Page 4 of Royal

I swallow hard and run my hands down my hips, trying to stop my hands from becoming sweaty. “I heard you mention Seth,” I tell her, and they all move closer to me.

I peek back at Donovan to ensure he is okay, and he is still busy smearing ketchup all over his face.

“I just wanted to tell you what I know and have personally experienced.” I proceed to tell them what the girls at work and I have experienced.

The beautiful guy has moved so close to me that if I were to move over an inch, I would be pressed against him.

Ideas of accidentally falling and having him catch me flash through my mind, but there is no way I could pull that off. “I’m sorry for listening in. No one deserves to be hurt.” I look at Meghan’s bandaged hand. Turns out he threw hot coffee on her.

She hugs me tightly, and I hug her back, looking at the beautiful man over her shoulder. His piercing eyes almost stab me with how intense they are.

I let her go and clear my throat softly. He opens his mouth to speak, “You didn’t deserve that shit. Be careful around that fucker, and this has pissed me the fuck off.”

I can feel my eyes widening at his menacing tone, and shivers run down to my feet.

I barely notice when Terror and Meghan sneak away, leaving the stranger and me standing here with Donovan behind us. “Want to finish your food with me?” I ask, mentally kicking myself simultaneously, but he’s eating alone and I feel bad. “I’m Naomi, by the way.”

His face lightens, and somehow he becomes even more beautiful. “Royal.”

Royal gathers his food and sits down in front of Donovan and me at our booth. He chuckles at Donovan’s mess. “He’ll just drink ketchup from the bottle if I let him.”

He takes a napkin from the table and gently wipes Donovan’s mouth before it drips onto his shirt. “Fank you,” he says to Royal.

Royal looks like his heart just melted in his chest from the soft look on his face. I am not naïve to believe that my son will steal a man like Royal’s heart.

“I miss my daughter being that little. All she wanted was to be held. I’m surprised she even learned to walk from all my brothers carrying her everywhere.”

I jump in shock at the mention of a daughter. “How old is she?” I ask.

He reaches into his pocket for his phone, and right on the front screen is a picture of a little girl a few years older than Donovan, the spitting image of her dad. “Wow, she’s an angel.”

He grins at that. “She’s my whole world. I’ve been raising her all alone since she was a newborn.”

I sympathize with him because I understand how he feels. “I get that, I’ve raised this boy on my own.” I run my hand down the back of Donovan’s hair and open my purse to get a wet wipe out to finish cleaning off his face and the mess on the table where he smeared ketchup onto the surface.

I look at Royal, who smiles when he catches me looking. “I’m assuming his dad isn’t in his life?” he asks me, point-blank.

I shake my head no. “We were high school sweethearts. He never knew I was pregnant because he died in a car crash when I was super early into my pregnancy.”

“Fuck, that is shitty.”

I hesitate before asking him about his daughter’s mom, assuming she isn’t involved because he said he had raised her alone.

He scoots forward, holding his drink in his hands. “Honestly, I was trashed out of my mind when we had sex the night Penny was conceived. She was a club whore who wanted to be an ole lady in any way possible.”

My stomach twists at the thought of what he is hinting at.

“I just woke up after we had sex in my apartment.”

I want to throw up, and I’m pissed. How could someone do that? This is a deep conversation to be having with someone I just met.

He growls. “Then a few weeks later, she came to me, telling me she’s pregnant. She threatened me the whole time so that I would bend to her will, otherwise she said she would abort the baby. I didn’t even know if it was mine, but if they were, I would protect them at all costs.”

My respect for him grows because not many men would care enough to worry if someone aborted a baby that may not be theirs.

“She did drugs during the pregnancy. But Penny is healthy now, and she is my daughter. We did a paternity test, and she is mine.”

I smile at this because a dad so devoted to his child before he even meets them is fantastic.

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