London Royal

by Nana Malone

  Although my overactive imagination kept picturing the beautiful living room tossed and destroyed because of a drug raid. In my mind’s eye I could just see the collaged photo, half as it was now and half as it would be after the raid with the mysterious Max sitting in the center of it all. Though somehow as I pictured Max, I interchanged him with the knight in shining armor who’d just saved my life.

  Sophie shrugged. “You can call him a bit of an entrepreneur.”

  Right. “Well, this place is amazing.”

  “Thanks. We like it.”

  We heard the front door open downstairs, and Sophie grinned. “That’ll be him now.”

  I turned toward the heavy footsteps and stared.

  “You must be Abbie. I'm Max.”

  I did my best to drag my eyes away from the tall specimen of man that strolled up the stairs from the kitchen with a confident swagger. His dirty blond hair dusted his collar and drifted into his face in thick layers. Wow. I knew women who would kill for hair like that.

  His green eyes were lively and mischievous and framed by thick lashes. A strong angular jaw and high cheekbones completed the beautiful picture. The only thing that took away from the image of perfection was the bump on the bridge of his nose, but it made him more mysterious. “Nice to meet you.”

  Instead of taking my proffered hand, he enveloped me in a hug that stunned me for a second. Great, another hugger. As quick as it flared, I batted down the irrational fear. I’d really have to remind Sophie that I didn’t like to be touched.

  He pressed a quick peck to both of my cheeks. “Welcome to London. You're all Sophie’s talked about.”

  “Thank you. I’m excited to be here.”

  Max pulled Sophie against his side as he asked, “You’re coming out with us tonight, right?”

  I glanced at Sophie for a little help. “What’s happening tonight?”

  “Jasper’s DJing. You have to come. You can meet Lex and the rest of the gang. Say you’ll come,” Sophie pleaded.

  I hedged. I wanted to get started on some photos and explore a little. But it was also my first night out in London. And it wasn’t like I was set up for night shots yet, anyway. I was still waiting on my sister to ship some of my equipment. “Not too late, right? I have work I need to start on in the morning.”

  Sophie rolled my eyes. “You were always so studious. Sure fine. But we're not taking no for an answer.”

  When was the last time I'd gone out on a school night? When was the last time I'd been spontaneous? I couldn’t remember. I'd locked herself in so tight I'd forgotten to breathe and have a little fun.

  Thanks to Evan.

  I slammed that thought away into a lock box. It was time to embrace my new life and the new me. The new me who went out on a school night. “Okay, but what the hell am I going to wear?”

  Chapter 6

  Lex…

  What the fuck was that?

  That girl. I really shouldn't be trying to figure out wherever she was going exactly, but I couldn't help it. I angled my head down to the back a little bit. If Nick noticed, I'd just pretend I was making sure she was okay.

  Yeah, because that sounds in character.

  Where the hell was she?

  You're never going to find out because she's a stranger on the street.

  I met lots of girls every day. So why is this one different?

  You usually don't meet women who you have to rescue. You meet women who want to bone you.

  Yeah, good point.

  But I didn't get the impression the girl generally needed rescuing. The way she'd protected that camera, they should have done anything to keep it safe, did I feel that way about anything?

  Besides your brother?

  When I turned my attention back to my conversation with Nick, he was studying me. "What's wrong with you?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I don't know. You were staring at that bird. Do you know her?"

  "No." It's true. I didn't know her. I would very much like to know her. All about her, actually. Her ins and outs, what she smelled like.

  Okay, that was bordering on creepy.

  No, just making sure she's okay.

  He frowned at me as if to tell me he didn't believe me. Which was fine. "What?"

  "I don't know. You're acting weird. Anyway, like I was saying, are you feeling good about the Toshino deal?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, it's a good deal and it's a shit ton of money."

  "That kind of money will break us both free of our fathers."

  I nodded. "Yeah. We can really do what we want."

  Nick shrugged. "Not that I don't already, but at least this way I don't have to do the old man's bidding."

