The Billionaire Boys Club (Billionaire Romance Series Book 1) (7 page)

He smiled at her and stuck his hand out to Ashley. “Hi, Dylan Shaw. We’re in the same small group.”

Ashley swallowed and shook his hand. “Ashley Taylor, nice to meet you.”
 

“Mind if I join you?”
 

“Not at all,” Jessica said, as Dylan sat down.

“Dylan, it’s not like we ate together every night in college,” Kelsey said.
 

“This is different, Kels. Us nice people have to stick together.”
 

“That’s what I’ve been telling her.” Jessica smiled at him. Dylan began to eat. “Did you buy your books?” she asked.

“That trip cost me over $1600.” Dylan frowned.
 

“Wow,” Kelsey said.
 

“We ordered used ones,” Jessica said.
 

“I can’t stand using books that other people have written in,” Dylan said, biting into a taco.
 

“I don’t like it either, but I’m going to just have to deal,” Jessica said.

“This isn’t the best dinner tonight,”
 
Dylan said.
 

“That’s what I said. It’s not really Mexican.” Ashley pouted.
 

“You’re from Texas?” Dylan asked. Ashley nodded. “We’ll have to go down to the market one day. Get the real stuff from La Vaca.”
 

“The market?” Jessica asked.

“Pike Place Market,” Kelsey said.
 

“Oh, the fish throwing place,” Jessica said.
 

“There’s a lot more than that there, Jess.” Dylan laughed. “When my car comes, we’ll drive down and have some good food.”
 

“Why didn’t you drive up?” Kelsey asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask that.”

“Broken transmission, just as I was packing up. My brother will drive it up next weekend.”
 

“That’s nice of him,” Jessica said.
 

“Nice? He’s the idiot who broke it,” Dylan said.

“Dylan and his brother have issues,” Kelsey said with a wink.
 

“I think I’ll make him take light rail back to the airport. It will serve him right.”

“How old is your brother?” Ashley asked.
 

“Eighteen. He thinks he’s the next Justin Bieber,” Dylan said. “I’m going to get a drink. Does anyone want anything?” Everyone shook their heads no as Dylan stood up and walked to the soda machine.

“You’ve met Dylan’s brother?” Jessica asked.
 

Kelsey nodded. “A few times. He’s okay. Just immature.”
 

“Not like his big brother,” Jessica said, eating some more food.

“I’m starting to worry about you. You’re falling hard,” Kelsey said. Jessica shrugged as Dylan returned with a soda and dessert.
 

“Where are you from?” Ashley asked Dylan as she finished her salad.
 

“Portland,” Dylan replied.
 

“Why did you go to school in your hometown? Didn’t you want to explore?” Jessica asked him.

“Why leave the coolest city in the world? I mean, unless you’re going to law school in the second coolest city.”
 

“I like to think New York City is pretty nice,” Jessica said in surprise.
 

“Too busy,” Dylan said, eating a bite of cheesecake.
 

“I’m going back,” Jessica said simply.
 

“Enjoy. I’m staying in the Pacific Northwest.”
 

“And with that, the romance is over.” Jessica said, changing into her pajamas. Kelsey laughed.
 

“A lot of people think that this is the best place in the country to live. Lots of fresh air, nature, a great quality of life.”

“But to dismiss the rest of the country. What about Chicago? D.C.?”

“Dylan loves Portland. Always has. He’s really sporty too. There aren’t a lot of places where you can ski today and surf tomorrow. You can here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We should go camping. There’s a lot of great places near my parents.”
 

“Camping? Outside?”

“That’s where we usually camp,” Kelsey said in amusement.

“I’m a city girl,” Jessica said. “All right, he’s a cutie, so I’ll give this nature thing a try. But only for a while. And I’m not promising to go camping. Suppose it rains?”

“So what? It always rains,” Kelsey replied.

“You people are crazy,” Jessica said, getting into bed. “Please turn off the light when you go to bed. And double-check the alarm.”

