Our eyes clashed with one another’s. “Because next time you decide to stare at me with lust and desires in your eyes that you don’t understand, I just might have to take it as an invitation for far more than I know you can handle.” Royal’s voice dipped, and with it so did my heart, a shiver working its way down my spine.
I gulped in a deep breath of much needed air. The words he spoke were partially true and partially false. I may have looked at him with desires I didn’t understand, but I knew damn well I could handle the asshole and anything he dished out. The thought of him degrading me as he was, was enough to pull me from the lust-filled stupor he put me in.
I should’ve known he would try something like this. It was nothing but a way to cover up his pain. My mouth was dry, and words seemed to be missing from my vocabulary. I couldn’t speak, not after everything he just said to me. Not after he made me hot and bothered but angry all at the same time. How did he insult me and still manage to make me want him all within the same sentence?
“Cat got your tongue, sweet cheeks?” When he spoke this time his lips were a breath away from my own, his own hot breath fanning against my face. He was gorgeous, but he was also an asshole and I would learn well to remember that. I knew the type of game he was playing and exactly what his next move would be.
He’s your stepbrother, Noelle, nothing more, nothing less.
“Check mate, bitch,” I whispered the words just as I lifted my leg up into his groin. My knee made contact with his balls just as he realized what it was that I was going to do. There was, however, nothing that could be done to stop me at that point. My knee was already connecting with his groin when his eyes finally met mine, a fierce anger simmering in them. I slammed the top of my knee hard against his sack, making sure the impact was hard enough to put him out of commission for awhile. Then I slowly pulled away from him, all while his hands reached out to stop me from leaving, his fingers skimming across the front of my shirt.
Pain etched into his features, and his eyes started to water as he leaned against the brick wall like his life depended on it. I took another weary step away from him, afraid that if I got too close he would do something to hurt me.
“Bitch,” he growled, gripping himself as he tried to stand to his full height. There was a feral rage lingering in those pale blue eyes of his. Shit! He was going to kill me.
I took another step back as he righted himself, pain obviously overtaking him as he tried to take a step toward me.
“Don’t think this is over, Noelle. Don’t think that you can get away with doing something like this without facing my wrath.” Fear rooted me in place, but as I continued to stare at him, something else started to replace that fear.
Something that gave me the strength to finally speak.
“Don’t fuck with me, Royal. You may think that I’m just some spoiled little princess, but I’m tougher than you think, and I’m not afraid of you.”
A scary smile formed on his face as he slid against the brick wall slowly getting closer to me. “You aren’t right now, but then again I haven’t done anything to hurt you yet.” Air filtered into my lungs. I was done with this conversation. If I didn’t leave now, he would get his hands on me and the whole point I had just proven would be pointless.
“Try to hurt me. Do it. I’ll fight you tooth and nail, Royal. Unlike everyone, else I believe there is something halfway decent in that cold heart of yours.”
I skirted away from him and his coldness, running with all my might toward the locker rooms. I might have looked and sounded like a warrior, but I was scared as fuck of Royal and the repercussions that would follow from what I had done.
Chapter Seven
-Royal
Three long days and a bag of frozen peas later and I was finally getting past what Noelle had done. My ego wasn’t bruised but my balls were, and that was enough to piss me the fuck off for an eternity.
I was livid at first; you didn’t touch someone without the intention of having the same come back upon you. I wouldn’t lift a hand to her beautiful skin, but I would retaliate in some form to get even with her. The nerve it took to knee me in the balls had to be immense. Somewhere in something that I said to her must have caused a switch to flip inside of her, pissing her right the fuck off. That was fine though, because if Noelle wanted a war, she was going to get one. I was darker. Meaner. Far worse than she could ever imagine.
If she wanted to see me in my most ruthless form, then she was going to get her wish.
“Royal. I need you to come into my study, please?” Mark asked but more so ordered right before he headed out of the kitchen. His voice startled me because he had been in the kitchen preparing his food without a single word said to me. Then suddenly he wanted me to listen to him. Yeah I didn’t know how I felt about that.