by Anna Brooks
I practically spit out my ice cream when Royce gets to the end of his story. After he gave me what he did in the bedroom, he laid with me for a few minutes while we talked. I thought it’d feel awkward or something, but it’s just so easy between us like it always used to be. Then somehow, ice cream got brought up, and now we’re on the couch polishing off a tub of mint chocolate chip that he got from my apartment. Not surprising with his body, he didn’t have any kind of sweets here.
“Shut up.” I laugh.
“Hand to God.” He raises his hand in the air and then crosses his fingers over his chest. “This guy thought I wouldn’t notice.”
“He thought he’d buy a fake earpiece and a security jacket?”
“I’ll even admit it took a second for me to realize, but what got me was the fucking hat. It had fake black hair sticking out of it, and he was blond, so it was painfully obvious.”
I set the bowl on the coffee table and curl my legs beneath me on the couch. “He really thought he could just walk on set and nobody would notice?”
“He really thought that.”
“People are crazy.”
“They really are. That wasn’t even the worst one.” He brings his ankle up to rest on his knee. “These damn tweens are the hardest to fend off because they’re so little. This one girl…” He wipes beneath his eyes as uncontrollable laughter bursts out of him.
His laughter is contagious because I start giggling even harder. I’ve seen him happy before, and we’ve laughed together many times, but right now, there’s something so carefree that I’ve never seen. And I love it.
“Oh, my God. This one girl dressed like an old lady and said she was Jaysyn’s grandma.” He slaps his knee and tosses his head back. “She got past Wesley and reached me right outside his dressing room. I lost it, Paisley. I fuckin’ lost it and had to have Erik come and deal with her because I couldn’t breathe.”
I reach over and grab a tissue, then dab my eyes from the tears leaking out of the corners.
“Oh, shit.” He practically wheezes, and it makes my heart happy to see him so easygoing. “I will never, not until I’m on my death bed, let Wes live that shit down. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. This girl, she had on a gray wig and a scarf wrapped around it and was pushing a walker. She used a goddamn walker. Limp and everything and Wes thought she was Jaysyn’s grandma and let her backstage.”
“Shut up.”
“No, baby. I kid you not; this girl was twelve years old.” He grabs his phone and pulls up Instagram. “It turns out that she’s insanely good with makeup… so good that Wesley thought she was the grandmother of the singer.”
I scroll through the account he pulled up and am shocked at how well this girl does makeup. “Oh, wow. She’s really good.”
“If you keep going, she has a picture from that night.”
After a minute, I scroll down far enough on her account to see the picture of that night and immediately choke on laughter. I set the phone down and then rest my head on the back of the couch. He finally takes a full breath.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh that hard.”
“There’s not much that makes me laugh like that.”
“I like it.”
“I like you.”
When a yawn threatens, I try to hide it.
“Come on.” He stands and puts his hands out for me. “Let’s get you to bed.”
He hauls me up, and we walk to the bathroom together where we brush our teeth and then crawl under the covers in his bed.
I curl up, and he reaches over me to flick the lamp off. Once we’re submerged into darkness, he kisses my cheek. “Night, precious.”
“Night. Royce?”
“Yeah?”
“Why doesn’t this feel weird?”
He hums and then strokes my hair. “Because it’s not.”
“What are we going to do about Derik?”
“I’ll take care of him.”
Rolling to my back, I shake my head. “We can do it together.” I don’t want him to take the brunt of his anger when I’m half of the equation.
“Whatever you think is better for you, babe.”
“Well, I’ve only had a couple of days to think about it. I don’t really know what’s the best way.”
He lightly traces my face with just the tips of his fingers. “Do you remember when Trevor came to pick you up for your first date?”
I groan. “Yes. God, that was so embarrassing.”
“Erik was beside himself. I’m not kidding. The guy was freaking out.”
“I know. You’d think I’d just told him I was pregnant or something.”
“He came into Ace and called a meeting. He wanted Q to do recon on the kid’s entire family. It was quite comical actually.” He chuckles. “The thing that got to him the most was that you’d talked to Polly first, and she said yes before he got a chance to say no. He doesn’t do too well with being told what to do or not given a choice.”
I roll my eyes. “It was dinner at the mall and a movie. Poor Trevor came to the house, and it was like he was walking into a firing squad.”
His chest shakes with laughter. “God, I loved watching that kid’s face fall when he saw everyone standing there.”
“That was so mean. You guys were way over the top.”
“Not when it came to you. Never when it comes to you.”
“Whatever.”
He drops his hand from my face. “My point is, Erik’s going to be pissed regardless. And it won’t be because he doesn’t think I’m good enough for you or because he’s afraid you’ll get hurt. It’s going to be because he didn’t have a say in the matter. We just need to understand he’s going to have a fit… and probably even throw a couple of punches at me, but then he’ll get over it.”
I don’t know how he’s so nonchalant about it, but I suppose he’s right. “Yeah. I guess. But I don’t want you to let him hit you. Just like you let him at the hospital. That wasn’t cool.”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “You didn’t need to see us fighting, and I deserved it anyway. I knew it was coming; I just didn’t expect him to do it in front of you.”
