Luis leaned down and pecked a kiss on her cheek before sitting down across from her. I took the seat beside him, thankful for the shade cloth hanging over us. It was hot and humid, and sweat instantly started to collect on my skin.
“What are you doing out here, Ma? It’s fucking hot.”
She waved a hand at him. “I feel too cold inside.”
Glancing at her, it was easy to see why. Despite the fact that she no longer had dark circles under her eyes, she was still pale and way too thin. I slipped my hand into my purse and pulled out a bag of chips. The second her eyes zeroed in on it, she gave me a coy smile. “Ah, you remembered, Nurse.”
“I’ll bring more,” I promised her.
“Keep them coming,” she said, tearing the bag open. “I could eat these all day.”
Luis glanced between us with an inscrutable expression before he cleared his throat. “Then we’ll definitely bring more. We need to get some meat on your bones, Ma.”
She continued to munch on her chips, mumbling something in Spanish between bites. When she was done, she licked her fingers clean and brushed back her frizzy black hair from her face. “I haven’t seen you in days, mijo. What have you been up to?”
“We’ve been dealing with some shit, Ma,” he admitted.
With a somber nod, Mrs. Salvador got up to go inside, returning with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. She sat down and took a long inhale before nodding. “So? What’s the shit?” she asked bluntly. So that was where Luis got it from.
“Well, first things first. Royal’s finally wised up and is my fiance now,” he said with a mischievous chuckle.
I sputtered. “Girlfriend, Luis. Girlfriend,” I corrected him.
“Yes, you are,” he purred in response.
“About damn time. You’ve had a crush on her for years,” Mrs. Salvador replied, shocking me.
“Surprised you noticed,” Luis mumbled bitterly under his lips. I knew that he was selfless and loved his mother, but sometimes resentment creeped through like a mosquito, constantly nipping and drawing blood.
“I notice lots of things, mijo. Even when I want to ignore it. I notice how you’re too good to me. How you step up. I see how you’re happier when she’s around, too. Now tell me what’s wrong so I can help.”
Luis’s mouth dropped open in shock, and I realized that this was the closest Mrs. Salvador had come to admitting her mistakes and recognizing the burdens she’d put on her son.
“Your doctor has been blackmailing Royal. He has a history of tampering with patient records to trap nurses.”
“Carmichael? I knew something was wrong with that pendejo,” she said, taking a long drag off her cigarette. “What do you need?”
I blanched. “That’s it? You don’t need us to explain more?” I blurted out.
Mrs. Salvador’s face softened. “I might be an addict, but I’m a mother first. So when I have my head on straight, I’ll burn the world down for my son. You remember that, Royal.” She gave me a pointed stare, hinting at just how far she’d be willing to go for him, including beating my ass should I hurt him. “And as long as you’re in his life, that devotion extends to you too,” she quickly added, as if to soften the blow of her threat.
“We don’t need much, just need to stay here a couple days while Godfrey finalizes a few plans,” Luis explained. “Bonham is going to put us in a bigger suite with a fold-out couch.”
She hummed, and her brown eyes glinted. “We can go home if you want? I’m feeling so much better.” Her tone was too cheery, too forced. Luis’s face dropped.
“We’re safer here,” he gritted out, making Mrs. Salvador frown.
“Fine. So when can I stab him?” Mrs. Salvador asked. I choked out a surprised laugh.
“No stabbing, Ma. We’ve got it covered.”
Mrs. Salvador watched us with clear eyes, something I’d never seen from her before. And the way Luis was looking at her, I knew he was trying to dampen his hope that she would stay this way. For both their sakes, I hoped she would.
“I won’t say no to spending time with my favorite son,” Mrs. Salvador said with a small smile before scratching at her skin. I noticed that it was rubbed raw from all her nails.
“I’m your only son, Ma,” Luis chuckled.
“We should get you some ointment and a bandage for that,” I said, watching as she kept scratching.
