21. Soren
SOREN
I paced in front of the bed, clutching my phone as I inhaled slowly through my nose and breathed out through my mouth. It was supposed to ease my anxiety, but it didn’t work.
“You can do this, Soren,” I said, trying to boost my confidence. “It’s just a phone call.”
From behind the closed bathroom door came the harsh spray of running water.
Jude always showered at full blast, which was why I didn’t like sharing a shower with him.
The last time I’d let him sweet-talk me into joining him, he’d damned near drowned me, although it was partly my fault for not speaking up as soon as I started taking in water.
I’d been too preoccupied with how good it felt to be pinned against the wall while he fucked me into oblivion.
He’d almost sent me into oblivion for good.
I tapped the screen of my phone with determination, then raised it to my ear.
I still felt like I wanted to throw up the pork chops we’d just had for an early dinner, but if I didn’t call now, I would change my mind.
Any minute now, Jude would finish with his shower, and then we would drop in on his mother to stay with her for a while until his sister got off work, since the part-time helper was sick.
The line rang for so long that I contemplated hanging up, but before I could decide, a familiar voice answered.
“His Majesty’s private residence.”
My steps stopped. “Bastian?”
There was a pause. “Your Royal Highness?”
“Hello,” I said, though the word came out quieter than I intended. I’d forgotten why I was calling.
“Prince Soren.” The formality vanished from his voice. “We have been worried sick about you since your last call. No one could trace where you were. Is everything alright?”
“Yes, I think so.” I rubbed my damp palm against the front of my jeans.
“The last time we spoke, you said you were in jail, but you did not mention which jail. It’s given us a devil of a time trying to find you.”
“Find me?” I chuckled hoarsely. “Would I be lost if Father hadn’t sent me out of my home country?”
“My Prince, your father did what he thought was best for you at the time, given the circumstances. Would you rather have stayed in Belvaria and faced the press time and time again?”
Was that why Father hadn’t made any attempt to argue for me to stay in Belvaria? Being exiled had stung more than losing the title of crown prince.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“You would not have, young prince. Are you in need of anything?”
“Actually, no. I just called to speak with my father.”
“Of course. His Majesty will be overjoyed to hear from you.” Another pause followed, quieter this time, and then, “It is good to hear your voice again, Your Highness.”
My throat tightened as the line went silent, and I thumbed a discreet tear away. I resumed pacing.
It was some minutes to nine in the morning in Belvaria.
Father would already have had breakfast and was probably working out at the gym.
Once, when a local gossip rag had called him the “Vain King of Belvaria” because of how notorious he was for being preoccupied with his appearance, I’d asked him if it didn’t bother him.
Father had ruffled my hair affectionately and told me that his first duty as the king was to look after himself so he was fit enough to serve his people.
The line clicked open a second before my name was called on the other end. “Soren?”
My breath caught at the sound of my father’s voice. Just that one word made me feel like that little boy who’d gotten stuck in the dumbwaiter while playing hide-and-seek with my brothers. I’d thought for sure I was going to die that day until Father called my name.
“Father,” I said softly.
“Soren, my son,” he cried, his voice gravelly. “Are you still angry at me?”
“A bit,” I admitted. “But I—I miss you. And I miss my brothers and Mom. I miss home.” Tears trickled down my cheeks despite my attempt to contain them with sniffles.
“I am sorry, son. I have failed you. I have failed your mother.”
“Why did you send me away?” I asked. “You’re the king. If you had refused, no one would have questioned you.”
“I thought it would be good for you to get away for a while so you wouldn’t dwell on everything that’s happened here. You have lost so much, my boy. I thought the change would be good for you, but you have to believe me that I never intended for your departure to be permanent.”
“Then why didn’t you say so?”
“I love you, son. You may be the prince of Belvaria, but you are my son first. How could I bear to part with you forever? I never expected you to cut me off.”
“But you agreed to the state not funding my living expenses in a new country.”
“To appease the people, Soren, but I don’t need the Crown to support you.
I am your father and made arrangements for you upon your arrival.
I didn’t say anything to you because I know you can be too trusting with information, and no one needed to know about our personal matter.
You were born into royalty. How could you survive in the world without my help? You are used to people serving you.”
I chuckled, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “But I did survive without your help. It wasn’t easy. I almost went to prison, and I was robbed and lied to—”
“Oh, Soren.”
“But I met people who were kind to me,” I said quietly. “There’s this place called Halo House that helps people like me who were rejected by families and have nowhere else to go.”
“I did not reject you, Soren.”
“Well, it felt that way at the time.”
“Tell me where you are, and I will send for you.”
A sudden quiet filled the room, and it took me a few seconds to realize what I was not hearing. Jude was out of the shower.
“I have to go, Father,” I said quickly. “You don’t need to worry about me. I have a job now and everything, and I’ve even fallen in love.”
“Love? Soren, you are inexperienced, and men will take advantage of you simply because you are a prince. Please, son, where exactly are you?”
“Bye, Father. I love you.”
“Soren—”
I disconnected the call just as Jude walked in naked, rubbing his hair with a towel. He took one look at me and marched over to me.
“What’s wrong, little prince? You’ve been crying.”
I shook my head and smiled at him. “I’m fine. Promise. I called my father.”
He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. “How did it go?”
“Okay.” I let out a shuddering breath. “I’m glad I did it.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No, there’s nothing to talk about. He said he was sorry, and well, it doesn’t change what happened.”
“Will you call him again?”
“I think so. Not for a while, though. I need some time to process things.”
“I’m proud of you.” He cupped my cheek and kissed me hard, then proceeded to cover my face with kisses. “You’ve grown beyond what I could ever teach you.”
Fifteen minutes later, we got into Jude’s truck and were on our way to see his mother. I placed my hand on his thigh just to feel closer to him, and he smiled.