  While we both have the whole daddy issue thing in common, Nick's daddy issues were a whole other kettle of fish. His father owned all kinds of night clubs in the city. In all parts of the greater London area, actually. And some up north as well. But the rumors of how he'd gotten there, tended to leave a bad taste in the mouth.

  Nick wanted nothing to do with him. When it came to partying and such, sure. Nick was more than happy to party in the old man's dime, but if it came down to actually working for him, he has zero interest. He had more interest in venture capital stuff with me than anything of his father's. Plus, I know for a fact that after his mother had died, when Nick was ten, he didn't trust the old man one bit. He'd been shipped up to boarding school then, which was where we met. And a part of him had always thought maybe his dad had something to do with it, considering he'd moved in his mistress just a month after.

  "I mean, it's a fantastic deal. It could give us what we want. There can't be anything bad about it. We'd already done the due diligence. It's time to enjoy it, I guess."

  He nodded slowly. "You think your dad is going to try and stop it?"

  "In a few days, he's going to be too late. And then I'll talk to him and then he had to slink away with his tail between his legs."

  "Man, I thought I hated my dad."

  I shrugged. "Hate is too strong of a word. I just don't care about him." Years ago, when I needed a father, someone to come and rescue me, I had gone to him. I begged him, frightened to come and stop what was going on at my mother's house, but he told me I was making it up. My own father. He could have stopped everything. But no, he hadn’t come and my mother had remained blissfully unaware. For years I'd harbored anger against her too. How could she not know?

  How could she not see? Only later did I realize that my stepfather had kept her on Xanax and Ambian cocktail to soothe her nerves. She hadn't known. She hadn't been alert enough to save us.

  So much of my fury was directed at the old man. He had been alert. He could have saved us, and he'd chosen not to. So nowadays when he asked shit from me, my ready response was, 'Go fuck yourself.'

  "I mean, there's still time. Your birthday is not a few days yet. I know your father is not an idiot."

  I shook my head. "No, he's not an idiot. But we've kept this deal under wraps. We got this. Nothing is going to be announced until after my birthday, so it's fine. And once it's all signed, sealed and delivered, I'll be happy to be the one to tell him. Matter of fact, I can't wait."

  Nick nodded. "I hear you. We can have a big party when it's all done."

  "You know, I think I'm probably done with parties for a bit."

  He smirked. "I still can't believe fucking Jean Claude tried to kidnap you."

  "The bloke is such a fucking wanker."

  "So what, he's trying to keep you ready for what, the apocalypse?"

  I rolled my eyes. "The royal apocalypse, which is such bullshit. There's no chance in hell my mother sits on that throne."

  He was quiet for a moment and he reached into his coat to pull out a cigarette and a lighter. He offered me one and I begged off. It didn't matter how many times I had told him. He couldn't seem to remember that I didn't smoke. He lit it, blowing the smoke out from under his umbrella int
o the misting rain. "But like legitimately, you could be a prince."

  "Technically, I have a title. But it doesn't mean anything because we're not allowed to go to Nomea. So why use it? Nomia has a king. I'm not it."

  Nick laughed. "But you could be it. Imagine, a whole country, and that's the real business."

  "It's not real, mate. None of this is real. Jean Claude has just been with my family for a long time. He's one of those true believer types. He thinks it's absolutely going to happen. And when it does, my mother needs to be ready."

  "I mean, mate though, what if he's right? What if you could become a prince?"

  That would be a nightmare. But what I said was, "I prefer to believe in reality and what's in front of me. Not what could be. Besides, I don't even know if my mother wants to be Queen. It's just kind of this thing that a certain group of people expects from her. I don't think anyone has ever asked her if that's what she wants."

  He frowned. "If she doesn't, who takes over?"

  "You know, I don't know. If something did happen to my cousin, uncle, whatever he is, she's next in line, and if she steps down, it could be Xander, or they could skip from that all together and head for my uncle's line. He lives in the islands, in the Caribbean, the Winston Isles."

