by Nana Malone
How bad was it that I was thinking about all of my other needs? And just how well he could provide for them.
He opened the door to the restaurant for us. As we walked in though, right in the waiting area, I saw the one person I didn't want to see.
Richard. Dick.
He stood, his gaze landing on me with the baby in my arms. "Neela? What are you doing here?"
Jax was quick. He immediately placed himself between me and Dick.
Richard scowled. "Who the fuck is this?"
Did he mean Jax or Mayzie? "None of your business."
Richard's skin flushed, and he muttered under his breath. "Actually, it might be. If you have some new boyfriend and are playing happy family, I get to know about it for the next few weeks.”
Jax scowled down at Richard. “Neela, who is this guy?"
“The ex.”
Richard tried to step around Jax, but Jax blocked his path. "Right. Well, I'm the guy who doesn't like you getting quite so close to Neela and the baby. So, I'm going to need you to back it up."
Richard frowned but did as he was told, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I stepped back around Jax. “It's fine. Richard can’t hurt me anymore, he's just an old acquaintance."
Richard’s brows shot up. "Acquaintance? We were going to get married."
I frowned. "In what world? Was that before or after you stole my company from me?"
"Well, that was where I always meant for it to go."
"I didn't know imaginary engagement rings were a thing."
Jax chuckled and took Mayzie from me. She went to him easily, and he nuzzled her. "Let me put our name in for a table. You okay?"
“Yep. I can handle this.”
As Jax went up to the hostess and presumably gave our names, Dick couldn't take his eyes off him. "Who is that asshole?"
"That asshole is none of your business." This was fun. Giving as good as it got, refusing to back down, I was digging it.
"Look, we didn't even break up that long ago. Were you seeing him while you were dating me? That would explain why you never had time for me."
I sighed. "Richard, not everything is about you."
It seemed that Jax had every intention of being my savior all day, because he put a hand on my lower back and leaned close, whispering. "Our table will be ready in a minute. I'm just doing this to irritate him."
I couldn't help myself. I giggled.
I turned to meet Jax's gaze, and that intense, icy-blue stare was on me. Unwavering. So intense I dared not look away.
"Excuse me, do you mind? I'm trying to talk to my girlfriend," Richard tried to interrupt.
Jax didn't take his eyes off me. Instead, he said, "Ex."
"Well, if you would give us a moment, I'd like to change that."
I gawped at him. "What?"
Just at that moment, the buzzer we'd been given rang. Our table was ready. "See you around," I muttered.
Richard marched after us. "No, wait. Listen, can I come by the office?"
"I'm busy."
"I know. But you know, maybe we should talk."
"Well, like I said, I'm very busy. Why don't you call Bex and make an appointment?"
Then I followed behind Jax, his broad shoulders parting the sea of people for me.
Fourteen
Ariel…
Hawaii was a long way away, but at least Tamsin was coming on board. She’d arrive tomorrow. I had one team member left to gather. Zia. God help me, the clients had better be there.
I knew right away something was off. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. I parked in my spot right out front and couldn’t shake the feeling something was amiss. A quick scan of my surroundings told me what the problem was. There were a half-dozen Royal Guard in civilian clothes milling about on my block.
So the question was, who was in my office, Sebastian, Penny, Jessa or Lucas? Bryna didn’t get a guard yet as she and Lucas were merely engaged.
I knew as soon as I walked in.
"Were you even going to tell me that you were in Hawaii?" I’d been dodging her calls a little lately. I didn't want to hear pity and concern in Penny’s voice.
"Hey Pen. Who let you in?"
She grinned. "A very good-looking blond gentleman. Nice and tall with what I imagine are an excellent set of abs under his shirt."
I snorted a laugh. "Oh my God. Of course, he would just let you in. What did you say?"
"Well, I said that you were my bestie and that I was the queen, and he had to let me in by royal decree."
I rolled my eyes. "What did you really say?"
"I said I had an appointment with you and asked if I could wait inside."
