Page 38 of Royal

The kids look terrified.

“They’re going to hurt those kids,” I tell Royal, concerned.

He curses, starts the truck, and we take off. The woman flips us off. She tries to get back inside the car, and the window begins to roll up, causing her head to be stuck outside the vehicle.

“She is a lunatic,” I say because this behavior is abnormal.

Penny laughs at that, and we all join in, but the moment is interrupted by Donovan repeating the very cuss word that Royal just said. “Oh shit.”

I scream in shock, Penny gasps, and Royal laughs.

Oh my God, this kid.

Chapter 9

Naomi

Royal pulls to a stop in front of the clubhouse instead of driving past as usual to get to his house. The gate slams shut behind us, a prospect is handling it.

The door to the main entrance to the clubhouse opens, and out walks the one I recognize as Terror since his mom is the one that owns the only restaurant in town.

Royal opens the back door, letting Penny out, who already unbuckled herself the moment we stopped.

“Uncle Terror, you are not going to believe what happened,” she says excitedly, and I laugh because it’s cute that she wants to tell him what happened today at school.

Donovan is getting fed up with being left in his car seat in the back, so I step out of the truck, knowing it’s going to piss off Royal.

I let Donovan out of his seat, catching Royal’s glare from where he is talking to Terror while Penny unloads everything that happened to her. You can barely understand her, she is talking so fast.

“Come on, everyone else is inside,” Terror tells us. He looks at me, smirking. “I knew you guys would hit it off. Meghan is thrilled.”

I’m guessing she is here, and it does make me feel better because I will know someone in the clubhouse. We were never best friends but we were friendly whenever I went to the diner and we always talked when she was my waitress.

Donovan tries to practically jump out of my arms when Royal walks over to me to stand by my side as we go inside. I’m thankful and terrified at the same time.

These men are intimidating, and from how Royal talks about them, they are good men even if they have a dark side.

Entering the clubhouse, I’m not sure what to expect. I expected a huge bar and random naked women lying around like in Sons of Anarchy.

Yeah, it’s not like that at all.

At the back of the warehouse-slash-clubhouse is a bar area with flat screens lining the walls above the shelves of liquor, and stools line the bar so people can sit, drink, and watch TV.

At the left corner of the room, blocked off, is a vast play area for the kids, and I see the moment Donovan sees the little ride-on motorcycles.

In the center of the room are couches, sectionals, and a TV that rivals a theater screen. The women are sitting there, relaxing, and they turn to look at me when we walk into their view.

Okay, this is it.

Meghan grins. “This is the girl I set Royal up with. I should become a professional matchmaker,” she points out, and I laugh at that because Royal told me that Meghan planned to get us to meet.

I have to thank her for that.

“I have been meaning to thank you for that.” I wink and smile at the other girls as I make my way over to them. Royal is fighting to keep hold of Donovan, who he had just set on the ground and is now sprinting to the toy area.

The men laugh when Donovan hops on the motorcycle, scooting around the room. “Hi, everyone. I know Meghan, but I wanted to introduce myself. Royal talks about all of you and his brothers all of the time. I’m Naomi.”

The first lady, who looks a few years older than me, pats the seat next to her. “I’m River! I’m with that big lug over there, who is the club president. Dante is my dad.”

---