Wild: Savannah Heirs

by June, CoraLee

  “Ow! What the fuck was that for?” he asked, rubbing the spot I’d hit.

  “Oh, please. That didn’t hurt. And that was for being such an asshole. One of these days, you’re going to make that man crack.”

  Godfrey grinned. “I’m betting on it.”

  I rolled my eyes and then walked over to Luis, who I could see was barely containing his emotions beneath his tense, bunched muscles and grinding teeth. “You okay?” I asked quietly.

  It was a stupid question really, but I was never good in situations like this. Just another reason I was so damn bad at being a nurse. I was empathetic, sure, despite dear old dad’s determination to make me hard as nails. But that didn’t mean I was good in a crisis. It was like any time life went to hell, I never knew what to say. My brain didn’t know how to comfort someone the right way.

  “I’m fine, Majesty. You’re probably exhausted. Wanna go back to my place and sleep?” he asked, and the moment those words left his mouth, I cringed in embarrassment, sure that everyone’s eyes were on my back, narrowed with the implications of his words. I spun around to face Godfrey, my cheeks flooded with shame.

  “Is that where you keep sneaking off to?” Godfrey asked, his expression unreadable. “I didn’t realize I should have called my best friend to check at his place.” His jaw ticked in irritation, and I straightened my back, determined not to let my baby brother make me feel ashamed for what I was desperately trying to convince myself was an innocent evening.

  “I needed to get out of the house,” I explained despite Bonham’s snicker. Godfrey raised an eyebrow, and I snapped. “Stop looking at me like Granddaddy does, Godfrey. I’m not fucking your best friend,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest defensively.

  “Not yet, at least,” Luis murmured into my ear, so low that only I could hear, making me instantly blush. I was sure that if Godfrey had heard, Luis would have ended up in the hospital bed beside his mother’s.

  “You can stay in my guest house, Royal,” Rogue interrupted, artfully avoiding an all-out brawl between the guys. He was always maneuvering them away from the dark chaos of their nature. “Scarlett would love to see you. It’s been a while.”

  I smiled a little at that. When I’d heard that Scar and Rogue had finally ended up together, I remember squealing. Those two were always meant to collide.

  “That would actually be great, Rogue. Thank you.”

  He nodded and dug a hand into his pocket, fishing out his keys. He popped one off his keychain and tossed it over to me. Luis caught it for me, the sneaky bastard, and then made sure to use it as an excuse to take my hand and carefully place the key inside before curling my fingers around it. Just that innocent gesture made my cheeks redden even more.

  “I’ll crash at your place too,” Luis said, tossing his arm around my shoulder. I could tell he was overcompensating with a forced lighthearted smile to make up for the serious situation.

  I shrugged him off and shoved him away, shooting him a glare. “Knock it off.”

  “She’s tired. She’s cranky when she’s tired,” Luis told the guys.

  “Oh my God, I’m going to smother you in your sleep.”

  He shrugged. “That means you’d be in my bed. It’s a good way to go.”

  My mouth dropped open at his brazenness, but Godfrey interrupted. “Dude. That’s my sister. Shut the fuck up.”

  I shook my head, needing to get the hell out of here and have time to think. Luis would be fine now that he had all the Heirs here to support him. He didn’t need me. “I’m leaving.”

  “Hey, Majesty! I was just kidding,” Luis called. “Come back!”

  But I was already stalking out of the room, my heels clicking obnoxiously on the floor, drawing even more attention to the fact that these shoes were ridiculous with the rest of what I was wearing. As I rounded the hallway, I heard Godfrey sigh. “Were those your fucking clothes?”

  “Yep,” Luis chirped back.

  I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole. No wonder the ground had been too hard to bury my father. Savannah was too hardened with the saturation of shame and secrets.

  Chapter Nine

  Royal

  I couldn’t sleep. No matter how much I tossed and turned all night, I couldn’t convince my brain to shut the fuck up.

  I couldn’t stop seeing Mrs. Salvador’s face, those pale blue lips and vacant eyes. Luis had been frantic, but once we were at the hospital, he’d seemed completely in his element, knowing exactly how to handle everything, the questions to ask, the tests to request.

