Chapter 25 Leticia
LETICIA
RETURN OF THE POLTERGEIST
It’s been two days since I last talked to Royal. I check my phone again. Forty-nine hours, thirty minutes, and some seconds.
I open the messages and look at the last one I sent him, asking him to not be dead, and wait in the lobby of the Fine Arts building, where my final was.
My driver isn’t here yet, and I’m getting a little worried that something happened, but I also finished my final twenty-five minutes earlier than expected.
So, he’s really not even late yet. I’m just on edge.
“Leticia.” My name is said from behind me.
I know that voice. I turn around and see Royal standing there with a coffee carrier and a bouquet of flowers. “Royal?”
He’s taller than I expected. Under his jacket, he’s wearing a teal shirt that highlights his eyes. The jacket he’s wearing isn’t all that thick, but it looks warm. The dark wash denim of his jeans is wrapped around his thighs, but I draw my eyes back up his body.
“Surprise?” He offers the bouquet out toward me. “I’m sure it’s not customary to give someone flowers after taking a final exam because no one ever brought me flowers after a final. But I figured it’s pretty much standard if you stand somebody up.”
I cross the ten feet between us as quickly as I can, bypassing the flowers and drink carrier, and wrap my arms around him. I draw in a deep breath to exhale a sigh, but I get caught up in the scent of warm chocolate and something else I can’t quite put a finger on.
But a second into the hug, I realize what I’ve done and backpedal or . . . try to . . . Royal holds me to him, wrapping his arm with the bouquet around me.
“I’m sorry. I missed you. I’m alive. I would never intentionally stand you up,” he says softly and mostly to the top of my head.
When I push against him a little harder, he lets me go, and I step back. Suspiciously, I eye him. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t cross the territory lines like that?”
“We’re in a truce, territory lines are just guidelines for business. We’re able to move freely through them now.” He shrugs and gives an almost carefree smile. “I was wondering if you wanted to come out to our territory, get lunch, and see the countryside?”
“That sounds like something right out of a regency romance.” I laugh and shake my head. “And it’s crazy, there is no way my family will just let me go galivanting around the countryside.”
“I mean, they did say you could come for Christmas, so think of it as a pre-Christmas luncheon.” He offers the drink carrier out to me, where two cups are nestled. “I even brought peppermint hot cocoa for the occasion.”
It should be a harder decision. I should be angrier with him. Shouldn’t it? Shouldn’t I?
But the way he’s smiling, the way he showed up, with flowers of all things. I may not be dating Royal, and nothing could even come of this, but it’s all swoon worthy, and I’d be a fool not to embrace it. At least for a little bit.
“Alright, I’ll see if I can get it past my security.” Guilt tingles in my stomach all the way through to my spine. If Dad told my security about how I’m supposed to be spying on the Cavanaghs, then they’ll absolutely allow it.
I try to push it aside and act normal, pulling the cocoas off the tray one at a time. Royal strides over to the trash to dispose of the carrier before coming back to collect a cup from me. In exchange, I take the flowers. They’re a beautiful mix of roses, lilies, pine boughs, and berry sprigs.
Royal leads the way over to a bench where we can watch the doors and the driving lane for my security to arrive.
“So, are we going to talk about why you just ghosted me?” I take a sip of my cocoa, giving him time to answer my question.
“We are, but not here. Thus, the lunch.” Royal’s stiff and rigid. Nothing like his easygoing nature over the phone.
“Ahhh. Well, if it’s the usual, ‘It’s not a woman’s place to know’ speech, you can just give it to me here. I’ve heard it enough times.” I slump a little bit, feeling defeated but also relieved that there will be nothing to report back to Dad.
Royal looks at me and shakes his head. “If I was going to tell you that you didn’t need to know, then this meeting would have been a text message. I’m very efficient.”
His goofy grin puts me at ease. Maybe the Cavanaghs are different. Antonella told me they are, but I didn’t understand how. And maybe, just maybe, I won’t learn anything at all, or I can find enough noninvasive information to make him think I tried.
“So, was that your last final?” Royal gestures broadly to the building around us.
I nod and let myself feel the weight of studying lift off my shoulders. “It was. I’m officially free until January.”
“Very nice. Want me to hack into the grade system and fix anything for you?” he conspiratorially whispers.
“What? No. You can’t do that.” I gape at him. But he just raises an eyebrow in response. “You can?”
“There isn’t a lot I can’t figure out how to do with the right motivation.” He takes a smug sip of cocoa.
The black SUV rolls up into the parking lane, and my driver gets out. “Alright, let’s go convince the driver that you’re not a threat.”
Royal laughs. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m not threatening to you.”
That’s when I notice it. His stride is a little short for someone so tall, and he kind of weaves left to right as he walks. “Are you limping?”
He tries to hide it, stepping more forward. “It’s nothing. I’ll be okay.”
“You’re sure?” I stop him, looking at him like I’d have any clue if he’s lying.
But with a soft smile, Royal steps forward and opens the door to the vestibule. “I promise.”
Surprisingly, lunch with Royal out in the middle of the mansions outside Chicago is a perfectly acceptable way for me to spend my time.
The driver asks a few questions about what sort of vehicle Royal is driving, but after hearing things like ‘bullet resistant’ and ‘practical tank,’ I’m excused from the normal ride home.
All the driver tells me is that if I need a ride home, to give him a call and he’ll come get me.
What in the alternate reality is this?