I huffed out a heavy breath feeling a bit frustrated. “You make no sense, Royal. One minute you’re the one causing me pain and the next you’re claiming you care about me and want to do nothing but protect me. What gives? Are you bipolar?” I demanded louder than intended, my voice booming inside the car.
“I’m a complicated person. A dynamic person with emotions that are almost always off the wall, Noelle. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care, though. Just because I don’t show a certain emotion in vivid color doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.”
“I’m sorry…” I tried to catch my breath, still reeling from his previous comment as I held my hand to my chest. “I just couldn’t believe you said that you cared about me. I thought for sure you would throw me into shark-infested water before you ever admitted that.” I took a deep breath, my eyes meeting his. He didn’t seem amused, in fact, he seemed kind of hurt.
“I’m an asshole. I’m selfish and I’m violent as fuck, but I wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt you, Noelle. Even someone like me has boundaries.” The sullen look in his eyes shifted as we pulled into the driveway.
Suddenly I was overcome with sadness. Our time alone had ended, and for the first time ever I didn’t want it to. I wanted to take the kind words he said and bottle them up to remind myself later on that he really wasn’t that big of an asshole. To remind myself when times got hard, that there was more to him than the eye could see.
I knew Royal wasn’t as heartless as he led on because I got to see a side of him that was sweet and calming, a side that told me there was a real man below the frigid surface.
“Thank you,” I said the words before we both exited the Jeep. I wanted him to know I was thankful for everything that happened today.
“For what?” he questioned me, giving my car keys back.
I smiled at him, opening the car door. “For showing me that you aren’t really as heartless as you make yourself out to be.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond, instead I slipped out of the car, slamming the door closed behind me. Then I walked up the stone walkway and away from him, leaving him to digest what I said however he would like.
Chapter Nine
-Royal
I didn’t like the way Noelle watched me, or how she could enter a room and control my entire mood. It bothered the fuck out of me. Even worse was that I let it bother me. That I let her have that control over me.
We both got our asses grilled for getting in the fender-bender. Noelle got it the worst though. She got lectured for over an hour about how she shouldn’t be giving into bad influences and behavior, and that if she listened better things like this wouldn’t have happened. Yeah, like I was the only bad influence she would have a run in with in her entire life. Didn’t they realize it was called an accident for a reason?
Viviana had a bitch fit when she found out Mark decided to get me my car, even after the small fender-bender with Noelle’s Jeep. I think the accident gave Mark exactly the excuse he wanted to buy me the car I told him last week I didn’t want. Shit hit an all-time low when the car got here. I might not have wanted the car, but watching Viviana's anger rise with each passing second was so worth giving in to what Mark wanted.
“Yeah, she tried to ground me, and then the lecture continued on for an hour. From there I told her I was eighteen and could make my own choices.” I could hear the disdain in Noelle’s voice.
I was being a bit stalkerish, standing outside her bedroom door listening to her talk on the phone. Then again, if she didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop maybe she should close her bedroom door. I peered in through the tiny slit in the door, my mouth going dry the second my eyes landed on her.
“I don’t know, Jordan.” She spoke into her cell phone. My eyes were glued to her ass. Fuck her ass was perfect. I was mesmerized into place by the lace panties she was wearing. They showed off each ass cheek in the sexiest way possible. I stared in disbelief for a moment as she pulled her shirt off her head. Fuck yes! I had to force myself into place and not go to her when there she was right in front of me in nothing but her bra and panties. All while having no clue that she was.
“I’m going, but I don’t know, and I don’t care if Royal is going.” My name falling from her lips pulled me from my trance, but only for a second. Where the fuck did she think she was going, and why did it matter if I was there or not?
I lost track of what it was that I was thinking because all I could see was her creamy white, smooth skin, and the way the soft lacey fabric of her panties laid against her hips as if it was made to be there. She was so fucking beautiful, and I was pretty fucking positive she didn’t know it.
Walking over to her dresser she pulled a t-shirt out then shimmed into a pair of dark denim shorts. My cock swelled in my jeans as I watched her pull them up the sides of her legs and up over her ass. The movements she was making made me want to barge into the bedroom and nail her against the wall.