Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance)

by J. L. Beck

  “Royal…” Realization hit her straight in the chest. She knew there was no running away from this. I wouldn’t let her; couldn’t let her. There was no way I would be able to handle the pain of losing her.

  Once upon a time, I might have blamed her for what happened between my mother and father, but I was starting to realize she had nothing to do with it. She was merely a speck in the giant picture.

  “I want you so fucking bad, so badly that it hurts to be away from you. I feel whole when I’m with you, like the missing piece to my puzzle is you; like you won’t ever judge me for being who I am. You understand the dark pieces of me, and you get the brokenness that swirls around inside of me. You get me when no one else does or ever has.”

  “I…” She licked her lips. “I feel the same things. All of it, word for word. I just know there isn’t any real way this can work between us. I know when something is too good to be true. I know when to give up on the happily ever after, Royal.” It pained me to hear her say those words. She was ready to give up on her happily ever after, having just discovered everything I felt for her.

  I placed a soft kiss against her forehead. I would do whatever I could to make sure this was okay for her. Even if we couldn’t have forever, we could have now, and that would just have to be enough for right now.

  It would have to be.

  “I’ll make sure it’s all okay…” I soothed her with a hand down her back. She buried her face in the crook of my neck, taking in deep breaths. She shuddered against me as she released the breath she had just taken in. We both jumped at the slamming of the front door, and it sounded as if the whole house shook with the force of it. I think we both knew right then and there that things were about change.

  “NOELLE!!!” Her mother’s voice boomed up the stairs. You could hear the furious rage that lingered behind her words.

  Yeah, shit was about to hit the fucking fan.

  Chapter Eighteen

  -Noelle

  I cringed the moment her furious voice met my ears. I pulled away from Royal’s warm body, our eyes colliding and our bodies sagging against one another. We both knew what was coming. It was inevitable, like a twister barreling down the countryside. You couldn’t escape the mayhem it would cause.

  “Don’t let her break you down, Noelle. Promise me you will give it right back to her, the same way you did to Sasha today. Promise me!” His voice was deeper, angrier, and darker than it had been previously.

  I stood from the bed, straightening my shoulders. I could do this. I could face her down. There was nothing else left that she could say that would or could break me. She may be my mother, but that didn’t mean I had to let her scream at me or try and bring me down every chance that she got.

  “If I have to come up there and get you, it won’t be good for you.” I could see the fire shooting from her mouth as she yelled up the stairway. I slipped an emotionless mask onto my face. I couldn’t let her beat me down to nothing, not again.

  Not ever.

  “I’m coming,” I shouted down the stairs making sure she could hear me. “However, I refuse to talk to you if you’re going to do nothing but scream at me or talk down to me,” I spoke trying to mask the slight twinge of fear that filled my belly as I descended the stairs, rounding the corner and taking notice of her displeased expression.

  I could feel Royal right behind me, his front almost brushing against my back. His presence calmed me, saved me from the wicked witch below.

  “Good, you brought the trouble maker with you as well.” Her eyes penetrated through him. The look of disgust for Royal was clear on her face.

  “If by trouble maker you mean me, then yeah.” I could hear the humor in Royal’s words, my eyes not missing the wolfish grin he gave her. I needed to remind her just of who this conversation was about. She was always putting blame on others, blame where it didn’t deserve to be put.

  “Royal has nothing to do with this. The fight was all me. I’m the one that didn’t just walk about. He only tried to stop me. You should be thanking him if anything.” I was certain she was blinded by her own personal rage toward him. She probably didn’t even hear a word I just said because she was too busy thinking about all the ways she could pin something on Royal, or find another reason I wasn’t good enough. My mother wanted me to be something that I wasn’t, and all I wanted was to be me. To be free like a sparrow soaring through the night sky.

  “Royal has everything to do with this, and I don’t believe for a single damn second that he was trying to put an end to any fight. Fighting is all the punk knows how to do.” Pure hatred dripped from her words. The hate she had for Royal pissed me off more than the way she looked, acted, and treated me.

  “No…” I pushed further in front of him, stepping into my mother’s face, and blocking his view of her, or what I could of it.

  I couldn’t listen to her put blame on him anymore, not when her beef was with me. I was no longer the perfect child she wanted, and that had nothing to do with Royal. It had everything to do with me.

  “Yes, Noelle. You’re blinded by his charm, but no worries, sweetie, because I can see him for the worthless piece of shit he is…” She was like a snake slithering through the grass, waiting to strike her victim blindly. “It’s really no wonder Mark left his mother for me.” There it was, the strike, the venom sinking into Royal’s body. I couldn’t do anything to stop him as he pushed past me and got straight into my mother’s face.

  “You don’t get to talk about me or my mother.” The Royal I grew to know was gone, and in his place was a much meaner, darker man. His fists were clenched so tightly at his sides that the veins in his arms bulged. He was holding himself back, but why?

  To protect you.

  “It’s the truth, Royal. Have you ever asked your father why he is with me and not your mother?” My mother baited him. Did I want Royal to lay her out?

