Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance) (25 page)

Epilogue

-Five Years Later

“Please for the love of fucking God, Royal. If you don’t get your ass in this room right now I am going to cut your balls off.” I didn’t truthfully mean to sound like a bitch but when you had a baby coming out of your vag you tended to say things you didn’t necessarily mean.

                     “I’m coming, baby.” He tried effortlessly to soothe me, placing a cold washcloth against my face, getting me ice chips, all while attempting to rub my back; at least whenever I allowed him to touch me.

He was trying just about anything to bring me even the tiniest bit of comfort. I growled, gritting my teeth as another contraction threatened to take me under. Childbirth was the most painful thing in the world. I was so never doing this again.

                     “Alright, Noelle, it’s time to push,” my midwife ordered, staring at the exit in which the baby was about to come flying out of.

                     “I can’t,” I cried out, barring down as much as I could. Pain radiated all over my body, and it felt like I was continually being hit by a Mack truck. My muscles tensing and releasing all at the same time.

                     “You can do this, baby. He’s almost here. I can see his little head and all the hair.” Royal’s deep voice vibrated deep inside my body, rocking me to the core and giving me the everlasting strength I needed. We had been laboring for forty-eight hours. My body was on the verge of giving up, and I needed to do all I could to get this baby out instead of trying to fight the pain.

                     “It hurts!” I screamed, barring down yet again. I could feel my midwife moving her hands around down there.

                     “It will until you get this baby boy of yours out. Just a few more pushes, Noelle. He’s almost here, you can do it.” Sweat trickled down my face. I could feel my body being ripped in two as I took a deep breath pushing with all the strength I had left in my body. I gripped Royal’s hand tightly. Relief flooded me as the baby’s head crowned then slipped out. Next came his shoulders and then finally the rest of his perfect little body, my midwife barely catching him in time.

                     “He’s beautiful,” Royal said. The midwife wiped Lawson off and placed him on my chest. A feeling of euphoria filled my body. I just gave birth to my first child.

                     I couldn’t speak in fear that it would ruin the moment, so I cradled my small baby boy against my chest his, soft cries bringing tears to my own eyes.

                     “You did great, princess. God, I love you so fucking much.” Tears welled up in Royal’s eyes as well, and as he pushed my sweaty hair from my face and planted a kiss against my cheek.  I wondered how we got here. To the point of finally having kids and getting married. It was a journey I could only dream of.

                     “Olivia and Mark are going to be so happy.” I smiled down at little Lawson who was still getting use to the bright lights above us.

                     “Yes they sure will. Grandma and Grandpa already love you and they haven’t even seen you yet,” Royal spoke to Lawson, bending down into his face. That was the strange thing about love. It brought people back together.

Olivia and Mark ended up working everything out and remarried three years ago.

                     I’ve never seen two people so happy to be together. Their love was the storybook kind. They endured the worst, while still managing to hold onto each other through all the pain. They weathered the storm because the love they had for one another was deeper and bigger than anything else.

                     “I love you, Noelle, and nothing is ever going to change that. Thank you for giving me my son, and for being the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

                     Tears streaked down my cheeks.

I loved my stepbrother.

I loved Royal Black more than words could describe.

                     He belonged to me, and I belonged to him.

Acknowledgements

They say it take’s a village to raise a child, while the same goes to writing a book. It takes a village of bloggers, readers, and fans to help a book become what it does. I owe everything I have to those bloggers, readers, and fans. Without them the books wouldn’t be seen by anyone. I also need to give huge immense thanks to my lovely beta readers. Jamie, Melissa, Kathy, Sofia, Jessie, Amanda, Sabrina, and Lee. Thank you for making this book as amazing as it could possibly be. For pushing me to go further when I didn’t think I could. You see strength in me even when I don’t see it in myself. I love you guys!

To all the bloggers that signed up for blog tour, and shared for me thank you so much! Without your shares, comments, and just plain excitement for my books I wouldn’t be able to continue doing this. I’m beyond grateful for all you do.

Brie McCunty Face: Things haven’t been easy but the last year with you by my side has been amazing. Thank you for all the work you put in to helping with my releases and for helping polish my words into this amazeball book. I can’t express how much I truly love you so I’ll just say you’re still a cunty.

