Paper Princess (The Royals #1)(24)

I can feel him watching me. When I turn my head, I find him leaning against the counter. His blue-eyed gaze tracks the movement of my spoon as I raise it to my lips, then lowers to the hem of my short sleep shirt.

“See something you like?” I crack as I take another bite.

“Not really.”

I roll my eyes and gesture to his head with my spoon. “So what happened? Bump your head on the dashboard when you were blowing your brother last night?”

He laughs, then glances at the doorway behind me. “Hear that, Reed? Our new sister thinks I blew you last night.”

Reed enters the kitchen, also shirtless and in sweatpants. He doesn’t even look my way. “See if she’ll give you some pointers. She looks like she knows her way around dick.”

I flip up my middle finger but he has his back turned to me. Easton sees it, though, and a slow grin stretches his mouth.

“Nice. I like a chick with a little fight in her,” he drawls. He pushes off the counter and comes closer, his thumbs tucked in his waistband. “What do you say, Ella?” He voices my name as if it’s a curse word. “Want to show us what you’ve got?”

My heart stops. I don’t like the feral look in his eyes. He stands in front of me. Then his smile widens and he slides one hand inside his pants to cup his junk.

“You’re our sister now, right? So come on.” He rubs himself. “Help a brother out.”

I can’t breathe. I’m…scared.

I shoot a glance at Reed, but he’s leaning against the counter now, arms crossed. He looks amused.

Easton’s blue eyes go smoky. “What’s the matter, sis? Cat got your tongue?”

It’s impossible to answer. My eyes dart toward the doorway that leads upstairs. The other door is behind me, but I don’t want to turn my back to Easton if I need to run for help.

He catches the fear in my eyes and starts to laugh. Just like that, his hand slides out of his pants. “Aw, look at that, Reed. She’s scared of us. Thinks we’re gonna hurt her.”

Reed laughs, too. From his perch on the counter, he smirks at me. “Not our MO. We have no problem getting laid.”

Sexual assault isn’t about getting laid, it’s about power, I want to say, but I can see now that I was afraid for nothing. They don’t need to hurt me. They already have power. This…whatever this was…it was intimidation. A game. They wanted to make me uncomfortable, and they succeeded.

As our gazes lock in a three-way stare-down, Callum walks into the room. He frowns when he notices Easton standing so close to me and his other son lurking at the counter. “Is everything all right?”

The Royal brothers watch me, waiting for me to tattle on them.

I don’t. “Everything’s awesome.” I take another bite of yogurt but my appetite is gone. “Your sons and I are just getting to know each other. Did you know they have a stellar sense of humor?”

Easton’s lips twitch. When his dad turns away, Easton’s palm grazes his crotch again.

“Did you enjoy the party last night?” Callum asks.

Reed cocks an eyebrow at me. Waiting again, this time to see if I’ll tell their father about the way they deserted me on the side of the road. I keep that to myself, too.

“It was great,” I lie. “Super fun.”

Callum joins me at the table, trying to provide a buffer between me and the guys, but his attention only draws sneers from Reed and Easton, who make no effort to hide their feelings.

“What would you like to do this weekend?”

“I’m fine. You don’t have to entertain me,” I answer.

He swivels in his chair. With an upward tip of his chin, he asks, “What about you two?”

The subtext is what are we going to do with Ella. It makes me cringe and a tightness that I’m beginning to call the Royal Pain appears between my shoulder blades.

“We got plans,” Reed mutters and walks out of the room before Callum can even open his mouth again. He turns to Easton, who raises both palms and blinks innocently.

“Don’t ask me. I’m the middle child. I do what everyone else tells me.”

Callum rolls his eyes and despite the tension, I snort softly into my bowl. Easton does what Easton wants. No one made him put his hand down his pants and proposition me. That’s a game he enjoyed playing and one he did without prompting. It’s convenient for him to pretend like Reed is his leader, absolving Easton of responsibility.

“Well, maybe you can let me know what Reed’s plans are for you later,” Callum grinds out.

Easton flushes. It’s one thing for him to cast Reed as a leader and another thing for their father to imply Easton’s a puppet.

“You never cared what I did on the weekends before.” He shoves the OJ carton back into the fridge. With a glare at his father that is hot enough to turn the hair on Callum’s head entirely gray, he walks off as well.

Callum sighs. “I’m not winning any father of the year awards, am I?”

I tap my spoon against the table a few times because I know better than to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong. But in this case, Callum is dragging me right into the middle of a messed-up dynamic and the collateral damage could get real bad if he doesn’t rein it in.

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, Callum, and obviously you know your kids better than I do, but does it really make sense shoving me down their throats? Honestly, I’d rather they ignored me. It doesn’t hurt my feelings that they aren’t happy I’m here, and the house is big enough we could all go for days and not see each other.”