“Watching you drive is so sexy,” I said.
“Yeah? You love being the passenger princess? I should let you drive sometime.”
I snorted. “Sure. If you want us to end up in a ditch.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That bad, huh? Everyone learns to drive in high school. Didn’t you?”
“I didn’t know when I would ever be required to drive myself. I only know the basics because the body—uh—driver would sometimes let me get around the steering wheel.”
“You had a driver?”
Damn, it was a wonder he hadn’t figured out my background yet the way I’d been volunteering tidbits of information lately.
“It was necessary. My parents were afraid of something bad happening to us.”
“You lived in a bad area, then?”
“Relatively.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. Overall, one of Belvaria’s attractions was the low crime rate, but the royal residence received its fair share of threats when the public didn’t agree with policies.
The drive to Jude’s mother’s house took much longer than I’d expected. The Pacific Ocean disappeared behind us, replaced first by busy streets and shopping plazas, then by quieter neighborhoods where the houses sat closer together and children rode bicycles along the sidewalks.
Eventually, Jude turned onto a narrow residential street lined with modest single-story homes. The lawns were small but well kept, and most of the houses had porches with potted plants or wind chimes hanging beneath the eaves.
He pulled into the driveway of a pale yellow house with white shutters and a low brick border around the garden.
“This is it,” he said.
I looked through the windshield. The house was much smaller than Jude’s and older, though someone had taken care to keep it neat. Bright flowers crowded the beds near the porch, and a ceramic bird sat beside the front steps.
“Is this where you grew up?” I asked.
“Yeah. Lived here until I left for college. We didn’t have much money at the time, and I was on scholarship, so I stayed with my aunt in the house we now live in because it was closer to commute from there. She willed it to me when she passed away.”
Ah, I’d wondered how he could afford a house on the ocean. The properties seemed expensive when I considered how much I earned working at the club. On my salary, I would never have been able to afford such a house. I wouldn’t be able to afford any kind of house.
He got out of the truck and came around to open my door before I could do it myself.
“You know I can open doors,” I reminded him. In Belvaria, doors were always opened for me, but with Jude it was different. He wasn’t being paid to do it.
“I know.”
“Then why do you keep doing it?”
“Because I like to.”
That made me smile. I took his hand and followed him toward the house.
Before Jude reached the door, it opened. A woman stood on the other side, holding on to a walker. She was small, with silver curls cut close around her face and a soft blue cardigan buttoned over her dress.
“There’s my Jude,” she said.
Everything about Jude changed. His shoulders relaxed, and the serious expression he wore so often disappeared. He looked younger than I’d ever seen him, maybe due to his mannerisms around his mother.
“Hey, Ma.” He crossed the porch quickly and bent to kiss her cheek. “You know I have a key. You didn’t have to get up to open the door.”
“It was just the excuse I needed to move around.”
He extended a hand to me, and I closed the space between us to stand by his side. “Ma, there’s someone I want you to meet. This is Soren, my partner. Soren, say hello to my mother, Evelyn.”
“Hello, Ms. Evelyn,” I said politely. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Just Evelyn will do.” She beamed a smile at me. “Jude, you didn’t tell me he was such a handsome young man. I’m afraid he’s too handsome for you.”
Jude clutched his heart. “Ouch, Ma. And here I thought you’d be happy that I’m no longer alone.”
“Alone?” Evelyn waved us in, her gait rocking with her walker. “There was a time I wished you were alone, always having a revolving door of submarines in and out of your life.”
I frowned. “Submarines?”
Jude laughed so hard he clutched his chest. “They’re called subs, Ma, not submarines. The full word is submissive.”
“Whatever they’re called, they walk into your life and take, take, take, then they walk out.”
“That’s how I wanted it, Ma.”
“Regardless, a man should have a steady partner. Thank God, you have one now.”
We entered the living room, where he helped her to sit before arranging a cushion behind her back.
“How do you know Soren’s not going to leave me too?”
“Because you’ve never brought any of the other submarines to meet me before.”
“That’s right,” I said, picking up the blanket that was lying on the floor and adjusting it over her legs. “I’m not going anywhere. I love your son very much.”
“As I love Soren.”
My head whipped up, and I inhaled sharply to find Jude staring at me with a soft smile. He’d never told me he loved me before. I knew he cared about me but…
“You love me?” I gasped.
“Oh, Jude, how unromantic to confess your love for your young man in front of your mother,” Evelyn said. “Your sister has champagne in the fridge. At least pour him a glass and tell him properly.”
“Thanks, Ma.” Jude grabbed both my wrists and, with a playful smile, dragged me to the cutest kitchen.
Pale yellow cabinets lined the walls, their brass handles polished with age, while floral curtains framed a small window above the sink.
A round wooden table sat beneath a hanging light, surrounded by mismatched chairs that somehow made the room feel warmer instead of untidy.
Magnets and faded photographs covered the refrigerator, and little ceramic roosters occupied nearly every available shelf.
“Let me find the champagne—”
“Don’t.” I held onto his hand before he could walk away. “Daddy, I don’t care about the champagne.”
“You sure? Because—”
“Daddy!” I groaned.
Jude wrapped his arms around my waist, rocking me against him. “It’s true. I love you, too, Soren.”
“Really?”
“Really, really.”
“That’s two reallys.”
“That’s how much I really really really love you.”
“And you’re never going to let me go after our contract ends?”
“What contract?” One of his hands slid down to my ass, and his lips brushed mine. “We’ve been going off script since the day you moved in with me. I have no intention of letting you go, little prince. My home is your castle now, and I’m the dragon at the keep. No one is coming to your rescue.”
A smile curved my lips. “Good. I don’t need to be rescued anyway.”