  "Oh right, the billionaire."

  I laughed. "That man has got more money than God."

  Nick grinned. "That man is my fucking idol."

  "I mean, Nick, how much else do you want? You go where you want. Vacation when you want. The women are all around us all the time. What more could you actually want?"

  Nick grinned. "I don't fucking know, but I know that if I was a billionaire, I'd have it."

  I laughed. Unlike me, Nick wasn't the least bit bored. Yeah, he wanted freedom and vengeance for his mother in a way, which is why he was doing what we were doing. But beyond that, he couldn't see the bigger picture. He didn't want anything else. He just wanted his lifestyle without the strings. I worried about him a little. Because if you don't have a goal or any purpose, what was the fucking point?

  We crossed over towards Vauxhaul Station, one of Nick's dad’s offices was around the corner. He was supposed to pick something up for him. And so we parked over to Max before we’d come to run the errand. As Nick went in, I couldn't help but glance back towards where I'd seen that girl.

  There was so much more to the life. There's so much more to do, so much more to see. And I wanted it all. But to get it, I was going to need to break free first.

  ***

  Abbie…

  "Would you hold still?"

  I never listened to Sophie. I squirmed in her arms. "I don't need lashes."

  "Everyone needs lashes, Abbie."

  I shook my head. "No, I don't. I don't care if you dress me up like a clown."

  Sophie pretended to be shocked by gasping and placing a hand on her chest. "Oh, my God, are you insulting how I dressed you?"

  The thing was, I wasn't. She had me in a pair of leather leggings so tight they made my skinny jeans look loose and a low backless top that showed off my assets. To help up my boobs, she had on some pasty type things that lifted them without the aid of a bra. Not that my boobs were particularly big, but if I ran out there without a bra on, everyone would see how done my chickens really were.

  "Look, I don't like how you dress me. And I don't know what I look like, so I don't know how bad my makeup is. But I'm pretty sure I don't need lashes."

  She grabbed my chin. "Hold still before I beat with you an inch of your life."

  I couldn't help but laugh at the familiar insulting tweet. Growing up Ghanaian, it was common to have your parents often threaten you with corporal punishment. It rarely ever happened.

  "Listen, you beat me, and then who will you dress up?"

  Tamsin tsked from the bed. "Hey, no foreign languages. I only speak Irish."

  I turned and raised my brow. "I'm not sure Irish is the language you mean. You mean Gaelic?"

  She shook her head. "No, I'm fluent with swear words."

  We all snorted a laugh.

  I finally acquiesced in that, and Sophie put lashes on me. Because I knew that if I didn't, she was going to try and tackle me and put them on herself. It would be a lot easier if I just let her do it.

  Tamsin flipped her magazine on the bed. "Abbie, how's class?"

  "You know, I'm actually excited. I think it's going to be awesome."

  "And is the prof as hot as we've seen in pictures?"

  I groaned. "Hotter."

  Sophie chewed on her bottom lip. "What's this about a hot professor?" Her full concentration was on my lashes.

  "Just that, Tamsin's obsessed with my new photography professor."

  "Well, if he's hot enough to obsess over, maybe you should bring her around."

  "What, I'm going to walk up to him and be like, 'Hey, want to come and meet my friends?' That's crazy."

  She frowned. "Well, I mean, hasn't he noticed you're hot? We're talking about boning him, right?"

  "What is wrong with you two? I will not be shagging my professor. Who are these girls that shag their professors?"

  They both just shrugged at me. As if I was the one who needed to get with the times.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Sophie smacked me for that. "I told you, sit still."

  "Ugh, fine."

  She got lost on her own little world for a moment. As she worked on the other eye, Sophie broached the subject. "So, Evan? You were done with him, right?"

  "Yeah, I'm done with him." I swallowed the turning bile that wanted to make an appearance. Dr. Kaufman was right. I blamed myself. And I hadn't been in love with him for a long time. So it was time to do things that were good for me. Fun for me.

