Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance) (18 page)

                     “If I could go back and change things I would, damnit would I ever, Royal.” I wanted to believe the look of guilt and sincerity in Mark’s eyes, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he was gone for so long if he knew it was all a lie from the start. Why didn’t he fight harder for my mother? Why didn’t he just come home and tell her the truth?

                     “What happened between you and Mom then? Did you tell her it was a lie? Why didn’t you come back for us?” I questioned, a warning to my words. Let him lie to me. Let him, because then maybe it would be easier to look at Noelle every day and not hate the part she played in ruining my life. I knew how stupid it was to hate someone for something that they had no control over but still. If it hadn’t been for her, my parents would still be married. I would still have a family and maybe I wouldn’t have been so angry all my life.

              Then you wouldn’t have her.
 A voice echoed loudly in my head.

                     He sighed, “There was no point, son. I had already ruined everything with that lie I believed, and by the time she moved on from the hate and anger she had toward me it was too late. We couldn’t rekindle anything, when there was nothing there to rekindle. The trust had already been ruined and without trust you have nothing.”

                     Tears pricked at me eyes, the fact that my very future was fucked up because of a woman like Viviana, because of someone like Noelle being brought into this world. My heart was being ripped open. Old wounds started to ooze blood, and I didn’t know if I could ever look at her the same way. If I could see her without hating her. If I could separate the two.

                     If Noelle knew… If she knew I would never be able to forgive her, and any chance at a future we ever had would be gone.

                     “I need to go.” I wiped at my eyes, not wanting to let Mark know how much the truth hurt me. I may be set free now that I know everything but going years upon years without an answer to anything killed me. Now I had my answer as to why things were this way.

                     It was all merely a lie. A tangled web of lies that could never be forgotten.

                     “I’m sorry, Royal.” I knew his apology was real, but I couldn’t accept it. He wasn’t sorry for what had happened, he was sorry that the truth was fine released.

Chapter Twenty-Two

-Noelle

One Tequila.

Two Tequila.

Three Tequila.

Floor.

That was my mantra as I downed shot after shot. I met Jordan at the Falls which was our usual spot. It was where we went to pregame or just to hang out and escape from the world around us. After a few shots were taken to unwind, we headed to the party. We didn’t know the guy that was having the party from school, but he let us in because he said it was hot as fuck that I put Sasha Master’s in her place.

I should’ve been outraged, or even humiliated that something like that was being remembered and spoken about by my peers, but I wasn’t. I felt a sense of pride.

                     I just laughed it off, heading straight for the bar that was lined with every color of liquor known to mankind. Which meant with the amount of alcohol that was already swimming in my veins that I didn’t move even an inch from this spot since we arrived. I was plastered. My body weighed down by the booze, but my mind was finally free from thoughts of Royal so it was a win win.

                     “Bitch!” Jordan hollered at me over the roar of the music that was blasting out of the speakers and into our ears.

                     “What the hell?” I questioned her. I didn’t even let my mom call me a bitch. I wasn’t sure how I felt about letting Jordan do it. Then again, I kind of was being a bitch today.

                     “Fuckboy keeps texting me. He wants to make sure you’re going to be with me all night.” Jordan smiled with mischief in her eyes. I knew that look. It meant that she was up to something that was probably going to get us in a shit ton of trouble.

In that case, Aye, Aye Captain.

                     “Did you tell him to get fucked?” A giggle erupted from my throat. I covered it with more liquid courage, downing the other shot I had just poured before Jordan swayed over toward me.

                     “No. I did bait him though. I asked him what he would do if you weren’t?” Such a tease Jordan was. I bet she had him climbing the walls of the house.

                     “Well I’m an adult so I can do whatever the fuck I want… And guess what?” I leaned into her. “He’s not here so I really can do whatever I want.” There was way too much excitement bubbling inside of me.

                     What could I possibly do in the time it took for him to find me? Probably nothing more than I was currently doing, since I haven’t even tried to get up and walk yet. That would be another struggle of my life.  

                     “That’s just it. Echo…” She looked around the room to see if anyone was watching us.

“Texted me to let me know that there was a fight going down tonight between Warrior and Prince Royal.” Her eyebrow lifted up at me in question.

                     “Prince Royal?” My brow furrowed.

                     “Fuckboy is fighting tonight in the old industrial park on South Blvd. I thought he was supposed to stay out of trouble? Trouble which included fights?” Jordan, questioned me. My body hummed at the thought of him shirtless, sweat dripping down his rigid muscles, the tension in his body, and the feral look in his eyes.

