Sicko(45)

My heart snaps in my chest. “Oh how uncanny,” I whisper, fighting the tears that are battling to burst down my cheeks. If I cry, I know it will be all over and he’ll fight me until I tell him what I’m hiding. “You’re not the only one with secrets, Royce.”

He tilts his head, the veins in his neck swelling to the surface. “What’s that supposed to mean, Jade?” I don’t miss the bite in his tone. “See, when you say shit like that, it makes me want to kill people. Do you understand my problem here?”

“You’re too pretty for jail?” I joke sadly, smirking.

“No.” His eyes fall to my lips when my tongue slides over them. “I never get caught.”

I hand him the helmet, and my heart explodes when his hand comes to mine. He could have grabbed it anywhere else, but he chose the exact area where my hand was to take it. My teeth sink into the inside of my cheek, tasting blood. I need to distract myself from doing something like expose the affect Royce has on me. “Night, Roy.”

I pull my hand away from his first, sliding out beneath it while catching one of his heavy rings.

His eyes stay on mine. “Night, Duchess.”

I quickly make my way up to the dorms, fighting the urge to turn back around and do something stupid like ask him to take me anywhere but here, but I have to remember that he’s not the same boy. At times, I see the old Royce, but then I remember where we are now, how our lives are so different, how even when we were kids, he never looked at me like anything other than a fucking nuisance.

Once I’m safe and back in my dorm, I hear his bike start and pull away. I go to sleep that night wishing life was different.





I wake the next morning with memories of last night flashing inside of my head and my phone ringing on the ground. I blindly reach for it, quickly swiping it to answer.

“Hello?”

“Oh, thank god! You’re alive!” Sloane yells on the other end. “Tell me everything.”

I groan, covering my closed eyes with the palm of my hand. “I don’t know. We went back to the clubhouse and he brought me home. What happened to you last night?”

Sloane exhales. “Ollie and I had a fight.”

“You don’t say…” I roll my eyes, reaching for the curtain and ripping it open. The only way I’m going to get out of bed this morning is if the sun beams through my windows. I’m shit out of luck because it’s goddamn raining. Sighing, I close the curtains again. “Why did you fight?” Even though I know why. They’re too alike.

“He just got really drunk and started going off on everyone, so I tried to stop him and well, in short, I shouldn’t have.”

Sighing, I massage my temples and swing my legs over my bed. “Are you okay?”

“Always. Hey, are you working tonight?”

“It’s Saturday, you know I always do.” For years now, Sloane has been under the impression that I work from home for my parents. She’s bought it. I made up a whole bunch of shit saying that I work for the company, trading numbers for work experience. I wish that was what I really was doing.

She sighs through the phone. “Well promise me lunch tomorrow so we can talk properly.”

“Come back to bed!” I hear Ollie in the background.

“Sloane!” I scold her.

“Gotta go, bye!”

I laugh, shaking my head. She’s useless.





5 Unread text messages


I open my messages and go to the most recent one.

Royce: That conversation last night isn’t over.

I close his message and go to the next one.

Unknown: It’s Silver! This is my number. PS Bea was super pissed when you and Sicko left.

Unknown: Save my number, sweetie. It’s Bonnie.

Sloane: You and Royce have the longest sex buildup in history. I feel like when you both finally fuck, he’s going to accidentally kill you.

My eyes roll to the back of my head. Sloane has always shipped me and Royce. She’s crazy. Flicking open the final message, it’s another unknown number.

Unknown: Yeah, I would.

I pause, my fingers flexing over the keypad on my screen. Ignoring the other messages, out of impulse, I reply who’s this? Before working back through the previous messages. Flipping off Sloane with an emoji, saying thank you to Bonnie, sending laughing faces to Silver, and then finally I’m here on Royce’s message. My heart pounds in my chest.

Don’t.

Tossing my phone on my bed, I move through my room, gathering everything I need for a shower. Since I’ll most likely be dressed in something uncomfortable tonight, I take out some gray yoga pants, and a loose Thrasher t-shirt, it’s casual enough to lounge in. After my shower, I reach for my phone again and see three new texts.

I open Royce’s first, since he scares me most.

Royce: Be there in three minutes.

“Fuck.” I make my bed quickly while plaiting my hair in a French braid, allowing it to fall down my back. I finally go to open the next text message, but there’s a loud bang on my door. Squeezing the handle, I swing it open to Royce and Wicked.

“Really, you shouldn’t have,” I say to Royce, batting my eyelashes.

He moves me out of the way as they both enter, kicking the door closed. “Mom get you this?” Royce gestures around the room. “She really went all out on you, didn’t she?”