Page 12 of Royal

“Fuck, I forgot how hard it is for me to get in small cars.” I cover my mouth so I don’t laugh and hurt his feelings.

When he first got in the car, he took his cut off, and I’ve been holding it in my lap. “How come you don’t wear this in vehicles?”

“We don’t wear cuts in cages.”

That tells me nothing yet it tells me everything I need to know.

I don’t live far from the day care, and when we get there he parks at the front.

I get out, assuming Royal will wait in the car, but he takes my hand, walking in the building with me.

The day care owner, Cindy, sticks her head through the door when the bell rings. Her eyes widen when she takes in the both of us together, but I catch her small smile before she can hide it behind the door.

Not a minute later, she walks out holding Donovan’s hand. His eyes lit up when he spots me. My heart melts, knowing my boy is happy to see me. I bend down, and he runs to me. I scoop him up, giving him kisses all over his face. Donovan giggles and tries to escape my hold.

“Help.” He looks at Royal, who is laughing as he takes him from me.

I swear I almost swallow my tongue at the sight of him holding my son. He looks way too good, and my lady bits are screaming at me to attack this man.

I gulp hard and try to play it off like I’m not freaking out inside. “Home?” he asks, carrying Donovan out. I turn to look at Cindy, and she is staring wide-eyed, too.

Girl, I get it.

She winks at me, and the door shuts, leaving me at Royal’s mercy. He carries Donovan with ease and puts him in his seat.

I’m standing behind him, feeling weird because I don’t think anyone besides me has put Donovan in his seat.

Royal turns to look at me, and he cocks his head to the side slightly like he is trying to figure me out. He runs his finger under my chin, then opens the passenger door and helps me in like I’m fragile. It’s sweet.

He turns to face me once he is inside my older, small car. “Thank you for helping me.”

He smiles at my thanks. “Darlin’, if you only knew what I wanted to do for you, then you’d probably take off running.”

I suck my lips in together at that. I’m scared to know because he is so intense, but on the other hand, my heart is beating so fast, knowing that he has plans for me.

He wants to see me again, is what I take from his words.

Chapter 4

Royal

It shocks her, every little thing I do. Small things like putting her son in the car seat has her surprised.

She has no one to fucking help her do anything. That shit hurts me—it hurts me fucking more that she is living in a place that is not safe.

When I first rode in on my bike, I fucking hissed because a prostitute was chilling in the corner of the park, drug deals going on all around.

I want to walk inside, put all her clothes in the trunk of her car, and then place her ass in the center of my bed where she belongs.

I was not fucking wrong when I told her there were a lot of things I wanted to do for her. A woman has never made me want to put her in my house, in my bed, her kid in a bedroom next to Penny’s, and make her round with my babies in her stomach.

That shit is burning deep in me, and has been since the second I locked eyes with her and her son in the diner. I knew they belonged in my life and Penny’s.

All my brothers have fallen the same way; we just knew when we saw our women.

We do not doubt that they’re meant to be ours. That very second life changes for us.

One by one, I watched my brothers fall for their women, keeping them safe, and I never thought I would get a chance to meet the one for me.

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