Silla Webb: I love your face, your PM’s, and just mainly you. Thank you for working with me, and pushing forward during crunch time. You might be my editor but you’re also my friend and I’m flipping amazed to have you by my side. Thank you for all you do babe.

Mean Queens: I have never had a group of readers that care more. Thank you for supporting me through every single release. I cannot express my gratitude to any of you as there aren’t words to express it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love each and every single one of you.

Lee: Every conversation we have is a break that I know I desperately need from writing. Thank you for being my friend. I hope you find love and happiness. Psss. Keep writing no matter what.

Pimpers: You bitches are crazy, but you’re the best. Thank you for pimping yourselves out like the ho’s you’re. I love each of you.

Lastly: My readers. Thank you for buy my books. For leaving reviews. For overall being awesome people who continue to follow me through this book world.

Xoxoxo

Read on for an exclusive look at

Filthy

By: J.L. Beck

              I knew an asshole when I met one.  They carried themselves in a different way than others did. You could tell by the way they spoke and the things they talked about. That’s why the very first time I met Talon Reed I knew he was a male-chauvinist pig. The guy you secretly wanted to fuck but didn’t want to hear speak while doing so. I hated his guts, and I was pretty sure he knew it.

              “Mia…” My name fell from his lips almost daily.  I turned around in my chair and glared at him. He didn’t care for someone like me, and honestly I didn’t care for him either. Still he continued this charade of cat and mouse almost daily.

              “Asshole,” I muttered under my breath as I watched his lips pull up into a cocky smirk. You could say that I was one of the few women at Central Heights University that hadn’t slept with him, which was true. And that—that was why I was so immune to his charms—but in reality it was all because he was just a prick.

              “I thought about you last night, and the night before, and…” I could feel his breath on my ear and smell his cologne like I was the person wearing it. I couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t smell heavenly, though. His scent was something that could be bottled up and sold for millions out in the world.

              “Usually when a person calls someone an asshole they want nothing to do with them,” I growled, interrupting him and narrowing my eyes in anger. I refused to meet his stare, though. I was too weak for that. One look into those steel-blue-gray eyes and I would be done for, as most were. There was just something about the smolder that he gave you that made your heart do that little pitter-patter in your chest.

              “Don’t you want to hear about my dream?” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, and I was sure there was still a lingering smirk on his face even though I had already turned around to face the professor, as Talon should be doing himself.

              I straightened my posture and gripped the pen in my hand harder, imagining it as if it was Talon’s neck I was squeezing.

              “Don’t lie, beautiful,” he hissed. I could feel others in the room looking at us. The asshole was drawing attention, and I didn’t like it.

              “Why don’t you just go back to whatever it is you were thinking about before, and leave me the fuck alone.” I couldn’t help but raise my voice a little bit just to prove my point.

              Everyone in the classroom was staring by now, their eyes gawking and making up rumors as we spoke. Talon’s smile stayed in place as if he had truly won whatever battle he thought was being fought between the two of us.

              “Mia? Talon? Is there something that you would like to tell the class?” Professor Hank asked, irritation clearly being heard in his voice. I wanted to tell him I felt the same irritation, but instead I faced forward in my seat shaking my head no. My cheeks heated and sweat began to form on my palms.

              “Nah, I was just telling Mia how beautiful she was,” Talon spoke, and I kid you not every female in the room seemed to sigh.

              Dick. Asshole. Fucker. A list a mile long of swear words were on the verge of spilling from my mouth. The room settled down, and Professor Hank shifted his attention back to the chalkboard, his eyes shifting to where Talon and I sat every few minutes. I wasn’t above asking to be moved, not in the least bit and if it came down to it I would.

              I jotted down notes for the rest of the hour, not paying attention to the growing heat against my neck or the fact that I could practically feel Talon’s eyes eating away at my skin. The man knew how to make a girl feel insecure, that was for sure. I had known Talon about a year, and all I ever heard about was the heartache and pleasure he caused. When my mom accepted a job at the local hospital after my father’s death and I had been selected to attend college here, I knew that this was the place I needed to be. Being able to stay with my mom and attend school would only make the expense of college cheaper. I wasn’t afraid to be one of those kids that still lived at home, if it didn’t cost me money out of pocket.