I called out. "Trace, you're fired."
From somewhere in the kitchen, he chuckled. "You think I don't recognize the Queen of the Winston Isles? She could have told me anything and I'd still have let her in."
"She could have been here to rob us."
"Well technically, this is her island, so she can do what she wants."
Penny nodded. "Yup. I own the whole place. Actually, my husband does. But I own all the paint."
I laughed. Penny was a sometimes artist. Well, an all-the-time artist, really. She just had more responsibilities since becoming queen and didn't get to paint as much. "God, I miss you."
She bounded over and gave me a big hug. I noticed that she'd already taken off her shoes and made herself quite comfortable.
"Do I even need to ask?"
"No. Sebastian told me you were coming back tonight. I'd called you several times, you hadn't responded. I had to learn about your trip from my husband. Imagine the way he gloated."
I rolled my eyes. "Asshole."
She nodded. "I completely agree. Besides, I needed to escape the palace. The man can't keep his hands off me."
"Oh, woe is you,” I snorted through a laugh.
"I'm telling you. My vagina hurts."
From the kitchen Trace coughed. “I—uh, I think I'm just gonna go to the study."
I laughed and then led Penny through the dining area and into my back office. "Have a seat."
Penny laughed. "As if you had to tell me twice." She carried her Louboutins in one hand and her backpack over her shoulder.
I shook my head. "Same old Penny. Whose bright idea were the shoes?"
"Well, I had to make Sebastian think that I had a very important meeting. Otherwise, he would have insisted on one more shag before I left. And like I said, my vagina hurts. I mean I love the attention, don't get me wrong. But seriously, I tell the man yes let's have a baby, all he wants to do is try. I'm not even ovulating."
I laughed. "How is this different from any other time?"
"Well, now it's like he's on a serious let's-make-a-baby train, and if we're not actually making a baby, we’re practicing. Several times a day practicing. I'm tired. I need sleep. Can I sleep here?" She pleaded with me.
"Sure, but you know he'll know where to find you, right?"
"Ugh, I need other friends."
"He knows all your friends. You’ll either be here or at Bryna and Jinx's. Where else you gonna go?"
"My parents. I can go to my parents’ house."
"You realize your dad works for him, right? Your dad would give you up."
"Not if I told him my vajayjay hurts."
I spat out the sip of water I was taking. "Oh my God, if you tell Ethan that I will pay you money. All the money I have in my purse right now."
She rolled her eyes. "I know you don't carry cash. That's a sucker's bet."
I giggled. "Fair enough. You caught me. To what do I owe the lovely visit? I would have seen you later today anyway."
She cocked her head. "Why?"
I lifted a brow. "Your husband didn't tell you? He summoned me to the palace. He said there was some problem he wants me to look at."
She shook her head. "I have no idea what that's about. But he just left for a couple of days anyway, so I guess your meeting has b
een postponed."
I blinked. What the hell? “No. He would have called to reschedule.”
She lifted a brow. “When was the last time you looked at your messages?”
I flushed then. “Okay, maybe it’s been a minute.” I grabbed my purse and dug into it. Sure enough I had, oh… ten messages. I really needed to figure out a better system. I was getting behind.
And sure enough there was one from Sebastian.
Sebastian: Something has come up. Let’s meet when I’m back.
I sighed. “Guess he did leave me a message.”
Her brows furrowed. “Why do you look disappointed?”
“I don't know. I just—" I paused. What was I trying to say? "I feel like this was going to be my first official visit. I was a little nervous. I was also looking forward to a non visitor’s visit.“
"Why? You know the palace is your home."
"I know, I know, I just... I mean my past, you know?"
She nodded. "I'm so sorry. I wish there was more I could have done."
"No. Look, Sebastian has needed to go to battle with the council twice now. For his brother and sister. And there will be other times when he needs to go to battle. I don't want to be one of the reasons. Okay?"
She shrugged. “I guess, but it still sucks."
"You’ll see me all the time anyway."
"Yes, I know. So why are you avoiding my calls?"
