Illusions That May (Court High 2)

He shook his head, his hands up. “What are you doing out here?”

I gazed down at Hershey currently using her leash to wrap Royal and me together. She snugged us in, and even though Royal let her for a second, he pulled his legs out. He started to walk away, but I called him.

“You shouldn’t let him hit you,” I said, completely overstepping here, but I didn’t care. He took that, took it so easily like it’d been done before. For all I knew it could have, many, many times, and I saw that in his eyes when he faced me. I cringed. “And I’m sure whatever happened with your mom and sister—”

He closed the distance between us in seconds, his finger pointed at me. “Don’t think you know me or know anything about me and my family. My dad may be an asshole, but that doesn’t mean I don’t deserve it.”

Shocked he said that, I stood back.

Especially because of what he said next.

“I never should have let Knight bring you back here,” he said, the words a hard swallow in his throat. He dampened full lips. “You need to go. I can arrange for—”

“I’ll be out tonight,” I stated, making him blanch. I nodded. “And I don’t need any more favors from you.”

The heat in his eyes alleviated a little, and his lips parted, like he wanted to protest.

He didn’t.

He walked away, leaving me in the stables with Hershey. The door slammed shut behind him, and I fell to my knees. I stayed there for a little while.

But after that, I made a call.

Eighteen

Royal - Age 16

“God, you’re such a ho.”

So she’d noticed my hair, the lipstick on my jacket. Girls tended to like marking me these days.

Smirking, I only shook my head to find Paige Lindquist on my bed. I left my window open, always had since we were kids. We did that for each other.

“Fuck your judgment,” I said, teasing, then got serious when I noticed the bag by my bed. I frowned. “You staying?”

She had before, for a little while. My dad couldn’t fucking know about that shit, but it got easier and easier to hide things from him since he spent so much of his time juggling himself between Model A and Model B. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Paige crossed her legs at the ankles, on her cell phone. She shrugged. “Dad caught me in my room with a girl.”

“So who’s hoing now?”

She directed a finger. “Okay, so not okay for you to say that. I’m a girl, you bitch, so take your slut-shaming somewhere else, and yes, you’re a ho because every time I come over here, I got to check and see if you and one or three will already be in here before I come in.”

“Last I checked, you took one or two of those from me before,” I stated, eyeing her.

She grinned. “It’s not my fault I’m hotter than you.”

I made a face when she said that. Paige Lindquist hadn’t been a member of the opposite sex to me since we were kids when I realized she was more of a bro than a chick. I stripped off my shirt, tossing it for another.

She looked up over her phone. “You going somewhere?”

“A party,” I said, working it on, and she shook her head.

“From life number one to life number two. You think you’d be tired after schmoozing all night with the other royalty from the Court kingdom.”

She always had something to say about the Court, and I didn’t blame her. It took me away a lot, away from her and our friendship, but I couldn’t help it with the opportunities the affiliation to the Court allowed me. I basically got free rein of any college I wanted, connections, and though I felt bad about leaving her all the time, it didn’t have to be that way. She could be involved with the Court and take advantage of all the perks too. She just chose not to.

“You know you can go to these things with me,” I stated, tucking just the front of my shirt in. “Join Court?” It’d never been done before, a girl joining the Court without dating or be