Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,15

Now this was a regular occurrence, and the vibes in the house were a lot more relaxed because of it.

“I want to go camping for my last week at school.”

She didn’t even blink. “Absolutely not.” And damn, her smile never wavered either.

“Mom.” I was getting serious now.

“Daughter.” So was she. “It’s your last year. You’re not missing any projects or memories to go camping alone.”

Well…damn.

“I’ve gotten permission to finish all my projects and tests in the next three days at school. And I can do it. I’ll have everything completed and handed in by Thursday. I can take off on Friday.”

Wait.

What was I doing?

I didn’t want my parents to know when I graduated. I’d made up a fake email for them, so everything school-related actually came to me. I knew my grades for months before my parents remembered to ask. With their old-school way of thinking, no news from my school was good news. That meant I wasn’t having problems, so they had no reason to worry about me. And straight As—a 4.2, with the new ranking system. School had always been easy for me. It was just the social scene that presented a challenge, but what parent actually waded into that world?

I needed to go camping.

I needed it like I needed to live. This past weekend was supposed to have fed my soul, but it hadn’t.

I was going anyway. Regardless of what my mother said.

I made the decision right then and there. My projects would be done. My tests would be taken. If I didn’t show up, no one would care.

I was doing it. My mom would never know anyway.

And so now I had to distract her. I moved in, wrapped my arms around her, and buried my head in her shoulder. “I love you, Mom.”

She stiffened for a second, then she melted. “Oh, honey.” Her hand came up to the back of my head for a moment before she hugged me. “I love you too. So very much,” she murmured next to my ear. “You know that, right?”

I squeezed her. “Always.”

She sighed. “Come for dinner. Benny made Thai and your father is having a fit. You know he was hoping for tacos. Lord knows why. If he could, he’d have tacos every night of the week. Tacos and those damn cigars of his. I thought I got rid of the rest of them, but he snuck away to his editing shed. It’s like he thinks we’re oblivious that it’s his he-shed more than anything.” She paused, her smile turning tender. “You’ll come for Thai with us?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Another hug, a soft squeeze of my shoulder, and she left, her hand grazing my cheek.

After dinner, I studied for my two tests and drew up a list for my camping trip.

I’d be back before she even knew I’d been gone.

9

Blaise

Between Zeke and Oliver and Jamie, Tasmin never stood a chance.

She came alone—no boyfriend and no brother with his girlfriend in tow. And I knew my half-bro well enough to know there was no way he would come without his woman or his friends. He had a tight group. I’d heard my mom complaining to Stephen one night that the only way they’d gotten my half brother to the first dinner was because Tasmin went behind his back to friend-guilt his girlfriend. She had come to support Taz. I don’t know what happened, but he showed up with her, and then they’d all stormed off with Taz’s boyfriend.

That’d been the pussy dinner. Zeke and I took off right after them, and that night had been a fun party.

I barely remembered it.

But with its smaller crowd, this dinner had passed without much needling or questioning or guilt tripping about why I didn’t have a better relationship with so and so—just fill in the blank. At this rate, it was a rotating door. My mom was always disappointed that I wasn’t closer to someone: Stephen, Tasmin, the brother who didn’t give a fuck about me either, or even fucking Griffith, the non-bio asshole who’d raised me.

I got out unscathed, and then we went to Zeke’s, where I spent the rest of the night in a drunken stupor. We passed a bowl around and played video games, just the four of us. No Brian or Branston, and I knew that was Zeke waving a truce flag. He knew I couldn’t stand either of them, so I was happy.

The next day, I kept an eye out for Aspen.

There was something about her. It was