  “That’s enough, Viviana, he doesn’t know the whole truth yet and you have no fucking right speaking to my son the way you are. You are doing nothing but trying to instigate a fight.” Mark’s voice forced all of us to swing our attention to him, still Royal didn’t care if his father heard what he had to say.

  “I don’t give a fuck what you think you have that my mother doesn’t, didn’t, or whatever...” he seethed. Viviana knew exactly what wounds were fresh on him, and she did whatever she could to sink her teeth into them. Maybe that very thought was what made me stop her from her assault against him or maybe I finally realized that I actually cared about Royal on a deeper level than I previously thought.

  “You got what you wanted seventeen years ago, Viv. I’m here with you and Noelle, but the next time I hear you speak to either of my children the way you just did I will take them both and leave you here.” It was Mark’s turn to lose his temper now, and in all the years I knew him I couldn’t think of one time I have ever seen him so angry over something, and especially not toward my mother.

  Despite the fact that my mom deserved all the anger directed at her I knew I had to get Royal out of here before the shit storm got deeper.

  “Enough!” I screamed at all three of them, feeling as deflated as a balloon. Royal didn’t even glance at me as I pulled him away from my mother and his father. The look of pure satisfaction that lingered on my mother’s face said she thought won this argument, even though Royal’s father came in and forced her to shut her yap.

  “Hitting him where it hurts most isn’t okay, for fuck’s sakes he’s your stepson. Your husband’s child, and all you can seem to think about is throwing him under the bus and degrading him until he loses his shit with you. I mean, what kind of grown-ass woman treats a person that way?” I had to question her, because the question itself was burning a hole in my head. The fire that Royal sparked months ago was threatening to overtake me.

  “Do you not see that this isn’t about him, but about the fact that you’re so fucking hard on me? You want me to be someone I’m not, and Royal being here threatens that preci
ous hold you have on me.” I ran a hand through my hair in frustration and continued on with what I was saying. I needed to get it all out in the open and finally say everything that I have been holding in for the past couple of years.

  “If you want to be mad at someone, make it me. If you want to hurt someone, lash out at me. But do not hurt Royal for bringing something to the surface that was already there. I’ve hated you for a very long time, he just helped me become more aware of it.” I could feel a shift in the air as I spoke. If you lit a match, everything within ten feet would blow up. I focused my attention on my mother, watching as her face contorted in anger, her cheeks growing red with embarrassment.

  “You’re an ungrateful little bitch!” she growled, her hand reaching out and yanking on a few loose strands of my hair. I didn’t even have a chance to react because Mark stepped in.

  “Let go of her right now!” Mark shouted, his large hand wrapping around her body in a firm grip, forcing her to release her hold on my hair. Royal took that moment to grab me, forcing my body behind his so he could get in my mother’s face.

  “It’s you, that’s ungrateful,” Royal spat. My chest ached as I watched the raging inferno that was his emotions take hold.

  “It’s you that will pay for hurting all those that I love.” The bleak look in his eyes scared me. “It’s you that’s wrong,” he growled, a rumbling forming in his chest.

  My mother’s expression morphed into fear. She was afraid of him, and for some reason that made me happy.

  “You will be going back to your whore of a mother. I refuse to allow a pathetic criminal like you to continue to stay in this house and around my daughter!” I couldn’t move, the air in my chest stilled as I waited for Royal’s response. Mark rolled his eyes, as if he was done with her shit a long time ago.

  It was then that the words Mark spoke just minutes ago hit me.

  You got what you wanted seventeen years ago…

  It all made sense now, the reason why Royal hated me in the beginning had nothing to do with me as a person but more so what he thought I had caused. He thought I was the reason his parents were no longer married. The reason his dad left and he never had a father figure in his life.

  “Good! Do it, because mark my words, Viviana, I will find a way back here. You’re nothing to my father. I’m his son, and I can easily have you replaced. In fact, I will have you replaced.” I’ve heard so much hate being spoken by a person. The anger and rage that was fueling inside of him terrified me. He didn’t just hate my mom, he completely despised her.

  “If that were the case your father wouldn’t have left you or your mother all those years ago. Truthfully he doesn’t give a shit about you, or haven’t you realized that yet,” my mother mocked.

  “Viv, that’s uncalled for. You know for certain that I tried for many years to contact him.” I could see the anxiety in Mark’s features, but it was too late. Viviana landed the last and final blow to Royal. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to walk away forever.

  Royal looked as if he could murder someone as he whipped around, his body shoving past me. My mother’s words caused even more rage to radiate from him; his shoulder slammed into mine, allowing a spark of energy to transfer between us. It was a shock of heat, and flames of fire flickered in his darkened eyes.

  “Is this what you wanted, Noelle?” my mother questioned me as the sound of Royal walking away echoed loudly in my ears. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t me he was walking away from, but my mother.

  “What I wanted and what you got are two very different things. Hurting Royal, me, even Mark won’t make you feel any better in the long run, and I know you might be pretty on the outside but you’re nothing but a cold, desolate, heartless person on the inside. You’ll end up completely alone and miserable if you keep carrying on with your life like this.”

