Bonus Scene: “Blue Moon,” a Mad Boys Additional PoV
The following is an additional PoV for a scene from Mad Boys. Although Mad Boys was told via multiple PoVs, there were still moments that happened off page. The following scene between Jonas and Lachlan is one of them. It takes place toward the end of Mad Boys, following KC learning about Gibs performing the song she wrote with Jonas.
Problem Child is Book 1 in the Blue Ivy Prep series. To read more, Mad Boys is Book 2 and Party Crashers is Book 3.
Note: This scene is brought to you because of a Review Challenge. What is that? And also, please be aware that spoilers may lie ahead.
“Blue Moon”
Jonas
Blue Moon
“The problem with being a celebrity is everyone thinks they know you better than they do. Stalkers fall into the same category, but most of them are harmless.”
Those words were on a permanent loop inside my head. They whispered at me from my dreams, haunted me while I was awake, and every single time I caught sight of her blue hair moving away from me? Yeah, they were right there as a permanent reminder that I’d screwed up.
Fuck, it was so much more than a screw up. It might not be so bad if I’d actually fucked up on my own. Instead, I’d been blown out of the water by someone else dropping lit dynamite into it. Now, I flopped around on land, gasping for a second chance—or maybe it was my third chance—like it was the air I needed to survive.
“Hey,” Lachlan said, snapping his fingers right in my face. I jerked my head back and glared at him.
“What the fuck?” The snarl escaped before I could stop it. Lachlan had been up my ass for three days. While KC may not be talking to me and barely acknowledging that I was alive, she seemed to be actively avoiding him. So when he wanted me to hang out, I let him take me off-campus. The last thing she needed to deal with was Lachlan in our suite.
“A table just opened up,” Lachlan said, nodding to the pool table on the far side. We’d put in the request when we got here. “Let’s go.”
I picked up the cold glass of soda I’d ordered but hadn’t been drinking. It was sweating as the ice melted. The Rockston Arcade wasn’t exactly a bar, although they did serve alcohol and bar food. Music throbbed out of the speakers, video games lined the walls, more than one oversized television aired sports from around the world and there were pool tables.
It was like a dive bar that cost too much money to actually be a dive bar, but it wasn’t fancy enough to be an upscale sports bar. Lachlan liked it cause you didn’t have to be twenty-one to get in, just twenty-one to get alcohol.
Not that he didn’t know a guy. He knew a few. But him and Ramsey didn’t drink when I was out with them. My meds meant alcohol wasn’t the best idea. Ramsey didn’t really drink a lot either.
At the table, I set my drink on a high top next to it and checked the cue sticks while Lachlan racked up the balls. The music shifted and changed to a different group. I didn’t recognize this one, though the song seemed familiar. They’d been playing mostly classic rock, so at least I wouldn’t hear Torched just pop up.
That just added to the sense of melancholy. How the hell did I fix this with KC? I hadn’t given the song to Gibs but I didn’t think she’d believe me if I told her. If anything, she’d barely even seemed to acknowledge when I was there. In the meanwhile, all I could think about was how her lips felt beneath mine and how soft they’d been.
Only to have that sweetness soured by the hurt in her eyes.
“You want to break?” Lachlan asked and I shrugged. I didn’t even want to be here. But he insisted and I didn’t want him bugging her, so here we were. “Right, try to contain your excitement.” He eyed me but I didn’t say anything. With a sigh, he took a long drink before he headed over to the table.
The first crack of the cue ball slamming into the triangle formation sent the balls scattering. He sank a solid in the corner right pocket. He sank the next two shots neatly but completely scratched on the third.
I didn’t say anything, just eyed the table and took the easier shot for getting the two ball into the side pocket. We played the first game almost silently. He took that game. Then I got the break on the second and I won that one. It wasn’t until the third that, Lachlan stepped right into my path when I would have gone to line up my shot.
“Don’t,” I told him as I met him stare for stare.
“You need to talk,” he said and I snorted. “What? Just cause I’m not all huggy feely like Ramsey doesn’t mean I don’t get it.”
I just stared at him.
He sighed. “You’ve been a wreck for weeks—”
That made me raise my brows.
“You and Ace aren’t as tight as you were.”
I said nothing.
“I want to know you’re okay. Ramsey is worried about you.”
Which was why we were out and off campus tonight.
When I continued to say nothing, he scowled. “Fine, if I win this game, you tell me what happened.”
I didn’t agree.
I didn’t disagree.
He also didn’t win.
His annoyed half-growl as he set his cue stick aside did make me grin though. “I’m going to get drinks and order food. Rack us up again. Best out of five and you tell me.”
Whatever helped him sleep at night.
When he wanted best out of seven, I almost laughed.
At midnight, he shot me a dirty look. “You could always try the racing games.” I nodded to the wall of them on the far side. “If you want a better chance…”
“You’re a dick,” he muttered, but he was already half-smiling as he turned way and I snorted.
Huh. I was being a dick and he—wasn’t.
Odd.
Also, kind of nice.
He slid into the seat of the old-style arcade game. The metal pedals took some force to slam down and the controls were kind of shit.
They were still fun.
He was crowing when he won the first race.
“Best two out of three,” I informed him and he narrowed his eyes as he glared.
“Fine,” he said, then cracked his knuckles. “I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”
He also couldn’t hide his own smile. Sometimes, Lachlan wasn’t so bad.
Sometimes.
©️ Heather Long, 2023
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