Chapter 9
Royal
Her taste still lingers on my tongue long after that kiss.
I know it was the excitement she felt, but fuck me, that kiss was something else.
The way she walked over and took what she wanted?
That’s what I need in a girl. Not her, though.
We kidnapped her. I don’t know shit about her except her name.
Not that it would matter. She isn’t going to be around for long.
“We call again,” Jeremy says as we sit at the local diner getting something to eat. River laughs.
“He isn’t going to pay you.” She repeats her words from earlier tonight.
“Then what the fuck do we need with you?” he growls at her.
“She’s staying,” I say immediately without thinking.
“What? No. She isn’t. We don’t need her if we’re not making money,” Jeremy adds.
“We fucking took her, Jeremy. Where’s she going to go?” I ask him. Maybe this is stupid. Maybe this is wrong, but I don’t want to let her go just yet.
“Back home to her mommy and daddy.”
“No,” she states.
“You don’t get it, River. We’re not the good guys here.
We’re not here to save you. We are fucking homeless.
We don’t even have a place to stay, and we’re not adding an extra person to that,” Jeremy tells her.
Her eyes widen as she listens to what he’s saying.
It’s not that it isn’t true. We make our way with what we have, and right now we have a little to live on.
The majority of it will be sent to my sister, but I did keep out enough to keep us fed until next week and probably enough to keep our room at the shit hotel.
“I can’t go back there,” she says. Now Jeremy laughs.
“Well, you can’t fucking stay with us,” he snaps.
“If she doesn’t want to go back, she doesn’t have to.” Jeremy’s head jerks in my direction, and his eyes hold mine.
“What the fuck are you saying? Huh? We can barely feed the two of us,” he snaps at me before grabbing his food and shoving it in his mouth.
“I didn’t make you go back,” I remind him. Now his eyes linger on mine.
“That’s fucking different, Royal.”
“Is it?”
“You got a thing for this girl already?”
“Fuck, no. I’m just not one to make people go back to something they don’t want,” I tell him with a shrug.
I lived a shit life once. I know how it feels not to want to return to it, even if that meant a roof over my fucking head every night.
I’m not willing to do it, so who the hell am I to make someone else?
“Fine. You can share your half with her ass. I’m not,” Jeremy informs me. River looks over at me, and I shrug. Then I nod at the food in front of her so she’ll go back to eating.
She picks at her food, and that annoys me. We don’t have the money to pick at it. When we eat, we eat.
“Listen. I don’t mind letting you stick around, but we don’t have unlimited funds like you. When you eat, you eat.” She looks at me and then back down at her food. I guess she understands because she picks it up and begins to eat it.
The rest of dinner goes by slowly. We don’t talk. We don’t say shit, and maybe it’s better that way.
When we finish, we pay and head for the door. I toss my bag over my shoulder and wince a little as we make our way to the hotel.
Jeremy pulls the key out and unlocks our door before ushering us inside. I drop my bag as River stands there wringing her hands together.
“Sit,” I tell her. She walks over and sits on the edge of the bed while I drag my shirt over my head. Jeremy walks over and looks at the marks developing on my body.
“He got you good,” he says softly.
“Yeah, but I still won.”
“That you did,” he laughs before heading into the bathroom.
“Not what you’re used to, huh?” I ask, looking around the room.
“No.”
“You can leave anytime,” I tell her. She nods her head but doesn’t make a move to stand up. I don’t know what her life was like, but judging by what she’s said, it wasn’t great. Then again, you would think anything would be better than this.
I walk over to the chair and drop down while I look at her.
“Why’d you do it?” I ask her.
“Do what?”
“Kiss me.”
“I … I don’t know,” she replies softly.
“You shouldn’t play games with a monster,” I warn her. She doesn’t know what to say, and that’s fine. I’m just warning her she won’t like the outcome of fucking with me. Nothing good comes from it.
“Do you like it?” she asks, catching me off guard.
“Fighting?” I ask. She nods. “It’s all I know how to do.”
“I doubt that.”
“Then you don’t know shit,” I hiss at her. I shove to my feet when Jeremy comes out of the bathroom and start stripping out of my clothes. I head into the bathroom and turn on the shower, stepping in and letting the water wash away the night.
I close my eyes and let the water hit my face, wondering what my sister might be doing.
I miss her. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, but I know that she’s better off there.
I know she has a better life than living week to week on the streets, as I do.
That doesn’t change the pain in my chest when I think about her.
I wash myself and climb out, drying off. I redress and walk into the room to find Jeremy already asleep in his bed and River on the floor.
“Get up,” I tell her. She stands to her feet as I pull the blankets back. I climb on the bed and lie down, motioning for her to get in. She’s hesitant. “Trust me. You don’t want to sleep on the floor here.”
“I can’t sleep with you,” she says. I shrug my shoulders and close my eyes, but then I feel the bed shift. I open my eyes and see her climbing in, scooting as close to the edge as she can. I smirk at the back of her head, but close my eyes to get some sleep.
I don’t know how long I’ve lain here, but I can’t fall asleep. I open my eyes and see River staring at me.
“You always watch people sleep?” I ask her.
“No.”
“Then why are you watching me?”
“I … I don’t know. Why are you letting me stay?” I sigh.
“I know what it’s like not to want to be somewhere. I’m not going to force that on anyone.”
“You kidnapped me,” she reminds me. I smirk.
“Yeah, I did.”
“And you’re still going to let me stay? Even if you don’t get the money?” I nod my head.
“I told you. I’m not going to force anyone to do shit they don’t want to.”
“Kind of a weird thing to say when you took me against my will,” she laughs lightly.
“You’re right, but this is different.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know yet.” With that, she smiles and closes her eyes, falling asleep quickly.