  How many times had he witnessed something like that? How many close calls? How many times had she barrelled into his innocence and forced him to grow up at the drop of a syringe?

  When the first bit of sunlight bled through the windows near my bed, I rolled over and gave up on the idea of sleep. I had shit to do. People to see. I couldn’t hide out in Rogue Kelly’s guest house forever. I’d blown off Aaron last night, but he was in Savannah now, and I was going to have to deal with him. I just didn’t know how.

  When I exited the guest house, I made my way over to the pool and dipped my feet in, shivering at the blast of cold water jolting my system. It was better than any damn cup of coffee. Swirling my toes in the water, I tried to think of what the hell to do about my problems piling up on my shoulders. Was Aaron going to tell someone about what I’d done in Ecuador? I was terrified of being arrested. Of people finding out what I’d done. But I was just as terrified of the possibility that he’d use that information to blackmail me into a relationship I didn’t want. I was stuck between walls that were closing in on me, and I was suffocating.

  “Hey!” I heard the sliding glass door leading to the Kelly house open up, and out walked a yawning Scarlett, wrapped up in a blanket and shuffling towards me. The girl was gorgeous and strong, with more determination in her than people three times her age. I’d always liked her. Despite the age gap and distance.

  “Hey yourself,” I replied back with a smile. Once she was beside me, she laid down and rested her head on my lap. I playfully grabbed a handful of cold water and let some of the droplets hit her skin.

  “Shit, that’s cold!” she yelped before removing her hand from the bundle of blankets to slap me. We both laughed, and it felt like no time had passed since we’d seen each other last.

  “I heard about last night. That must’ve been scary,” she said, the thought sobering us both.

  “Yeah, it wasn’t good. Has she always been like that?”

  Scarlett blew out a breath and sat up, running her fingers through her tangled brown hair. “Yeah, for as long as I can remember. Even when we were little, she was shifty, probably popping pills back then. Luis was always taking care of her, but it wasn’t until I was a little older that I realized how bad it was. By then, she’d moved on to some of the harder stuff. That’s when she really started to be fucked up.”

  “Yep, don’t do drugs, kids. I learned that the hard way,” a feminine voice said from behind us.

  I turned to find my brother’s girlfriend, Rachel, padding out towards us. I guess they crashed here last night, too.

  Rachel’s blunt blonde hair was chin level and messy, and she was dressed in cut-offs and a loose tee that showed off her midriff. She plopped down beside us so that all three of us had our toes dipped in the water together. I looked down at her forearm that was covered in tattoos, but I could see the old scars from track marks raised on her porcelain skin.

  “I feel bad for her. I had to detox off of heroin, and I’d only been forced on it for a few weeks. It’s gonna be fucking hell for her to knock everything out of her system after years. I don’t envy her.”

  “Or Luis,” I murmured in agreement.

  Scarlett chewed on her bottom lip. “Why is everything always so fucked up?”

  “It’s those damn Heirs,” Rachel popped off, kicking water up and arcing it away from us. “They’re all complicated and shit.”

  We laughed, but she wasn
’t wrong.

  “Luis is lucky, though,” Rachel added while turning to look at me. She had a pointed stare, and I already knew where this conversation was headed. “You were there to help keep her stable until the paramedics got there. That, and Luis is also lucky that Godfrey didn’t kick his ass last night for flirting with you. Your brother was all pissy about it. I distracted him though,” she added with a smirk before looking off in the distance with a dreamy gaze on her face.

  “Uh, gross. I don’t need to know about any distraction tactics you may or may not have used on my brother,” I laughed, hoping to change the subject, but Scarlett brought it right back to Luis and me.

  “Oh please, Godfrey should know better. Luis has been in love with Royal for years. He’s just grown up enough for it to no longer be a cute crush anymore. Now it’s more like a real possibility.”

  “Oh, no. There’s definitely no possibility,” I said a little too quickly.

  I watched as Rachel and Scarlett exchanged a conspiring look before directing their attention back to me.

