“Mother.”
I straightened, turning fast to greet the slim, red-haired beauty making her way over to us.
“Darling.” She kissed Roan’s cheek, and in typical mom move, fussed with his hair. “How are you, dear? You’re so close, but you never come to see your mother.”
“Don’t worry. This bird isn’t destined to leave the nest.”
Her eyes danced. “Does it make me a bad mom to be the tiniest bit relieved?”
Paris’s comment about a mother’s blind spot came back to me. There was an entire town who’d like to see my devil love leave the nest. One of them tried to help him along via knife. But Josephine Banks didn’t see any of that looking at him.
“Introduce me, Roan.”
“Rainey, my carrier. Carrier, this is Rainey.”
My dean shook her head, smile playing on her lips. “What happened to the days he called me mommy? Nice to meet you, dear.” We shook hands. “Do you go to Bedlam U?”
“Transferred in at the start of the semester.”
“What do you think so far?”
“I love it,” I said honestly. “I love the library and butterscotch muffins. I love my lectures and having actual classmates. I love sitting out on Homer Green with Paris and an iced latte. That’s why these last few weeks... All the stuff that’s happened...” I dropped my gaze. “I don’t want the bad to be what I remember when I look back on these years.”
Dean Banks was gentle pulling me in for a hug. “I don’t want that for any of you. It does seem it’s been one disaster after another since Ruckus Royale.”
An odd note in her tone made me look up.
Josephine was fixed on something over my head. I turned and landed on Jeremy and Micah Ellis—decked out in their finest. They chatted with a couple of the other Crows, knocking back drinks and laughing about a funny thing Gael said.
Jeremy caught me looking and winked.
“But I never imagined there’d be an attempted murder on my campus. From a kidnapping to a brawl, and now poor Mr. Binari, struck down by an unknown assailant while walking into administration,” she said. “It was suggested I close the school for the rest of the semester. Though I’m tempted, I can’t do it.”
“Why, may I ask?”
Josephine leveled a serious look. “We have students from all fifty states, the territories, and other countries. If the owner of that arrow is a student, the last thing they should be given is permission to pack up and fly out of reach. Colton Binari will have justice.”
“He will. I can promise you he will.”
“I believe this is the right decision, but I can’t shake the feeling I should be doing more.”
“I noticed there’s more security patrolling. Also, you allowed midterms to be pushed to next week. A lot of students are scared and can’t focus right now, and we can all see you care about that, Dean Banks.”
She squeezed my forearm. “Please, Rainey. Call me Josephine off campus. Which is the last thing I’ll say about myself. Tell me about you. Are you and Roan dating?”
“We...” I trailed off, glancing at him for help. How much did his mother know about Legend and their habit of adding a third to the relationship?
“We are,” Roan said clearly. “Legend and I fell for her instantly. Like the strike of a match.”
“Oh, how sweet,” she crooned. “And did you say this was your first time having classmates?”
The three of us talked while the room filled to bursting. It seemed everyone rsvp’d to this dinner.
“Josephine,” I began. “What are your thoughts on the town splitting?”
“Ridiculous.” She bat the question out of the air. “It’s completely ludicrous and not a thought I entertained for a millisecond. We were chanting Bedlam forever since I was in diapers. It’ll be our chant long after I’m gone.”
She waved over my head.
“Eileen is calling me over,” Josephine announced. “You two, enjoy your dinner.
“Bub.” She smooched Roan’s cheek. “Don’t leave without saying goodbye.”
He saluted her off.
“She’s great,” I said. “So sweet and sincere.”
Everyone was beginning to find their seats. I assumed the Bedlam Boys would sit together and me with them, but Legend was at a table with his parents. Cairo sat beside his father at a table near the front, which killed the thought I’d be eating with him. While Arsenio and Bedlam’s mayor claimed a table with Judge Stone, Jacques, Steven Ellis, and his boys.
The only people smiling at that table were Steven Ellis and Mayor Creed.
“Shall we?” Roan pulled out a chair at an empty table.
I sat, indulging this time alone with him.
“I know what you’re asking yourself,” he said, dropping next to me. “How did that sweet, sincere woman pop out a guy like him?”
“I wasn’t asking myself that. Goodness, you’re doing a terrible job reading my mind tonight.” I laced our fingers under the table. “The show people put on outside isn’t the same one playing behind closed doors.