Paper Princess (The Royals #1)(77)

“It’s a better story when it’s only one girl,” Sawyer pipes up.

“But don’t you want to take credit, too?”

“Publicly? Naah. It’d get back to Dad and then he’ll be on our asses about the military school thing again.” Sawyer grins. “But we’ll know we did this, and that’s all that matters.”

A commotion at the top of the embankment catches my attention. The three other Royals are coming. Sawyer grabs me by the arm and herds me down the beach. Valerie shouts after us that she’s catching a ride home with Savannah, and I give her a quick wave as I race off with the twins. Their brothers aren’t far behind us.

“You should have seen the look on his face—” Gideon starts.

“Man, his dick is teeny weeny,” Easton crows. “Was that shrinkage or is he really that small—”

“The bruise on his forehead looked nasty. Did that come from you?” Reed sounds impressed.

Three Royal brothers converge on us, all talking at once.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I raise my hands. “I can’t handle all of you at once.”

“You did good.” Gideon surprises me by ruffling my hair.

“It was perfect,” Reed drawls, and the approval in his eyes makes me feel warm and gooey inside.

Easton picks me up and whirls me around. “You’re a boss, Ella. Remind me never to piss you off.”

A racket of shouts and curses has us turning back toward the Worthington place. Easton lets me slide to the ground as we see a crowd form on the top of the ridge. There’s a splash—did someone just get pushed into the pool?

“He just dunked Penny Lockwood-Smith into the pool!” someone from the party yells before erupting in laughter.

“Here he comes,” Gideon says with a sigh.

He is Daniel, who’s charging through a line of people. Even in the dark blue of the night, we can see that he’s furious.

“Don’t let him bite you,” Easton murmurs in my ear. “He might have rabies.”

Daniel stops at the edge of lawn and scans the shoreline. When he sees us, he roars, points, and then leaps down onto the sand in one jump. It’s an impressive athletic move.

“Look at him go,” I marvel.

“He is on the lacrosse team,” Sawyer reminds me.

“I’m going to kill you. All of you! Starting with you, you gutter trash.”

Reed’s face breaks out in a grin as he turns to the rest of us. Figures that this would be the moment he unleashes one of his rare smiles. “That sounded like a threat, right?”

Easton nods. “I think Ella’s in imminent danger. You know Dad wouldn’t like that.”

Happy as I’ve ever seen him, Reed pushes me behind him as Daniel runs down the sand, clad in only his khaki shorts. Small pinpoints of light pop up as a number of the partygoers decide that this scene should be immortalized. The Royals shuffle me backward and I have to force my way between the twins to see what’s going on.

And I’m just in time, too, because as soon as I stick my head out between the mountain of Royal muscle, Daniel launches himself at Reed with a growl. Reed takes one step forward and smashes his fist into Daniel’s jaw.

Daniel drops like a stone.





29





We’re all in high spirits as we head back to the mansion. I shoot Valerie a quick text to make sure she’s cool driving home with Savannah, and she assures me it’s fine. It turns out the Carringtons live around the corner from the Montgomerys.

Easton walks beside me. The twins are up ahead, still laughing about the scene we’d left back at the Worthington house. Their voices float toward us.

“He knocked him out cold in one second flat.” Sawyer is chuckling.

“New record for Reed,” Sebastian agrees.

Reed and Gideon trail behind us. Every time I turn around, their heads are bent close in conversation. It’s obvious those two have secrets that Easton and the twins don’t know about, and that bothers me, because I was really starting to buy into the motto about Royals sticking together.

We reach the house but I halt at the steps leading up to it. “I’m going to walk along the water for a bit,” I tell Easton.

“I’ll walk with you.”

I shake my head. “I kinda want to be alone. No offense.”

“None taken.” He leans in and smacks a kiss on my cheek. “That was some first-class vengeance tonight, little sis. You’re my new hero.”

After he’s gone, I leave my shoes on a rock and walk barefoot along the soft sand. The moon lights my way, and I haven’t taken twenty steps when I hear footsteps behind me. I don’t need to turn around to know it’s Reed.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“What, you think Daniel is going to jump out from behind a boulder and attack me?”

Reed reaches me. I stop walking and turn toward him. As usual, his gorgeous face makes my breath hitch.

“He might. You humiliated him pretty good tonight.”

I have to laugh. “And you knocked him out. He’s probably at home right now icing his face.”

Reed shrugs. “He had it coming.”

I stare at the water. He stares at me. I can feel his gaze burning into my face, and I shift my head again, smiling wryly.