Royal Fake

I missed my girls though. I’d never ever been that far from them, and at that moment I felt like I was on another planet. As soon as I saw myself in the trench coat and heels wearing an upswept hairdo, I knew for a fact I was an alien. I looked like some gorgeous Avery that was born a million years ago… in another lifetime in a galaxy far far away.

“Oh, wow!” Liam blurted out as he walked in just as George finished putting on the coat.

“Voila!” Georg flourished his arms. “She’s ready for her people… or you know, your people.”

“I’ll say.” Liam offered me his arm and I did my best to breathe through my stress and not get sick. “If I told you,” he whispered, “about all of this before our flight, you may not have gotten on the plane and you definitely wouldn’t have had your much-needed nap. Trust me, I’ll protect you.”

“Uh, yeah, you’re probably right,” was all I said as we neared the exit.

In the distance was a throng of people just beyond the gates of the tarmac. There were loud cheers and shouts, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Ah, the adoring masses,” Liam said mostly under his breath.

“Is that all for you?” I was seriously shocked.

“Don’t be so surprised, being a handsome prince has its perks like a huge throng of adoring eligible women who fancy they’d make a great princess… or queen. See how lucky you are.” He jabbed me in the side being playful, yet the sight of all those clamoring women made me feel very possessive.

“Where do I sign?” I jabbed him back.

“I’m glad you have a sense of humor.” His voice dropped a little and I did my best not to be nervous. “Everything will be fine I promise.”

He pulled me in closer and I really couldn’t find my voice to say more. As we neared the throng, my nerves got the best of me and I began to shiver, even wearing the damn coat. Luckily security came to our rescue as they flanked us and made it so that we could get into the waiting limo with very little interaction with the crowd.

“Liam!” shouted over and over and “Prince” were the only tangible words I could make out.

If I really was going to be his wife, I’d be super pissed that his “fans” were so pushy. As soon as we were tucked into the limo I looked back at the thirty or so women shoving forward against the gate. We had landed on a small tarmac on a remote part of the airport, so these ladies made quite a schlep to harass their prince.

“So, that’s gotta feel nice.” I gave him the side-eye was clearly being snide. “All those women screaming for you like you were a rock star!” I couldn’t help but let my jealousy show a little, I mean come on I’d fucked him four times and had known him for forty-eight hours, clearly, I had dibs on the man.

I laughed inwardly thinking of how stupid it all was. I’d have a laugh and go home, there was no way I would sign anything that weekend and I felt good knowing I wasn’t going to buy into the crap. I had almost given myself a royal pat on the back for not falling for the bullshit when Liam piped in.

“I’m their handsome prince.” I nearly choked when he said it.

“And their modest one,” I teased some more.

“Here,” he flipped out his phone. “This is their illustrious king.” He showed me a picture on his phone of a gap-toothed man who was well-groomed and stately, but oh so very ugly.

“I’m sure he’s very nice.” I flashed Liam a kind smile. “I wonder why the king of Ireland didn’t fix his teeth. Surely you guys can afford an orthodontist.”

“His teeth are the royal teeth of Ireland. See, my father’s smile is his trademark, though not officially. His horrid teeth are actually a family trait, his grandfather had wickedly bad teeth as did his great grandfather. So, when I came along and had my mother’s teeth… well, the kingdom went wild. In fact, I favor my mother in all aspects.” He flipped through his phone to find a beautiful young woman with raven hair standing beside the king. “I inherited all but her hair color.”

“She’s gorgeous.” She wasn’t just beautiful, but also regal and stately. Is that what they wanted me to be? I was quirky and cute, verging on stunning if I let the likes of Georg mess with my hair more, but Liam’s mother was the picture of a true queen.

“You must really miss her,” I added not really thinking.

“It was hard to watch her waste away, her disease was so advanced when she died, she hardly looked or even acted like the mother I adored. She was so frail and weak. She could hardly speak in the end, it was heartbreaking. I actually wanted her to find peace. I know it might sound bad, but the day she died was one of the best days of my life because she was finally free. It was only the next day that I realized her freedom meant my loss. A piece of me died that day and I’ve never really gotten it back… sorry.” He stopped himself. “I uh… I never talk about this stuff.” He looked really ashamed to have mentioned the loss of his mother.