SUPER RICH KIDS

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JUSTIN SITS IN THE DORM he shares with Devin. The male pouts because they haven't been in sync lately and he's sad about it. Ever since that disastrous dinner has his father's house, the elder man insulted Devin once again and Justin feels that he didn't do enough to stop him. He's so torn about this that he calls his mom.

"Mom, I feel like a failure. Dad has once tried to pay Devin to leave me and I didn't do enough to step it in and stop him. Once day, he's actually going to leave me and I don't blame him if he does."

His mother Meredith shakes her head. "Justin Michael Pruitt, I don't ever want to hear you say that again. You hear me, young man? That boy loves the hell out of you."

Devin unlocks the door and walks into the room to see his boyfriend distraught. He wants to cry himself. He stands in front of Justin to get his attention.

It works because Justin looks up with wide eyes. "Mom, I gotta go. Devin and I need to talk." She wishes him good luck and the FaceTime call ends. He wipes his eyes and tries to play it off like his eyes are just watery. (I do this all the time and it never works.) "Hi baby boy."

"Hi papa. We really do need to talk."

"Devin, baby, I am so sorry for not defending you as much as I should be. I completely understand if you don't want to be with me anymore-," Justin rambles on which leads the younger to kiss him to shut him up. "Oh okay."

"Stop talking and listen. Firstly, you're the love of my goddamn life and I'm not going anywhere. Secondly, you forget that I have leverage over your dad. He can try to pay me off all he wants. I'm on his ass. Remember that dinner we had with him, his girlfriend, that assistant of his and your mom?"

"Yeah I remember. He snuck off to his office for a long time with Tricia on his heels." Justin recalls.

"Well, when I went to the bathroom, I heard loud moaning coming from the office. The asshole didn't close nor lock the fucking door. You can tell what they were doing in there. Long story short, I filmed it and now I'm holding it over his head."

Justin smirks at Devin's deviousness. "I'm so in love with you, you know that? You're my soulmate."

Devin pushes him on the bed and climbs on top of him for a series of heavily exaggerated kisses and abdomen rubs.

_______________

NATALIA SITS IN HER BED, scrolling through her Instagram feed absentmindedly when she hears the sound of a key in the lock and the door creaking open. She looks up to see Jaylen poking his head into the room curiously. "Hey babygirl, you want something to eat? I just got out of practice," he says, leaning back against the doorway with one hand on his hip, and the other clutching his phone.

Oh yeah. A lot has happened since we last checked in. Jaylen left their old school and transferred to Windsor, joined the football team thanks to a recommendation from Justin, Carter and Dominic to Coach Patterson.

"Yeah baby. Here I come." She sticks her phone in her Saint Laurent cardigan pocket, climbs out of the bed, stepping into her Prada slippers and following him out of the room. "What are we eating?"

"I figured we'd get sushi?" Jaylen glances at her, smiles. She returns it shyly, and they walk down the hall together. Natalia reaches over to squeeze his elbow reassuringly. "How was practice?"

"Great!" Jaylen replies brightly. "Coach wanted me to go for my third pick at starting QB again so they're working me hard tonight." He shrugs lightly. "But don't worry; he won't be pushing me as hard if I pass. I've been working hard."

She nods, smiling. "Devin told me that. What position are you trying out for again?"

"Linebacker." As he said this, Natalia could swear he winked at her. She laughs and gives his bicep another squeeze. "Are you nervous about the playoffs coming up?" She doesn't know why she brought it up. The team has had more than enough to worry about recently, with the new player getting hurt during practice, and the impending season opener... But she couldn't stop herself.

Jaylen nods. "You have no idea. This year, our first championship trophy isn't even ours. It's going to be somebody else's—that's a long way away and it seems so far. Especially given the new player," he adds. Natalia looks up questioningly. His jaw tightens slightly, but he continues talking as if nothing has changed. "The team will be really torn. We need the support we can give each other before we start off the season with a huge lead against the rival team. We all deserve that. Justin deserves it, since he's been working his ass off build this team and we're not letting him down." Natalia watches as he swallows thickly. Then he smiles and turns toward her, squeezing her hand. "So relax. Things will be alright."Let's go eat. There's a great place around here."

Natalia nods and follows her boyfriend as he heads down the hallway in search of food, but still, there's an uneasy feeling building in her gut. Something isn't quite adding up.

They make their way down the sidewalk, holding hands and walking close together in front of the building that houses the local sushi restaurant. They've eaten here three times already, both after practices and after lunch, but there aren't too many people hanging out. Natalia loves watching Jaylen interact with people—they always say what they mean. And Jaylen has a very good ability to read someone like they're a book. (Which Natalia supposes they are). It's kind of amazing, how much a simple look will tell you about a person.
And right now Natalia is staring intently at her boyfriend, searching for signs of tension. There are none. He's just smiling broadly, his expression friendly and welcoming.

"You're so cute Jay."