  "I mean, I've always hated him, but you knew that. What prompted you to pull the trigger?"

  As great as my friends were, it was hard enough to admit to Dr. Kaufman everything that had been through. I didn't want to go through it with these guys. Inside, I was still trying to make sense of it all. How I'd ended up here in this precise position. Not that it was my fault. She'd helped me see that. But, I did tend to make some decisions that weren't in my best interest and I needed to fix that. I need to break that cycle of decision-making. "Well, I guess it's been brewing for a while. I've known for way too long that he wasn't the right guy for me. But it's kind of easier to go along to get along, you know?"

  Sophie nodded. "You always deserve better than him. You know that, right?"

  I sniffed. "Yeah, well, I know that now. And then him hiding my acceptance letter and shredding the passport, that was some next-level crazy. So, I'm here right now. *0:07:07 boyfriend."

  She shook her head. "I still can't fucking believe he shredded your passport. Who does that?"

  From the bed, Tamsin offered, "Someone crazy?"

  "Someone controlling," I added.

  Sophie sighed. "Can I ask you something, Abbie?"

  "Sure." My stomach flipped and knotted upon itself. Not knowing what to expect.

  "I mean, is that why you pulled away from us a little? I'm not saying that you did it on purpose, or, you know, whatever. And we weren't upset, but we did notice. Especially after college. We didn't get to see you hardly ever. And all of our conversations are usually cut short by Evan or by you hurrying to do something for him."

  A new fresh wash of shame splashed on me, even just when I thought I'd had enough. There it was, willing to add more. "He didn't like it. He didn't like when I had any other friends, actually. He wanted to isolate me, which was horrible that I let him. And I've been planning to fix all that. You guys are my best friends. I never should have let anyone come between us."

  She sat back and smiled. "No way was he going to come between us because when we did see each other, it was just like old times. I just wanted to see you more. And I get the impression you need to earn the time with us."

  How right she was. "Well, that's all o
ver now. I'm here and we are going to enjoy every moment of it. I'm recapturing my early 20s."

  Both of them laughed. Sophie dusted some powder on my nose and then sat back to admire her work. "I think you've been fantastic."

  I turned to blink at Tamsin. "Do I look like a clown?"

  Tamsin stared at me. "No, you look fucking amazing. Sophie, do me next."

  Sophie laughed. "Come on. Come sit your pale ass on this chair and let me see if I can give you some color."

  As Tamsin bounced into the seat I just vacated, I stopped in front of the mirror. Jesus Christ, Sophie had given me a vibrant smoky eye with a really pretty glean. The lashes on my eyes absolutely stand out. I really didn't like it when I wore makeup. So everything has to be tasteful and neutral. The no-makeup makeup look. He said that's how the way every politician should look. And so I needed to practice. But this, this vibrant pop-up color, this helped me take me back to life.

  I turned to my friends then. "You guys are absolutely right. No way in hell should I have let him stand between us. Tonight, we party. We have a lot of lost time to make up.

  Chapter 7

  Abbie…

  Apparently, I had never been clubbing properly.

  The girls and I headed out with Max and some of the other models to the swank Mayfair neighborhood with its elegant row houses and gorgeous parks. The club had a name I couldn’t pronounce and a line out the door that wrapped around the block. And that was the line for women.

  Staring mulishly at my borrowed heels, I'd wondered why the hell I’d let Sophie dress me. There was no way I could endure that line in the four-inch stunners. They were beautiful with their red, black, and gold-braided straps, but I’d be ready to cut my feet off at the ankle before I even made it midway through the line.

  Then again, when your friend was an up and coming designer, you let her do things like dress you, even at the cost of your comfort. With the flirty red salsa dress, I knew I looked hot. Especially since the damn thing was backless. But the shoes were going to be a problem. I could just picture it. There would be Instagram photos of me running around a London club barefooted, a la Brittney Spears pre-conservatorship. I shuddered.