“Nah, I’m fine. You’re like Luis. Fussing over me like it’s your job,” she grumbled before taking a sip of cucumber water.
“It technically is my job,” I joked.
“And yet you were gone all week with Luis, hmm?” she teased. “I’m so excited to be a grandmother. I want siete,” she announced, holding up seven fingers.
“H-how about he finishes college, first, yeah?” I stuttered. It was easy to see where Luis got his all-or-nothing personality from. Barely official a few days, and his mother was already talking grandbabies.
“Luis scowled. I’m not going to college. I’ve got too much work to do here. Maybe I’ll look at a few online courses, but I’ve already got my dream job running our bars and the hotel.”
“You’re not going to college?” I asked. I know we had talked about it, but I wasn’t sure he’d been serious. I sighed in relief, not realizing that fear was weighing so heavily on me. I wasn’t ready for him to leave, but I was willing to follow him anywhere.
Mrs. Salvador waved her hand. “He’s grown in all the ways that count. Was smarter than most kids at that damn school.”
I snorted. “I don’t doubt it. My brother went there.”
Luis chuckled and toyed with a piece of my hair. “I’m gonna tell him you said that.”
I elbowed him lightly, making his arms drop to his stomach with an oomph.
Mrs. Salvador smiled and pointed between the two of us. “You two have the fire. You’ll do well together.”
Luis rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was pleased. “Ma, you said that about Tori Hill, my third grade crush that I took to the Daisy Dance. She was crazy. She set off a smoke bomb in the gym to see how long it would take for the sprinklers to turn on.”
She shrugged and snuffed out her cigarette. “Like I said. Fire.”
My laugh was cut off when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I dug it out and swiped the screen, cringing when I saw a text from Godfrey.
Godfrey: Party is in two days.
Before I could type out a reply, my phone started ringing. My grandfather. I passed Mrs. Salvador a tight smile. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”
I quickly got up and went inside, but Luis was hot on my heels. I appreciated that he knew me well enough to come with me—I had a feeling I’d need him to bolster me.
I pressed my finger to the speaker button and answered. “Hi, Granddaddy.”
He sighed. All I’d done was answer, and the man sighed in disappointment.
“Royal. I’ve already spoken with Dr. Carmichael, so don’t try to deny the fact that you left work for a week to go off gallivanting with your brother. He says you falsely accused him of something and got him fired? Are you completely hell-bent on ruining our family name?”
I grimaced, but Luis just crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the sliding glass door. I opened my mouth to compulsively explain but stopped. There was no use defending myself to this man.
“We’re having your brother’s birthday in two days. I expect you to be there and reconcile with Aaron.”
I just had to play the part one last time. I let out a shaky breath. I’d been expecting this. “Okay, Granddaddy.”
“You should’ve been home by now. I know your plane landed over an hour ago. Where are you?”
He was throwing so much at me that I kept blinking at the rush of words, not knowing which deluge I would be hit with next.
“I’m at the hospital for work,” I settled on, knowing that he’d be pleased with that. “I took on some extra shifts to make up for the time I missed, so I won’t be home for the n
ext couple of days.”
“Aaron will be very disappointed to hear that. He was hoping to see you this evening. But I suppose if you’re at work, you can clear up this business of getting him fired. Fix it, Royal, or else I’ll be forced to handle it myself, and you won’t like that outcome.”
He hung up, leaving me with resounding silence.
“Wow. I see where your father got his charm,” Luis drawled.
I sighed and dropped my phone back into my pocket. “Yeah. This family is full of it.”
Luis came forward and pulled me against his chest. “You, mi amor, are charming. And I don’t mean that sarcastically.”
I snorted out a laugh into his chest before it turned into a groan. “I hate this. I’m just ready for it all to be done.”
“Soon, mi amor. Soon. We’ll make that bastard pay.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Royal
Deep, sultry red in leopard print. That was what my skin-tight dress looked like that was currently clinging to my body. Earlier this afternoon, Luis disappeared for an hour and then showed up with it dangling on a hanger. “I can’t believe I’m wearing this,” I said before applying matching lipstick, showing off my plump lips.