I shook my head. "I'm not avoiding your calls. I'm on recruiting missions. I've got three team members signed, and I have another two recruitments to do. The last two are local though."
She sat up and grinned. "Zia?"
I laughed. "Yes, Zia."
Zia Barnes had trained with us in the Guard. There'd been this one guard, a total prick. We didn't think he'd make it to final selection, but he kept moving up because he was so good at fooling everyone. One night we'd all been out at a bar, and he'd hit on Zia pretty aggressively and wouldn't let up. Finally, he put his hands on her ass and basically forced her onto his lap. Well, Zia hadn't taken much of a liking to that, and the guy had ended up with two black eyes, a broken nose, and missing two teeth. Zia was about five foot two and a complete firecracker. We loved her immensely.
Unfortunately, she'd been booted from training for ‘conduct unbecoming.’ We had howled and fought and begged Ethan, Penny's father, to let her stay.
But he couldn’t make an exception. Violence against another member of the Royal Guard was strictly forbidden. Luckily, the asshole had been booted as well, because the moment Zia had handed him his ass on a platter, several other women had come forward too. He'd been a nuisance. And everyone had been afraid to speak up. So Zia had never been Royal Guard, but she joined the Royal Police Force instead. Which was great because I needed someone who was basically a badass and wasn't afraid to fight for what she wanted. I just hoped I could pay more than the police force.
Penny said, "I can't wait to see her. It's been a while. You know, we used to regularly do lunch and stuff. But then she moved to the other island, and I haven't seen her much."
"Yeah, that's the part that sucks. Like the ferries are super convenient, but no one really thinks to take them very often."
"Yeah. It's like having a friend who lives in Brooklyn. You know it's super close, but you just don't see them as much unless you're going out in Brooklyn to party."
I shrugged. "Yeah I guess.”
"I forget you didn't really spend a lot of time playing around in New York."
"Nope, I was too busy watching your ass."
"Yeah, well. I was too busy watching Sebastian's ass."
I grinned. "Literally and figuratively."
"Yeah, yeah, I shagged the prince. That was not my intention when I went to New York. You know that."
"Yes, I know. You were very valiant in your effort to hold off. It took you what, a whole month before you shagged him?"
"I might add that it was your idea to get super-duper close to him."
"I said get close to the man. I didn't say shag him."
"Ugh, I know.” Penny wisely shifted the focus to me. “So, what's your deal? Did you decide to try that dating app we talked about?"
I groaned. "No, I told you I do not have time to date. I need to build a business. Get my life off the ground."
"God and Jesus Christ, I just wish you would let me meddle in your life like you meddle in mine."
I grinned. "Nope, no can do."
"Babe, have you ever even been in love? It's awesome."
I don't know what it was, the way she said it or the grin and the light in her eyes that made me realize I'd never even told her that I'd been in love once. I’d never even told her that I'd had my heart broken or who'd broken it. Who doesn't tell their best friend that?
It was one of those things that was like the secret white elephant in the room that I’d managed to camouflage so she wouldn’t see it. But I’d been desperate to talk it about ever since I'd seen that stupid Google alert.
"Once."
She sat up off my settee and frowned at me. "With who? And I know you don't mean Michael."
I'd had a very-much-unrequited crush on her brother. And honestly, looking back, Michael had been more of a habit. A replacement for the person I really wanted. I figured if I could just always have a go-to guy to crush on, no one would ever ask too many questions or look too closely as to why I never let anyone get close.
And while I’d had a crush on Michael, it hadn’t been the same. I hadn’t been so obsessed with him that I couldn’t function. I hadn’t craved being with him. No. Because I'd been in love with someone else.
"I—" What the hell did I say?
How about the truth?
"Prince Tristan."
Her eyes went wide. "Prince Tristan? You were in love with him?"
I sighed. "Remember that summer your parents sent you on that training trip? You were in Miami from the end of the school term up until August."
"Yeah. I remember. But we talked basically every day."
