Court Kept (Court High 3)

I tugged on my shirt. “Fine.?

?

He tilted his head. “Anyway, ready to go do this?”

Not really. Especially considering how I looked, but I’d get past it, letting Ramses throw his long reach around me. He led us out of the coat hall and into another, this place seriously a manor with how big it was. I’d only seen so much of it in the times I’d been here. When Birdie, the others, and I were usually here, we tended to stay to Ramses’ section of the house and his game room, of course, in the basement.

“Oh, and I asked around about your sister’s ex,” he said, dropping his arm and putting his hand on a doorknob. “Haven’t heard anything yet, but I’m sure we will.”

The fact I hadn’t bothered to ask the new king of Windsor Prep sooner to inquire about who my sister had been seeing before she died floored me. I’d been so quick to try to do this on my own when I clearly had friends.

I started to thank him when I was accosted from the front by, frankly, an amazing-smelling blond woman. She grabbed me, hugging the crap out of me.

“Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. She’s here. Why didn’t you tell me, darling?” Yeah, she smelled good but was also gorgeous. Glittery green eyes stared down at me when the woman pulled back. And when I say stared down at me I meant it. The woman was easily over six feet tall and even bigger than my basketball-playing friends.

Standing next to the woman, Ramses’ height was put to the test, but he still had a few inches on her. He merely chuckled while she accosted me. “Ma, let her go, please.”

Ah, yes, his mom. I remembered seeing her at his family’s Christmas party but only from a distance. I recalled her being glamorous then, but standing there in a shimmering gold top with mid-rise pants and pumps, I reevaluated my fashion choices again. Standing next to each other, Ramses and his mom looked like a fucking Christmas card, and then here I was. Yeah, looking like gutter trash.

She grabbed him. “Oh, Ramses. She’s so adorable. So nice you have a little girlfriend.”

Uh…

Ramses and I exchanged a glance, his eyes just as bugged out as I felt mine were in that moment.

What the fuck?

I shot Ramses a look, to which he responded with a frazzled, “I don’t know.” He mouthed it beside his mom, but when she grabbed me again, I couldn’t say anything.

“Now, tell me all about yourself, December.” She patted my hand. “My son has been keeping everything about you under lock and key.”

“Uh, not much to me.” As Ramses was next to me now, I grabbed his arm, squeezing tight. I hoped to cut off his goddamn circulation, but I couldn’t get much grip with his stupid fucking sweater. Maybe I had because in the end, he guided me away from his mom by my arm.

He released my death grip, bringing me in to stand casual beside him. “What’s with the interrogation, Mom? December is only here for dinner.” He said this with a chuckle, but I think maybe only I noticed it was dry.

It made his mom’s smile only frickin’ widen.

What the hell?

She really thought we were together, how or why I didn’t know. Ramses wouldn’t just sideline me with something like this. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t. In any sense, the doorbell rang, and waving her hands, Mrs. Mallick backed away.

“That oughta be Liam and his wife,” she said, prancing away in her little pumps. This woman was the epitome of the Real Housewives of Maywood Heights and did it so well. She lifted her hands. “I’m going to make sure they get in okay, and, Ramses, please take December to the dining room. So nice you have a date for once.”

Ramses studied the floor, and I eyed him. His mom cleared herself, and no sooner had she left the hall than I punched him.

“Uh, ouch.”

“You jerk.” I shoved him again. “What the fuck?”

“Honestly, I have no idea how she knew. She never keeps up with me. Doesn’t have time.”

Well, she seemed to have the time now, and quick on my feet, I reached into my turtleneck. I wore the Kept necklace as a backup just as case. Seeing this, Ramses’ eyes widened.

“You wore that?”

I only took it off really in the shower. Ramses and I hadn’t talked about what we were doing in regards to our fake relationship yet, so it’s a good thing I did. Getting it adjusted, I threw my hair out over my shoulders. “I usually keep it on just in case.”

Looking relieved by that, he pushed hands into his pockets. “Well, that’s good. Good thinking.”