He had been the mayor.
Not for a while now but he had been, that legacy there. It followed me to this day being his only son, and though I got the grades at Brown, I basically only had to make a call to get myself on the Pembroke University campus for the upcoming spring semester—of my senior year. It’d been really rather easy.
My father had funded five resident halls.
That’d been before he’d been incarcerated obviously, but still, the Mallick name held some clout. I used it to my advantage where I could and tossed it to the wayside in any other situation. I had, for all intents and purposes, all but disassociated myself from my father the day he’d decided to do some dirty shit with my uncle Leo. I had no problem using his name, though. I figured it was the least he could do for me.
Brielle eyed the fruits of my father’s labor now, but I wasn’t quite sure for the price tag. I’d left my suit jacket below. But in its absence, her gaze drifted over my broad shoulders and down sleeves the seamstress may have cut a few corners on, a smidgen tighter across my biceps and forearms than I would like. I hadn’t complained, the rest of the suit a perfect fit from the way the trousers allowed what could be considered thick runner’s legs to move. I did a lot of cardio, but I worked out my legs probably more than I should. It was awesome for my endurance but sucked for speed. I’d always been a bit of a gym junky, played ball in school and just liked the way my body felt when I kept it in shape. I could eat pizza like the best of them, though.
Brielle’s gaze lingered on the area of my squatted thighs before coming up, and though I didn’t consider myself shy, I was hella aware of her eyes on me. This woman was beyond a knockout, gorgeous from her soft face shape to the way her full tits hugged and swelled above her dress’s bodice. I knew way more than I wanted to about dresses these days thanks to a certain bride, and Brielle filled out the A-line in a way that allowed me to be completely observant of how the sea of black material flared widely over her thick hips and gave peeks of her shapely legs. Something told me she ran too, her calves smooth and defined, and with her tanned skin, glowed like trapped sunshine. Her feet bare and hair raven black, Brielle resembled a temptress in the night, all woman as she sat wrapped softly in the teal hue of the House’s aquatic center.
I opened my hands, placing one to my chest. “Ramses. Nice to meet you, Brielle.”
Though I wasn’t sure the sentiment was shared, her expression more than cautious, observant. That hadn’t let up since I’d arrived up here, which I suppose made sense. This woman didn’t know me at all.
A nod in her direction as she watched me, and when I lost her gaze again, I questioned my progress. I felt like I should keep her talking.
“You, uh, been drinking, Brielle?” I stated, my next question. I pointed at the bottle. “Seems like it.”
She took no notice of that. Like I said, she wouldn’t even look at me. But she did face down after I said it, her shoulders lifting.
“Bottle’s full,” she whispered, again gritted. “And I guess I suck at being alone.”
Struck me funny since, apparently, I had attempted to do that tonight too. I put out a hand. “Mind if I sit with you then?”
Shoulders instantly locked, and when her fingers curled white over the edge, I instantly questioned what I’d asked.
She said she wanted to be alone.
But I didn’t want her to be. Honestly, I didn’t care what she did once she got down from this high dive, but I didn’t think she should be up here by herself. It could be dangerous. It was fucking high up and if she fell and hit the wrong angle, disaster.
“If you must,” she said, the dark strobe light of her eyes in my direction. “Ramses.”
She’d emphasized my name, and I wasn’t sure I didn’t like it, enjoying the way it sounded in the smoky tone of her voice.
My lips twitching right, I eased down a seat beside her. Though, far enough away to keep the full bottle of wine between us. Another question. Who didn’t drink when they obviously intended to?
Yet another question about this mysterious girl. This mysterious woman. “You, um, weren’t planning on jumping off this thing tonight. Were you, Brielle?”
So quick her gaze swung in my direction, lashes of an ebony black fanning over her irises. “Why would you ask me that?”
Because it appeared to be true, and taking my leg, I propped it up on the ledge, my other dangling. Truth be told, I’d dicked around on this thing myself like a million and a half years ago. But that’d been when I was thirteen and hadn’t completely fully grasped the finality of death. Sure, I’d jumped off this thing and hadn’t died, but thinking back on some of the things I’d done off this ledge and at this level had my twenty-two-year-old self wanting to kick my own ass. It was fucking high up. Actual Olympians trained off this shit. We’d had more than one roll through here. Hell, we’d had presidents come through these halls. Being a member of the Court held prestige and typically opened a lot of doors for a guy and now, girls. For years, the Court had been archaic and not allowed women in, but this changed when Royal Prinze became president of the association after high school.
All the Court “honor” had done for me in the past was haunt, but not everyone could say that, I suppose. I laced my fingers together. “Well, are you?”
An honest question and I wondered her answer. If she’d actually tell me the reason as she wet her lips. She wore a red matte to the full width, lipsticks I knew entirely too much about as well. I’d watched enough contouring YouTube videos for a lifetime thanks to December Prinze, and the beauty vloggers who shot them often paired the look with a lipstick that didn’t easily rub off, one that could withstand many maneuvers of eating or drinking.
Or bruising.
I couldn’t help but imagine Brielle’s lips doing that as she moved one over the other, a slight pierce hitting her temple when her jaw worked. She had a dark beauty mark right above the left side of her lip, a soft mole which twitched when her lips moved. “I don’t know why you’d ask me that.”
And I noticed she hadn’t answered, either on purpose or because she didn’t know and didn’t want to talk to me.
“Well, I guess just let me know if you decide to jump.” I shrugged. “You know, before?”
“Why?”
I faced her, fighting the grin tugging at my lips, and her eyes flashed wide.
“I mean,” she started, gnawing her lip. A huff and she was tossing her head back. “That’s not what I meant. You…” She shook her head. “You tricked me or something.”
“No trick.” I lifted the hand from my leg. “I was just a concerned citizen, and it can be dangerous up here.”
She passed me a sharp look, and when she shifted her full body in my direction, I had a moment where the lungs didn’t exactly connect to the brain so to speak. Where I had to remind the guys to do their job, or like, well, die. I’d breathed a million times before this moment. Possibly a million and a half, but who was counting.
Brielle in that stark black dress floored this guy, shocked still where I sat with just a look from her. She had an essence about her, a maturity that demanded me to stop and simply take notice.
I wet my lips. “Anyway, like I said, it can be dangerous. Definitely not a place to be playing around.”