“You look muy caliente, la nuera,” Mrs. Salvador said while running a brush through my hair. She’d been calling me that the last two days, and it wasn’t until about an hour ago that I looked up the term and realized she’s been calling me her daughter-in-law.
Luis stood behind me, his heated gaze flicking up my form with appreciation while straightening his tie. “This is it, Royal. No more letting them control you. Rogue said you can stay at his pool house if you need to, but we both know I plan on keeping you at my house. Fuck their trust fund, I can take care of you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to be a kept woman. I just…”
“Want to be happy? Free?” Luis finished for me.
I nodded. “Yeah. I want to be free,” I said quietly. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know that I want to have the chance to figure it out.”
“You will,” Luis said with conviction.
I was staring at myself in the mirror, taking in every part of me that they hated. The wild in my eyes. The mischievous way I smiled. They’d even hate the suggestive shade of my dress and the dip in the front. My whole life, my family had shoved me into a cage, trying to get me to sing for them. What would I do now that I was about to be let out?
“We’ll figure it out together,” Luis added while grabbing my wrists and pulling me towards him. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before spinning me around to face him. “I know this is fast and probably freaks you out. I know every instinct is telling you to run and avoid the shitstorm about to happen, but I’ve got you, mi amor. Aaron won’t even stand a chance.”
“Mijo, such a smooth talker, yeah?” Mrs. Salvador said with a smile.
He grinned. “You raised me right, Ma.”
I blew out a breath. “ Let’s give them a show, yeah? If I’m going to become an outcast and piss off Aaron, we might as well go out with a bang.”
Luis grinned. “There’s my wild girl.”
“Have fun. Shank him if you need to,” Mrs. Salvador said with a completely straight face. “Yo conozco a un hombre que puede esconder un cuerpo si es necesario.”
Luis shook his head. “We won’t need help hiding the body, Ma. We got this. Thanks for letting us stay here.” Mrs. Salvador reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. “See you soon.”
He kissed her on the cheek and led me out, and during the entire drive to my house, Luis sang along with the radio, making me laugh and easing the burden of my stress. You wouldn’t have thought we were about to set a scary, fucked up ball into motion. Luis was good at bringing out laughter. Most people sold him short because of it. They saw him as just the life of the party, the class clown, the jokester who didn’t take anything seriously. But that couldn’t be further than the truth. He brought out lightness because of the dark. His jokes were usually made to break up the tension or make someone feel better. Like now, even though carefree was the last thing he was feeling, he exuded it for me. Because he knew I needed it. And I loved him for that.
I kept a vice-like grip on his hand, his confident attitude grounding me, and I knew I’d need to cling to it if I were to survive the night.
When we pulled up to my house, I let out a shaky breath and tugged on the hem of my dress as I looked at how many cars were parked in the driveway. Panic started to set in.
“Hey. Kiss me, Royal,” Luis demanded, and I didn’t hesitate for even a second. Leaning over the car, I seared my lips to his, letting my red lipstick coat his skin. He groaned into my mouth, the predatory sound making every bit of me light up, distracting me from my worry.
“You taste good,” he murmured before placing a kiss on the thudding pulse in my neck. He bit down a little, and I whimpered at the sharp pain, quickly eased with a swipe of his tongue. When I pulled away, I took a good look at the man in front of me, not seeing the challenges ahead of us, nor the age difference between us. I just saw Luis. The strong boy I once knew, now a capable man I loved.
“You should probably wipe the lipstick from your face,” I said with a chuckle before digging through my purse for a napkin.
“Nah, why would I do that?” he replied with a cheeky grin before getting out of the car and circling around to open my door for me.
Once we were both standing in the driveway, I shook my head at the smear of red across his plush lips. “You’re trouble, Luis Salvador.”
“You like it, Royal Taylor.”
