Page 20 of Royal
Irritated that my morning nap in English class had been interrupted, I glared up at the guy. He reminded me of an anime character with his big blue eyes and spiky black hair.
“What?” I growled.
Instead of cowering like most people did, he smiled and kept talking. “My name’s Royal. Sorry I haven’t introduced myself before. Better late than never.”
My glare didn’t falter. “Okay.”
“You’re Grayson Riley, right?”
“What’s it to you?” He needed to leave me the fuck alone. Everyone else did.
“I wanted to know if you’d sit with me at lunch today,” Royal offered. He was either a damn good actor…or he was just a good person.
“What, you don’t have any friends, so you’re desperate enough to ask the guy everyone’s afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” he said. “And I have friends. I just thought you could be one of them.”
No one had ever asked me to be their friend. People had always been too afraid of me.
And then I did something I hadn’t done in a long time.
I smiled.
“You alive in there?” Aunt Abby said, knocking on my car window and snapping me out of the past.
“Yeah.” I grinned and got out of the car before pulling her in for a big hug. “I wanted to surprise you, so I didn’t call ahead. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
She did tarot card and palm readings from her home, so it wasn’t uncommon for her to have random people stopping by.
“Not at all. You know you’re welcome here any time.” Her long red hair fell down her back, and her freckles were more pronounced by her pale complexion. Our family’s Irish bloodline couldn’t be seen at all in me, but she was like the poster child of an Irish lass. “I’m sure you can’t stay long, so come inside, and we can catch up.”
I walked with her into the house. It hadn’t changed much since I’d lived there. She had a deep connection with the earth, so there were a lot of plants, fresh herbs, and windows to bring in natural light.
“Here you are, love,” she said, handing me a cup of hot tea. The smell of honey wafted upward.
I arched a brow. “You knew I was coming over.”
Aunt Abby smiled and sipped from her own cup. It had Celtic knot designs around it. “Want to talk about why you’re here?”
It was impossible to hide anything from her. Sometimes I thought she could see right through me.
“It’s Royal,” I said before taking a drink of tea. The added honey made it perfect. “I know I’m not supposed to talk about the case with anyone, but I need your advice. He’s a suspect in Beth Monroe’s murder. We haven’t talked in eight years, and the first time we break that silence is for me to interrogate him.”
She stood and motioned for me to walk with her to the back door. Once we were seated in the plushy chairs on the patio, I looked at the fountain she’d made of stones.
The sound of the running water added a touch of tranquility to the already peaceful home. The whole back yard looked like a scene from a fantasy movie, with beautiful gardens, weeping willows, rock fountains, and little fairy homes she’d painted herself.
“Are you wanting my advice on how to handle him being a suspect,” she asked, “or about you making amends with him?”
I looked at her. The way her green eyes gleamed told me she already knew the answer.
“I liked Royal. Still do, I suppose, if he’s the same polite, beautiful boy who managed to get that dead look out of your eyes.” She folded her legs under her in the chair and sipped her tea. “When you first brought him home, I felt the connection between you two instantly. Back then, he had a kind heart and a good head on his shoulders. Not to mention he got you, of all people, to open a book for once and start caring about your grades.”
I chuckled at that.
“Look how far you’ve come,” she added, staring at me with a tenderness I didn’t feel I deserved. “You went from an angry boy who hated the world and everyone in it, to a respectable man with a successful career and a will to do good in the world you once hated.”
“I also broke Royal’s heart in the process, Aunt Abby. I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me. Or trust me again.” I stared at the branches of the weeping willow as a light breeze swept through them. “We’re not the same boys anymore. I don’t know the man he is today, other than what I’ve seen in the past few days. The connection we once had is lost, and there’s no getting it back.”
