Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(35)

“Is everything okay?” I finally got the nerve to ask just as I pulled into a parking spot. The tension between us was so thick that I was almost afraid to say anything. His pale blue eyes met mine, and I could feel the flutter of my heart in my chest.

Be still my beating heart.

His tongue darted out skimming over his bottom lip, which was still some-what busted open. With his index finger he grazed the cut against his lip, and it was almost erotic. The way he was looking at me, made it seem like he wanted to devour me, but I knew better than to give into that craving. To let him possess my body. I gripped the steering wheel hard, my knuckles turning white.

“It’s peachy, or at least it will be once I get done putting Sasha in her place.” I bit at my bottom lip in worry. What did she do now? Was it retaliation against Royal for fighting Dom like he did?

“Don’t give into her bullshit, Royal,” I spoke without thought. He raised an eyebrow up at me as he slipped his cell into the front pocket of his jeans.

“Sasha will never get to see the pieces of me that you do. She will never get the soft kisses, or the caress of the cheek; she isn’t you, and she never will be.” My throat went dry. He couldn’t truly mean any of those things. There was just no possible way.

“That’s not what I meant, Royal…” I tried to explain but Royal didn’t seem to care about anything else I had to say. He gripped the door handle firmly and opened it without warning as he allowed the rain to pelt against him.

“I know what you meant. I’m just telling you why she can’t get to me.” He smirked at me over his shoulder before getting completely out of the Jeep and slamming the car door. I was forced to sit there for a few minutes. Royal swept my feet right out from underneath me. Every time he spoke about us, I had to take a moment to regroup. It was impossibly hard for me to think any of this was okay.

I never expected him to become so attached to me, after all the hateful things we said to one another and the secrets we both seemed to be keeping. I didn’t think there was a chance for anything to grow between us.

Royal was so rough around the edges, like a discarded diamond under the surface of the earth. He was covered in rock and dirt, but underneath it all he was still a diamond, gleaming in the sunlight, even if he had edges that could cut you if you got too close.

It was all about whether or not he would. Sometimes you had to take a chance to be able to see the beauty of something. I watched him precariously until he entered the double door entrance of the school, making it impossible for me to see him any longer.

“Deep breathes, Noelle,” I mumbled to myself applying some lip gloss in my rearview mirror. I could see a small red mark where my mother’s palm landed against my cheek yesterday. Rage and anger mixed together like the perfect combination for an explosive bomb. I hated the way she was to me and that I had allowed it for so long. Taking yet another deep breath, I grabbed my belongings and headed into the school, large, cold, wet raindrops pelting me as I ran up to the entrance trying to miss all the puddles that started to form. The last thing I needed was soaking wet socks for a whole eight hours.

“You’re lucky, Sasha!” I had just walked in and up the stairs when I heard Royal’s deep, angry voice. It shattered the bubble I wrapped myself in. Don’t look, don’t watch, just keep walking. I repeated the mantra to myself as I turned down the east wing and headed straight toward my locker.

People looked at me with disgust and dirty smiles as I hustled down the hall. It felt like there was a huge joke being played on me, and I had no idea about it. I was less than five feet away from my locker when I saw the papers that were taped to it. In large red letters someone had wrote “whore” all over my locker, and a nice little note was attached to the words.



SKANK.

Stop f*cking with what is mine, or else.

XOXO SASHA



I can’t exactly tell you what took over inside of me because I was one for violence, but I was ready to end this shit with Sasha. If she wanted Royal, she could have him. We could never work out, no matter how much we both wanted to. Sometimes things were too good to be true. I grabbed the note, crumpling the paper in my hands. I was going to make this bitch eat her own words.

I threw my backpack against the floor near my locker and stomped down the hall toward Royal and Sasha’s voice. As soon as our eyes met, I knew she knew. An evil smirk formed on her face.

“If you want him, he’s all f*cking yours, bitch,” I growled at her, narrowing my eyes in a burning hot rage toward her. I couldn’t stand to live like this anymore. Wondering who was going to try and control me. Who was going to try and bring me down at every turn?

“Hmmmm…” She tilted her head at me and ran a hand across his chest. That should’ve been my hand, my nails raking against his skin. Royal stared at me as if he didn’t understand what was happening.

“Hmmmm? Guess what…bitch...” I took a step closer, and another until we were flush against one another. Royal didn’t speak, nor did he seem to be breathing. Everything seemed to slow down around me.

“Bitch? I’m the bitch…” Sasha laughed, her eyes shooting up to Royal as if he was going to support the bitch’s tirade. Concern was etched deeply into his features. I half expected him to push her away, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m not the one walking around stealing people’s boyfriends… Nor am I trying to sleep with my stepbrother.” I was angry far before she brought up the whole sleeping with Royal thing but now, now I was gone. I was like a volcano having not erupted in millions of years.