He wasn’t wrong.
We walked up the drive to the front door, my heart pounding in my chest with each step. It occurred to me then that this place never felt like a home. I felt like a stranger in the place I grew up in. “Ready?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep.”
“No turning back now,” I murmured, steeling myself.
I rang the doorbell and straightened my spine to greet the mess ahead of us. When the ornate door opened and I saw my granddaddy on the other side, my confidence tilted on its axis. He was wearing a tailored suit, not a hair was out of place on his balding head, and that ever-present scowl was perched on his lips.
“What are you doing in that?” he asked as his gray eyes swept over my dress. He turned to Luis and blanched. “And what is he doing here with you?” Spit flew from his wrinkled lips as he spoke.
And me? I froze. Like I was a scared little girl.
I should have put my granddaddy in his place right then and there. I should have told him that Luis was my boyfriend and that I was done being his pawn.
“Hey, Luis. Glad you could make it. Are the others inside?” Rogue asked, coming up behind us and clapping Luis on the back.
I turned to look over my shoulder at Rogue, who was wearing a navy suit and burgundy tie, with Scarlett at his side. They both wore calculating grins that could only be perfected by years of proper Savannah grooming. They knew how to disarm with a smile.
“Hello, Mr. Taylor,” Rogue greeted my granddaddy.
Granddaddy’s eyes were fixed on the red lipstick covering Luis’s face, his lips curled down in furious disapproval. He then turned to stare at Rogue, deciding it wasn’t worth it to piss off the richest Heir in Savannah. Appearances first. Always.
“May we come in?” Rogue challenged.
“Yes,” Granddaddy replied, though his expression looked sour. “Of course. Come in, Mr. Kelly.”
Using Rogue as our shield, we skirted past my granddaddy and into the house, and my eyes widened at the amount of people inside. This wasn’t just a birthday party. As predicted, this was a fucking Savannah cesspool.
Judge Palmisano, the Chief of Police, the mayor, and plenty of people who had done back alley dealings with my father were here. Everywhere I looked, there were people balancing champagne flutes, dressed in clothing that cost thousands,
mingling and smiling their fake smiles while they judged everyone else in the room.
I looked over in the corner where Bonham was standing. He played his part well, dressed in fine clothes as he observed the room. The stage was set, as Forty-Three would say.
“Royal, you’re here.”
I turned just in time for my mama to place a cold kiss against my cheek. “What are you wearing?” she hissed in my ear. “You look like a hussy. I want you to go upstairs and change immediately.”
I knew exactly what would be upstairs hanging up in my closet for me. It would be some demure, pastel frilly number that made me look twelve years old.
“I’m not changing,” I said, pulling away. “I like what I’m wearing.”
Her eyes tightened, and her lips thinned. “If your father were here to see this…”
“Well, he’s not,” I said coolly. “He’s dead, and he was an awful person,” I heard myself saying, and my mama’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Mourn him, but don’t make him into something that he wasn’t. He was a cheater and an abuser, and I’m glad he’s gone.”
A low whistle cut through the room, and I realized that people had stopped their own conversations to look at us. Mama’s cheeks burned when she looked around and saw people staring. She cleared her throat, pasting on a fake smile. “I know you’re very tired from working all those hospital shifts. Why don’t you go lie down until you feel more yourself?”
I nearly snorted out a humorless laugh, but there was a sharp edge to her tone that wasn’t normally there. I’d embarrassed her in front of Savannah’s elite, which in her eyes, was a cardinal sin.
“That’s the thing, Mama,” I began. “I finally am being myself, and I’m not going to stop. Not for you. Not for Granddaddy. Not for anyone. I’m done trying to play a part to please you.”
“Royal—”
I shook my head, cutting her off. “No, Mama. We’re done. I’m done. You’ve spent my whole life trying to make me into this perfect image of a daughter, without actually knowing how to be a mother. I see that now, and I’m done pretending.”
Wild: Savannah Heirs Page 25