Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“Hey, man.” I managed a small grin. It wasn’t just the hangover either, it was the shit Marissa had dumped on me the night before, about Faith. I knew she wasn’t wrong in her surgical way of looking at it, but I knew that day what I’d known the night before.
…Walking away from Faith was never going to happen.
“Rough night?”
I frowned into my coffee. “Something like that. Sorry, by the way. I was gonna let you know when I got in last night—”
“Don’t worry about it.” Xavier shrugged, looking like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world. He looked downright giddy, actually, and that gave me pause. One of the reasons he and I were close friends, even with him being twenty-something years older than me, was that neither of us, like our friends Hayden and Sven, fit the mold of “royal.” We had dark pasts. We had tattoos. We usually weren’t invited to “prestigious” events, because we had a way of not giving a shit about them. Actually, the only reason any of us were at King Milton’s sham of a wedding was because no one liked that guy, and so he’d just invited half the world’s royalty.
Suffice to say, I knew my friend pretty damn well, and I had never seen him “giddy”. Something was up.
“So what the hell did you get up to last night?”
I shook my head. “Long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
I chuckled. “Later. When I can fucking think straight after I coffee away this hangover.”
My fingers slid through my hair as I sighed, reaching for my coffee with the other hand when Xavier’s eyes dropped to my arm.
“You got some new ink I see.”
I froze, studying his face for a second before I let my shoulders relax.
“Oh, yeah. You know how it is. I just keep finding space for ‘em.”
Xavier eyed me with a little suspicion, which was odd, but he finally just shrugged.
“So, where’s your usual harem that follows you around?”
“Hey, how about you take pity on a hungover friend and we leave off with the tabloid jokes, alright? That’s all gossip magazine bullshit rumors and you know it.”
Xavier grinned, like I’d just stepped right into a trap. “Rumors are typically born from reality.”
Fuck. I had.
“Yeah? Which rumors are those?”
“The ones involving Princess LaFleur having the same rose tattoo.”
Now where the fuck did he hear that?
I growled lowly, my eyes narrowing at him as my hand curled into a fist.
“Watch it,” I snapped. “I’m not the only one with rumors swirling around them.”
He bristled. “Such as?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
Yeah, he knew. None of us ever went there with him, but I’d noticed how things had changed in the last year with him and his ward, Princess Lola. Lola who he’d taken in after her father turned out to be a treasonous piece of shit, since he and her old man had once been friends. But, he’d been looking at Lola a lot differently lately. And shit, I’d noticed her looks at him changing too if we’re being honest.
Suddenly, I got the impression I might know how he’d learned about Faith’s ink: Lola.
“Careful,” he growled.
“You and Lola?”
Xavier’s face darkened as he leaned across the table and pointed a menacing finger at me.
“You need to—”
“I need to what? Be blind?”
Fuck it. He’d taken it here, so I was going to give it back to him.
“C’mon, dude. You come in here trying to hang me on some rumor and we both know you’ve got your own skeletons. I see how—”
Xavier started to stand, and I shook my head.
“Hey, chill. C’mon, sit, man. I’m not fucking judging, and you know it. I’m just saying I’ve noticed, uh, changes with you two.
My friend was silent, but I could see the wheels turning in his head as he drank some coffee.
“I’m not wrong, am I?”
He just looked at me without a word, but I knew.
“Fuck me, so I’m right. I guess I don’t have to tell you that people will talk.”
“Fuck people.”
I laughed, raising my coffee cup in a toast. “And that is why we’re such good friends, old man.”
“Oh, now you’re just asking to get your ass kicked.”
Chapter 13
Faith
“This way, dear.” My mother’s grip on my arm tightened, pulling me through the crowded ballroom. This room and basically every room I’d seen so far in King Milton’s palace were decorated to the nines in white flower garlands, silvery baubles, and twinkling lights. I mean, for a scummy sham wedding, Milton — or his staff at least — had gone all out.
I had to admit, Callie was doing insanely well given the circumstances. I’d arrived the night before to spend some time with her, Lola, and Riley before the big day, where we’d basically just binged on pizza and movies. This wasn’t a normal wedding, and we weren’t doing the normal duties of normal bridesmaids. I guess when the bride to be is basically being forced to marry a troll of a king, your duties as bridesmaid changes from helping to celebrate and share in “the joy of the day” to just basically triage.