Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(59)

“Noelle.” I could hear Royal, but I could no longer see him. It was like my eyes wouldn’t obey my command to open. My legs began to feel heavy and tired. I just needed to lean against the cold wall behind me for a while just to get my bearings back; to get my mind and body to focus. It had to be the alcohol, right?

“Noelle!” It sounded like Royal was screaming at me, but I couldn’t really tell if he was or not because he seemed so far away. I tried to respond to him, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get my mouth to move, and my brain wouldn’t connect with the words.

I could feel the bile start to rise in my throat, the acid burning from deep within my stomach and then it was coming out, my body collapsing onto something hot. I whimpered loudly from the temperature difference. The heat felt excruciating like I was lying in a pit of fire.

“Mmmm,” was the only sound I could I could get past my dry lips.

“We need an ambulance. Now! Someone call 911,” Royal yelled, the panic in his voice obvious. I knew the sound of Royal’s panic should have caused fear to spike through me. But it didn’t.

Instead I felt a sense of calm wash over me. I tried to focus on the hands that were cupping my face trying to get me to look at them. Except I couldn’t. My eyes wouldn’t open, and my body was just so tired. What the hell did I drink?

“What did you take, Noelle?” Royal pleaded with me to answer him.

Take? What the hell is he talking about? I didn’t take anything.

“Please tell me, I just need to know. I won’t be mad, I promise. I need to make sure you’re not having an allergic reaction, or make sure you’re not overdosing on something.” I could feel a crowd surrounding us, a swarm of whispers meeting my ears, but I couldn’t say anything or do anything to let them know I was in here.

“Noelle, please, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you took.” The sound of Royal begging me caused sadness to bloom inside of me. I wished I could answer him; reassure him in some way that I was okay and that I didn’t take anything.

My mind was starting to fill with fuzzy images, everything was blurring into one image until there was nothing but darkness.

Everything went black.

The last voice I heard before everything went quiet was Royal’s. He was trying to soothe me. Telling me that everything was going to be alright, he was here for me, and that paramedics were on their way.

He was right. I had him. It was always going to be okay with him here.





Chapter Twenty-Five


-Royal


Panic seized my heart as the beat of it pounded loudly in my ears. It was all I could hear even though the room was filled with voices. I never knew this kind of fear in my life. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost Noelle, or if something happened to her. I could feel the distinct thump, thump of Noelle’s pulse under my finger, but it was weak and that more than anything was making the worry intensify.

I wouldn’t believe that she was okay until the paramedics got her to the hospital and a doctor looked her over and told me she would be fine. I sat there on that cold concrete floor holding her lifeless body in my arms until they pulled up and even then I still wouldn’t let her go. They had to forcefully pry her body from mine, and as soon as they had her loaded up on the stretcher I lost my shit. Someone was going to pay for what they did to my princess.

“Which one of you f*ck heads did this to my girl?” I growled getting in the f*ckers faces. Jordan was trying as hard as she could to hold me back, but she was nothing but a small bump in the road. I pushed her away with more force than I meant to as I headed straight toward the Gabriel guy’s friend. Jordan briefly filled me in on what happened while I was cradling Noelle, waiting for the ambulance to get here.

“Dude, she grabbed my beer in the car and started chugging it down. It had some Molly in it. What the f*ck do you want from me?” He sneered. This prick was a dumb f*ck for thinking he could get away with this f*cking shit.

“What do I want?” I roared as I slammed him against the wall, my hand going around his throat in a tight grip as I watched his head bounce off the brick wall behind him.

“Did she f*cking know it was laced, *? Huh?” I asked, anger rolling through my body. What the f*ck was wrong with this dickhead that he found nothing wrong with what he did?

“Uh I don’t know, man, I didn’t tell her but she also didn’t ask. It’s her fault for taking someone’s drink and not asking questions. I just figured she was looking for a good time or something.” This little weasel kept running his mouth, but I was done f*cking listening.

“Are you really going to stand here and try to defend your part in this? You just hurt what’s mine, and you act as if it’s no big deal. You want to know what I want?” I seethed, too angry to stop.

“I want you to keep your f*cking drugs to yourself. I want you to keep your f*cking hands to yourself too, before I break every bone in your pathetic little body,” I growled as I pushed his shoulders firmly against the wall. The sound of his head smacking off the brick only giving me a small amount of satisfaction.

“Royal. Stop. I know he deserves so much more, but they’re taking Noelle now, and they want you to ride with her to the hospital.” My grip on the *’s throat tightened briefly before I released him with a shove. I wanted so badly to break some of his f*cking bones, but I couldn’t let her go through this alone. Noelle needed me right now, and I wouldn’t let her down. Not just to make some f*cker pay. No, Noelle was far more important than revenge.