  The fight that was in me was fading. I couldn’t keep going on and on with her about these things. It was pointless. All she ever spoke of was lies. Lies she told just to make herself feel better and tear other people down. All she was good at was spewing hate and demanding perfection from everyone around her. The person she expected me to be and the person I wanted to be were just not the same people, and I was done trying to please her, trying to be what she wanted.

  “He will do nothing but hurt you. Break you down, Noelle. I know the type of person he is. He’s violent,” she cried as Mark held her in place. There was a change to her voice, almost a sound of utter defeat.

  I shook my head laughing as I started to walk away.

  “Are you insane, Mom? That is all you have done to me my entire life. It isn’t Royal that hurts me or tries to break me down; it’s you!” I yelled but kept going.

  “Royal makes me feel accepted, like the person I am is all I ever need to be. He makes me feel whole for the first time in my life,” I said and for the first time I realize how absolutely true those words were.

  Royal makes me whole.

  “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life following that boy. Look at what he just did to me?” She was playing the victim, and it didn’t sit well with me.

  “That’s just it. You’re delusional if you think it was Royal that was in the wrong here. All Royal did was give back exactly what you dished out! Just because you think you’re better than him, or better than even me doesn’t mean that it’s more right for you to do something. Look at yourself! Take a long look in the mirror before you start passing judgement around like it’s a dish to be served at dinner.” I turned on her, taking notice of the pity tears that started to fall from her eyes. I couldn’t look or feel an ounce of pity for her. Not when she brought all of this on herself.

  “Everything would be better off without you around, since none of us live up to your expectations anyway. Why don’t you just leave? Forget about all of us and go find that perfect life you so badly want.”

  She sniffled, pretending even further that she was hurt by the things we said.

  “I should have aborted you like your father had told me to. My life would have been so much better if I hadn’t been stuck with your ungrateful ass.” I realized as soon as she spoke such hateful things to me that I should’ve been reeling with anger. That I should have been hurting. Crying even.

  Her words should have stung at the very fucking least, but they didn’t. I knew that if a mother could feel that way about their child then they didn’t deserve to have them.

  “Maybe you should have then.” I swallowed around the lump that had formed in my throat and the achiness that consumed the muscles in my chest. I wasn’t so much hurt at the thought of losing Viviana as I was with the realization that she never actually cared about me. She never actually loved me.

  I just lost my mother. To me she would always be dead. From this point on I was an orphan. Sure I had Mark who I always thought of as a father, but in reality he didn’t owe me anything. He could up and leave me at any point and time and then I truly would be all alone.

  I needed space away from it all, away from my mother and Mark. Away from the lies that seemed to be mounting. Each step I took away from them and up the stairs was a reminder that things had now changed. There was nothing else that needed to be said.

  It was in these moments I realized what it must have been like for Royal growing up, and how that pain molded him into the man he was today.

  Royal was right about everything.

  Everything would be okay.

  Maybe not today or tomorrow, but it would be okay. With him by my side nothing could go wrong. Right?

  Chapter Nineteen

  -Royal

  “Mommy!” I pulled on her dress, wanting her to pay attention to me as she talked to the big man in front of us. He looked a lot like someone I had met once or twice.

  “Just a second, Royal,” she whispered, her eyes smiling down at me. I knew she wanted me to be quiet, but I just couldn’t be. I was too excited.

  “It’s how things have to be. I’ll come back for
you and Royal, but until I get everything settled you will need to stay here.” I gripped the hold I had on my mommy’s dress just as the large man she was speaking to dropped down to my eye level. I wasn’t scared of him.

  “I’m going to need you to be a big boy, Royal. Can you do that for me?” His voice was warm, and when he grabbed my hand I wanted to lean into him and give him a hug, but mommy told me never to hug strangers.

  I nodded my head yes, afraid to talk.

  “Good. You’re the man of the house now, which means you need to be a big boy and take care of your mommy? Be good and always listen to her, okay?” His eyes twinkled just as he released my hand from his so that he could stand back up, speaking to my mommy again. I stared in awe of him as he spoke to her. The way he watched her made me think he must have really liked her.

  “I love you both, and I promise, I’ll be back soon to take you with me.” I released my hold on my mommy’s dress as I noticed the water that started to fall from her eyes. The man wrapped her in his arms and she clung to him like she didn’t want to let go.

  “I love you, too. We will be strong for you,” she reassured him.

  That was the last time I ever saw that man.

  Up until a few months ago.

  “He’s a liar. Nothing but a worthless fucking liar.” I slammed my fist down on the marble vanity in the bathroom as I caught an image of myself in the mirror.

  He lied. He lied so fucking much. He promised he’d come back and he never did.

  I hated him for it. I hated Viviana. I hated being here. It felt like no matter how hard I tried to adapt to living here, it would never work out.

  “Royal?” Noelle’s soothing voice shot through me. Fuck!

  There was no way I could let her see me like this, so broken, so worthless not when she was the only thing really worth staying here for. How could I let her see me like this after everything she has already been through? We were both products of fucked up parents. People that didn’t think before having us.