“You didn’t deserve it.”
He raises a brow. “Yeah, I did. You had a gun held to your head because I wasn’t there.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is.”
“Royce, seriously. You can’t blame yourself for that. It’s totally not cool for you to feel guilty.” He doesn’t answer, and I know him well enough to realize that nothing I say will change his mind. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“You can tell me anything.”
“I kind of liked that the boys at school knew I had all of you guys at my back.” The moonlight shining against the curtains allows me to see his lips tilt up in an inviting smile, so I continue. “Ever since my parents died, I didn’t feel safe. I was one of the lucky ones in foster care, but I saw a lot of stuff, Royce. I saw the way some of the boys and even fathers touched the girls, and I was always afraid something like that would happen to me. I don’t know why it didn’t, and I try not to question it. I was very leery of Derik at first because he was so intimidating. But when I realized nothing like that was going to happen, and I had all these big strong guys to scare anyone away, it made me feel really good.”
“I’m glad you had that.”
I bite my lip. “I never really felt scared out here either. Except… the morning I got attacked, I felt sick to my stomach the moment I got on the bus… Is it crazy to think that I knew you weren’t there that day? I mean that’s crazy, right? Surely, there were other times you weren’t with me.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “It’s not crazy because it was the only time I wasn’t there. I felt sick looking for you that morning.”
“It’s like we were meant to be together or something.” I wince at how cheesy the words sound.
His lips gently kiss mine. “There is no or something. We we
re, baby. We are meant to be together.”
Chapter 6
Paisley
Maybe I’m jumping in too fast, but I don’t care. It doesn’t feel fast. I like being with him. I like kissing him. I like sleeping with his arms around me. I’ve slept awesome this last week. It feels like it’s exactly where we’re supposed to be. I never really questioned why he wanted to be with me because he never questioned why I wanted to be with him.
I remember my birth mother telling me about how she met my father in Times Square. She said she knew he was the one with just a look. When they kissed at midnight, it did nothing but cement the fact that her gut feeling was right.
Polly told me about the first time she met Erik, and she literally felt a spark when she ran into him. The very first time I saw Royce, I felt a shift in my body. No matter how crazy it sounds, I just knew he was the one.
And maybe I’m wrong for not questioning anything, but if this doesn’t last or isn’t real for some reason, I don’t want to waste the time we do have doubting it.
After he dropped me off this morning, my thoughts during psychology class were consumed by him, which isn’t abnormal, but this time, they were reality and not fantasy. And when I walk out of the building and see him leaning on a tree, I stop dead in my tracks. He smirks, and from here, I can see his dimples, so I unglue my feet from the cement and run to him. He plants himself on the ground, and I jump into his arms. My hands find his hair the same time my mouth crashes against his as if we’re lovers sure to be torn apart, grasping for those final seconds before the inevitable.
He doesn’t even budge as I climb him, just steadies me as he holds me tight. Tight enough that if he wanted, he could drown me, but even within the vise grip of his arms, I can finally breathe.
I could be here forever with him, but after a minute, he pulls away, wiping my bottom lip. “Have I really missed out on that greeting this whole time?”
“Hate to admit it, but yeah.” I kiss him one more time before hopping down. “We have a lot of time to make up for.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” He links his fingers with mine as we walk toward his vehicle.
“Paisley! Wait.” Chad’s very flamboyant voice makes me stop.
Royce turns with me and puts his hand on my lower back. I roll my eyes at his possessiveness toward a gay man. “Hey, Chad.”
“Hi.” He smiles at me, then squints his eyes as he looks over at Royce.
Royce tenses beside me, and I quickly put a hand on his stomach. Instead of being a mature adult and shaking his hand, Royce lifts his chin at him in greeting and mumbles, “Hey.”
“Okay then. Anyway…” He swivels sideways so all his attention is on me. “Since you haven’t called me back, I just wanted to make sure we were still doing brunch again on Saturday.”
I feel the tension rolling off Royce, but not because Chad’s talking to me. It’s because he completely just blew him off, and that’s not cool with me at all. Nobody is going to be a jerk to him. “I don’t think so, Chad.”
He huffs. “We’ve been going to brunch every Saturday for like six months, and you all of the sudden have a bodyguard and can’t go anymore?”
“You’ve got about ten seconds before I take over,” Royce promises between a clenched jaw.
“It’s not that, Chad. I’m busy with end of semester, and just have a lot on my plate getting ready to go back home.” I’m trying to keep the peace because if I get into it with Chad, I know Royce will jump in, and I don’t need that.
“I have a purple belt in taekwondo. I can keep you safe while we’re out.”
At that, Royce tosses his head back and laughs. Full belly, sucking in air laughter. I slap him on the stomach, and he wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“Shit, man, I never thought someone tryin’ to get in my girl’s pants right in front of me would make me laugh.”
“Your girl?” Chad crosses his arms.
