Page 39 of Royal
The corner of my lip finds its way between my teeth, and I slowly incline my head in answer. If only she knew the friends I’m referring to are Royal and her buddy Benneti. And the fight I was refereeing was over her. My head spins and spins as I stare into the abyss of her green eyes.
Almost as if she feels the turmoil inside me, she inhales carefully before hesitantly drawing her hand away. “Well, you’re a good friend.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I gave them an outlet. Made sure no one got hurt.” I touch my cheek. “Or I tried anyway.”
She laughs. But then a moment later, she’s yawning.
I look first to one side, then the other, trying to be funny about it, but inwardly a little concerned, as I know something went down in her room last night, even if I’m not aware of all the particulars. “Am I boring you?”
She covers her mouth, looking for all the world like she’s mortified. “No. Not at all. Sorry. Um. I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
I gesture to the coffee in her hand. “Well, thank fuck for coffee, huh?”Hm. Beck, what did you do?
“Yeah. Definitely. Thank you.” She looks down, staring at the cup as her thumb traces the logo. Over and over and over. Drawing in a breath, she blurts, “I—” But then her face falls—like she wants to say something but isn’t sure if she should.
Oh, hell.I clear my throat, then give her a teasing, perturbed look. “Somehow, you’ve managed to get all sorts of personal shit out of me, yet again. Don’t you think it’s time you shared a little something with me? Now, what’s going on? Trouble adjusting to the sorority? Mean girls? A nightmare about Dr. Kinman, by chance? Don’t be afraid of him, by the way. He’s all bark, no bite.”
She slowly shakes her head, giving a soft laugh. “No. Some old fart who picks on a student who is tardy on the first day doesn’t really bother me. It makes me sad for him that he feels the need to get out his aggression that way. And I’m doing okay at TZE. Not that there aren’t mean girls. But that’s not it.”
When she doesn’t continue, I nudge her knee with mine. My eyes track the way hers flick down and widen. “What’s going on, Legacy?”
“I, um…” She closes her eyes briefly before opening them again and meeting mine. “You can’t tell anyone. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Or if it was anything to worry about. I—” With a frustrated shake of her head, she exhales unsteadily.
“Hey. You’re okay. Talk to me.”
She bites down hard on her lip before her eyes pin on mine and she spills. “Last night, I think someone was in my room.”
I sit forward, bracing one forearm on my thigh.Yep. Knew that.Even so, my jaw tenses. “Did you see someone?”
Her knee bounces like crazy. “No. I wasn’t going to say anything. I thought it might have been hazing. But then— No. I think it’s not. It can’t be.” Her eyes dart around the coffee shop, and I get the feeling she’s making sure she knows who is here. Ironically, sort of like I did when we sat down.
“There’s no one here that will hurt you,” I murmur, keeping my voice calm as I reach across the table to take her hand. “I’d never let them.”
She nods, a bit of a wild look in her eyes. “I was in the shower. It was around eleven or so, maybe? And when I got out, there was something written on my mirror.”
“Written? With what?”
“The steam, I guess. With a finger? It just read, ‘Hey, gorgeous.’” She presses her lips together, clearly agitated.
My brow arches, and I take a deep breath.Yep. Sounds like Beckham’s handiwork.I run my thumb over the back of her hand in slow circles in an attempt to soothe her. “And you don’t think it was one of the TZE sisters? Your big sister, maybe?”
“At first, that’s exactly what I thought. But then when I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, there was another.”
“What the fuck?” My exclamation is slow. Cautious.
“Yeah.” She lifts the coffee cup to her mouth, resting it against her lower lip before she finally takes a swallow. “I wiped the first note away under the assumption it was some silly sorority prank. And I guess I haven’t ruled that out yet. But—” She shakes her head, as if she can’t believe what she’s about to say and averts her gaze from mine.
I let go of her hand to grasp her chin with a few fingers so she’ll look at me. “Hey. You can tell me anything. Promise.”
“They used my favorite lipstick on the mirror.” The last few words she says come out a bit agitated. She winces. “I’m sorry. You didn’t ask me to have coffee to hear all my problems.” Her chest jerks as I stare into her deep-emerald eyes. “I’m ruining everything,” she whispers.
My jaw twitches in irritation. Not at her, but at the entire clusterfuck that Royal has created by bringing us into this. “You’re not ruining anything. What did the second message say?”
She draws in a deep breath. “It said, ‘Not hazing, love.’”
My brows pinch together, my brain clicking back to what she’s told me so far. “I don’t get it. How did someone know what you were thinking?”
She gasps out softly, her hand trembling. “Because I said it. Out loud.” I clear my throat.Way to go, Beckham. You’ve succeeded in scaring the absolute shit out of this girl. “What do I do? I guess it could be nothing. But what if it’s not? That is, if I’m not totally losing my mind.”
