Knight wet his lips. “It was a car crash, but you need to ask Royal about it. I’m sorry. It really isn’t our place to go into details.”
“We miss anything?” Royal came back into the room, Jax behind him with a couple of beers from my dad’s fridge. When Jax offered, I quickly took one, nursing it while Royal and Jax got comfortable around me. Reaching for the remote, Royal started the movie again, and since he hadn’t missed anything I wanted to detail in the conversation, I stayed silent.
I’d been the only one to miss something in the end.
Eleven
December
The tone changed for a little bit after what was said during My Girl, but eventually, things mellowed out. I actually ended up falling asleep, and I was glad since the movie was so sad in the end. It was probably also the wrong thing to watch considering my sister, but since Royal didn’t mind watching it, that’s what we did. I ended up waking up while another movie was playing, and kissing my forehead, Royal advised it was probably time for the other guys to go. My dad would be back eventually tonight, and the last thing he needed to see were four large boys on my couch. He already wasn’t too fond of Royal. Royal slapped all the fellas’ hands, and after letting them out, he came back for Hershey and me. Helped us upstairs. I’d drunk a little too much, one or two beers I’d had before falling asleep. Royal assisted me by getting Hershey in her kennel and later, putting me into bed.
He tucked me in and everything, pinching my chin and kissing my lips. His weight hovering over me and fine smell around me quickly made me want more, and I opened my bed to him.
“Stay with me,” I hummed, pushing his academy jacket off, but he stopped my hurried hands, rubbing my nose with his.
“Your dad,” he said, the only logical one here. If Dad wouldn’t be happy about four boys on my couch, he definitely wouldn’t be happy about one of them in my bed.
Smiling, I slid arms around his waist. “Lock the door. He’ll know I’m in here, then. That I’m safe, but won’t try to come in.”
I’d gathered a few things about my dad too since moving in here. He needed security in proximity, nothing more. The locked door would let him know I was home.
Taking that for what it was, Royal grinned, leaving my bed only long enough to lock the door, then come back. After tossing his jacket, he unbuttoned his shirt, giving me a show when he exposed his golden, chiseled skin. His body was absolutely perfect, and he wasn’t shy about not hiding it. He toed off his shoes, then joined me in my bed, cuddling with me when he breathed kisses on my neck. I wanted him here. I wanted him safe, and there was no way he was going back to his dad’s house even if he wasn’t there. I supposed he could stay at Windsor House, the Court’s headquarters, but I didn’t even want him there. I wanted him with me.
I sighed when he lifted my shirt, then pulled it off. That left my bra on but when he reached around to pull it off, I placed a hand between us.
“Can we just hold each other for a while?” I asked, and that didn’t seem to bother him at all. He quickly got in to it, covering me with his hard body.
“That’s like asking me if I wouldn’t mind air.” He smiled, tasting my skin. He pinched my shoulder between his teeth before brushing his nose over it. “I love you.”
I loved him too, my eyes closing. He kissed the palm of my hand and I touched his face.
“Things got weird tonight,” I said, playing with his hair. “You know with what Jax said about you getting sick?”
It actually got to the point where no one talked at all, and I had a feeling that had less to do with the fact we were watching a movie. The veer in conversation had made him uncomfortable, clearly.
Lids fell hard over green eyes. He pushed a veil of dusky blond out of his face. “Yeah. And?”
Defensive, and that was his go-to. The boy was a vault, and I hated that he did that. It was just me here, and he didn’t have to be this way.
“Royal—”
He pulled my hands from his face, then hovered over me. Gripping my wrists, he pinned my arms above my head, extending my body and making my tummy quiver.
“Let’s just be together,” he said, placing his weight on me and reaching between my legs, he got back into what we’d started earlier tonight. What we’d started but couldn’t finish. I sucked in a breath the moment his fingers invaded my underwear, protests hard for me at the moment. He unsnapped my bra as his fingers entered me, and I knew exactly what he was doing. He was using me. He was using us and sex not to talk.
“Royal…” He stole my breath with a kiss, a taste, and that was all it took. I submitted to him.
I gave him what he wanted.
*
I turned in the middle of the night, by myself, and I didn’t understand. Opening my eyes, I realized I wasn’t by myself, but Royal had retreated to the other side of the bed. He sat on the edge in nothing but his boxers, his head in his hands.
Basically naked myself from fooling around earlier tonight, I brought the blankets up to my chest. Shimmying, I got to the edge of the bed, and when I touched his back, his head shifted my way. My hand came away clammy,
