Royal pushed his dress sleeves up his forearms, throwing his wingspan back across the couch. He shrugged. “I guess we thought we were Vada and Thomas J. or something.”
“Sure did.” Jax chuckled. He directed a thumb at Royal. “They were even each other’s first kiss.”
Now that floored me, and something I obviously hadn’t known. I propped my hands on my hips. “Really?”
Royal rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and it was the worst thing ever. I swear I washed my goddamn mouth out.”
“How do you think Paige felt?” Jax settled a popcorn bowl in his lap, scarfing a ton of what the boys hadn’t eaten after they’d popped it. He grinned. “She went swiftly gay after that—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Royal slugged him, actually getting on top of him and ripping his shirt a little. Jax was losing his shit the whole time, laughing, which I think only made Royal pissed off more. Eventually, Royal got Jax under his arm. He growled, “Apologize.”
“Sorry, bro. Sorry!” More chuckles from Jax, but when they both smiled, I knew Royal wasn’t too hurt by what Jax said. I still was surprised by the whole kiss thing. I mean, my sister was clearly gay, and after putting in the DVD, I walked over to the male-infested couch. Royal opened his arms for me, and after tucking me under one and cradling Hershey in his other, he rubbed my arm. “It wasn’t a thing,” he said. “We were a girl and a prepubescent boy. Had to get it out of the way, I guess.”
Made sense, I supposed, but it was still weird. I exchanged my snacks for Hershey who quickly bounded over to my lap, sending my Skittles flying. We were all about to clean up this fucking house before my dad came home. The boys got popcorn everywhere when they fought.
The movie queued up, and we all settled in as the credits started.
Jax crunched on some Doritos. “Didn’t that kiss happen at your birthday party, Royal? That one where your dad rented out a whole goddamn amusement park.”
Royal smirked, dragging a finger down my arm. “Believe me, the showboating wasn’t for me. Dad always likes to make a statement.” He tipped a chin at Jax. “And yeah, it was my tenth birthday, but that wasn’t the year dad rented the amusement park. That was my ninth. The tenth was the circus.”
“I thought that was your eighth.” LJ was dismissive about the statement, watching the movie. “The eighth was the circus, right?”
“Nope,” Royal stated, reaching over and grappling a bunch of popcorn. “That was the tenth.”
LJ lifted his head. “Oh, yeah. Right.”
They all sat with that for a moment before Jax spoke again and almost got a foot to the face for it. Royal was really into the movie and kicked him.
Jax flipped him off. “I was just going to say the circus was the seventh. I remember that.”
“It wasn’t. It was the tenth. Now, shut the fuck up.” Reaching around, Royal shoved Jax’s head forward, and I laughed.
Jax didn’t, though, shaking his head. He pouted. “Oh, right. You didn’t have a birthday party that year since…”
The credits had faded, and the movie had begun, but that didn’t mean anyone was focused on it anymore. Everyone was staring at Jax, someone who paused right in the middle of devouring a chip.
I sat up. “Why didn’t he have a party?”
True silence going on right now outside of the movie and absolutely no one was listening to it. All attention had shifted to Royal, someone who was suddenly bracing the popcorn with a death grip in his hand. Unfurling his fingers, he casually ate what he had.
“Because, uh, I got sick that year,” he passed off, panning toward the flat screen again. “Too sick for a party.”
“Really?” I questioned. “What happened—”
“December.” The warning came from Knight, his head shaking. Jax and LJ had all but looked away, and I faced Royal when he brushed my arm with two fingers.
The beautiful boy smiled a little at me, a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Pneumonia,” he passed off again. “Almost took me but it didn’t.”
Christ, and how terrible? That was bad, but I didn’t understand why things suddenly got so weird, though. Nor why no one was watching the movie anymore. They all seemed hell-bent in sitting in this awkwardness, then watching Royal when he stood.
“I’m going to get some more popcorn,” he said, taking the time to pause the movie. He tossed the remote on the ottoman. “Want anything?”
Since the question had been directed at me I shook my head and Royal reached down, bending my head forward to kiss the top.
“I’ll be back.” He left me with that, left us all with that, and LJ kicked Jax.
“Go with him,” LJ growled, and Jax immediately popped off the couch.
“Eh, bro. I need something,” Jax exclaimed, traipsing after Royal, and once they cleared the room, I ran my hand over Hershey’s head.
“What was that about?” I asked, Hershey leaning into my touch. She fell on her back for a belly rub, really getting too big for that with her size, but I gave into her anyway. I smiled at her, but the guys weren’t smiling at all.
Knight frowned. “Not our place to go there.”
“Go where?”
Knight gazed away with a huff and LJ put his hands together. The tall blond leaned forward. “We don’t talk about that year Royal got sick.”
“Why?” I asked really curious. “Was it that bad?”
“Pretty bad. Yeah, but that’s not why we don’t talk about it.”
“LJ.” Another warning, but this time obviously directed at LJ, the growl low in Knight’s voice. Knight’s dark eyes flicked in my direction. “That was the year Royal lost his mom and sister.”
My lips parted. “What happened?” I’d heard
