Page 20 of Royally Embraced: RBMC

A yawn from Tori met his words instead of an agreement. He pushed open his door, moving around the front of her vehicle. He placed her key in his pocket before taking her hand in his. She didn’t hesitate to slip her fingers between his.

The swoosh of the door alerted the cashier to their arrival. The elderly woman raised her head. She looked them over with a scowl. Jeter grabbed a cart and motioned for Tori to walk with him.

“Do you need any makeup or bathroom supplies?” he asked, taking them down the first aisle.

She did a little squeal as she picked out girl shit. “I will pay you back every penny.”

He didn’t bother to agree or disagree. They went down the next, grabbing more things she’d need before they reached the aisle with pajamas. While he would prefer her to sleep naked,she would feel better wearing clothes. Until she was used to him. He grinned at his last thought. Keeping the contemplations to himself, he helped her choose a couple of different sets, and then they found a few leggings and graphic T-shirts. What they didn’t find were panties that fit her. Knowing she’d be going commando under her pants was going to keep his dick hard in the coming days.

“Holy crap. I think I went a little overboard.” Tori stopped the cart with one hand on the side. The other she had on her mouth. Her eyes were wide as they jumped from the stuff in the basket to him.

“Calm down, Tori. You and I both know this is nothing in the drop of shit you need. Let’s get it bagged up and get the hell out of here. I swear, that lady up front is eyeing us like we’re gonna steal a bag of chips or something.” He looked over Tori’s shoulder, making eye contact with the old woman.

“Why would we steal anything?” She whipped her head around, gasping at something she saw.

“No clue, babe. Some people are just assholes.”

He reached for Tori’s hand, wanting her to move up near him as they walked to the registers. Her warm breath feathered over his neck as she leaned into him. “If she only knew how dumb she looked.”

“I’m sure it’s because she ain’t had a good dicking in probably forever. That would make anyone sour,” he said.

“Hmm,” she said.

Jeter wanted to ask Tori when the last time she’d gotten laid and when the last time she’d come so hard she couldn’t remember her own name but held his tongue. Anger flared at thoughts of her with another man, or men.

“If you don’t stop scowling, she’s liable to think you haven’t gotten a good dicking,” Tori joked, laughing when he mock growled at her.

Her words and laughter made him smile by the time they reached the checkout. The cashier didn’t look happy to see all the items they placed up on her counter.

“Do you have a loyalty rewards account with us?” she asked, while scanning the first item.

“No,” Jeter barked. They would not leave a digital trail for anyone to follow.

The woman eyed him and Tori but continued to scan and place items into bags without another word. Jeter watched her, making sure she didn’t double charge them. As she got to the clothing, her eyebrows rose.

“Her suitcase got lost. We’re buying things to get her through until the airline finds it. Hopefully, it’ll get here tomorrow, but just in case—” He trailed off, letting her fill in the blanks.

The moment he said Tori lost her luggage, sympathy replaced the stern look. “Oh, no. You poor thing. It’s always us women who get the shaft. If you need anything else that we didn’t have, there’s a Walmart a few miles down the road.”

Jeter almost rolled his eyes. Instead, he waited for her to finish as Tori nodded and did a few murmured agreements. As the total came up, he slid his wallet out and gave her enough cash to cover the cost. Again, her brows rose like she’d expected him to use a credit card.

After she raised the hundreds to the light, marked it with her marker, she deemed they were legit. Jeter grabbed their bags and pushed the cart back into the line he’d grabbed it from earlier. Tori stayed by his side, waving at the cashier as they left.

“She dislikes men,” Tori said.

He settled her stuff in the back next to his suitcase, opened up the case he’d gotten her, and placed her bags inside it to make it easier to take inside the clubhouse once they got there.

“Yeah, she certainly seemed to have disdain toward me, but she didn’t appear to care for you either at first. I think she’s mad at the world in general.”

Tori settled into her seat, buckled in, and waited for him to do the same.

Chapter Eleven

Vittoria wasn’t sure what she’d expected when Jeter said he had a safe place for them to go to, but a huge warehouse in downtown Chicago wasn’t it.

They pulled around to the back through a gated parking lot operated by a hulking guy wearing a leather jacket and a scary attitude. Jeter gave his name, and they’d waited a few minutes before the gate opened. She almost wished they’d turned them away. As Jeter drove them closer to where a row of bikes and vehicles sat, she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.

“Come on, farfallina. I’ll answer your questions when we get to our room.”

---