Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,103

one was happy about it) and all their house staff got a month’s paid vacation.

Zeke was the new household staff.

Turns out, his dad did give a shit, and Zeke had had no idea how much. So he was currently cleaning their house, not partying, and also working as an intern at his dad’s company to earn money for college. His dad had made it clear he didn’t give one iota if Zeke missed a year of higher learning or not.

So that’s where Zeke was, and that’s why I’d ended up getting an apartment by myself as close to Cain’s soccer complex as possible. I already knew Aspen wanted the dorm experience. She’d said she wanted to embrace what college was really about.

That was cool with me.

She’d meet people in her dorm, but I knew I’d be driving over to pick her up most nights and bringing her back early in the morning after my soccer runs.

So here I was. I’d not seen my girl all month, and my best friend was now a question mark.

This sucked was a gross under-exaggeration.

“This place is gorgeous, Blaise.”

I glanced back as my mom came through my new bedroom door. She went straight to the window.

“Oh wow. Look at that view.”

I looked. The view wasn’t anything great. It was the soccer field, which was going to be my home until January, but if it awed her, who was I to take that away?

“The place looks good.” Stephen came in next, not overly impressed, but still supportive. He nodded. “Smart. I can see why you picked it.”

It had no amenities, but I didn’t need them. I’d be using the college’s, and the rent was high enough that there were serious renters here. The management office said I was the only college student in the complex, and that made me happy. I preferred going to parties, not hosting them or living around them.

“They said a lot of professors live here, and some post-doc students,” I told my mom and Stephen. That translated to non-party people in my mind.

Stephen gave me the same look he’d been giving me for the last month. I wasn’t sure if it was respect, but maybe more of a re-assessment.

I’d been around nearly every night—except for the few nights Zeke’s parents had okayed me coming over to play video games. I was one of their only “approved” friends for him. Brian and Branston were out, so it was all me. I was actually the good guy in that situation. I’d also gotten serious about training, because I knew once Monday hit, and practices started, I’d be in sore shape.

Stephen had never seen me during soccer until this last month. I got real serious about my sport. Growing up, training had been another time Griffith mostly stayed away from me. Maybe because I was with coaches a lot, and he couldn’t get away with his normal punching since bruises would be visible. But ever since I was little, soccer came around and he took a hike, for the most part.

That was another reason I loved the sport. It’d been my only escape.

“How much is the rent?” Stephen asked.

Yeah. Neither he nor my mom was going to be privy since they weren’t paying. I had a trust fund from Griffith. He hadn’t taken it away, and we’d been assured by a lawyer that he couldn’t. I also had money set aside for me from my grandfather, my mom’s dad. She came from old money back east. When we went back to New York, that old money got even older, if that made sense. There’d been a fund for me, but it just grew. Though, I didn’t want to have to touch my inheritance from my grandfather, not if I didn’t have to.

And until then, I wasn’t going to sweat about it.

I grinned at Stephen. “It’s high enough that most college students can’t pay it.”

His mouth twitched, and he nodded. “Got it.”

My mom turned back from the window, a smile on her face. “So, have you heard from Aspen?”

I raised an eyebrow. “They’re heading back to Fallen Crest this weekend.”

Her smile faltered. “The same weekend you’re moving here?”

I nodded, my throat tight. I missed my girl. A lot.

Fucking parents.

My mom and Stephen shared a look, but I knew what they were thinking.

The timing was suspect for sure, but I didn’t know what podium her parents could stand on. They’d been reserved about me at first, but somehow that took a turn for the worse. They really