Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(56)
Fucking Christ.
“Not a good idea, Noelle,” she argued before they slipped into the back seat. I smiled at her, knowing that it wasn’t but that it wasn’t her choice. It was mine. I couldn’t wait to see Royal, and bringing the two guys in the back seat to see the same fight I wanted to see wasn’t going to change that.
“Thanks for the ride, ladies.” Gabriel smiled at me from the backseat as I turned around to say you’re welcome. His friend was chugging on a bottle of beer in the back, clearly just as obliterated as I was.
“Let me have a swig,” I ordered, reaching out for the bottle. He laughed handing me the bottle, the glass slipping into my hands with ease. Gabriel seemed pleased that his friend was sharing his beverage with me. Shit so was I.
I smelt the beer before bringing the bottle up to my lips, allowing myself to take a long swig from the bottle. The harsh taste coated my throat with a burn as it made its way down to my belly.
“Really, Noelle. You’re going to get me pulled over if you keep acting like a college sorority girl from the front seat.” Everything I was doing tonight was risky, but that was the thing about it. I’ve never taken a single damn risk in my life. I’ve never jumped without knowing what might be hiding in the dark. Fear was just a feeling that you got because of the unknown. Embracing the unknown made the fear disappear. I wanted the fear to disappear more than anything. I wanted to embrace life and live it to the fullest, even if only for tonight.
I handed the beer bottle back to Gabriel’s friend and then grabbed for my iPod that was plugged into the dash. We needed some f*cking music. I scrolled through the screen and then down to my Break Shit music list clicking on Always by Saliva. The beat of the music pounded through the speakers of the Jeep as I bobbed my head to the rhythm.
My eyes drifted closed. The beat of the music coursing through my body, the song filtering into my mind, the lyrics relating to my relationship with Royal.
“I wrap my head around your heart…” I screamed the lyrics out loud, beating my hands onto the dash. Jordan started singing, and happiness filled me. I’ve never been freer than in this entire moment.
This was always my choice. I just failed to realize I had a say in anything until a prick named Royal came barreling into my life.
I decided right then and there as we were pulling into the parking lot of the Industrial park that I was going to own Royal tonight. There would be no walking away from Noelle anymore. We were done fighting against each other.
I was ready to be f*cked by him, owned by the beast inside of him. I wanted Royal at his rawest, and I would get him even if I killed myself trying.
Chapter Twenty-Three
-Royal
“Do you need your hands wrapped, bro?” Echo questioned me from the small locker room located at the back of the warehouse. The place was a shit-f*cking hole. The kind of place that people came to with the intent of getting high on crack, or doing something else that was highly illegal. It was the worst place I’ve ever decided to fight in.
“No. I’ll just go like I am.” There was no point in wrapping my hands. I didn’t give a f*ck if my knuckles got broken. The pain would be a welcoming feeling in comparison to the overwhelming emotions I was feeling right now.
I hated Vivanna with a burning passion. I had no other choice but to rid myself of what I was feeling at this very second. If I didn’t I would end her, and wind up putting myself in prison. She was a disgusting human being— one that I wanted to f*cking squish.
Obliterate. Ruin.
“He’s a big mother f*cker, are you sure you want to do this?” Echo interrupted my thoughts to ask for the fifth time.
“Yeah, dude, I’m sure. I need this fight, and I’m not scared of fighting a big guy. I’ll still lay his ass out,” I grunted out, cracking my knuckles and flexing my muscles to get them ready to endure a pounding. I haven’t fought much here, not like I did back home, but when Echo found out that I liked to take to the mats every once in awhile, he saw dollar signs.
“Alright then.” There was a sorry look in his eyes.
“You’re on in less than five minutes.” Echo slowly left the room, slamming the entrance door to the locker room closed. I needed the next four minutes to myself, to get my mind focused and ready to fight. I took in as many deep breaths as I could, bouncing from foot to foot, each breath allowing me to focus on what it was that was about to take place. The fight. That’s all I needed to be thinking about.
God, how I wanted to f*cking hate Noelle. I wanted to look at her and see her mother, not a beauty with sunshine colored hair, soulful hazel eyes, and ruby red lips. I didn’t want to feel a f*cking thing for her but anger and disgust, because feeling anything but that for Noelle made me feel like I was betraying my mother.
Wanting Noelle was against everything that I came here for. I wanted answers from my father, but I had never expected said answers to be so heartbreaking. I thought what happened between my mother and him was simple, but I thought wrong. All of it was a complicated web of lies. A tangled web that Noelle and I were caught in.
“Get the f*ck out here,” Echo yelled into the locker room. I shifted from foot to foot, my bare feet slapping against the concrete floor. My black shorts hung low on my hips, and as the blood in my veins started to pump at an accelerated rate, a cold sweat began to covered my body.