Page 18 of Royal
Chapter 6
Gray
“Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked, breaking the long silence.
“No. I’m good.” Royal glared at me.
Even when pissed, he was handsome. With his raven black hair, blue eyes, and perfectly proportioned features, I’d often called him my prince charming when we’d been together. It had started as a joke, but then it kind of stuck. He’d hated it at first, and of course, me being an ass, I’d loved hearing him whine.
“Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled.
I had told Ruby I wanted to interview him alone, so it was just the two of us in the interrogation room. Though I suspected she was standing on the other side of the glass listening in.
“Tell me what happened that night,” I said, leaning back in the chair. Away from him. My body wanted to lean closer, though. Years apart, and he still had an effect on me.
“I’ve already told you,” Royal scoffed. “Do you want me to give a play-by-play of my one night stand or something?”
I gritted my teeth. As irrational as it was—because I hadnoreason to be jealous—I wished we had gotten the guy’s name he’d fucked, just so I could go and kick his ass. The hotel had refused to give the guest’s name without a warrant to protect his privacy.
“No,” I answered. “I’m talking about before that. What happened before you left work that night? Witnesses say they heard you and Beth fighting.”
Royal’s anger trickled away, and he gaped.
“Sothat’swhy you assholes are so keen on thinking it’s me? Because me and Beth had an argument? That’s not enough of a reason to think I’m a cold-blooded killer, Gray, and you know it.”
“Detective Riley,” I corrected, though it was hard. He was the only person who’d ever called meGray. Mainly because I’d never let anyone else. “If you’re innocent, you have nothing to worry about. I only want the facts. What was the argument over?”
Royal held my gaze a moment before looking at his folded hands. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably and breathed in deep.
“She was sexually harassing me at work,” he said at last. “It had gone on for months, and I’d finally had enough. She followed me into my dressing room and blocked the door, talking about how she wanted to taste me. I told her no. She refused to move, so I moved her aside and left the room. That’s when she started screaming and making a scene in the hall.”
It took everything I had not to reach across the table and grab his hand. Admitting something like that wasn’t easy.
“Did you tell anyone about the harassment prior to the argument?”
His brow pulled together. “I told a few people at work. But when they laughed it off, I never said anything again.”
When I’d known him, Royal had been the sort of guy who tried to deal with everything himself. He hated “burdening” people with his problems. Maybe it was pride, or perhaps just him being stubborn, but it took a lot for him to admit something was wrong.
“A coworker of yours said Beth mentioned white flowers.”
“Yeah, it was weird.” Royal tilted his head, his confusion growing. “She said I was sending them to her, but I had no clue what she was talking about. I’d never sent her flowers or even hinted that I had.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and took another deep breath. “No matter how many times I told her I was gay, it was like it went in one ear and out the other. I’ve never even sent a man flowers. Why the hell would I send them to her?”
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, my lips twitched with a smile.
“Technically not true,” I said, my voice softer than before. It wasn’t the time or place to go down memory lane, but I couldn’t stop it. “You sent me flowers on my twentieth birthday, remember? I was sick that day, and you sent them along with some chicken noodle soup and a stuffed bear.”
The bear was meant as a joke, but I secretly liked it. No one had ever done that for me before.
Royal’s eyes softened. “That’s right.” He cracked a smile, although it was small. Maybe even a little sad. “You’re the worst sick person ever. You act like the world is ending.”
Realizing where we were, I snapped out of it.
“So.” I cleared my throat and sat up in the chair, taking on an authoritative demeanor. “You didn’t send her the flowers?”
“Why are the flowers so important?” he asked.
The spell was broken. The warmth that had been trying to draw us together was replaced by that cold barrier again.
