by Lauren Runow
The bike comes to a screeching halt, skidding sideways, coming close to falling to the ground, but he's able to steady us before we do.
His head falls to his chest, realizing he's defeated.
“Put your hands up!” an officer yells at us from his car.
I see his hand on his gun, but thankfully it's not pointed at us. I start to move, but my guy stops me.
“Stay here,” he commands as he climbs off instead.
He removes his helmet, and instantly, the officer pulls his gun when he realizes he's wearing a mask.
“Take off the mask,” the officer yells.
All three of them walk toward the officer with their hands in the air.
“We don't want trouble,” one of them answers. “But no, we can't remove the masks.”
I hear the crackle of a radio from the officer’s transmitter saying something I can't make out, but obviously, it's got the attention of the other cops who briefly turn to the side. I follow their gaze and am shocked to see the glow of orange and red hues coming from a field nearby.
They look at each other, and then all back to me when the realization hits us all simultaneously.
Fire.
I sit in shock as the officers kick into gear. Handcuffs wrap around Joey and the other guy’s wrists while another officer yells for me to get off the bike.
Our masks are all ripped off our skin while we stand helplessly with our hands secured behind us. I'm walked over to where they are, when my sight lands on those of someone I never once envisioned showing me the best night of my life.
Sage Stevinson, Prince Sage Stevinson stares back at me, his expression saying it all.
10
Sage
The worst sense of helplessness seeps into my veins when Everly's eyes meet mine, and she realizes who I am.
“I'm sorry,” I mouth to her and get nothing but a blank stare in return.
Two officers race off after we're apprehended while the other two walk to the front of where we stand.
“Does one of you want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” an officer asks sternly while shining a light in our faces. I watch as the shock of who he has in handcuffs moves through his body and displays noticeably on his face. “Prince Sage?”
“Yes, sir,” I say, standing tall, ready to accept my punishment.
“What in the world?” he states to himself rather than in question.
“We were just trying to have our last few nights of fun,” I try to defend our actions. “We meant no harm.”
Sirens reverberate around us, breaking the tension and shock of the situation, but it doesn't last long. Smoke billows up in the night sky with even more flames reaching into the air.
I drop my head to my chest, shaking it slightly as I whisper, “Fuck,” under my breath.
We all look at each other, knowing there's nothing we can do—we're in a shit load of trouble.
The most being me, though.
The fire blazed until it was out of control, threatening the stadium. If I thought I was in shit before, it was nothing compared to the issues I now face. While we sat in handcuffs, I wracked my brain to figure a way out of the mess I caused, but when the news crews showed up, I was screwed. My only concern now is making sure I am the only one to blame. I must protect Everly, Logan and Joey at all costs.
The cops let us go, but in some ways, I wish they had kept me. Dealing with the wrath of my father would have been easier from behind bars.
We hop on my bike as I drive us back to the club, where her car is parked. The awkward silence is overwhelming as we stare at each other once we arrive. After a minute, she turns to walk to her car without saying a word.
My heart pounds out of my chest, but I can’t let her leave like this. It’s bad enough I’m already completely and utterly guilt-ridden about the fire. I can’t have her hating me too.
I reach for her arm, stopping her in her tracks and whisper, “I'm sorry.”
She tries to blow me off, waving her hand and saying, “It’s okay,” but I know it’s not.
“Please, let me explain.”
She turns to leave again but stops short. “Why? Why did you hide who you are? Why did you do all of this tonight?”
My eyes melt into her when I confess, “I had to know who you are without the stigma of who I am. I wanted to know the real you, not someone you were pretending to be.”
“So you wanted to know the real me by deceiving me? Now who’s pretending?” She places her hands on her hips and I swear it’s the sexist thing I’ve ever seen. No one’s ever stood up to me like this.
I wrap my hand around hers, bringing her to me. “I know what I feel for you is real.”
I crash my lips against hers, holding on to her hips tightly, keeping her pressed against me. For a second she gives in, sweeping her tongue with mine and getting as swept away in the moment as I am, but it’s short lived.
She pulls herself out of my grip, and I reluctantly let her go. Without looking back, she continues on her way to her car, leaving me to sit alone.
Frustrated and afraid I really screwed things up, I pound my fist on the bike and hop on. Not wanting to make things worse, I wait to make sure she drives off safely and head back to the palace.
Gritting my teeth, I knock on the door to my father’s study, ready to face the music.
“You may enter,” he booms from behind the only thing standing between my fate and me.
I don't speak when I open the door. Instead, I stand in silence as my mother and he watch the news station broadcasting live from the fire. It's grown even more since we were released, able to drive away but with impending charges still to come, thankfully, only for me though. I guess being a Prince does have some perks, and they agreed to let my friends and Everly go with our consequences to come later.