                     My vag clenched at the mere images floating around inside my mind.

                     “Let’s go!” I jumped up from my chair, my legs severely wobbly, forcing me to reach out and grip the side of the table. Apparently walking was going to be a whole lot harder than I expected.

                     “Woah, Chief…. Slow it down, I didn’t say we we’re going anywhere. I was just telling you what was going on. So chill the fuck out.” Jordan grabbed me by the arm as if she was trying to steady me. I stared her down. There was no way in hell she could come over here and say that kind of shit to me and not expect for me to not want to go.

                     I might have wanted to leave that house and get away from Royal hours ago, but now I wanted nothing more than to be chest to chest with him. My lady bits were on fire as I thought about touching him and him touching me right back.

                     “We’re going.” The drinks were going straight to my head. I knew they were, but who cared when you were ten sheets to the wind?

                     “Last I checked you can’t even stand on your feet, let alone drive anywhere.” Jordan snickered under her breath. I was about to hand this girl her ass if she didn’t stop insulating me. Drunk or not, we were going and if she tried to stop me I would leave without her ass.

                     “I hate you. You know that right?” I growled, letting the liquor even out in my bloodstream.

                     “Hate’s a strong word. A word you should use when talking about Fuckboy. Not when you’re talking to your best friend.” She tried to pretend as if she was offended by my comment, but I could tell she really wasn’t. She knew I was too drunk to mean anything by it.

                     “We’re going, Jordan. We can stay in the back and out of his sight, but I really want to go. Pretty please,” I pleaded, begged. Basically did everything I could to let her know we were going.

                     “Whatever. We will go but if I get yelled at by him I am blaming you, and you’re taking the punishment.” She threw her hands up in the air in defeat. He wouldn’t even know we were there. We would go, watch him, and slip out the back before he even got a whiff of us being in the same area as him.  All I wanted was to see him in action.

The anticipation and desires that were filling my body were making me drunker. The effects alcohol had on emotions seemed to be high.

                     “It will be our little secret, Jordan,” I whispered causing laughter to filter out of her throat. She helped me up and out of the house. Of course, everyone else was heading to the fight. Jordan and I had just got in the car, when a cute guy named Gabriel came up to the passenger side window. I had spoken to him in passing a couple times inside the house and seen him numerous times at school.

                     “Are you guys going over to the Industrial Park?” Gabriel asked. His eyes were so beautiful, as if they were calling to me, that or the shots were really getting to me.

                     “Yes, sir!” I answered before Jordan could.

                     “Can we come with?” He gestured to someone behind him. I knew I should have said no, that it was wrong to let two guys we didn’t know go somewhere with us. But call me dumb because I didn’t care.

Royal wasn’t here to keep me in line and my mother wasn’t around to lecture me about every single choice I made. This is what I wanted, the chance to make my own choices without having to listen to either of them. I didn’t want the lectures or disappointment that would come with it all.

                     “Get in.” I unlocked the car doors, and Jordan looked at me deadpanned.

Fucking Christ.

                     “Not a good idea, Noelle,” she argued before they slipped into the back seat. I smiled at her, knowing that it wasn’t but that it wasn’t her choice. It was mine. I couldn’t wait to see Royal, and bringing the two guys in the back seat to see the same fight I wanted to see wasn’t going to change that.

                     “Thanks for the ride, ladies.” Gabriel smiled at me from the backseat as I turned around to say you’re welcome. His friend was chugging on a bottle of beer in the back, clearly just as obliterated as I was.

                     “Let me have a swig,” I ordered, reaching out for the bottle. He laughed handing me the bottle, the glass slipping into my hands with ease. Gabriel seemed pleased that his friend was sharing his beverage with me. Shit so was I.

I smelt the beer before bringing the bottle up to my lips, allowing myself to take a long swig from the bottle. The harsh taste coated my throat with a burn as it made its way down to my belly.

                     “Really, Noelle. You’re going to get me pulled over if you keep acting like a college sorority girl from the front seat.” Everything I was doing tonight was risky, but that was the thing about it. I’ve never taken a single damn risk in my life. I’ve never jumped without knowing what might be hiding in the dark. Fear was just a feeling that you got because of the unknown. Embracing the unknown made the fear disappear. I wanted the fear to disappear more than anything. I wanted to embrace life and live it to the fullest, even if only for tonight.

                     I handed the beer bottle back to Gabriel’s friend and then grabbed for my
iPod
that was plugged into the dash. We needed some fucking music. I scrolled through the screen and then down to my
Break Shit
music list clicking on
Always by Saliva.
The beat of the music pounded through the speakers of the Jeep as I bobbed my head to the rhythm.

