Page 104 of Just Between Us

Sylvie choked on her lemonade, and Whip’s hand landed with a thump on her back.

“I’m sorry. What?” JP’s frown deepened, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Abel’s eyes went wide, and MJ laughed out loud. “Ha! Pay up, Abel. I told you!”

Abel had dug several bills out of his pocket and begrudgingly paid his littlest sister.

The Kings all began speaking, their voices folding over one another like origami.

“Hold up,” Royal said. “Let me be clear—I am a content creator on Pulse. It’s an app for?—”

“We know what Pulse is,” Whip interrupted.

“I kind of stumbled into it, but the truth is, I enjoy it, and I’m good at it. I’m not ashamed. I don’t get naked, and I help people communicate clearly to get what they want from their partners.”

Whip’s face twisted. “Well, that sounds boring.”

“It’s not, I promise you.” The words slipped out of my mouth, and I immediately clamped it shut. A hot, embarrassed flush crept up my face and neck as my eyes sank to the floor.

MJ’s shoulder bumped into mine as she whispered, “You naughty little minx.”

JP stepped forward. “Have you set up an LLC? Are your business assets separate from your personal ones?”

Royal nodded. “All taken care of.”

I chuckled to myself thinking about how JP immediately went into business mode. The two stepped together as JP continued probing to make sure Royal was monetizing the page appropriately.

Abel looked around the room. “Any other family secrets we need to know about? Might as well get it out now.”

His siblings all looked at one another but no one spoke a word. “Fantastic.” Abel drained his lemonade and set the glass down with a sharp snap. He looked at Whip. “I’m going to need something stronger than this.”

Whip smiled a devious grin. “The Grudge?”

“Let’s go.” Abel placed his glass in the sink and headed toward the door. He paused in front of me. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad he’s got someone taking care of him.”

My smile grew. “We take care of each other.”

Abel’s head bobbed in a knowing nod. “Good luck, and Godspeed.”

I smiled at the genuine love Royal shared with his siblings—how they were actually growing closer. They had been so broken for so long, but it seemed as though the cracks were finally healing.

THIRTY-THREE

ROYAL

Three weeksafter my father’s arrest, life outside of Outtatowner moved on. Our world, however, had been completely upended. My only constant was that Veda was living with me, and life with her was fucking good. We worked hard to not let my family’s drama impact the cozy bubble inside our cliffside cottage.

In true Russell King fashion, he denied any wrongdoing and lawyered up immediately.

He and his impressive legal team were eager to fight, but we were already prepared for war.

Despite the recorded confession, Dad was doing everything in his power to save face. We denied every phone call that he attempted from jail, and the whispers in town only intensified. The empire that was King Equities, which my father had built on a foundation of lies and corruption, was rapidly crumbling.

The brunt of the fallout would land squarely on JP’s shoulders, and I felt sorry for him.

My brother’s quick steps clacked on the sidewalk as he approached where I stood at the door to the tattoo shop. He was dressed in a suit, without a hair out of place.

You’d never know he was carrying the stress of managing a multimillion-dollar company in the face of a scandal the likes of which the country had never seen.

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