Page 34 of Love's Free Will

My breath caught. “Royal—” we both knew that wasn’t a good idea. If people spotted him picking me up from Atlanta Hartsfield, the rumor mill would start all over again.

“I need you.” He whispered just loud enough for me to hear him over the music. I closed my eyes, swallowing hard. He was doing something to me, and he knew it.

I shook my head. “Why are you doing this?”

His smirk deepened. “You know why.” I hated him. But I wanted him. “Send me your flight details,” he murmured. “I’ll see you tomorrow mama.”

Then, before I could respond, he hung up. I stared at my phone, heart racing, butterflies in my stomach before I fell back onto the bed, exhaling.

This was bad.

He was trouble. And if I was being honest with myself, I wanted every damn bit of it.

10

ROYAL

Before heading to the studio, I pulled up to my Mama’s house, the neighborhood was quiet, streetlights flickering anticipating the sun to finally fall so they could come on. I walked up to the door, unlocking it with my key before stepping inside.

Immediately, the smell of baked chicken and rice casserole hit me, and I smirked. It was one of our favorite meals growing up—a struggle meal, but she never made it feel like a struggle. I walked into the kitchen, finding Queenie perched on a stool, scrolling her phone with a glass of wine in her other hand.

“Smells good in here,” I said, dropping my keys on the counter.

She looked up, smiling. “Boy, I been cooking for you since you was in Pampers. When it ain’t smelled good in here?” I chuckled, walking over to kiss her cheek. She patted my face before pointing at the fridge. “There’s sweet tea in there, if you want some.”

I grabbed a glass, pouring myself some before sitting across from her. “Where’s Princess?” I asked.

“With her lil’ fast-ass friends,” she sighed. “Said she’d be back before curfew, but you know how she is.”

I smirked. “She grown now, Ma.”

“She’s eighteen,” she corrected. “Ain’t a damn thing grown about that.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. She said the same thing about King and me, but she couldn’t stop us from running the streets, doing shit we had no business doing and none of us was stopping Princess. True to her name, she basically ran us; getting away with a lot of bullshit neither King nor I could get away with.

My mama eyed me over her wine glass. “Where your brother at?”

“Should be meeting me here,” I told her, taking a sip of my tea.

She nodded, setting her phone down. Peering into my eyes, like she was searching for something. “And what about you?”

I frowned. “What about me?”

She smirked, studying me. “You keep looking at me like you got something on your mind. Spit it out, Royal.”

I sighed, leaning back against the chair, rubbing my jaw. I felt stupid as fuck for having a schoolboy crush, but I had to talk to somebody about it and who better than the woman that made me. “I like her,” I admitted.

Queenie’s brows lifted slightly, but she didn’t look surprised. “Who? Averi?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, not surprised she knew exactly who I was talking about, exhaling through my nose.

Queenie had picked up on the vibes early on when she came by the studio and had brought up Averi damn near every time we talked, asking me when I was going to invite her to our family dinner. I wasn’t in a rush to do it, so I kept putting her off.

She leaned forward, elbows on the counter, eyes sharp like she was analyzing me. “So, what’s the problem?” she asked.

“The problem is, we had sex.” I started, shaking my head watching for a reaction but none appeared on Queenie’s face,“And since then, she been running from me. She went to Toronto to visit her friend, one of the other chicks on that show with her.”

“The one got married to that basketball player or the other one that be singing on her Tik Toks all the time?”

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