                     My eyes drifted closed. The beat of the music coursing through my body, the song filtering into my mind, the lyrics relating to my relationship with Royal.

                    
“I wrap my head around your heart…”
I screamed the lyrics out loud, beating my hands onto the dash. Jordan started singing, and happiness filled me. I’ve never been freer than in this entire moment.

                     This was always my choice. I just failed to realize I had a say in anything until a prick named Royal came barreling into my life.

                     I decided right then and there as we were pulling into the parking lot of the Industrial park that I was going to own Royal tonight. There would be no walking away from Noelle anymore. We were done fighting against each other.

                     I was ready to be fucked by him, owned by the beast inside of him. I wanted Royal at his rawest, and I would get him even if I killed myself trying.

Chapter Twenty-Three

-Royal

“Do you need your hands wrapped, bro?” Echo questioned me from the small locker room located at the back of the warehouse. The place was a shit-fucking hole. The kind of place that people came to with the intent of getting high on crack, or doing something else that was highly illegal. It was the worst place I’ve ever decided to fight in.

                     “No. I’ll just go like I am.” There was no point in wrapping my hands. I didn’t give a fuck if my knuckles got broken. The pain would be a welcoming feeling in comparison to the overwhelming emotions I was feeling right now.

I hated Vivanna with a burning passion. I had no other choice but to rid myself of what I was feeling at this very second. If I didn’t I would end her, and wind up putting myself in prison. She was a disgusting human being— one that I wanted to fucking squish.

Obliterate. Ruin.

“He’s a big mother fucker, are you sure you want to do this?” Echo interrupted my thoughts to ask for the fifth time.

“Yeah, dude, I’m sure. I need this fight, and I’m not scared of fighting a big guy. I’ll still lay his ass out,” I grunted out, cracking my knuckles and flexing my muscles to get them ready to endure a pounding. I haven’t fought much here, not like I did back home, but when Echo found out that I liked to take to the mats every once in awhile, he saw dollar signs.

“Alright then.” There was a sorry look in his eyes.

“You’re on in less than five minutes.” Echo slowly left the room, slamming the entrance door to the locker room closed. I needed the next four minutes to myself, to get my mind focused and ready to fight. I took in as many deep breaths as I could, bouncing from foot to foot, each breath allowing me to focus on what it was that was about to take place. The fight. That’s all I needed to be thinking about.

God, how I wanted to fucking hate Noelle. I wanted to look at her and see her mother, not a beauty with sunshine colored hair, soulful hazel eyes, and ruby red lips. I didn’t want to feel a fucking thing for her but anger and disgust, because feeling anything but that for Noelle made me feel like I was betraying my mother.

Wanting Noelle was against everything that I came here for. I wanted answers from my father, but I had never expected said answers to be so heartbreaking. I thought what happened between my mother and him was simple, but I thought wrong. All of it was a complicated web of lies. A tangled web that Noelle and I were caught in.

“Get the fuck out here,” Echo yelled into the locker room. I shifted from foot to foot, my bare feet slapping against the concrete floor. My black shorts hung low on my hips, and as the blood in my veins started to pump at an accelerated rate, a cold sweat began to covered my body.

The roar of the crowd pounded in my ears as I exited the locker room. Holy fuck, the place was packed to the brim. People standing up in the bleachers, as well as on the floor along the ring boundaries. There were a lot of familiar faces but there were also some that I’ve never seen before.

Trying to block all of them out, I stepped into the ring-like structure. It was nothing but a mat on the floor with people as the boundaries. The crowd parted allowing me to step onto the mat. The man they called the Warrior was on the opposite side of the ring eyeing me up like he could actually fucking take me. I shook my head; he was about to be knocked into next week.

Warrior had a couple inches on me, but my body was bigger, and I knew I could go longer than he could. I was an endurance fighter, but I also knew to end it when it was time for it to end. I wasn’t about dragging the fight out, just about knocking the fuckers out.

“Welcome, Ladies and Gents, to the Warehouse fight of the year,” Echo spoke into a microphone, his voice booming out of the speakers.

I stared Warrior down, feeding off the rage that showed in his eyes. The crowd screamed as Echo continued on.

                     “In the right corner we have the man of darkness, the prince of knockouts, and pussy pounder of the year, Royal Motherfuckin’ Black.” The crowd roared to life again, the voices of hundreds of women muttering in my ears. Men wanted to be me at this very moment, and women wanted to be with me.

