“Fine, Royal. I’m going to keep my mouth shut. Happy now?” she asks. I smirk and lean down, pressing my lips to hers.
“Very.”
Chapter 18
River
I hate this. I hate seeing him like this. The fights were brutal. The first one wasn’t so bad, but the second? It was hard for me to keep my mouth shut when that man was beating the hell out of Royal. He won the first, but lost the second. Either way, he was paid for them, and I suppose to him that’s what matters most.
His eye is nearly swollen shut, and his lip is busted open. There’s a bruise forming around his eye already, and his ribs hurt.
We made it back to the hotel, and I silently thanked God that he’s sleeping in a bed tonight.
Royal sits on the edge of the bed as Jeremy tosses me a small bag. I look at it before looking at him.
“What’s this?”
“Clean your man up,” he says, nodding toward Royal. I glance at him as he watches me, waiting to see what I’ll do. Then he reaches for the bag, but I snatch it away.
“I got it.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asks.
“No, but I’ll figure it out,” I tell him. He nods his head, and I set the bag on the bed next to him before opening it up. I take things out and examine each of them before cleaning up his face.
“Those little packs in there? Just snap them, shake them, and apply them to his eye,” Jeremy adds. I nod my head and do as I’m told, pressing one to his eye. Royal reaches up and takes itfrom me, and then I get to work on cleaning the wounds on his hands.
When I’m done, I clean up my mess and leave him sitting on the edge of the bed while I throw away the trash.
“How you feeling?” Jeremy asks him.
“I don’t know if my ribs are broken or just bruised,” he answers.
“Hopefully just bruised, but I know that shit hurts either way.” I walk back over and sit on the edge of the bed, careful not to touch him. Royal just laughs and puts his arm around my waist and tugs me closer to him.
“I won’t break, River.”
“I don’t want to hurt you more.”
“You won’t.”
“So the party,” Jeremy says, grabbing our attention. “Everyone is going to be there.”
“Who is everyone?” I ask.
“People we’ve known for a long time.”
“Who’s throwing it?” I ask.
“Some little rich snobby bitch. Her parents are loaded, and she takes advantage of that,” Jeremy tells me. I slouch a little, hearing him say that. That’s exactly what they thought about me.
“He doesn’t mean you,” Royal states, clearly knowing what I was thinking.
“Yeah, I didn’t mean it like that, River. You’re cool.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Don’t do that shit. He wasn’t talking about you, River,” Royal snaps a little. I nod my head and pull away from him, climbing up the bed and lying down. Jeremy laughs but doesn’t say anything else before he lays down. After a few minutes, Royal tosses the ice pack and comes to lie down next to me. He pulls the blankets up over us, but groans the whole time.