If I were anyone else, we would have been hauled off to jail, but they let us go—only releasing us to save my family from embarrassment. I wished they could have come to this conclusion before the news crews showed up.
Now, I stare at myself on the television, along with my two best friends and hopefully the next queen of our country, all detained with our hands cuffed behind our backs.
My father finally hears enough and clicks the remote to turn off the television. He spins in his chair to face me, and for the first time in my life, I actually fear the man who gave me my last name. I’ve felt his wrath before and have always stood my ground, but even I know this is different. I stand up straighter, ready to accept responsibilities like a man.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he growls.
“It was a mistake. We didn't know there were fifty-foot fireworks in the bag.”
“And that makes a difference how? All fireworks are illegal for this reason.” His voice gets stronger with each word.
“I know, but that's why we were at the stadium, their grass is watered—”
“That's the other issue we have. You broke into the stadium? You are the prince. You will be king one day. How do you expect your country to look up to you when you behave this way?”
“I don't want to be king,” I fight back for the millionth time.
“That is your duty to your country. You will grow up and become the king. You have already chosen a wife to be your queen. Why in the world were you with this other girl tonight?”
“Well, that’s the funny part in all of this.” I laugh only to be given the glare of death, making me stand a little taller instantly. “I don’t want Marie. I’ve told you that. I’ve made up my mind. I want Everly, and that’s who I was with tonight.” I wait, letting her name sink in.
My mom puts it together first. “Everly?” she asks in disbelief.
“The one and only.” I smirk, loving the fact that this started with them introducing me to her, and the entire reason I'm in this mess. Well, okay, not the entire reason, but I planned the whole night to put her through my test. And, fuck me, she passed with flying colors.
The mere fact that they will deny her becoming my wife now makes me want her that much more.
“Everly is the Stanley girl, yes?” Dad asks.
Mom nods, and I have to fight the laugh I'm holding in.
“I told you no, she won't do,” he says sternly while pounding his fist on the desk in front of him.
“Oh no. These are your rules. She has a birthright just as much as I do. You've stated over and over again that we can't change the rules just because we don't like them.”
The glare in his eye is the exact reaction I want to see. It's the same gut wrenching frustration I've lived with most of my life, and I love the fact that it's coming back to bite him in the ass.
“Tonight was nothing more than me trying to follow your rules. If you're going to force me to marry, then I'm going to make sure she is someone I can envision myself loving.” I turn and stalk out of his office, leaving them stunned, I'm sure.
“Sage, I forbid it! Marie will be your wife,” he states like it’s a fact.
“Nope, I’m going to stick with this one,” I offer as I walk out.
“What about this fire?” he yells.
I stop, turning around just before the door closes. “That, I will take responsibility for. I messed up—big time. I know it, and I will make it right.”
I hear him question my mother, “How could your son act so recklessly?”
I’m sorry she has to put up with his rant, but I had to get out of there. There was no more to be said, and I have more important things to deal with than his anger. Like figuring out how to get Everly to talk to me again.
11
Everly
Everything that happened tonight was too much. When he brought me back to my car, I couldn’t stick around. I needed to be alone, so I could figure out the thoughts running through my head. The entire way home, I couldn’t help but replay his words.
Was I real enough? How could I not be real?
I enter my house with a sigh when I fall back against the door.
“Everly Stanley get your butt in here!” Mom yells from across the house as soon as the lock clicks.
This is not what I need right now. I don't know if I should be mad that Sage tricked me, or happy that he's not the kind of guy I thought he was, giving me the night of my life.
I take a minute, inhaling a deep breath and slowly letting it out. The rush of air I feel against my lips takes me back to him, his mouth, his kiss, his touch.
I close my eyes, trying to rid the memory before I head toward the living room. “Yes, mother.”
“Would you like to explain yourself?”
I laugh sarcastically. “You're watching it. What else is there to explain?”
“Don't sass me, girl. Why in the world were you at the stadium?”
“Do you not see who I was with?” I point to the television that's paused showing Sage, his two friends, and me all sitting on the ground with our hands behind our backs.
“That's not the point,” she demands.
“Yes, that's exactly the point. That's who you want me to marry. I guess I’m still in the running. I'm just going along with what you wanted for me.”
Funny how her little plan is biting her in the ass now. The thought makes my lips tilt up into a smile.
“This is not a laughing matter, young lady. Are you seeing this?”
She points to the screen where she clicks play, showing the live footage of the fire blazing out of control. I thought they'd have it out by now. My body involuntarily falls to the couch while my hand covers my mouth.
“Glad to see you still have a conscience,” Mom states, but I ignore her, my vision glued to the screen in front of me.
It’s not Sage that catches my attention, it’s his friend. I was so shocked figuring out it was Sage I’d been with all night that I didn’t pay any attention to who his friends were. Seeing them now, I recognize one as the guy who picked me up for our date and the other from the bar that night.
