Royally Bad (Bad Boy Royals #1)

by Nora Flite

  “No.” One by one, they all looked at me. But I only looked at Kain. “Don’t fight your own family. I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt because of me.”

  He took a step my way. “Sammy.”

  Lifting a hand to ward him off, I turned toward Maverick. “If you want me to stay in here, I’ll do it. Just don’t punish Kain because of what he did for me.”

  Pain rippled through Kain’s frown. Ignoring everyone, he stalked my way, grabbing me up in his arms. I was lost in his touch, blown away by his open display of affection. This man, he didn’t care at all what anyone thought.

  And he’d said I was the tough one?

  His lips found mine, the kiss too brief. “I’ll get you out of here,” he promised to me, so quiet no one else could hear.

  I smiled indulgently, but I had no response.

  - CHAPTER SEVENTEEN -

  SAMMY

  A white horse circled me, letting me pet its side. It was all I could see, but that was fine; it was all I wanted to see. Under my touch, it was silver and gold, and then it was nothing but black.

  “Sammy!”

  My father’s voice rang in my ears. Every time I tried to turn to see him, the horse would get in the way again. Fur became darkness; I couldn’t even see my feet. Where was I? What was this?

  The voice in my ears called again. I knew it was him, and that hurt deeper than any cut, because the voice of the dead can bring nothing but pain. My father was gone; I’d lost him. I’d come to terms with that.

  And there he was, waving at me from the other side of the field. Stables white as clean sand stood tall behind him. White Rose Farms. I was a kid again, smiling as I trotted on the horse between my knobby knees.

  Faces blurred around me; it was too hard to focus on any of them. Bit by bit, I urged my horse forward. I wanted to get closer to my dad, but the animal didn’t care. I was bobbing in place, going nowhere.

  “Dad!” I shouted.

  It was all too real. Was this a dream or a memory?

  A figure much bigger than any man should ever be came into the frame. He nearly swallowed my father whole, all by doing nothing but standing near him. I didn’t remember this part. I didn’t know any of this.

  My dad looked away from me . . . and his frown was lower than the dirt.

  I’d never seen that, either. Or had I?

  They were talking. Whatever was being said, it made my father clench his fists and look back at me. He caught me watching, the raw determination in his stare stunning me cold.

  “Careful,” a voice said beside me.

  When I looked, it was a young boy on a stark-midnight stallion. His dimples showed when he grinned, his blue eyes so saturated they blew out all the other colors in the world.

  He thumbed his nose. “That horse is real big, can you even ride it?”

  “Sammy!”

  Desperately I urged my horse toward my father. What was he so scared of? Nothing scared him; I’d never seen him afraid. Not once.

  The next time someone called my name, it came from my right. “Sammy,” Kain said, and it was him, fully him, sitting tall astride the same horse he’d chased me down with on his estate. His fear matched my father’s, a perfect mirror. “Sammy,” he shouted, though his lips hardly moved. “Wake up.”

  Gasping, I sat up in the grand, golden bed. Sweat made my nightshirt cling to me. It took a bit for me to calibrate where I was. My own sweet, terrible, private, and oh, did I mention terrible room.

  Thumping back onto the pillow, I stared straight up at the burning orange sunrise through the circular ceiling window.

  “Sure,” I said out loud to myself. “I may be trapped in the bowels of a giant mansion while powerful people decide what’s best for me and my business rots to shit and my mother risks falling in her tub until she starves to death . . . but at least I have a great view.”

  My attempt to make myself laugh didn’t work. Mom. Surely she was fine. I’d seen her just last night. I already itched to hear her voice again.

  I decided that would be the first thing I’d ask for. As soon as someone showed up—Wait. Wait, wait. My eyes shot to the door. Someone is supposed to be guarding me. No matter who it was, surely they’d have a phone.

  Tossing the blanket aside, I pushed my toes onto the soft rug. I didn’t need any lights to see where I was, but I still shuffled toward the switch, flicking it so that the round room was lit brightly by the recessed lighting.