"I know. I just kind of omitted him."
Her mouth unhinged. "No. I would have known if you were in love, I mean—" She stopped herself. And I could almost see the gears in her brain working as she tried to put the pieces together. "We talked every day, and I remember you got a job, and—" Her gaze flickered to mine, and she stared at me. "Oh my God. You totally omitted everything."
I flushed. "Yeah."
"We are gonna talk about that later. You've been hiding something from me for years.” She scowled. "Oh my God, like ten years."
"I know." I should never have said anything. She would never let this go. That was Penny for you. Once she had her teeth in something, forget it.
"We'll discuss. But first, spill."
I groaned. "It wasn't even… I don't know. You weren't there, and he came into the movie theater where I worked. Remember that place?"
She nodded. "Yeah, McGill's. Like the old-timey place. It had proper old-school fountain machines and cotton candy and popcorn. The floors were super sticky. It played all the latest movies, but it had a vintage feel."
"Yeah, McGill's. I loved that place. He did too. He'd come in for matinees. And one day he just, I don't know, asked me to join him. It was raining. No one was in there, and I was supposed to be working the projector anyway. So I turned the movie on and joined him. And we just, I don't know, talked I guess. Connected. I don't even remember what was showing, some action movie. And we hit it off. He came back the next day. And he kept coming back for two weeks straight. I remember he was often at boarding school. I didn’t know why he didn’t spend his time doing fun island-prince things." I shrugged. “Maybe he was trying to avoid his brother.”
“Or maybe he really liked you.” Penny sat forward. "Oh my God, I need popcorn."
"You do not need popcorn. It's not that much of a… It's nothing."
"It doesn’t sound like nothing. How did I not know about Prince Tristan? Jesus. Never mind, continue."
"You're so dramatic."
"I'm sorry, but if I’d had a secret love affair with Sebastian and kept it from you… You would need to know all the details."
"Oh my God, you did have a secret love affair with Sebastian, and—"
Wait a minute. She hadn't told me, and I'd been furious when I found out.
"You know to be fair, I found out on my own. But yes, I was also irritated."
"See."
"Fair enough, you have a point. You can yell at me later. But yeah, we started seeing each other. All the time. Every day. And you know how things were at home for me. I basically never wanted to be there. And well, he was in the palace, so I couldn't exactly just waltz up there. Especially when you weren’t there. So we were at the theater a lot and on the beach the rest of the time. You know, those caves down on Prince's Beach."
"Yeah, but Prince's Beach is closed to the public after six p.m."
"Yes, but remember, he's not the public."
She grinned. "Oh my God, you guys had a secret love den."
"Yeah, I guess. It was our spot. There was a cabana down there that was basically never used, and we would just hang out there."
She sat up and grinned. "Oh my God, by hang out do you mean—"
I shook my head. "No. You know I lost my virginity to Tommy Wall our freshman year of uni."
She rolled her eyes. "God, I wish he hadn't been your first. He was a dud."
"Yeah, he was a dud. But at that point, I figured I'd better just get rid of the damn thing."
"I wish you hadn't done that."
"Yeah, me too, but I was just like ‘let's get this party over with.’"
She laughed. "Yeah, that totally sounds like you too."
“So anyway, we would watch the stars and just spend all this time together. And you know he was playing soccer all the time, so he would have these matches and I would watch them on the telly. Then whenever he would come back, I'd be the first person he would see. He'd text me and say, 'Meet me at our place.' And we were, you know, just two dumb kids in love."
I sighed. ”He had this whole plan for what we were going to do. He was going to go to school in the UK while he also trained with one of the teams there. And I was going to take my credits and transfer to a school over there. We’d worked it all out. I’d done all the paperwork. We were supposed to go on a trip over there together before the end of the summer. You know my dad barely even noticed when I wasn't there, and you were already in the States. So I got time off work, and we were gonna go for a week. See how I liked it, make sure I wanted to go through with it, and the whole thing. We bought the tickets, and we were ready to go."