Royal Mess (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 3)

“Royal,” he called softly.

“Just please leave me alone, Marco. I’m not okay, but I will be.” Eventually. My relationship with my brother was a strange one, but at the end of the day, he was still my brother. And now, he was gone. Because of me.

A sob escaped my lips.

“I’m here if you need me.” I listened to Marco’s footsteps cross the room and the door shut behind him.

I was alone.

Finally.

Another sob racked my body, and I turned onto my side. I grabbed a pillow and buried my face in it.

How had I gotten here?

What had I done for this to happen?

My mind swirled with thoughts, and a wave of nausea rolled through my body. I clamped down on my bottom lip and sucked in a deep breath. Getting sick wasn’t going to make anything better. I needed to buck up and deal with the cards that were dealt to me.

The nausea subsided but the tears still rolled down my chest. I hiccupped loudly and rolled onto my back. I grabbed the edge of the comforter and pulled it over me.

I laid there trying to think of anything other than Grit. The last time I had seen him had been a somewhat happy time, but it had been bittersweet. We only had a few minutes before Leo whisked me off to Rockton, and then, a few short days after that, Grit was gone.

I heard the muffled sound of something drop out in the hallway, but I didn’t have enough energy to get up and see what it was.

My eyes drifted shut, and I let my exhaustion take me over.

I finally slept.

*

Marco

I laid my hand on the cold door and leaned my forehead against it.

It was my fault she was sobbing.

I was the one who had put that grief in her life.

Now I had to figure out how I was going to make it better.

I really did have a royal mess on my hands, and now, I needed to be the man to fix it.

*

Chapter Four

Royal

My stomach grumbled, and I stared up at the ceiling.

I needed to eat, but I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to find my way to the kitchen. I had woken up ten minutes ago with the little one in my tummy doing a tap dance on my bladder and managed to dash to the bathroom before I made a mess of the lush rug.

Now I was back in bed trying to remember the way from my room to the kitchen. I had thought I could maybe hold out until the morning, but there was no way little baby was going to wait that long.

I rubbed my stomach and sighed. “Okay, little baby. Let’s go on an adventure and try to find the kitchen.” I rolled out of bed and stood. I glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed.

That was why I was so hungry. It was almost ten o’clock. At night.