Page 57 of Royal
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“Wow, what is this place?”Echo leans forward and peers out the windshield at the vintage-looking restaurant we’ve parked outside. I’m a little surprised she’s never been here before if she used to live in the area. But it’s also not in the best part of town, so it’s entirely possible her parents never thought it suitable. If that’s the case, they were missing out on some of the best food in town.
“Echo, this is Stella’s. It’s our favorite all-night diner.” Beckham grins, giving her this goofy wild-eyed look.
I chuckle. “I hope you like greasy burgers and fries.”
Her face lights up. “I do. Let’s do it.”
Inside, we make a beeline for our favorite booth and let her pick which side she’d like to sit on. Once she’s seated, Beckham glances at me. “I’m sitting here.” He slides in across from Echo. “Well, Emory? Which side’s it going to be? With me or with the beautiful girl?”
A faint blush tints Echo’s cheeks at his compliment, but I see what he’s doing and smirk, shaking my head. I eye both of them, pretending to mull it over in my head. “I think I know the right answer but feel free to tell me if I fuck it up.” I scrape my teeth over my lower lip before gesturing that Beckham should move over.
He holds a hand to his chest in faux shock. “Interesting choice.” Beckham loves to fucking tease me, but it doesn’t happen often in public.
I sit down next to him, shooting Echo a wink. “I can explain. One, if I sit here, I can talk to Echo without craning my neck. And two, we won’t have any jealous third-wheel feelings like you seem to think you’re going to have if we aren’t fair about sharing our girl.”
Echo’s cheeks flush a darker pink than they already were, but she laughs. “You two are too much. I love it.”
Keeping things simple, we order three cheeseburgers and three shakes—one vanilla, one strawberry, and one chocolate. With that accomplished, we settle in to wait for our food.
Assuming she’s not going to jump into what happened earlier this evening, I let the other question that’s been on my mind roll off my tongue.“So.How come you left me with no partner in class today?” I cock my head to the side, my eyes locking on hers.
She wrinkles her nose. “Sorry.” Releasing a deep sigh, she dampens her lip before continuing. “I hadn’t intended to—and am nervous to speak to Dr. Kinman about it—but my sister needed me at home for longer than she thought. She had an appointment in the morning and needed me to watch my nephew. So I figured why not head there the night before and sleep over since I’d have to get there early.”
“That’s partly why you went, anyway.”
Her eyes slowly move from me to “Benneti” and back. Is she going to be upset when she realizes I told him about her intruder and that she was too nervous to stay in her room? It doesn’t make sense to lie to her. And if she knows I told him, does that make things easier? Or does it strain our fragile friendship? The irony is that I couldn’t have told him a damn thing that he didn’t already know because it’shimwho was in her room in the first place. But that’s beside the point. And definitely not anything she needs to know right now.
Under the table, I nudge her foot and give her a quick nod. Her eyes widen, and she chews on her lip for a second. Her eyes pin on him. “You guys are really tight, huh? I guess I should have known you’d talk about it.”
The interruption of the waitress bringing our food is a relief because it gives me a few seconds to think about what I need to say. She carefully sets the milkshakes in the middle of the table, then slides our plates to us. “Your napkins are in the container, there, ketchup and mustard are right next to it, and here are some straws for you. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Beckham graces her with one of his winning smiles that seems to mesmerize women of all ages, including this middle-aged one who waits on us all the time. “We’re good, JoAnna. Thank you so much.”
Once she’s departed, I draw in a breath, eyeing Echo, who has already sampled one of the fries. She chews thoughtfully, her gaze steady as she observes the two of us from across the table.
“To answer the question you didn’t quite ask, Benneti knows about you thinking someone was in your room. We can discuss that if you want. But I want to know what happened today to keep you long enough to miss all your classes.” Especially since it’d thrown our friend into a tailspin for the entire damn day, and then resulted in her having the sad eyes I’d seen in the photos. I reach for the strawberry milkshake and continue to watch her as I take a long pull of the fruity sweet concoction.
Her next exhale comes out rough, but her eyes connect with mine. She drags the chocolate milkshake toward her, taking a careful sip. Swallowing, she sets the drink aside again. “Like I said, my sister was supposed to have a quick appointment in the morning, but then my nephew wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t take him to daycare. She went into school, and apparently it was this whole mess with them trying to find her a sub for her classes, and not being able to. She finally got another teacher to cover the last class of the day so she could come home. By then my classes were all over, so I just hung out with them the rest of the afternoon.”
That was a lot of info, but I don’t know what’s important and what isn’t. “How’s your nephew feeling now?”
She smiles, shaking her head with a soft chuckle. “Mostly better. I think it must be a cold. He was a little whiny all day, so instead of being in art with you, we were camped out on the couch watchingPeppa Pig.”
My lips twist, and I raise a brow. “I’ll share the assignment with you so you can be caught up by the time you show up on Friday.”
As I was relaying that, she’d been taking a bite of her cheeseburger. She stops with her mouth to the burger, her eyes widening comically. Finishing the bite, she chews quickly, then grins. “Really? That’d be great. I looked on Bulletin Board, but there was nothing listed for the class. I guess since it’s an art class he doesn’t put up assignments? But seriously, I’d be grateful because the last thing I want to do is speak to that man again if I can help it. We got off on the wrong foot as it is, so asking him for help isn’t high on my list of fun things to do.”
“I’ll text you all the info later. You can catch up easily enough.”
“I appreciate it.” She takes another bite of her burger and glances out the window. “So… um.” Shoving a french fry in her mouth, she turns to face us again. The way she’s studying us has me a little on edge.
As she finishes chewing, I steal a peek at Beckham from the corner of my eye and find he’s already looking my way. His expression reads something likeWhat the hell is going on? I didn’t do it.I almost laugh but keep my amusement with him to myself and refocus on her. There’s definitely something major on her mind. Is she about to spill details about what happened with Royal earlier?
“I got this weird note, and I wanted to know what you thought of it.”
“What kind of note?” My brows draw together. This is unexpected. Odd.
