deny me my fix.”

  She made me kiss her on the cheek after that before she filled both my kitchen and home with amazing smells. I felt bad. I didn’t see her a lot, but LJ’s plan intrigued me and I wanted to know more about the properties he sought to acquire.

  Oddly enough, the files for said properties had been readily available when I’d asked for them. As it turned out, Mallick had just finalized a deal surrounding them. They were scheduled for demolition actually.

  For a mini mall.

  And so, the powers that be in my company had planned for what they obviously considered their own progress and had actually paid people out of their homes to do it. It’d been a fine deal—on paper. But definitely not with people in mind. According to what LJ had given me, he wanted to fix up the neighborhood.

  “Are you going to work the entire night or actually interact with your mother?”

  On the floor with me, Mom toed my leg in her pantsuit from the office. It’d been a long time since we’d done things like this, ate on the floor like when I’d been a kid. She had been a housewife during the days of her marriage to my father, putting away her dreams. He’d gotten locked up and she’d gotten to take them back, her love for history and academia.

  Pembroke had welcomed her back with open arms. Of course, they had. She was fucking awesome.

  I smirked at her above my Mac but did steal a taco off a plate she’d put together. She’d laid everything out for me to work.

  “I told you I was bringing work home with me,” I said, after basically shoving the whole thing in my mouth. Again, my mom knew how I ate. I winked. “But give me two seconds. Won’t take long.”

  Of course, I’d probably been saying that for like an hour now. I couldn’t help it, and I had told my mom about what I was looking at. I think because I found it sad how terribly inhuman the whole process of business, progress was. I knew it was that way—obviously. I mean, I was in the thick of it and knew no other way. I’d also been trying to mind my Ps and Qs at the office, so I’d gone out of my way not to make waves.

  I felt I should make more after reading over everything LJ gave me, though. He seemed to have big plans for the city, and changes didn’t have to be bad. In fact, there were many things in Maywood Heights that could use an overhaul.

  Clicking away, I went back to work but noticed my mother’s eyes still on me. She had my flat screen on while she ate, keeping herself busy with HGTV, which was basically her drug of choice.

  Because it was, I definitely shouldn’t get her eye as much. Of course, she wanted to spend time with me, but when it came to work, she didn’t bug. She got it. I eyed her. “Something else?”

  I knew my mom. Something else was definitely in her eyes. She started to pass it off, but then brushed taco bits off her hands. She picked up the remote, shutting the TV off.

  “Uh-oh.”

  “What uh-oh?” She frowned. “I can’t just talk to you?”

  “You can.” But lately, she’d been delicate about it. Like there was always something she wanted to say while we ate tacos and scarfed guacamole together. I figured that had to do with our talk about therapy at the beginning of term. It hadn’t gone well, and when she found out I’d only gone to the one group session, she hadn’t been pleased. My mother never wore her worry well, and she was definitely worried, worried about me.

  She crossed her legs, her arms rested between them. “There actually is something I want to talk to you about.”

  “Really?” I feigned shock. “Totally didn’t pick that up.”

  At this point, I really didn’t know how I wasn’t disowned, and my mother toed at me so hard I nearly dropped my computer.

  Chuckling, I righted it, then tugged her over.

  She sat next to me, but that worry never left her eyes. “I’ve spoken to your father recently.”

  My fingers hesitated for only a second, starting an email. I was aware she was talking to him, part of her therapy, she’d said.

  I said nothing, nothing to say about that. She knew I disagreed with their meetings, so no point in creating any tension.

  “Aren’t you going to ask what we spoke about?”

  My mom was a pusher too, the place I’d completely gotten it from. I typed on, and she sighed.

  “Ramses…”

  “Ma.” I gauged my time with emails between work and school. Once I finished the office stuff, I moved on to those in my inbox from professors. Those were nothing important, updates here and there and questions they’d answered from other students. Certai
nly nothing that needed my attention now, but I felt it was better placed there in that moment.

  Mom angled close, her arms threading around mine. She took one of my hands off my Mac, lacing it. “He wants to see you, Ramses.”

  He wants to see me.

  “He wants to talk.”

  He wants to talk.

  Politely, but most importantly, calmly, I slid my hand away from my mom’s. I returned to my computer without a beat.

  “Did you hear me?”

  Of course, I’d heard her. I was sitting next to her, but she knew that. That wasn’t really her question. Not really, and I think we both knew that.

  Shifting away, my mom blew into her hands. She opened them. “What do I have to do to get you to seek closure with your father?”

  That was the thing. My closure, my pain had nothing to do with her. It was my own and she couldn’t rush it.

  Let alone dictate it.

  I hit keys in rapid strokes, worried about what I’d say next. Words bubbled tight at the cork, pinched tight between my lips.

  “It’s really helping me, Ramses,” Mom nearly whispered, and she didn’t whisper. She had no problems making a point, telling me off if she thought I was being stubborn. “It’s making it so it doesn’t hurt as much. It’s allowing me to move on…”

  “Move on?” I faced her, surprised by what she said. “And what makes you think any of us have a right to move on? Like we were the victims in what he did.”

  Because we weren’t, not by a long shot. The true victims weren’t here and one of them couldn’t move on. Dad and Uncle Leo had made sure of that.

  Mom pressed her hands together, touching them to her lips. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to break it down for me.”

  “Don’t be mean, Ramses.”

  “Mean?” I sat back. “Mean. You know what’s mean, Mom? Mean is stealing a daughter, a sister away from a family. Mean is how I see that sister every time I’m around my best friend and knowing my family is the reason she’ll never see her again.”

  The words sobered between us, and at this point, Mom refused to look at me. She held her arms. “I know how December’s family has suffered.” She faced me. “And they are not the only ones. You can’t even talk about what happened. That is the problem, Ramses.”