The Billionaire Boys Club (Billionaire Romance Series Book 1) (21 page)

“It’s a mall in our case, right?” Tyler said.
 

“It was a mall in
Kelo,
” Kelsey said. “It didn’t stop them.”
 

“Yeah, but there was an Presidential executive order after
Kelo
, limiting takings.”
 

“Wouldn’t that just limit federal takings though? What’s the law in Washington state?”
 

“Good point,” Tyler said. “Keith didn’t mention that.” He ate another spring roll.

“So much for not having any research to do,” Kelsey said.
 

Tyler wiped his fingers on his napkin, and picked up his iPad again. He typed in a search.
 

“Title 8 of the RCW,” he said, referring to the relevant law. “This will take a while.” Tyler scrolled through the iPad for a few moments.
 

“Here, take a look. It looks like you need a public meeting before you take property via eminent domain,” Tyler handed his iPad to Kelsey, who wiped her own hands on her napkin before taking it. Tyler ate another spring roll.
 

“I think Chapter 8.12 applies. The city would do the taking,”
 
Kelsey said.

“I agree,” Tyler said. “Our 90-year ol- client would beat down anyone in a public meeting in Seattle.” Kelsey handed him the iPad back, and Tyler put it to the side.
 

“So do you want to draft a letter, or do you want me to?”
 

“Have you seen hundreds of client letters?” Kelsey asked.
 

Tyler grinned. “Client letters are written to non-lawyers,” he replied. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one.” He took another spring roll. “These are good. Have some, I don’t want to eat them all.”
 

“Thanks,” Kelsey said, taking a spring roll. “I’ll try to write the letter tomorrow.”
 

“That was easy,” Tyler said. He placed the iPad into his bag.
 

“I haven’t written it yet,” Kelsey replied. “How long do you think it should be?”

“A page or two?” Tyler said. “I think we just want to focus on the most important points. Otherwise it will just be confusing. Eat the last one.” She took the last spring roll off the shared plate. The waiter came over and removed the empty plate and Tyler drank some tea.
 

“That sounds doable. I’ll get it to you before nine,” Kelsey said, biting into the spring roll.
 

“Whenever,” Tyler said. “It shouldn’t take us too long to revise whatever you draft.”
 

The waiter brought out their food. Salmon for Tyler, and curry for Kelsey.
 

“Much better than the dining hall tonight,” Tyler said, picking up a fork.
 

“I hate chicken pot pie,” Kelsey agreed. She finished the spring roll and stirred her curry into the rice. “Do you want to try mine?” she asked.
 

“Sure, thanks,” Tyler said, taking a forkful of curry. “Do you want some of mine?” Kelsey shook her head and took a bite of her food. “Yours is good,” he said.
 

“You can have more,” Kelsey said.
 

“Thanks, but this salmon is bigger than I expected,” Tyler said. They ate for a few minutes without talking.
 

“Do you see your father more now?” Kelsey asked.
 

He smiled. “I flew to New York City on my eighteenth birthday. I skipped out of high school, and just left.”

“Seriously?”

“I was gone for a week. It was fun. He’s a nice guy. He’s why I went to college on the east coast,” Tyler said. “I’ll probably fly out for Easter break.”
 

“That’s good that you’ve been able to reconnect with him,” Kelsey said.
 

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “Your parents are still together?”
 

“They’ve been married for twenty-six years,” Kelsey replied.

“Only child?”

“One and only,” she said.
 

“Nice,” Tyler said.
 

“Did your father remarry?” Kelsey asked.
 

“I think he was afraid to,” Tyler joked. Kelsey giggled. “Did you like growing up in Port Townsend?” he asked.

“How did you know…” then Kelsey stopped herself in mid sentence. “Ryan told you.”
 

“You know I’m from Medina,” Tyler said, finishing his salmon.

“I do. I like Port Townsend a lot. There’s a lot to do and it’s so beautiful.”
 

“Bob certainly likes it.”
 

“Bob?”
 

