Page 34 of Royal

“Oh, you forgot this.” I hand Penny her lunchbox over in the back seat, and she takes it from me, setting it on the seat next to her.

Royal reaches over to rest his hand on my thigh. I intertwine my fingers through his.

Penny’s school is ten minutes from his house, and it’s all countryside until we reach the town. This place is beautiful and so peaceful. I love that his closest friends are just down the road. You can see them pulling out of their driveways around the same time, taking their kids to school.

I’m nervous about meeting the girls and the guys because we have moved lightning fast with our relationship, but from what he has told me, his MC brothers have all done something similar with their girlfriends.

Penny stops talking once she gets close to the school. It doesn’t escape my notice or Royal’s. His eyes are drawn to the rearview mirror, and I know he’s watching her.

I wish she didn’t have to go to school today, but the sad part of life is no matter what you do or where you go, someone will always make your life miserable. If they notice you are down, they want to push you down even more.

I know the feeling. I dealt with bullies my whole life in school because I didn’t have certain clothes that fit in with the others. You could tell I was poor, and they tried to ruin my life because of it.

I had my brother, and that is what mattered. He made sure to stand by me at the playground, and then the bullying would stop. He was bigger than all the other kids.

I get out of the truck, and Royal glares when he notices I didn’t wait for him. Penny looks across the parking lot to where a little girl stands with her parents, giving Penny a mean grin.

I turn her away from them, fixing her little cardigan. “Remember, whatever she says means nothing to you. Someone is always going to be jealous of you, sweet girl. But never let someone touch you or hurt you. You fight.”

She gives me a tight squeeze. Royal takes his turn, hugging her. Another little girl the same age as her approaches us. “This is Annie, she is Knight and Daniella’s little girl,” Penny pipes in, smiling and feeling better now that the little girl is with her. “And my best friend.”

Together, they walk inside the school. The bully is long gone, but I’m looking and watching.

I’m not watching the little girl—she is the product of her raising. I’m looking at who I’m assuming is her mother, and she gives me a nasty look.

God, catty women never seem to grow up, do they?

I sigh, and Royal opens the door for me to get back in. We drive off, giving another parent our spot because we are holding the line.

“I don’t like them,” I say, not taking my eyes off the catty woman who glares at us as we drive past. “I don’t understand why girls act like this. I think she gets it from her mother.”

Royal growls, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “Her father is asking for an ass-whooping himself.”

I burst out laughing. “We are menaces. We’re supposed to preach violence is not the answer to our kids.”

He gives me a look like, are you kidding? “But sometimes it is the answer.”

I look back at Donovan, who has found one of Penny’s Barbie dolls. He has taken the head off and is sitting it on the motorcycle seat.

I suck in my lips. “I think we don’t need to worry about Donovan and bullying.” Royal turns around to look at him while we are at a red light. He laughs. “We might have a little biker on our hands.”

Donovan picks up the head and throws it out of the cracked-open window. “Donovan Shane!” I yell at him for throwing out Penny’s toy, but he pretends he doesn’t hear me, just playing with the doll's bottom half.

“Should I be worried that he’s going to be a serial killer?” I ask Royal.

He thinks it’s hilarious. “Like I said, he will be the perfect MC kid.”

Hours Later

I know one thing for sure: Royal and Donovan are over my shopping, but I’m having too much fun.

Royal cheated and snuck his card in when I was busy loading things up on the counter, which led to him paying, and that pissed me off.

“Why can’t you just let me pay?” I ask him and rub my forehead, frustrated. We sit down at the food court in the mall.

He chuckles. “Darlin’, you better be glad you snuck past me those few times. Letting you pay for any shit is not going to happen if I can help it.” He winks, leaning over to kiss my cheek. I sigh and give in for the moment. I can order things online, and he can’t do anything about that.

I love that he still wants to care for and do things for me, even though I have the money now to do that all for myself.

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