The ass grinned like a motherfucker. “No problem. Happy to help. She’s my friend.”
I did know that, that he was her friend. That’s the very reason I’d thrown him a bone when it came to that haze. If I’d allowed him to get hurt, her friend, December would have never forgiven me, and that’s one thing I couldn’t have. She’d never have been able to look at me again had I allowed something to happen to Mallick, and that’s something I understood early. It didn’t matter how I felt about the guy. December cared about him, and I had to respect that.
He had to respect what I was to her too, what I’d always be to her. I played with the necklace I gave her, the ring mine but the chain from my mother. Her wedding ring went to me after she died, another thing to shove the dagger in my dad’s face and lead me into years of physical and emotional abuse. She left me pretty much everything personal that held meaning to her, and eventually, I had her ring melted down and turned it into this chain. I wore that thing basically every day, my connection to my mom.
That was all the more reason to give it to December, my heart hers now, and I didn’t regret that.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you a question, Prinze, and seeing as how you’re here and everything…”
“What?” I glanced Mallick’s way, more than ready to go, but I guess I would entertain one question. He’d been there for December, and I supposed I owed him that.
Mallick’s chin lifted. “December told me how you sent her to Arizona. I’m assuming to get her out of this town, away from all this bullshit?”
Since he was right with his assumption, I nodded. “So what?”
“So it got me thinking.” He scooted to the edge of the couch, his fingers laced together. “Why Arizona? I mean, did you even know anybody there?” He lifted a shoulder. “I guess I just find that an odd place to send someone, you know?”
It wasn’t, not really. I brushed December’s cheek. “I did know someone.”
“Who?”
I gave him a look like he was an idiot, and when his eyes flashed, I knew he finally fucking got it.
He put a hand to his chest. “Me?”
“Don’t make a thing of it.” I shook my head. “I figured it was better having her someplace far away where I at least knew one person.”
“But me?” His mouth parted. “You hated my ass.”
“Still hate,” I corrected. I dampened my lips. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t think you’d have her back if she ever came across you.”
Mallick did some terrible things to me, some bullshit, but as much as he was a bully and an asshole, when it came to the few serious relationships I knew he’d had in his life, he’d been ride or die. He’d been someone one could trust if they were on his side, and maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I recalled that.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Really don’t make a thing of it. It’ll never happen again.”
“Oh, I won’t,” he said, chuckling, then stared at December. “She’ll never know how much you actually like me.”
I panned to see a grin, one I flipped the bird at. No, she’d never know I didn’t actually ha
te him…
I wondered when that changed.
Nineteen
December
A sizable weight hugged my side, and at the sound of a purr, my eyes shot open. I stifled a scream at the sight of a pair of jungle eyes and nearly fell off the bed when an actual tiger stared at me. It slinked its skinny tiger self in my direction, and when it plopped its weight against me again, it took me a second to realize I’d seen her before.
“Oh my God, you scared the shit out of me.” I ran my hand down Dinah’s back, Royal’s cat Dinah, and the big sweetie fell to her back. She stretched out like an oversize kitten, not the mini tiger she was.
I grinned, getting her behind the ears, and gazing around, I recognized the room as well. Large, oak bed and dark silk curtains. They matched the ones lining the windows embedded in crimson-colored walls. This was Royal Prinze’s bedroom, and if the sight of his room and large jungle cat didn’t tune me in on that, the smell of his sheets did. They hummed of masculinity, reeked of him, and I basked in it while I rubbed on Dinah.
“You’re going to make Hershey jealous, you know that?” I said, lifting her weight. I lowered her to my belly. “If I come home smelling like cat, she’s going to seriously hurt me.”
Dinah didn’t care, a big ole softy, which was crazy considering her size. Jax, when he’d brought me here once, told me she was a softy, but I hadn’t gone near her since her sheer size freaked me out. With her now, I saw exactly what he spoke about, and I guessed her breed was some kind of savannah cat or something equality exotic. Jax had told me this was Grace’s cat, Royal’s sister.
Smiling, I sat up. I wondered where Royal was, but not necessarily how I’d gotten here. I mean, I obviously walked but remembered being a little disoriented since I was so tired. Royal came to get me at Ramses’s sometime in the middle of the night. He’d picked me up and everything, a true royal prince as he hugged me to his side and placed me in his Audi. He apologized for not getting my calls, for not coming to me exactly when I needed him, but I’d told him not to worry about it. I had a friend take care of me just fine.