Page 72 of Royal
“Both. Sort of.” He exhales heavily, shaking his head slowly. “It was in the back of my head that drawing her in and befriending her, then fucking her—it would’ve been the ultimate dagger to her heart when she found out who I was. I thought it fell in line with what Royal was hoping to achieve when he asked us to help. But…”
“Then you got to know her.” My brows tug together. “So, how’d it end up happening exactly like you planned if you weren’t so sure about going through with it? Because that’s what you mean, right?”
“Yeah.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tube of lip balm and applies it. He has great fucking lips. My eyes lock on them for several seconds while I wait for him to continue. “So, I fucking laid into Davis for the way he was talking to her.”
I give him ayikessmile. “I can imagine. Because when I followed them, he was being a complete dick. Not listening to her. He was mad—afraid she was fucking things up for them?” I shrug. “Something about secrets that they were keeping.”
Wilder’s brow furrows hard. “She didn’t say anything about that. But fuck, she was all upset. It was that I’m-so-angry-I-can’t-stop-the-tears reaction all over again. I took her downstairs, and we ducked into the bathroom down there because she was losing it.”
I nod, considering what he’s saying. “So, how’d you go from wanting to make sure she’s okay to sex against the door?”
His gaze cuts to mine. “It’s not like I went in there with the intention to fuck her. Like I said, the thought of fucking her in the name of helping Royal had been in my head from the beginning. But last night? It was a natural progression. I was talking to her, we were close. And then we were kissing and tearing at each other’s clothes.”
“Fuck. So, a heat-of-the-moment thing.”
“Yeah.” He exhales steadily. “Trust me, I wasn’t thinking about Royal’s vendetta when I was deep inside her pussy making her moan. And definitely not when you showed up on the other side of the door. It was all about her… me… and you.”
I jump down off the wall and turn toward him, putting my hand on his broad back. A muscle in his cheek twitches, but to my surprise, he doesn’t shrug me off this time. I edge closer, our faces within inches. “Tell me what you were thinking.”
He eyes me before looking off into the woods. “I wish I had opened the door and let you in, shared her with you. She obviously would have been into it. As it was, you were the catalyst for both of our orgasms.” He draws in a deep breath, holds it, then after a second releases it, shaking his head. “Fuck, Beck. The idea of you listening and being right there, and the way her wet pussy was clamping down on my cock. I couldn’t handle it. It was so fucking good.”
A second later, Wilder stumbles backward. My entire body jolts in surprise and my head whips to the side, following his movement to the grass. One second he was here beside me, the next he was flat on his back. Royal is straddled over his torso, one fist clenched tightly at the front of Wilder’s shirt with the other reared back and prepared to pound into his face. I blink hard. Oh fuck, here we go. I knew it had to happen sooner or later.
Royal’s teeth are bared. “Why are you fucking talking about her?” He slams his fist into Wilder’s jaw. The sound of it is horrific, and it’s painful to hear, so I’m sure it hurts like hell.
“The fuck, Royal.” Wilder’s forearms come up between them, and he puts one hand to Royal’s chin, shoving upward. And then, they’re rolling, grappling, and swearing at each other, a mostly equal exchange of blows being rained down on each of them by the other.
“Motherfucker. This is your fault!” Royal shouts, his anger boiling over.
I have no idea if I should jump into the fray or not. I will try to stop it if it gets too bad. Though how the fuck I’ll manage Royal and Wilder alone, I have no idea. This isn’t like a cage match. They won’t necessarily listen to me as their referee.
“How the fuck is this my fault? How did you not anticipate”—Wilder grunts as Royal’s fist hits him in the abdomen—“that when you asked us to mess around with her head that she might not get attached to one of us?”
“Or vice versa. Just sayin’.” Because I’m already fucking attached. I had already noticed her before he asked me to watch her. My heart thuds hard in my chest. Every time I think of her, I want to go to her. I need our relationship like I need water. Air. And she needs me, too. I know it. With how we left things yesterday, though, I may have to settle for sneaky peeks and following her around, which isn’t what I was hoping for. Not fucking at all. I want to be closer to her than that.
Royal’s breath heaves from him as he throws a few more punches that Wilder deflects in one way or another. And then they’re rolling through the grass again, limbs everywhere as they scramble. Royal takes a hit to his cheekbone, right where he’s gotten hit twice in the last week.
“Fuck.” I run a hand through my hair, undecided as to whether I should pull them apart or keep watching the display of muscle and symphony of masculine grunts and groans. Reluctantly, I step in, catching hold of Royal under the arms, and dragging him away from Wilder.
I don’t dare let go of him just yet. He’s still very tense, and I can’t see his face to know what he’s thinking, but Wilder glares at him, wiping blood from his mouth. We aren’t quite out of the woods yet.
Wilder is quick to his feet, his chest jerking up and down from the exertion. He works his jaw, rolling his eyes at our friend. “You going to answer my fuckin’ question, you dick? Did you not anticipate this? How the hell did you think this was all going to play out in the end?”
Much to my surprise, Royal’s body sags, and his exhale is audible.
More quietly, Wilder rasps, “Did you even think that fucking far ahead, or did you just see her and lose your goddamn mind?” When Royal refuses to answer, Wilder’s eyes flick up to meet mine, before running a hand through his hair. “Don’t let me agree to do him any more favors.”
THIRTY-SIX
ROYAL
Through gritted teeth,I admit the truth. “I thought I could fucking handle it.” Behind me, Beckham sighs then pats my chest and lets me go. I turn so I can look both of them in the eye and slash my hand into the air. “I don’t know what thefuckI’m doing, anymore. Echo makes me fucking crazy. She threwusaway.” My jaw muscles twitch hard as I take several harsh breaths before biting out, “She didn’t think I was goddamn good enough for her.” All the things I’m not saying are stuck in my throat like shards of glass, and I still can’t bring myself to voice the whole truth because it hurts so fucking bad. But I’ll tell them this much. “There was an accident. And I fuckingkilledsomeone. I hurt a hell of a lot of people. Seems like I’m still really fucking good at it.”
Wilder and Beckham stare at me in shock.
“Fuckthis.” I walk off, not giving them a chance to say a single word and head straight up to my room. I need some outlet for the metric fuck ton of rage I know deep down I should be directing at myself. Maybe Theo is available. I pull out my phone and shoot him a few messages.
Hey, man. You free?