  It was a little cold; I detoured briefly, digging through the wardrobe in the tiny hallway that led to my private bathroom. Every article of clothing was brand-name, well-made. Why would they keep so many nice things in here? Who had used this room before me?

  I grabbed a long, thick cardigan, wrapping it around myself.

  Satisfied that I was less vulnerable—and much warmer—I tiptoed to the door. On this side, the handle was like something from another time, surrounded by scrawling metalwork.

  Wriggling the knob, I could barely get it to tick from side to side; locked, of course.

  I cleared my throat. “Hey.”

  No answer.

  I need to be louder. Bracing myself, I knocked on the door. It felt ridiculous to do that while I was inside. “Hey! Hey, open up! Mayday! Help! Fire!” I was starting to shout increasingly drastic stuff, but I needed someone to open the damn door.

  It slid inward, making me retreat a step. Costello stared back at me—had he even slept? “Are you okay?” he asked, peering over my shoulder.

  “I need to make a phone call.”

  His piercing eyes focused on me. “Excuse me?”

  “Phones. You use them to talk to people miles and miles away? No? You’ve never seen them? Crazy devices, they—”

  “Stop. I get it.” Digging into his sweatpants, he tugged out a fancy smartphone. Before he gave it up, he narrowed in on me so fiercely I felt it. Costello’s stare was as good as a shot of espresso, I was all jittery now, my eyes aching in their sockets. “Who are you calling?”

  “It’s just my mom.” At this point, my mother was no longer a secret from the Badds. My palm went flat, ready for the phone. “I’m assuming you’re trying to make sure I won’t call the cops. Out of curiosity, how would you even stop me?”

  “I don’t need to stop you. I can tell you won’t do it.”

  My heart took an extra beat. “How?”

  His shrug was light, a poor excuse for an explanation. “I can just tell. Do you want the phone or not?”

  “I do.” Plucking it from his grip, I ran my thumb along the edge. “And . . . thanks.”

  He studied me and studied me until I shifted side to side with unease. Costello had a way of looking at you that made you feel like you were naked. Not just your bare skin, I mean down to your bleached bones—to your hidden, inner emotions.

  I relaxed a hair when he glanced at the room behind me. He tracked his eyes from one curved edge to the next. “It was always a little cold down here, even in summer. I’ll make sure the heat is turned up.”

  “You say that like you’ve spent time here,” I said carefully.

  Costello didn’t respond, he just ducked his head and shut the door.

  Fuck, I thought to myself. What does it take to get a guy like him to open up? I was incredibly curious about him. For now, I had other things to work on.

  Scurrying to my bed, I sat lotus-style on top of it. Costello’s phone was warm—strange, considering how his blue eyes and pale skin made him the personification of frost. Quickly I tapped the screen, calling my mother like I’d said I would.

  He’s really so sure I won’t call the cops? It was probably obvious that I wouldn’t. I’d chosen to stay in here to keep Kain from doing anything rash, and involving the authorities would create the perfect environment for tension and nullify my decision.

  Yeah, that’s all—it’s just logical I wouldn’t bother. I liked that better than thinking Costello could read me like a damn book.

  “Hello?” My mother’s vo
ice was chipper—she always woke up at the ass crack of dawn.

  Pushing a smile onto my face to make sure I, too, sounded happy, I said, “Hey! Hi, hi! Morning!”

  “Sammy! This is a surprise. You never call so early.”

  “Uh-huh. I figured I’d remember what the sun looks like, is all.” Chuckling, I leaned back on my pillows. The sky above was starting to gain a pink-and-blue tint. “How are you?”

  “Good, good. You saw me last night, not much has changed.”

  Oh, a lot has changed, I thought dryly. “Right. I know, I just thought I’d check in anyway.”

  “Honey, is everything okay?”

  “Sure! It’s great! Why wouldn’t it be?” On impulse, I glanced at my locked door.

  She made a tiny noise. “What are you not telling me?”

  Moms didn’t have telepathic powers that I didn’t know about, did they? “Uh. Nothing.” Sitting up quickly, I struggled to change the topic.

