Page 50 of Royal

“So, you’re staying?” I ask him, and he laughs.

“Like I ever had a choice?”

“Nope. I will let you get settled. This is your new home, and you will use it as such.” I give him the stink eye. “And I know it must have been hard living with so many people at once.”

He winces at that. “Isn’t that the truth? I’ve seen more dicks in my life than I ever would want to.”

“Eww.”

I take Donovan with me up the stairs, looking back at Shane one last time to find him staring at his new place.

He has never had a place of his own. He left that shitty trailer we lived in our whole lives and then went straight into the Marines.

“Donovan, be a good boy to Uncle Shane, okay? Don’t drive him crazy until he gets used to you,” I joke with him, and he giggles at me, not knowing what I am saying.

I check my phone and see I have another text message from Selene. This time, it is a picture of Royal and Penny when he picked her up from school.

I hate that bitch.

I ignore it. I have not replied to her this whole time, and I won’t satisfy her. I’m not sure who she is screwing because I’ve changed my number twice already, but I know she is finding things out somehow.

Around thirty minutes later, Royal pulls into the driveway. Penny runs to the door and I throw it open. “How was school today?” I ask, hugging her.

She smiles at me. “It was good! I heard I have a new uncle.” I look at Royal over her shoulder. It makes me happy that he included Shane.

“Come on in.” I get out of the way of the doorframe, and she runs in and straight to Donovan to hug him.

She loves him so much. They’ve become so close over the last month. I have seen her get mad at him a few times because he steals her Barbies and uses them to perform tricks with his toy motorcycles, and they usually end up beheaded.

The door to the basement opens, and Shane walks out. Penny looks up at him. “You’re my uncle Shane?” she asks him, and he looks at me in shock. I hide my grin, not wanting to embarrass her.

He recovers. “I sure am, little lady.”

She beams happily. “I have a lot of uncles. They give me toys when Daddy doesn’t.”

Royal’s mouth opens in shock that she said that, but it's true. I’ve witnessed it firsthand. A new Barbie mermaid toy came out, and when Royal was busy and couldn’t get it that day, she borrowed my phone, and an hour later, Gage was at my door with the toy.

“Well, I got you covered if you need anything.” He winks at her, and she giggles. It’s hard not to think about how different my life would have been if I had people behind me as she does.

“Ready to eat?” Royal asks everyone. The kids run straight to the kitchen. You know it’s serious because Donovan throws down his toys.

In the kitchen, the kids are already sitting at the small table. We have a dining room table, but it’s enormous, and I prefer to sit close to the kids and have a conversation.

Royal opens the bag of food and places everyone’s food in front of them. Shane’s happens to be a huge steak—bigger than my head, huge.

“I can pay you back,” Shane says, and I glare at him before he can even finish speaking.

Royal laughs. “Try getting out of that one.” He sits beside me, kissing my cheek, and my glare disappears. I'm back to smiling.

The kids ignore us and are too busy eating their food. It’s the only time Donovan sits still and Penny isn’t talking about the new dolls coming out.

Mr. And Mrs. Turner took their kids out of school temporarily, and that was the end of Penny’s bullying. I’m worried about how they would act once the Turners’ kids came back.

The Turner kids are on my mind, knowing their lives are not the best. I can feel it, and part of me knows that’s why they lashed out at the other kids at school. It doesn’t make it right, but I understand.

Royal

It’s close to bedtime and Penny has taken Naomi upstairs to help plan her outfits for the week. I will never tire of seeing how much my girl loves my woman and how my woman loves my girl.

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