Memories of him asking me about marrying Sage, or me telling him I didn’t want to be a princess runs through my head, especially when he said we were perfect together. This whole thing was planned. That was Sage checking me out, doing research on me.
Everything Sage said to me tonight replays through my mind. Maybe he really is different than I originally thought. Tonight surely proved that. I’ve never felt so alive, so free. Knowing he’s the one that made me feel that way definitely makes me wonder.
I escaped from my mother’s hold as soon as I was able. She could lecture me all she wanted, but because I was there with Sage, there was no way she could be mad. Besides, I’m twenty-two years old. The only reason I still live here is to appease her.
I’ve wanted my freedom, my independence to pursue the life that I wanted. She fought me every step, saying I’d never have a chance at being his wife if I lived in a run-down apartment I found on the west side of town. I didn’t care that it wasn’t the best place to live. It would have been mine, and that was good enough for me.
Even though I could have fought it more, after all she did for me guilt tore at my insides. This is all she ever wanted. I owed it to her to at least follow through with the meeting whenever the time came. Now that it’s come and gone, I’m more confused than ever.
I can’t help but start to wonder who Sage really is. All night I felt this magnetic pull to be close to him, but I can’t help but wonder if I’d have felt that way if I truly knew it was him? How do I know if it was him, or the mystery of who he was, that attracted me more?
Then there’s this whole Marie thing. I thought he had completely moved on from me. Is he courting us both? I pick up my phone to call Jeannine.
“Please tell me I’m seeing things, and that’s not you on the nightly news,” she says as she answers the phone. We never actually say hello or ask how the other is doing. That’s one of the things I love about her, she’s no bullshit and straight to the point.
“It’s me.”
“Girl,” she draws out. “I need details because they’re saying it was Sage with you.”
“It was. That whole riddle I told you about—”
“Was him!” she yells in excitement.
“Sure was.”
“So what, he was at the club waiting? How did you get to the stadium?”
“Via the runway.” I laugh.
“The runway? What runway?”
“The abandoned one out past the grove.”
“What in the world were you doing out there?”
I grin as I fill her in on the entire evening, the best night of my life.
“So you didn’t know it was him?” she asks in disbelief.
“Nope. Not until the cops removed his mask.”
“And…”
“And, what?”
“Um, hello? What do you mean and what? Were you shocked? Were you upset? Were you excited?”
“I don’t know.” I let out the same sigh I did when I walked into my room, this time falling back onto my bed. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s awesome. I told you he’s not boring.”
“Yeah, he certainly proved that.”
“But…?”
“But, why did he have to hide who he was to do it? I don't understand.”
I pull the mask I had on earlier out of my pocket, touching it with my fingers, remembering the way it felt when he helped me put it on—like I was becoming one of them.
“Was this all a test?” I ask, more to myself but Jeannine hears me.
“A test? For what?”
“To see who I really am. Didn’t you say he was some kind of playboy?” I murmur, not really waiting for an answer before I reach for my computer.
I Google him but try for a deeper search. Everything with his name brings up his family and not much solely about him. I type in the search bar: Sage Stevinson + London.
Canterbury is such a small blip of a country that his being a prince in a big place like England wouldn’t mean muc
h. Maybe rumors are true about his family shipping him off. Any trouble he got into there would have to be huge to make any type of news.
I search through pages of his school accomplishments and other nonsense he was involved in with the university, but nothing screamed playboy or troublemaker. That is until I see a YouTube link to a video about Prince Harry stripping naked in a Vegas hotel.
Curious why this video would be tied to Sage in any way, I click it to reveal Sage, standing directly next to Prince Harry, both naked with a group of girls. I’m not sure whether to be happy or scared to see this side of him.
“You’re right,” I say in disbelief.
“About what?”
“I just Googled his name along with London, and do you remember that whole Prince Harry Vegas thing where he was naked a few years back?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Guess who one of his friends was that was with him?”
“Shut up!”
“Yup! So yeah, I’d say he does have a party, playboy side.”
“So maybe you two are perfect together,” she teases.
“That’s what his friend said, remember?”
“His friend?”
I laugh. “Oh yeah, that’s the other thing. The guy from the bar a couple nights ago who listened to me bitch about having to meet Sage? That was his friend who was with us tonight.”
“He was checking you out beforehand? That’s awesome.”
I grin from ear to ear for the first time since the cops stopped our adventure. I guess it is pretty amazing.
12
Sage
I left my house before my father woke up. Starting my day off with his yelling isn’t how I want my day to begin. Instead, I called to wake up Logan and drove to our private training area. A good workout will help to clear my head.
“So how pissed was your dad when you talked to him last night?” Logan asks as he greets me in the locker room.
“Remember that vein I told you I got to pop out when we thought that nineteen-year-old from Venice was pregnant?” Logan laughs. “Yeah, let’s just say I saw it again.”