“Yeah, buddy. We’ve already established this,” he agrees condescendingly. “We’re leaving now.” Royce bends at the waist, puts a shoulder in my stomach, and then hoists me over his shoulder. Upside down, I wave. “Bye, Chad. I’ll text you. Ow.” I rub my butt and slap Royce’s back. “Did you just spank me?”
He does it again. “Yes.”
Chad’s already turned his back to me as he walks away.
“Put me down, you big beefcake.”
He drops me onto my feet and wraps his arm around my waist. “That guy’s an ass, Paisley.”
We get to his SUV, and he opens the door for me. “He’s not… at least, not normally,” I tell him as he sits down in his seat and starts the vehicle.
“He is.”
“He’s not an ass. He’s just… dramatic.”
“Whatever you say.”
Royce reaches for my hand and draws a pattern with his thumb on it as we pull into traffic. My arms break out with goose bumps as he continues, and I can’t look away from the simple but meaningful gesture. “Who knew you were so sweet?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Holding hands and stuff. I didn’t take you for the touchy-feely type.”
“Only with you, precious.” He brings my hand up and kisses my knuckles. “And you seem to forget that I’ve had eyes on you. Which means I watched everyone you were with.”
I do seem to forget that. “That’s right. Another point we didn’t talk about.”
“Yup. Want to do it now?”
“Might as well.” Especially since it’ll get him off the topic of thinking Chad is any type of threat at all.
“Just ’cause we’re talking about this doesn’t mean I’m forgetting about Chad, either.”
If I didn’t have one arm with a wrap still on it and the other held prison by Royce, I’d throw my hands in the air right now at how he can read my freaking mind. This does not bode well for me for future arguments.
“Whatever. About the whole watching me for months thing…”
He sighs and uses his signal right before he pulls off into a parking lot. “Erik and I fought about telling you, but ultimately, he won because he threatened to put someone else on you, and I wasn’t going to allow that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re mine,” he says flippantly. “And because I know you, and I knew you’d be pissed when you found out. I figured if you were gonna be mad at anyone, I’d have the best chance of getting your forgiveness.”
“What made you think I’d find out?”
He rubs his thumb across the apple of my cheek. “Because you’re smart. And if you think back, I know you had a feeling someone was following you.”
“I did.” I remember looking behind me on several occasions. I just chalked it up to me being paranoid, remembering what Erik told me about how dangerous New York City was. But it was more than that. It was like… a guardian angel. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. It never felt creepy. “Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me you were here?”
A beat of silence passes. “You were happy.” I get a dimple before he continues. “I didn’t want to be any part of the reason that changed. I wanted you to experience whatever it was you were going to. You wanted to do this on your own and be independent. I knew it was important for you to come here because of your birth parents’ memory, and I just knew the time wasn’t right. I thought it was best to let you have the time… as long as it didn’t include other guys.”
“So if I would have gone on a date, what would you have done?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Would you have beaten him up?” I tease with a giggle. “Broken his fingers if he touched me… put his hands on what’s yours?”
I’m suddenly yanked out of my seat and pulled onto Royce’s lap. His hand fists my hair and the other wraps around my neck, a delicate pressure making me hold my breath. Resting his forehead against
mine, he snarls, “You don’t want to fucking know.”
“Okay.” I feel the sting of tears in my eyes at the sudden change in his mood.
His fingers slide down my neck and across my collarbone, the gentle scrape teasing and making me want more. “Never, Paisley. These hands.” They tighten even further in my hair and slide back up around my throat. “They’ll never hurt you.”
“I know.”
“But if anyone fucks with you, if anyone even tries to hurt you, there isn’t a thing they wouldn’t do to protect you. So to answer your question.” He kisses my cheek, then my lips. “Yes. I’d have beaten him up and broken his fingers if he touched what’s mine.”
Royce
My phone vibrates at the worst time, but I’m expecting a call. “I’ve gotta get this.”
“Okay.” She flashes a smile and moves back to her seat.
“Be right back.” I hop out of the Escalade and answer my phone. “Tell me you found him.”
“I found him,” Q answers back. He’s the tech guru back at Ace.
“Fuckin’ fantastic. I can’t wait to get his dumb ass.” Q pulled in some favors and did a little bit of hacking to access street cams. He notified me this morning that he was getting closer to a location for the guy who attacked Paisley. “Who’s close? I don’t want to leave Paisley alone while I deal with him.”
“Nobody.”
“Fuck.”
I hear a squeak in the receiver as if he’s leaned back in his big ass black leather chair. “Only one not active right now is Erik.”
“No.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I don’t want him back out here, goddamn micromanager.”
Q laughs. “This guy,” he goes on to say, “is just a coke head. Unless he ODs or walks into traffic, he’ll still be around tomorrow.”
Figured as much. “I’ll just pay him a visit while she’s in class then.”
“Sounds good. I’ll shoot the particulars over. Be smart.”
“Yeah.”
We hang up, and I take a second before getting back in the vehicle. “Who was that?”
“Q.”
“What’d he want?”
“Nothing.”