Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(34)

“I… I’m okay.” She tried to sound convincing, but the crack in her voice and the sadness in her eyes told me otherwise. This girl couldn’t lie to me, not when the truth was right there in front of me.

“You’re not okay, and guess what?” I cupped her cheek softly in my hand bringing her body closer into my chest. Her scent washed over me, and a small moan escaped my lips.

“What?” Her voice wobbled.

“It’s okay to not be okay. I would know, I’m the king of not being okay, remember? It’s fine to be hurt and unstable. Life is unstable; a never-ending revolving door that brings change to your life daily,” I explained, meaning every word that left my lips. Having her so close was giving me the strength to open up.

“If you’re not okay, that just means you’re doing something right. It means you’re alive. Don’t worry about your mom because in less than a year you will be out of this house, out from underneath her thumb, and you won’t have to put up with her shit anymore. None of it will matter.” What I said must have been working to calm her because her body slowly started to relax into mine.

I breathed her in and allowed her body to mend with mine. We were like two broken pieces of a puzzle, the perfect match to one another’s problems.

Although the problem with Noelle was she had the power to heal all the wrong in my life, and that scared me. It f*cking terrified me. No one ever had that kind of power, simply because I never gave it to them, and because she did it made her more important than anyone else.

That power meant that she had the chance to destroy me, and everything in my life that ever mattered ended up destroying me.

I held her there in my arms for what felt like hours—an eternity even— nothing but our breaths and the sound of our heartbeats echoing in our ears. I just had to give myself that one small slice of peace— just for today, just for us. Something for us both to hold onto.

“I couldn’t let her hit you again,” I whispered into her ear as I softly glided my hand through her soft hair. “I couldn’t watch while she tore you down like that. You’re so much more than what she wants you to be. So much more than how she treats you or what anyone else wants.” I wasn’t one to give advice, but I had to tell her that. She had to know how special she was, how I saw her from the outside looking in.

She didn’t say anything in response, instead she burrowed herself deeper into my arms. It was like she was wanting to crawl inside of me and never be found. Not that I could really blame her for wanting to do it. I felt the same way most days.

We stayed like that for a long time, just standing there in each other’s embrace until my legs started to ache and my arms began to sag to my sides. I would have stayed like that all day and night if that’s what she needed.

Still something told me the feeling couldn’t last forever. That the peace we were both feeling at this point was just the calm before the storm.

Noelle was the first to pull away, and I felt it the instant she did. I watched from hooded eyes as she glanced up into my face, with a look that made me want to do more than just hold her against my chest. The silence between us was unsettling as she pulled completely away, the heat of her body against mine leaving me. It felt like an extension of who I was, was leaving, being ripped away.

All I could do was watch as Noelle walked away from me and out of her bedroom, leaving me standing there to drown in my own emotions.

The truth was, I just realized how much this girl meant to me, and just how much it was going to rip me to pieces when everything fell away and we were left standing on separate sides.

I wanted Noelle more than my next breath, and I had proven that yet again.





Chapter Fourteen


-Noelle


He saw my tears and the pain that my mother brought out in me, and instead of belittling me like I thought he would, he was compassionate to my emotions. I wanted nothing more than to stand in that room and let him hold me forever, because the power he had over my body was remarkable. With his touch alone I felt at home, as if he was the one thing I had been searching my whole life for. I never felt so secure when I was alone with someone, not like when I was with him. He scared me, but at the same time made feel so many different emotions. I wanted to understand him more, figure out what made him tick.

I had to stop myself. I couldn’t be falling for my stepbrother. It would never work out, and my mother would never allow it. It would send her to the hospital with a heart attack and as much as I kind of wanted that, I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of having something to bitch at me for the rest of life about.

Royal and I drove to school in complete silence the next day. The raindrops pelting against the car was the only sound that could be heard. I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking a glance at him out of the corner of my eye.

His taut muscles on display as he pushed up the long sleeves of his shirt revealing his bulging veins. Was it disgusting that I wanted to lean across the car and lick a trail over them?

My cheeks grew warm at the thought, and I was glad Royal was more focused on his cell phone in his hands than on the dirty thoughts that were circulating throughout my mind.

“That bitch,” he muttered under his breath, gripping his phone so hard I was sure the iPhone screen was going to crack. I wanted to ask him what the problem was, but his anger seemed to mount as we pulled into the school parking lot.