Page 49 of Injustice and Absolution

“Tell me again what he said.” Drew rolls his eyes as he relaxes his stance against the store’s front counter.

I’ve just asked him, for the eightieth time, when he’ll be available to come over to the house to meet Royce.

My shoulders slouch, and I groan at the possibility of a confrontation between the two of them. But it’s been two weeks since Royce requested—to put it mildly—an introduction with him. And one doesn’t ignore the desires of The Judge.

Not even those of us who have stupidly slept with him.

I tend to play the role of peacekeeper between anyone who may not care for one another, no matter how much anxiety it causes me. I hate confrontation even more.

“He said he wants to meet you,” I answer.

I kind of understand where Royce is coming from. Drew is an outsider, and the RBMC doesn’t trust outsiders. There is too much at stake, and if they come sniffing around the clubhouse, more than just their lives would be in danger.

But I also find Royce’s timing to be a littleconvenient.

I’m sure I’m reading into things, but I’m not convinced Royce doesn’t knowexactlywhat happened in my room the night before he demanded this meeting.

I did get a little louder than I wanted to.

I want to say that sex with Drew was better than being with Royce, but I can’t.

It was … different. Not worse, but not better.

But there were a bazillion people in the house at the time. There’s no way I was louder than the rowdy crowd surrounding the dinner table that night.

Was he there, outside my door, listening to us? I wouldn’t put it past his intrusive nature to do so, but I can’t picture him standing in the darkened hallway with his ear pressed to the door.

Or is it the strange sixth sense he’s always had where I’m concerned? This isn’t the first time he’s known things that have occurred without being told.

Like the time Maggie dragged me along when she stole Royce’s truck to go joyriding. After that night, Royce never let his keys out of his sight, keeping them in his room overnight.

Regardless, I don’t like thinking that he was privy to my first time with Drew. There were so many emotions shared between the two of us that evening. None of which Royce should have had access to.

It was sweet and tender. Passionate and raw.

And it felt ... right.

Drew was domineering but patient. The way he culled my wants and desires from me... Dirty acts I’ve longed to experience in the past but never dreamed I’d be able to voice aloud. My lust increased with every demand he made of me.

After being with Royce—and thinking I felt the same thing with him before it all went to shit—I worried that nothing else would make me feel like I was where I was supposed to be.

All of my worries about Drew leaving me as soon as he got what he wanted went out the window when he showed up at the store with a bouquet of flowers the next day.

I was so stunned and enamored with him that Sienna’s seething gaze barely affected me like it once would have.

When I got home that evening, however, my good mood quickly shifted to shame and worry when I was met at the door by an incensed Royce.

A storm raged in his eyes, more deadly than I’ve seen in them before, and he practically snarled at the flowers in my hand. He led me into his office where Maggie was already waiting, before laying into us both.

“I’m pretty sure you told me he said, ‘I need to meetthat boyif you expect me toallowyou to keep seeing him.’ ”

I don’t confirm or deny the direct quote from Royce that I never anticipated Drew remembering word-for-word. Instead, I finish hanging the last shirt on the rack in front of me without meeting his stare.

That night, Roycealsosaid Maggie and I aren’t allowed to throw any parties when he’s not home anymore, and no more boys in our rooms. Whichshockinglyprompted yet another argument between him and Maggie.

I kept my mouth shut and my eyes down, not allowing Royce to read me like he always does. If I did, I was sure he would have seen everything I knew he already had mysterious knowledge of written all over it.

“Why would an independent twenty-year-old such as yourself need approval from someone who isn’t even their father?”

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