  “Oh, really? Because you both seem pretty friendly lately,” Scarlett prodded.

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Rachel murmured before kicking her leg up, splashing more water around our feet. “The sexual tension between them at the club that one day was hot,” she added.

  “There is no tension,” I tried to promise, my voice hitching in pitch as I spoke. “Not even a spark.”

  “Girl, you can lie to yourself, but you can’t deny the energy rolling off the two of you. Age is just a number, you know,” Scarlett teased.

  “Yeah, that’s what he keeps saying, too. I almost jumped his bones last night,” I blurted before clamping my hand over my mouth.

  The girls laughed, huge smiles splitting their faces. “I knew it!” Scarlett clapped.

  Rachel elbowed me in the ribs. “You’re totally gonna hook up,” she giggled. “Not that I blame you. He’s pretty hot.”

  “Who’s pretty hot? You better be talking about me.”

  To my utter mortification, Godfrey and all three of the other Heirs came sauntering out, dressed in their designer jeans and relaxed t-shirts. I was ruffled and wrinkled, still wearing Luis’s clothes from yesterday, a fact which he noticed immediately, his brown eyes skimming over my form with satisfaction.

  “Nope,” Rachel said, leaning back on her hands as she continued to kick water. “Definitely wasn’t talking about you.”

  Godfrey came up behind her and faked her out like he was going to toss her in the pool. She squeaked, but instead of pushing her in, Godfrey tugged her up beneath her arms and swung her around until they were standing nose-to-nose. “Do I have to take you inside and remind you why you belong to me?”

  I groaned into my hands. “I never had to hear this shit while I was in Ecuador.”

  Rogue sat down behind Scarlett, one leg on either side of her, and pulled her closer to him without preamble. She melted against him immediately, and I had to hold back a smile at how perfect they looked together.

  Luis plopped down next to me, making sure that his thigh pressed against mine. “You want a ride home to get some clothes?”

  “That’s okay, I can call a cab.”

  He scoffed. “You don’t need to take a cab. I’ll drive you home so you can get your stuff.”

  “I can’t stay in Rogue’s guest house forever.”

  “Sure you can. It’s empty anyway,” Rogue said to my left.

  “See?” Luis put in. “You said you wanted to get away from your family.”

  “The asshole members of the family,” Godfrey corrected behind us, his hands now firmly secured in Rachel’s back pockets so he could grip her ass.

  “You are an asshole member of the family,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, but not to you,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

  He had me there. Despite the fact that I was older, Godfrey had always taken care of me. Maybe that was part of the problem. I’d always let people take care of me. Handle things for me. Control me. Maybe Luis was right—I needed to stop letting other people run my life.

  “I have a better idea,” Godfrey began. “How about you finally cash one of the hundred checks I’ve written you, hmm?”

  I scowled. Godfrey had been trying to send me money since Ecuador, but I hadn’t accepted a cent. Maybe it was pride, maybe it was fear. Maybe at the end of it all, I didn’t want any of that old Taylor money tainting my spirit. I wanted to prove them all wrong and take care of myself.

  But most of all? I didn’t want Godfrey to clean up my problems anymore. He was happy lately. Rachel completely changed his life, and I wanted us to work towards a normal sibling relationship that wasn’t based on money and abuse.

  “How about you buy your pretty girlfriend something nice, instead?” I replied with a smirk.

  “Hey now. Don’t bring me into this,” Rachel argued. “He’s been bitching to me about your stubbornness for weeks. It would be a relief if you’d finally just let him help you, Royal. He worries about you being in that house.”

  I let the silence fill our space for a moment before flipping the script. I didn’t want Godfrey to worry about me; maybe moving to Rogue’s pool house would take some of the pressure off.

  “I’ll stay here, but I want to pay you rent,” I told Rogue.

  He looked at me like I was ridiculous. “I’m not taking money from you, Royal.”

  “Why not? If I’m staying here, I’m technically a tenant. I don’t want to mooch off you.”

  Rogue gestured to everyone at the pool, including Bonham who was lounging on the patio chair behind us. “Look around. We’re family. Stay in the guest house and shut up about rent shit.”