The next morning, Jessica and Kelsey were up, dressed, and sitting having breakfast in the dining hall at 8 a.m.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Jessica said as the sun shone off Lake Washington. “No wonder you‘re willing to suffer through the rain and cold.”
 

“Just for moments like this,” Kelsey agreed, sipping her coffee and looking out the dining room’s glass wall. She saw a person walking a very active dog on the private beach. Must be a professor, she thought, as the dog leapt up to try to get a stick in the person’s hand. The dog missed.
 

Jessica took a bite of the English muffin in front of her. “They make a pretty good breakfast,” she said, setting it back down.

“It’s hard to ruin eggs,” Kelsey said.
 

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Jessica said. “I ate some really questionable breakfasts in college.”
 

“I would have thought Princeton would have excellent food.”
 

“Surprise!” Jessica said, brightly. “So what’s on the list for today? I know you know, Miss Responsible.”
 

Kelsey opened the folder she had brought with her today. The schedule for the rest of the week was inside.

“How to study in law school with our small group at 9, another professor meeting this afternoon, and the cookout is tonight.”
 

“Well, they certainly picked the right day for the cookout,” Jessica said, looking at the lake again.

“The weather changes by the minute here. Don’t get comfortable with the sun,” Kelsey said, closing the folder and picking up a piece of toast.
 

“I’m not. I’m just enjoying every minute of it.”

“Saving the memory for the next eight months without it.”
 

“Exactly.
 
Wait, eight months without sun?” Jessica said in alarm.
 

“Ah, you’ll go to New York for Christmas. Maybe there will be some there,” Kelsey grinned, biting into the toast.
 

Kelsey walked into her small group room promptly at 9 a.m. Oddly, there seemed to be a couple of people missing. She dismissed it and sat down.
 

Last night, after dinner, Dylan had pointed out the three friends of the two jerks that had been plaguing them. Kelsey noted that the three new boys were now sitting in front of her, talking. Jessica had decided to call the entire group the “Irritating Five”.

Dylan had promised to Jessica that he would find out their story and report back at dinner tonight. Kelsey smiled to herself. Jessica was certainly determined to engineer a relationship with Dylan, and he was already doing her bidding. Kelsey could learn from her.
 

Kelsey looked up to the front to see one of the boys looking at her. He smiled and looked away. Kelsey blushed as two professors walked in. They might be irritating, but a least a couple were handsome. Kelsey shook her head to focus as the professors walked to the front of the room.
 

“Hello, everyone,” said the very attractive woman with long brown hair. “I’m Professor Schiavelli. I teach Constitutional Law here at Darrow.
 

Kelsey glanced around. Most of her male classmates were transfixed. Professor Schiavelli would not have looked out of place on the Victoria’s Secret runway.
 

“And of course, I’m Professor Dudley. I spoke to this group yesterday,” Professor Dudley said.
 

“Today,” Professor Schiavelli continued, “Professor Dudley and I will be discussing how to study in Law School. What makes legal study different from other subjects, what you need to focus on, and how to be well prepared in class and for your final exam.”
 

Kelsey leaned forward, ready to take notes. She noticed even a few of the boys had managed to regroup and concentrate on Professor Schiavelli’s words. The next three hours would be vital to her grade point average, she thought.
 

And over the next three hours, Professor Schiavelli and Professor Dudley gave them a lot of information. They emphasized repeatedly the importance of being ready for class, listening to every word, and basically spending most waking hours either studying or in class. Kelsey found herself almost overwhelmed already, and she hadn’t even opened a book. Once they were finally released for lunch, Kelsey felt her head swimming.
 

“What was that about? I’m terrified,” Jessica said over pasta.
 

“You and me both,” Ashley said. The three girls had met up for lunch in the student dining room and were comparing their experiences.
 

“When Professor Bernstein said that when he was in law school, he read each of the casebooks a minimum of three times a semester, I thought I would faint,” Jessica said. “Then they started discussing the 100-page outlines that some students write….”

