Page 51 of Royal

I have never felt shit more right.

That little boy is meant to be mine. I know he is not mine biologically, but I can see myself in him, and he was made to be the next generation of Rebels.

I never fucking knew how good life could be until it was right here, front and center. The things I want to do to protect it, to protect them, would have me in jail as a serial killer or some shit.

The door to the deck opens, where I’m sitting drinking a beer, unwinding. I expect to see Naomi, but it's Shane who sits down next to me.

The look in his eyes says he has some demons. I know those demons are there to protect my woman.

“I want to thank you,” I tell him, and he looks at me in shock.

“What the fuck for?”

I chuckle. His eyes are exactly like his sister’s. “You protected her, I know there’s shit she doesn’t know that you’ve had to do.”

He swallows hard. I can see the flash of pain in his eyes. “Mom dated some bad men that would have loved to hurt her, to use her.” His voice is rough.

I squeeze my beer bottle hard, not liking the fact that her life was a fight to stay safe and some fucker wanted to touch her.

“Fuck, I hate your bitch of a mother.” I chuckle darkly, I have never been a man to think about punishing a woman, but these bitches lately have me second-guessing. Her mom, Selene, and Sabrina.

“She told me you would sleep in front of her bedroom door because you were afraid that one of the men would come in.”

Shane’s jaw clenches. “Fuck yeah. Earl. He was the worst one. I know he wanted to hurt her, and he tried to, so I took her place.”

Wait, hold the fuck up. He took her place? I know why the sadness is in his eyes, I think to myself.

“Brother, I’m so fucking sorry that you had to live with that shit. The things you had to do to protect her… Anything you need, it’s yours.” He takes a long drink of his beer, nodding.

“You’re caring for my sister, and that’s all I want and need.”

“You got it.”

I decide to share a bit of the shit I have had to deal with. “Penny’s mom, she was a club whore who wanted to be an ole lady. She drugged me, she drugged my drink, and that’s how Penny came to be.”

“Fuck that bitch.”

I laugh. “If it were left up to Naomi, the girl would die.”

Shane laughs at that loudly. “Her days are numbered, I can tell you that.”

Then I decided to do something for him. It won’t heal the scars that he has, but a little justice never hurt anyone.

“What’s Earl’s last name?”

He doesn’t think twice and gives it to me. Then I start my planning, and the first thing I’m doing is texting River to find the fucker.

One Week Later

Royal

She found him. He’s still in the town they lived in as kids, but now he’s staying with a cracked-out woman and using her for everything she is worth.

That fucker is pathetic.

Terror is with me, and Gavin drives our van for these special occasions. “What did the man do?” Gavin asks when we park.

“He is a kiddy fucker.” That’s all the answer he needs.

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