              We were being dismissed from class, when a piece of paper landed on one of my books. I shot a death glare over my shoulder at Talon who had just stood from his seat and wrapped an arm around one of his blonde girlfriends. Which one, I didn’t know. He had a different flavor everyday.

              Turning my attention back to the piece of crumbled up paper, I opened it smoothing out the edges so that I could read it.

Don’t lie about the way you feel, Mia. You might think I’m an asshole, but it doesn’t mean you don’t want to fuck my brains out any less.

              -T

              I bit my lip in anger, even though I could feel wetness against my panties. I wanted him. I was a woman, and I liked sex, but even I didn’t feel that he was worthy enough for someone like me. I had to fight against everything he threw at me every single day to make sure I didn’t become just like one of the other hundred notches on his belt.

              Picking up my belongings, I waited till he was out of the room and out of sight. I didn’t need him knowing the way he made me feel. It would just be used against me as a ploy to get me to take my panties off and offer up the goods sooner. After all, Talon wasn’t stupid, but he didn’t have me fooled.

              I was the last one of out of the classroom and as I headed toward my next class I realized I had spent far too much time hiding out.

              “Did you like my note?” I knew the second I heard his voice I was in trouble. My eyes stayed trained on his feet, which were covered with a pair of black
Nikes.
He had on a pair of distressed fit jeans, and a gray Henley covered his chest and hid his impeccable muscles. His sharp jaw and the curve of his lips as he smiled at me, made my belly hurt. My eyes drifted up to his hair, which was a dark brown and Iwanted to  run my fingers through it, tug on it.

My mouth started to water, but at the same time, I felt like vomiting. He was good enough for someone like me. I didn’t need to be told that. Instead of responding to him after I ogled him I shoved past him, lowering my shoulder into his chest. I wanted to prove to him I wanted to be left alone even if I secretly didn’t want to.

“Oh you’re going to play hard to get, like you don’t want me as much as I want you. Hate adds fuel to the fire, baby…” His voice was sex on a stick. Still this wasn’t anything new. He would annoy me to death  then hunt me down, and I would eventually turn him down again and again. I was good at that. He was good at trying, I would give him that.

“Different day, same bullshit,” I muttered as I headed toward my next class, my mind of course drifting back to the fact that Talon wasn’t someone I wanted to get involved with, but at the same time my body wished for his touch. I had to remind myself of how disgusting it was that he just had his arm over that girl but was now trying to hook up with me.

“I mean it. We don’t have to like each other to screw, Mia.” Fuck! Talon’s hand on my shoulder forcing me to face him startled me to silent. I couldn’t form words, so I simply stared at him.

I wanted to say yes; God did I want to say yes, but I knew better. I knew that if I wasn’t invested now, I could be some day. I didn’t need him anymore than I needed a bullet in my head.

“Talon…” His name even on my lips made me rub my thighs together. I needed to end this assault the asshole that he was playing every day. I couldn’t let someone like him consume me.

“Lying makes it worse. I can see it in the way your cheeks heat every time I speak to you.” His thumb reached out grazing over my skin, his eyes begging me to meet his. I couldn’t. Goosebumps flared across my body as a shudder worked its way up my back.

Talon leaned into my face, his breath against my lips. We were so close that if I stepped forward just a small amount I would be kissing him.

“The way your thighs rub together when I speak.” His other hand lifted to my pants, and I stepped back a hair, not allowing him to touch me there. That would be my undoing. All my walls were on the verge of tumbling and crumbling to the ground. Everything about him— at least in the physical sense— made me want him more, but in my heart I knew what he was all about.

Taking a deep breath and forcing my pulse to slow down, I finally managed to muster up words.

“I’m not like the other thousand and one girls you’ve fucked.” I could feel his touch against my cheek that much more. My body begging me to give in, even for one fleeting moment. “I’m better.” I finished what I was going to say and  pulled from his touch, my body hating every single step I took away from him.

The look of anger and anguish in his blue gray eyes made it worth it. One of his hands worked it ways through his hair, and when he turned his eyes on me again, the previous emotions were swept away, a mask covering them.

I was sure Talon was a different person underneath it all. But getting to that person, being able to see who he was beneath it all and digging through the bullshit fronts he put up was the downfall.

No one wanted to know who you truly were when you didn’t give him or her the chance to. Talon Reed was suffering, and I had been through enough of that in my life already.