“Ryan’s dad. Every summer he dragged Ryan over there for the fireworks and to go camping.”
 

“Have you been?”

“I went with them a couple of times,” Tyler said. “Will you move back?”

“I doubt it,” Kelsey said. “Will you stay here?”

“In Seattle?” Tyler was thoughtful for a moment. “We’ll see.”
 

Kelsey finished her curry. Tyler gestured for the waiter.
 

“Can we see the dessert menu, please?” The waiter nodded and brought the menu over. Tyler looked it over.

“I want dessert, but nothing here looks great to me. Do you want anything?” Kelsey shook her head.
 

“We’ll just take the check, please.” Tyler said, handing the dessert menus to the waiter.
 

Tyler drank the rest of his tea, and the waiter brought the bill over and handed it to him.
 

“How much is it?” Kelsey asked, pulling out her purse. Tyler looked at her in surprise.
 

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” Kelsey replied.
 

“I’ll pay the bill, Kelsey,” Tyler said.
 

“You paid last time,” Kelsey said.
 

“I’ll pay every time,” Tyler said.
 

“No way,” Kelsey said. “I won’t take advantage of you.”

“You aren’t,” Tyler said, pulling out his wallet and taking out some money. He placed it in the bill folder and handed it to the waiter.
 

“Tyler…”
 

“Kelsey, your tablet runs on Tactec software. So does your phone. Let me buy dinner for you.”
 

“Thank you, Tyler,” Kelsey conceded.
 

“Let’s get dessert,” Tyler said, standing.
 

They crossed to the other side of Madison and walked into the ice cream store. They left with cones which they ate as they walked back toward campus.
 

“It’s a little cold for ice cream,” Kelsey said.

“A little, but it’s really good,” Tyler said.
 

“It’s great,” Kelsey agreed.
 

They ate their ice cream silently on their walk. They walked through the back gate of the campus and walked into their dorm. Ryan and Zachary were sitting in the common room.

“What did you have?” Ryan asked as they walked in.

“Thai,” Tyler replied.
 

“I knew we should have gone with them,” Ryan said.
 

“We had pizza on Capitol Hill. It was terrible,” Zach said.
 

“Why didn’t you just go to the place on Madison?” Tyler asked. “See you later, Kelsey,” he said as she headed towards the stairs. She waved at him and walked up to her room and opened the door.
 

Jessica was lying on the bed, reading.

“How was dinner?” she asked.
 

Kelsey set her backpack on the floor,
 

“Delicious. We had Thai.”
 

“Good call. Dinner was miserable tonight.”
 

“I thought it might be. Why didn’t you go into Madison Park?”

“By the time I realized how bad dinner was, I didn’t want to walk. It’s cold tonight. Did you get any work done?” Jessica asked.
 

“Yeah, I have to write the client letter tomorrow.”
 

“Lucky you.”
 

“It’s my turn. Tyler did most of the work on the last assignment.”
 

“I can’t believe we get our first grades on a project next week. That’s going to be terrifying.”
 

“It’s will be fine,” Kelsey said.
 

“You have Mr. Smarty Pants for a partner. My partner doesn’t do anything except complain,” Jessica groused.
 

“Tyler is focused,” Kelsey agreed.

“See, you have nothing to worry about,” Jessica said.
 

“Except my own grades. I still have no idea what’s going on in Civil Procedure.”
 

“Join the club. The entire first year class is lost.”

All day on Sunday, Kelsey sat in the library and worked on the client letter, which she forwarded to Tyler at 10 p.m. At 10:05 p.m., Tyler wrote back with three small changes. Kelsey added them and re-sent the letter. Tyler said it was great, and asked her if he should forward it to Keith. Kelsey agreed and they were done.

On Monday, Tyler walked into the gym.
“Nice work, Miss North,” he said, dropping his bag on the floor.
 

“Thanks,” Kelsey replied, continuing her run.

