He may be right, but he wasn’t going home now. Not tonight and definitely nowhere with him.
Done with us, Mr. Prinze shifted on his patent leather shoes, and like clockwork, a chauffeured car pulled up right in from of him.
I pushed arms around Royal’s waist, and Royal brought me in as his dad got inside. He rubbed my arm, turning away from his dad, who gave us both a death stare. The man quickly peeled off, and after, Royal kissed the top of my head.
“You’re braver than me,” he said, and I laughed, but only for a short while. The blood on his eyebrow dripped a stream down his cheek. I attempted to touch it, but Royal squinted. He angled his cheek away. “Don’t freak. I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”
“Maybe, but either way, you’re coming with me,” I said, taking his hand. “We’re going home.”
*
I’d been so quick to the precinct I missed Jax, LJ, and Knight in the end. They arrived after us, and Royal and I got the text while we were on my dad’s couch. He wasn’t home from work yet, just the two of us, and currently, I was on my knees in front of Royal, cleaning up his face. I dabbed at the cut above his eye with some stuff that made him curse, not the best at this, but I think I got the right thing. The liquid bubbled over his wound, and he had stopped bleeding.
“The guys want to know where we are,” Royal said, reading his phone. Touching the cut with a cotton ball, I got him good in the eyebrow again and he lowered his phone with a cringe. “You trying to heal me or hurt me, princess?”
“Shut up.” I put some ointment on it, then handed him a princess Band-Aid for being smart. “Put it on yourself since I can’t do this right.”
I started to get up, but he got me by the hips. A quick maneuver and I was on his lap, straddling his hips.
He settled my weight on him, slinging heavy arms around my waist.
“I want you to do it,” he said, giving me big, green puppy dog eyes. “Please.”
It’d be hard to deny him with as warm and as hot as he was, and in the end, I succumbed, taking the Band-Aid from him. I put that Disney princess design right on his cut, pressing a finger on each side to secure it. I did it slow, clearly bothering him but apparently not enough for him to push me away. Heavy arms brought me closer to the heat between his legs, his eyes closing as he rubbed me against him. He was hard and touched his mouth to my blouse.
“What happened?” I asked, pushing my fingers into blond hair that smelled so good. I buried my face in it. “At the Sheriff’s office?”
Clearly killing the mood, Royal tossed his head back, smoothing his hands over my bottom when he settled back into the couch. “Mira. I guess she mentioned me in her suicide letter. Her dad found it this morning. It was in an envelope on his desk. He said he must have missed it since he’s always got a bunch of shit on it.”
“What did it say?” I moved my legs, no longer straddling him when I sat on his lap. He let me, holding me to him with strong arms.
“Only that she was sad,” he said, frowning. “That she was in love with me, but I made her life miserable. That’s ironic as fuck since she made my life miserable. She was manipulative and tried to use what she knew about the haze to ruin my life. I told you why I gave in to her.”
To push me away, the only reason. I looped my arms around his neck. “Why would she say that?”
He sat with that, irises flickering up. “I guess to ruin me even in death. The last thing she said before she died to me was I’d regret leaving her.”
Had she meant that? Killed herself really over him? It was so sick, sad. I swallowed. “Why did you have her cell phone?”
“I didn’t.” He wrestled fingers through his dusky blond locks. “She must have put it there, wanting to beef up the letter or something. Anyway, it was evidence enough for them to bring me in. They couldn’t charge me with anything because I didn’t do anything. They had to let me go and did once my dad showed up. They gave me a call. I decided to use it on him since I didn’t know what I was dealing with. I’m regretting that now, and don’t you ever do what you did today again. Don’t stand up to my dad. Don’t fucking talk to him.”
“Why?”
He tossed me on my back, literally maneuvered me underneath him. He pinned me down, and when he forced his fingers into my hair, guiding me to look up at him, my heart raced.
He was so beautiful, shallow breaths releasing from perfect lips. I touched one, and he kissed my finger, his tongue touching the tip.
Harsh heat simmered between my legs, Royal’s hard length pressing into my stomach.
“He won’t ever hurt you,” he said, pulling my thumb into his mouth and sliding a hand beneath my skirt. He pushed into my underwear, cupping me. “And you make it harder for me to protect you if you do things like that. Don’t ever stand up to him, December. Don’t ever. Promise me.”
“I promise,” I sighed, trembling when he slid a finger inside me. He dipped