  I laughed and shook my head at his stubbornness. “Fine. But I’ll be out of your hair just as soon as I get my shit together.”

  “Stay as long as you want.”

  “Aww,” Scarlett crooned from his lap, her fingers weaving through his thick dark hair. “Such a softie.”

  “Do I feel soft to you?” he asked pointedly.

  All this heated, sexually-charged couple stuff had my palms sweating. Luis’s leg suddenly burned against mine. I jumped up, my feet instantly drying on the warm concrete.

  “I’m gonna go get my stuff,” I announced, keeping my eyes trained on the only safe Heir around. Rogue and Scarlett were making out now, my brother was feeling up Rachel, and Luis was...well, Luis.

  Bonham smirked at me. “Thanks for letting me know,” he replied like a smart ass.

  I padded toward the guest house to grab my cellphone, but I felt Luis hot on my heels. “Hey, Mamacita. Wait up.”

  Everything started crashing down around my ears as I ignored him and rushed inside to grab my cell phone. I was out the door again in ten seconds flat, Luis following behind me every step of the way.

  “Hey, hold up,” he said, grabbing my arm as soon as we were in the gardens at the side of the Kelly Estate, away from prying eyes. “What’s wrong? You’ve been even more skittish than usual. I thought these past few weeks since you’ve been sneaking out have been good.”

  “They have, that’s not…” I blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry for stringing you along, but I can’t do this with you. Your friends, my brother...they all think this is a thing, and I keep telling you it can’t be.”

  Luis’s face hardened. “Why do you keep saying that?”

  I lifted my arms in exasperation before letting them fall back down. “Because it’s true! I’m sorry if I led you on, but I’m ending this before it goes any further. We can’t hang out anymore. It’s already gone too far.”

  “Too far? Majesty, we barely just started,” he said, his tone low like a growl. It instantly filled me with both physical need and emotional dread. Because as much as I wanted him, I couldn’t.

  “Who is he?”

  My eyes snapped to his. “Who?”

  “That doctor. I saw the two of you talking. You know him. How?”

 
My mouth opened in indignation. “That’s none of your business.”

  His dark eyes scanned my face, and I didn’t like it. It made me feel vulnerable. “It’s him, isn’t it? The married doctor you fucked when you got kicked out of the program.”

  That same fiery-hot shame that always filled me whenever people brought up that lie hit me full force, but I shoved it down and took up the reins of anger instead. If he wanted to believe the gossip, I wasn’t going to correct him. The truth was too painful to admit. “Yeah, that’s him. He asked me out, and I’m going to go.”

  I don’t know why the fuck I said that last part. Maybe because I wanted to punish him for believing that I’d gotten kicked out of the program for fucking Aaron. Or maybe it was because I wanted him to believe the lies and finally toss me aside the way he should.

  Luis’s expression darkened with fury, and it filled me with a heated thrill. “The fuck you are.”

  When he tried to grab my arm, I wrenched it away. “I am. Because he’s a grown ass man, not a boy fresh out of prep school. He’s what I want.”

  Luis’s eyes hardened, but instead of cussing me out and walking away, which was what I expected him to do, he brought one hand up to brush against my jaw, while the other went straight to my core. His palm gently cupped my pussy, and I swear to God, I nearly came.

  “You want him and not me? Is that what you’re trying to tell me, Majesty?” he asked, his voice husky.

  I swallowed hard, ignoring the way his thumb brushed over my bottom lip. “Y-Yes.”

  “You’re a fucking liar,” he whispered, his mouth nearly touching mine. He was in my space, crowding me so that he was the only thing I could see, feel, hear, breathe—the only thing in my whole atmosphere. “I grew up with a liar. I know the sounds they make when the fake words come out of their mouths. And you? Your lies are louder than a fucking chainsaw.”

  His hand over my pussy started rubbing in slow, torturous circles. When a whimper escaped me, he instantly dropped his hand from my face and hiked me up by the ass. I gasped, my arms flying to his shoulders, trying to stay upright as my legs curled around his hips for purchase as he began to walk.