                     “In the left corner we have the Warrior, best known for being a warrior on the mat and off the mat. I give you Jackson fucking Wes the Warrior.” The building seemed to shake with the noise the crowd made. My eyes scanned the crowd for some reason, I didn’t really know why? It wasn’t like Noelle could be here. I made certain she was with Jordan. Still something felt off about the whole night.

                     “You fuckers ready to knock each other out?” Echo asked. I nodded my head, forcing my focus on the asshole in front of me. With both of us nodding in agreement, Echo cued the fight to life. Warrior bounced back and forth, assessing me for some type of weakness. I didn’t have a weakness, at least not on the mat.

                     “Let’s get this done with, asshole” I muttered under my breath, stepping into his space. I swung my fist, catching nothing but air. Okay, he could fucking duck. Cool. He snarled his lip in rage, slamming himself into my chest. I took the moment to slam my knee into his gut, a breath of air leaving his lungs. He hunched over in pain, and I stepped back to land another blow— not noticing the fist that was coming right at my face.

                     Warrior’s knuckles scraped across my brow, bone hitting bone. Fuck! Pain sliced through my face, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I have more rage and pain than he has. I have a fire that refused to be extinguished. I was a mess, and I was about to show him just how big of one I was.

                     My face shot back, and I steadied my feet, raising my fist and hitting him right in the side of the head. For some reason, my eyes caught on something in the crowd. A short girl was pushing herself to the front of the crowd, her hair the color of sunshine and I bet her eyes were hazel.

                     Oh fuck no! Rage roared within me, and I took that rage out on Warrior slamming one of my fists into the side of his head. I could see nothing but Noelle as she stared at me in awe as each blow landed with precision against this asshole’s skull. I wouldn’t stop until blood pooled beneath him. Seeing Noelle here was just what I needed to end this fight quickly. I didn’t have time to make it slow and draw out the pain. I needed to get this over with so I could go and punish Noelle for showing up where she didn’t belong.

                     His feet gave out and he landed on the mat with a loud thump. I jumped on him, surging forward with my fists. I was a beast, a monster of a man. I had nothing to lose. Warrior’s eyes drifted closed, and blood started to drip from his wounds, bruises forming with each punch. My hands throbbed as I clenched them tighter, blood covering them with a slick coating. I could feel Echo’s hands on me as he pried me off of Warrior’s lifeless body.

                     “Chill the fuck out. It’s a fight, you’re not out here to kill him. He’s out, man, you won. It’s over,” Echo whispered in my ear trying to get me to chill the fuck out. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I refused. The fact that Noelle was here didn’t help matters. She set me off without even knowing it. The warmth of the Warrior’s blood on my hands brought me back to the present. I didn’t give a fuck if people looked at me like I was a monster. Not when I fucking was. Their opinion didn’t mean a damn thing to me.

                     I shrugged off Echo’s hold on my shoulder and walked over to Noelle. The crowd parted for me, and hoots and hollers surrounded me. Hands slapped against my shoulder as a number of people congratulated me.

I shrugged them off, their words, their hands, my mind clinging to one thing, and one thing only. Noelle. I could see two men standing next to her. They were far too close to her, too close to what was mine. Each step I took was deafening, and as soon as I saw the fucker standing next to her reach out and pull her in for a kiss, I fucking lost it. Any rational thought or behavior I might have had was gone now. I didn’t know what this piece of shit was thinking, but nobody but me touched Noelle. Nobody but me sure as hell better be put their fucking lips on her. She was mine. Did I have to spell it out for these fuckers?

You could say my entire existence was centered on and around Noelle. She brought out the best, the worst, and most protective instincts in me, yet she made me darker and meaner. I was overcome with pure rage; the high from the adrenaline still pounding through my veins. My whole body shook with rage.

                     No one fucking touched what was mine. Noelle pushed him away, the look of horror in her eyes speaking volumes to me. I didn’t want to hear her excuses, I couldn’t.  Her ass was mine the second we were alone. She would pay for disobeying me, and for letting this scum bag even lay a finger on her let alone kiss her.

                     “He didn’t mean it, Royal…” Noelle’s voice was meek, ringing loudly in my ears. I could see nothing and feel nothing but the need to destroy. I lifted my arm extending my fist into his face, the hit knocking him out cold. I didn’t even give his friend a second thought.

I ignored him, grabbing Noelle by the hand, and forcing her to walk with me to the locker room. We were done playing this cat and mouse game.

Our feelings needed sorted out and the easiest way to do that was to fuck each other into submission. Noelle’s pussy was mine.