It was their last full week in school before the Thanksgiving holiday, and it felt like the student body was dragging. Civil Procedure still hadn’t improved, and a trip to Professor Dudley’s office hours on Monday evening had only made matters worse. Kelsey could have sworn that Ryan was sleeping in Property on Tuesday before Zachary poked him with a pen. On Wednesday, Kelsey and Jessica bought cupcakes on Madison for lunch, and brought one back for Dylan, who seemed really out of sorts. When Kelsey returned to the room on Thursday after Property, she was greeted by Jessica, who was wearing her jacket and had her wallet in her hand.
 

“That’s it. We’re going out.”
 

Kelsey put her backpack down. “Where?”

“Downtown. We’re going to eat, shop and have a good time. We don’t have anything but Legal Writing tomorrow.”
 

“Have you turned in your assignment?”
 

“Yesterday. You?”
 

“Sunday.”
 

“Show-off,” Jessica snarled. “Let’s go.”
 

They walked over to Madison and took the bus.
 

“Dylan didn’t want to come,” Jessica said as they waited on the bus stop. “I don’t think he’s finished the assignment.”
 

They caught the bus, which dropped them off in the heart of downtown Seattle.
 

“Eat? Shop for girl stuff? What first?”
 

“I’m not that hungry. Let’s shop.”
 

“Music to my ears. Do you need anything or are we just going for it?”

Kelsey laughed. “Let’s go for it,” she said.

They walked down Sixth Avenue, going in one store, then the next. Kelsey bought a new workout top, a purchase which Jessica raised her eyebrows at but said nothing. Jessica debated a leather purse for a while, but finally decided against it. They reached Pine and turned in the direction of Elliott Bay. Jessica bought a new top, and Kelsey bought some new jeans. They tried on makeup, then headed back up Pine to get something to eat.

“Hit the mall?” Jessica asked. “They’ll have food.”
 

“Absolutely,” Kelsey replied.
 

They had salads and sandwiches in the middle of the mall, then started walking from store to store, just talking.
 

“So is everyone freaking out in your Property class too?”

“Ryan Perkins has fallen asleep two classes running,” Kelsey said. “So I would say not.”
 

“Perhaps he’s forgotten that he’s not inheriting any money.” Jessica laughed.

“Professor Weber’s okay, so I think everyone’s just resigned to their fate on the exam.”
 

“Interesting. My class is going nuts,” Jessica said, stopping to look in one of the windows. “Let’s go in here.”

They walked into a store and looked around.

“So cute, but please. Seventy bucks?” Jessica said.
 

“One day,” Kelsey said.
 

“Maybe,” Jessica said, replacing the sweater on the table. “Let’s go upstairs.”
 

Kelsey nodded, and they left the store and took the escalator up.

“I want to go to Victoria’s Secret. Not that I have any reason to,” Jessica added.

“Okay,” Kelsey said. They walked over to the glossy black-and-pink store and looked around.
 

“When I’m a lawyer, I’m only going to wear silk under my conservative suits,” Jessica said, holding up something in lace.

“Seriously?”

“Sure. I bet I’ll be able to afford it. After of course, I pay off all of those loans.”
 

“Don’t remind me,” Kelsey said.
 

“Forget I said it. This is girls’ night.”
 

“Thank you,”
 
Kelsey said. They walked around to a different section of the store, where Kelsey found a cute sleep-shirt on sale.
 

“This is more my style,” Kelsey grinned.
 

“How are you going to catch a man wearing that?”

“For now, I’d like to keep them away.”
 

“No problem, then,” Jessica replied.

Kelsey put the shirt back and they left the store.
 

They continued their tour, stopping for cupcakes and walking across the skybridge to the large department store across the street.
 
They wandered through the store, Kelsey stopping to look at new running shoes. She was due for a new pair soon, but she decided to see what had come into the store when she was at home.
 

They wandered from floor to floor, ending up at the fine jewelry.
 

“Nice. I’ll take two of those please,” Jessica said, looking at the diamond rings.

“Beautiful,” Kelsey agreed.
 

“I’m so glad we left campus tonight,” Jessica said. “I didn’t think I’d make it to Thanksgiving break, even though it’s days away.”