Page 53 of Royally Rivalled

“I’m going to get some food,” I said.

Breakfast options at the buffet were miserable, so I ordered a Belgian waffle and returned with a cup of coffee.

“No food?” Parker asked.

“I ordered a waffle—a la carte. I couldn’t eat anything up there.” I pulled a face. “Sorry. As you would like to remind me, I am a princess.”

He smiled slightly and shook his head. “I’ll grant you that the bacon was inedible, and the eggs were a bit soggy. I’m going to go start rounding students up.”

“I can?—”

“No, sit. Eat breakfast. Enjoy the waffle. I’ve got this.”

He left, shouting, “Don’t get stuck in a lift!”

“I will be fine in the lift!”

Parker waved me off, giving me a chuckle. A few students trickled in over the next ten minutes, looking bright-eyed or hungover. There was no in-between. Left alone, I opened my laptop to scroll the news until my waffle arrived, slathered in butter with proper maple syrup on the side. I dug in as Parker returned.

“They’re on the move. Tomorrow will be worse. The night at the club is… tomorrow will be a rude awakening.”

“Are you going toda club?” I joked.

“What do you think, Astrid?”

“Unlikely.”

“No, I intend to come back here and read.”

A pang of sadness hit. Part of me would have liked to go to the club even if it were a lousy disappointment, but he was right. We were the grownups. We had to behave.

“You wanted to go, Astrid?”

I shrugged.

“Did you evergetto go to clubs?”

“No, Parker. And don’t?—”

“I’m not judging you. Stop. Please don’t assume I think ill of you. In fact, after last night, I’d be the world’s greatest knob to criticise you. Well, either that or a fabulous liar. I’m not good enough at either for those designations. Do you want to go to the club?”

“Yes,” I winced. “But not alone. I cannot very well hang out with them, right? We’re the grownups.”

He let out a long groan.

“I may not stay out all that long and do not intend to get hung over, but I will attemptda clubfor you.”

I beamed, unable to hold back my excitement. “Thank you! Oh, we’ll have fun! I promise!”

thirty-three

PARKER

Goingto a sad little nightclub in my late twenties with a bunch of teenagers was a horrendous way to spend an evening. However, Astrid wanted to go, and I’d be an idiot to deny myself a natural opportunity to fall back in bed with her. If I did not, I risked never seeing her again.

I feared Astrid attaching herself to me like a barnacle, but she kept things normal. I preferred it that way. I didn’toweher anything, even if I was convinced I’d probably blown her mind a little. I may have been a dark horse in the sack, but I didn’t show up to disappoint. It was easy to try hard for Astrid. She made it fun even if it was clear this was all it was—hot, convenient sex.

“It’s… not what I expected,” Astrid spoke loudly into my ear as we hung by the bar.

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