Cruel King (Royal Elite 0)

No one touches what belongs to me.

Astrid Clifford is already mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Today’s practice goes smoothly now that I don’t have to worry about the little princess in the crowd, cheering for someone else.

“Good to have our captain back.” Cole winks at me on our way out of the locker room.

“Did I ever leave, fuckers?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah?” Xander raises both eyebrows. “You were the living dead on Saturday.”

“Shut it, Knight.”

“Yeah, shut it, Knight. My party cheered up, Captain.” Ronan flings his arm around my shoulder and waggles his eyebrow. “Were Mum’s paintings that inspiring?”

I smirk. “Very.”

“Oh, bordel.” His face falls. “Come on, Captain. In the office? Mum will fucking kill me.”

“Rest in peace, little shit,” Cole says.

“Don’t fuck the corpses when you’re dead,” Xander laughs and we all laugh with him.

Ronan head-locks both Xander and Cole making them butt heads. I let them walk ahead as Aiden stalks to my side like the creep he is.

He’s focused on his phone, on someone’s social media. That’s rare. Usually, Aiden doesn’t give two shits about these things.

Unlike me, he does have an Instagram account, but he only uses it to paint a fake image.

I angle my head to the side to see who’s the pitiful fuck who has my cousin’s attention. I only catch a glimpse of a girl’s Instagram before he hits home.

“Are you recruiting someone for a satanic sacrifice?” I ask.

“Maybe.” His poker face’s game is too strong. It’s as if he’s actually entertaining the idea.

Wait. Is he?

“What gives, Lev?”

“About?”

“No fight with Jonathan for the entire weekend. That’s a record.”

“He’s not worth it.”

“And you’re not speedy.” He raises an eyebrow. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”

My feet falter for a second as Aiden’s words sink in.

I’m not speedy — not that I like the term.

Fuck.

I was never able to pull a break on it before but now, the wheel is slowing down on its own.

“You coming to the Meet Up?” Aiden asks over his shoulder.

“No, and Ro!”