“Today’s program is certainly going to run a few people out of school, that’s for sure,” Ashley said.

“I thought about quitting,” Jessica said solemnly.

“You did not,” Kelsey said, dismissively.

“Seriously, Kels. This is going to require a whole lot of discipline. I’m not sure if I’m up for it,” Jessica said quietly.
 

“Of course you are. We all are,” Kelsey replied. “We just need to focus.”
 

“Kelsey’s right,” Ashley said. “We just need to get it together. Other people have survived this.” She daintily took a bite of garlic bread.
 

“I’ll try,” Jessica said doubtfully.
 

After lunch, everyone headed back to their small groups to meet and talk with a second set of professors. Kelsey’s group had the very strident Professor Bernstein, Professor Schiavelli again and the nice Professor Weber, who seemed to have mostly got over his flu. The format was more casual this time, with the professors answering the numerous questions that the students had come up with over the past two days. When they were dismissed, Kelsey was happy to head out to the sun, which despite her prediction, hadn’t gone away over the afternoon.

She got back to an empty room, but just as she was deciding what to do with her free time, Jessica walked in.
 

 
“Want to walk around Madison Park?” Jessica asked. “Not like we’ll have time to once school starts.”
 

Kelsey laughed. “I would hope that we could manage a 15-minute walk sometimes.”

“Wishful thinking,” Jessica said glumly.
 

“Let’s go.” Kelsey grinned. The two girls walked out of their dorm and to the back road out of the campus. They headed for Madison Street.
 

“Today really shook you up?” Kelsey asked in concern. Jessica was usually so bold and confident. All summer long she had been predicting their mutual success. But now Jessica was walking with her head down, almost melancholy.

“I’ve never failed at anything, Kels,” Jessica said simply. “I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Look, they just don’t want us to be over-confident. We know what to do, how to study. We’ll get through the year.”
 

“Yes, but I want good, no, great grades. I want to go back and work in New York City. They’re expecting A’s.”
 

“And you’ll get them. As Ashley said, we just need to focus.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jessica breathed. “I probably just need a cupcake.”
 

Kelsey laughed.
 

“That’s the spirit,” Kelsey said.
 

They took a left once they reached Madison and headed west. They strolled past the stores and cafes that had sprung up to serve the needs of the students of the law school.

“Here’s one right here,” Kelsey said as they reached a small bakery. “Cupcake Heaven.”

“Hmm,” Jessica said thoughtfully. “Let’s go in and see what they have.”
 

As they walked in a small bell rang, and a woman in a pink apron greeted them.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asked.
 

“We wanted to see what you have,” Jessica said, perusing the choices. “Ooh, chocolate caramel.” Kelsey looked at the assortment behind the glass. Every cupcake was perfectly arranged and looked delicious. In fact the cafe was one of the cutest she had seen, with its pink and brown decor.
 

“Yeah, I’m going for that. How about you, Kels?”
 

“I’ll get the red velvet one,” she said.
 

“No need to wrap them,” Jessica said. “I require my chocolate now.”
 

The woman behind the counter laughed, and placed each beautiful cupcake on a pink napkin.
 

“How much?” Kelsey asked.
 

“Seven dollars,” the woman asked.
 

Kelsey pulled out her wallet and said, “My treat.”
 

“Thanks, Kels,” Jessica said, picking up her cupcake. Kelsey did the same, and they left the bakery as there were no seats. Each of the girls bit into their cupcakes as they continued walking down the sunny street.

“Oh, yeah. That was a good choice. Have a bite, Kels,” Jessica said, holding out her cupcake. Kelsey took a bite and offered Jessica a bite of the red velvet, which Jessica happily took.

“Yours is good too,” Jessica said, returning to her own cupcake.
 

“I like them both,” Kelsey said, taking another bite.
 

“I figured the caramel would up the sugar quotient,” Jessica said, as they passed by a chic hair salon. Jessica peeked into the window.
 

“This really is a cute neighborhood,” Jessica said.