Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(20)

“Hurry it the f*ck up!” The driver in the car behind us screamed at Royal and me. Sasha rolled her eyes, so much hatred in her icy glare that it rippled through me like a wave splashing against my feet along the beach.

“We’re going! Chill the f*ck out, dude,” Royal countered back right before he slipped into the driver’s seat of my Jeep.

“Do you even have a license?” I questioned, ready to start a fight with anyone that would brawl with me. I hated very few people in this world but Sasha was one of those few people, and it had nothing to do with her infatuation with Royal. Okay, maybe it did a teenie, tiny, little bit.

He laughed gruffly, pulling away from Sasha’s stupid car and toward the exit, checking the roadway before pulling out into the street.

“I said I was a criminal. I cause a lot of fights. I beat the shit out of a lot people. Violence is my thing, but I never said I stole cars or attempted to rob banks.” He shook his head at me. My eyes glided over his perfectly messy hair, and down his dark red Henley tee. The tone muscles in his arms and chest made my mouth water. I needed to stop staring, or I would so something really stupid.

Boundaries, Noelle.

“Why do you do it?” I changed the subject. I knew he fought. I knew that causing pain was his thing. The last time I talked to him he had me pushed up against the wall, his blood marring my skin with a branding that caused butterflies to erupt in my belly. I couldn’t admit that his dark side turned me on, because it scared me to do so, but I could question him about it.

“Do what?” His eyes grew dark, and his brow furrowed as he headed toward our suburb. I shifted in the seat, turning my body so I could see all of him and watch the expressions that formed on his rigid face.

“Why didn’t you act in rage? Just the other day you choked me against the wall for no reason, but just now, you did nothing. Even I wanted to punch that guy behind us in the mouth, so I can’t imagine how much he was getting on your nerves too!” I provoked, waiting for him to give me a truthful answer.

“Not everything has to be used as an outlet for anger.” He gripped the steering wheel harder than needed, his knuckles turning white. He was such a liar. He had used me as an outlet for his anger, not once but twice now.

“I call bullshit!” I ranted. He sighed. The sound was something I never heard from him before. It was quite pleasant and different than the normal growl or huff that fell from his lips.

“If you must know, princess, I was more concerned with if you were okay than with anything else.” His confession startled me. I busted out in a crazy evil laugh. One that caused him to cast me a glare of concern.

I huffed out a heavy breath feeling a bit frustrated. “You make no sense, Royal. One minute you’re the one causing me pain and the next you’re claiming you care about me and want to do nothing but protect me. What gives? Are you bipolar?” I demanded louder than intended, my voice booming inside the car.

“I’m a complicated person. A dynamic person with emotions that are almost always off the wall, Noelle. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care, though. Just because I don’t show a certain emotion in vivid color doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.”

“I’m sorry…” I tried to catch my breath, still reeling from his previous comment as I held my hand to my chest. “I just couldn’t believe you said that you cared about me. I thought for sure you would throw me into shark-infested water before you ever admitted that.” I took a deep breath, my eyes meeting his. He didn’t seem amused, in fact, he seemed kind of hurt.

“I’m an *. I’m selfish and I’m violent as f*ck, but I wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt you, Noelle. Even someone like me has boundaries.” The sullen look in his eyes shifted as we pulled into the driveway.

Suddenly I was overcome with sadness. Our time alone had ended, and for the first time ever I didn’t want it to. I wanted to take the kind words he said and bottle them up to remind myself later on that he really wasn’t that big of an *. To remind myself when times got hard, that there was more to him than the eye could see.

I knew Royal wasn’t as heartless as he led on because I got to see a side of him that was sweet and calming, a side that told me there was a real man below the frigid surface.

“Thank you,” I said the words before we both exited the Jeep. I wanted him to know I was thankful for everything that happened today.

“For what?” he questioned me, giving my car keys back.

I smiled at him, opening the car door. “For showing me that you aren’t really as heartless as you make yourself out to be.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond, instead I slipped out of the car, slamming the door closed behind me. Then I walked up the stone walkway and away from him, leaving him to digest what I said however he would like.





Chapter Nine


-Royal


I didn’t like the way Noelle watched me, or how she could enter a room and control my entire mood. It bothered the f*ck out of me. Even worse was that I let it bother me. That I let her have that control over me.

We both got our asses grilled for getting in the fender-bender. Noelle got it the worst though. She got lectured for over an hour about how she shouldn’t be giving into bad influences and behavior, and that if she listened better things like this wouldn’t have happened. Yeah, like I was the only bad influence she would have a run in with in her entire life. Didn’t they realize it was called an accident for a reason?