Page 46 of No Second Chances

“Parker, my brother would kill someone for you. He’d work a twenty-four-hour shift for you. He would do literally anything in the world that you asked him to. Of course he would do a pregnancy announcement with you because you’re crazy.” I push my plate across the table, silently offering her one of my precious tacos, and wait for her to eat it. “I know you’re scared. I know this isn’t something you planned. Any of it. Less than a year ago, you wanted to move out of Birch because you felt like there was nothing here for you. But there is.”

Parker’s eyes fill with tears, which is unfortunate since she is also in the process of eating a taco. Which leads to her starting to choke. On my taco.

She slides out of the booth, waving her hands toward her face, and I rush to assist, but I don’t make it before a set of masculine arms picks her up from behind and starts to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her.

Everything is fine until I see his face. The malicious glint in his eyes points directly at me while he performs an act of civil duty, at least to anyone else. But I know exactly what Royal is doing in Lucy’s. He is there to torture me. To prove that he can touch any part of my life. Just like he did with Mallory when I tried to leave him the first time. When he had her threaten Parker, just enough for me to find out and to stay.

“Drop her.”

My order happens to coincide with Parker’s gasp for air that signals the blockage has cleared. Otherwise, I’m not sure if Royal would have put her down or taken his hands off her. As it is, I find it hard to believe that he’ll just step away without making it a point to prove to me that he is doing it because he wants to. Until I see the way he glares at me.

“Oh, thank you.” Parker hasn’t turned around yet, and she hasn’t looked up at my face to see why I’m suddenly so frigid.

“No problem at all, Mrs. Hayes.” Royal’s fake cordiality has Parker standing completely straight, her face white as a sheet. “I’m happy to help,” Royal goes on like he hasn’t just crossed a line.

A line that we all know he’s crossed.

Parker steps toward me, her hands unconsciously going to her stomach to protect the unborn life there. And for a second, I’m scared for her. Not for myself. Not for the fact that we are standing in the middle of a busy restaurant and Royal is still making moves to be a jackass. No. I’m scared that he is going to do something to my friend that will cost her the baby.

Reacting before I can think it through, I step around her, placing myself directly in his path. He is so close I can smell the designer cologne that he insists on spraying under his shirt so that it isn’t too overpowering while he is in court. And I can see the way his eyes rake over my body, trying to understand why I would stand between him and Parker. But the conclusion he comes to is wrong. So wrong.

“Jealousy, Kennedy?” His lip cocks slightly to the side while he processes his inaccurate belief. “You continue to surprise me.” Royal looks over my shoulder to Parker, his eyes turning critical. “You know I don’t prefer brunettes.”

“You do prefer blondes though, don’t you?” Parker bites out, standing immediately behind me but not at my side. “Isn’t that what Mallory’s hair looks like?”

Royal ignores her completely to turn his attention back to me. “A way to pass the time.” He lowers his voice. “Nothing more. A plaything to indulge in until you come home where you belong.”

“I don’t belong to you, Royal.” In my head, the words come out strong and unbroken. Not shaken by his presence or the pain he caused me. In reality, the terror and torture he inflicted on me doesn’t just vanish overnight. And I lied to the police about what happened, so there is nothing I can do about everything he does now. I can’t hide the tremor in my lip or the way I can’t quite meet his eyes. What I can do is stick up for my friend, and I always will.

“Go away, Royal.” Parker’s presence at my back gives me strength that I didn’t know I had. Either that, or I’m wrong about the pain he brought down on me never getting better. “I don’t want you here, and if you come near me again, I’ll report it as harassment.”

“Harassment? Really, Kennedy?” His eyes light up like I’ve just given him a Christmas present. “After all the time we spent together and the life we were supposed to build together, I’d hardly call what I’m doing here harassment. Especially since you never gave me back my ring.”

The ring.

My body heats immediately, and I drop to my knees in an uncontrollable reaction to the only memory I managed to forget.

“You can’t run from me, Kennedy,” Royal’s voice called out from the living room of his house, and I tried to get to the bathroom to lock the door before he reached me.

I closed the bathroom door just as he made it into the bedroom, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I tried to turn the lock, but it was gone. He’d changed the doorknob when I wasn’t home, and now I had nowhere to hide.

I backed up slowly, trying to put natural distance between myself and the door, when he opened it with a smile on his face.

That smile. The one that told me he’d had a bad day at work and he was about to take it out on me.

“I’m so glad you came home, Kennedy. After Parker’s incident with Mallory, I knew it would only be a matter of time before you saw the error of your ways.”

“Ro-Royal,” I stuttered. “I wasn’t leaving you.” The lie hung between us, but it was enough to give him a moment of doubt. A moment for me to come up with something better.

“Well, tell me, Kennedy. What was it?” His voice was coated with a hint of what would happen if I didn’t do a good job. If I didn’t make him happy, and I started to tremble uncontrollably.

When I couldn’t even open my mouth because I was shaking so badly, Royal stepped into the bathroom and concern marred his perfect face, mocking me. “Kennedy, are you ill?”

“N-no.” But my stomach churned, making me a liar… again. I barely turned around in time to make it to the toilet before I threw up.

“Oh, Kennedy.” In an instant, all of the rage and terror was gone. In its place was the care and love that Royal used to lure me into a relationship in the first place.

He put his hand on my back, sweeping my hair up and away from the toilet, almost like he cared about me.

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