  My mother was much faster. “That boy last night.”

  “‘Boy?’” I had to giggle. “Kain Badd, you mean.”

  “What a name,” she said, a little softer than I understood. “What do you think of him?”

  My jaw fell open, I saw it in the reflective surface of the metal trellis to my left. “I don’t know. He’s . . . loud?”

  That made her laugh, and that soothed some of my nerves. “Is he nice to you?”

  Thinking about how he’d fought tooth and nail with his own brother and father last night, I leaned into the phone. “Nice enough. Why are we talking about him?”

  “I was just curious. I didn’t expect you to show up with someone last night. Especially not . . .” Whatever she was going to say, she stopped and recovered. “He rides a motorcycle. It’s very loud.”

  I lowered my voice. “Now you’re not telling me something.”

  “I’m not hiding anything, Sammy.”

  “That means you are!”

  She scoffed, then I heard her shuffling around. Her couch was notoriously loud. “If you were in any trouble, you’d tell me, right?”

  Tiny palpitations attacked my heart. “Yes. Always.” It never, ever feels good to lie to your mother.

  Whether or not she believed me, I could tell she was smiling when she spoke again. “I should go. It’s time for my pills. Will you come by again soon?”

  The heartbeats got bigger, longer. “I’ll . . . try. Work is crazy, you know, and . . .”

  “Right, right. Well, you just swing by when you want. Don’t put things aside for me, I’m fine.”

  I didn’t believe that at all. “You got it. I love you, Mom.”

  “Love you too—oh, the mail is here. Bye, honey!” The line clicked, the cell phone going black in my hand. I fingered the device, almost depressed at the idea of giving it up.

  What was she about to tell me? It bugged me that she’d been dodging around something. Maybe she just didn’t like Kain. That wasn’t hard to believe. Though she’d acted very friendly with him.

  There was noise outside my door; voices. Blinking, I stepped toward it, my fingers hovering by the handle. Who was Costello talking to?

  The knob jiggled, Kain entering the threshold with a disgruntled expression. When he saw me, he pulled up short, his eyes flickering with too many emotions for him to snatch them all back.

  Behind him, Costello stood tall. “You’ve got a visitor.”

  “I can see that,” I said, working through the initial wave of delight. Seeing Kain was better than any sunrise.

  He swept me into his arms, a tight weave of his biceps and seeking fingers. It was as if he couldn’t stop touching me, his need to explore and make sure every part of me was still here after being locked away overnight.

  “Are you okay?” he asked into my ear.

  Inhaling his pine-tree smell, I sighed. “I’m pretty good now, yeah.”

  Kain cradled my face, looking into my eyes to make sure I wasn’t lying. “Dammit. This is all a huge mess because of me.”

  “No. It’s my fault. I was the one who wanted to break out of here. You didn’t have to let me.”

  “Of course I did.” Kissing my brow, he breathed me in.

  “I shouldn’t have asked you. I should’ve found my own way out.”

  That made him chuckle. “You’re so confident that you could have.”

  “I’m pretty resourceful. Things tend to work out for me.” Waving around the room, I let the bitterness swim through my words. “I mean, check it out. I managed to get a beautiful, private suite fit for a queen, and all to myself.”

  I regretted my joke when I saw how he grimaced. “If I hadn’t challenged Maverick, maybe he wouldn’t have gone this far,” he said.

  Costello spoke up from the doorway. “You’re right. It’s not like you couldn’t guess what he’d do if you stood up to him.”

  “Are you still here?” Kain shot back.

  “I need my phone,” he said calmly.

  Tapping Kain’s shoulder, I slid away. He clung to me, not willing to lose contact for a second. Stretching out, I held the phone out to his brother. “Thanks again.”

  He took it, the device vanishing away. “I’ll leave you two alone.” Before he left, he stared pointedly at Kain. “Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”

  “I’ll consider the warning.” He chuckled. Alone with me, he brushed his fingers through my bedhead. “You could have used my phone again.”

  “I know, but I didn’t know when I’d see you.”

  Pain dashed the heat in his eyes into pieces. “You thought I wouldn’t come here immediately?”

  “I didn’t even know if you could.” No one had explained the details of my imprisonment. Not beyond that I’d be guarded and couldn’t leave. “Your dad seemed really pissed. For all I knew, he’d want to keep us apart.”

  “He couldn’t if he wanted to.” His hands clasped mine. “But he doesn’t want to. He’s just wrapped up in what he thinks is best. Costello is right, I should have known he could do this if he was pushed too far. In hindsight, this isn’t a surprise.”

  My forehead creased tightly. “This has happened before, hasn’t it?” The threads of evidence were all around me, I just needed to find the needle to stitch it all together.

  “I really, really don’t want to talk about that.” Forcefully, he guided me toward the bed. “Is it awful that I just want to hold you against me until we forget about this damn mess?”

  I wanted to say I couldn’t forget it. Instead, I let him pull me onto the blankets. “Is this how you handle your bad moods? You just cuddle a girl?”

  “Nope.” Tugging me against his warm body so that we were spooning, he said against the back of my neck, “It has to be a beautiful girl. That’s the secret.”

  He stroked the outside of my arm, the cardigan sliding down until he removed it completely. I was waiting for him to try and work me up—this man had a libido like no other—but . . . he never did.

  Kain wrapped us in his arms and the blankets, and as the sun rose above and the world woke around us, we curled together like puzzle pieces left behind in the box. Alone like this, the bigger picture didn’t matter at all.

  He really did want to just hold me. Every time I thought I understood Kain Badd . . .

  I learned something new instead.

  Time came and went. Not just that morning, but in general for me. I had the window to tell me when day ended, I also wasn’t without consistent meals or company. The family was treating me like a guest who just happened to be locked away.

  What was most terrible was how I kept justifying that this was okay.

  But fuck, that repeating image of Kain being strangled, of his father’s cryptic words, it had left me with so much doubt. I’d been very close with my parents. It hadn’t always been easy, sure—is it ever?—but I relished our little unit.

  My dad was gone often; he worked as an independent landscaper, so his jobs were all over. In spite of that, for most of my life, money was there
, we were comfortably middle class. The only time money came up was when he pulled me from riding, explaining that it was just beyond what we could afford.

  I’d been distraught . . .

  But I’d forgiven him.

  After he’d passed, my mother began to fall ill. They were like two lovebirds; she was lost without him, and I was so busy with my new job I couldn’t return to keep her company. All the money he’d squirreled away—and there was a good chunk—ended up being spent on my mother’s health. I often wondered if quitting sooner and moving back here would have prevented some of her fading strength.

  I loved them both so much. My father had taught me that family takes care of family.

  How could I sit by and watch Kain throw his family away just for me? How could I watch him shed blood with his family for me? I couldn’t.

  I wouldn’t.

  So time passed. I’d call my mother here and there, I’d claim work was just filling my time, and I’d often send Kain to check in to make sure she was all right. The nights he wasn’t with her, he was here—sleeping in the bed I was forced to see every single day. We’d tangle our bodies together, we’d watch the stars and the sun as they crossed the sky.

  It all blurred together, so much of it the same.

  Until one night it changed.

  In a small way, but it changed.

  Lying on the pillows, I realized how Kain was looking at me. It was the same look I’d glimpsed on our first night together, that real brand of tenderness no hookup should ever create.

  And as I faded away, I had the funniest thought.

  That’s what a man in love looks like.

  - CHAPTER EIGHTEEN -

  SAMMY

  A torrent of envelopes rained down onto the table, some of them sticking to the side of the pancakes I’d been about to eat.

  “Look out below,” Kain said, standing over me with a smile.

  Lifting an envelope, I stared at him dubiously. “Usually you’re supposed to say that before you drop things on someone. What is all this?”

  “It’s the mail from your shop.”

  Perking up, I stacked everything neatly. I’d been at the estate for over two weeks now. Most of it had been spent inside of this beautiful excuse for a prison. It had its upsides—my own bath, a nice fresh smell from the flowers, books to read, and all the stars at night I could count.