I’m enveloped in warmth and wetness, my fingers in her hair, her tongue lapping every inch of my cock.
“God, Demi . . .” I groan minutes later, wishing I could fight it off and knowing I can’t. She sucks me harder, pumps me faster, and coaxes me to the edge. When I’m done, she swallows me with a reserved half-smirk and rises to her feet.
I want to kiss her, but . . .
“Should we go?” She slinks her purse around her shoulder and acts like nothing just happened.
“Yeah, give me a sec.” I clean up in the bathroom. When I come out, I find her leaning against the kitchen counter. My heart stops cold.
My discharge papers.
The letter from the board of parole.
I left them on the counter the other night.
“Ready?” She turns and gives a tepid smile, and I release a held breath.
She didn’t see them.
Thank God.
When we’re in my car a few minutes later, Demi messes with the radio. If it were anyone else I’d say something, but I like this. Feels like old times. She settles on an obnoxious pop station as I pull onto the highway back to South Fork.
“What are you doing tonight?” I ask when we pull into the Patterson Auto Body parking lot. I’m undeniably late, but she was so fucking worth it.
Demi turns my way, her palms sliding down her thighs, and she blows a hard breath through her perfect lips.
“Brooks woke up this morning.”
Her words make me swallow wrong, and I spend a solid minute choking on my spit.
“Demi.” I cough. “What? He woke up? Why did you come here? Why did you—”
“I don’t know, Royal.” She buries her pretty face in shaking hands. “I don’t know.”
Glancing into the shop, I spot Pandora watching us from her perch behind the front desk. It’s more of a glare than a watch, really. The second I step in, I’m going to get the what-for, but Pandora needs to understand that she was never mine to begin with. And I was never hers.
I was always Demi’s.
Reaching for her left hand, I move it away from her face. She turns to me, but she’s not crying. Her face is winced, her eyes pained and glassy. I imagine some kind of war is being waged inside her, and she’s definitely not prepared for battle.
“Don’t feel bad about today, okay?” I keep my voice low, inching as close to her as my car allows. “You’re going through some shit. Fuck anyone who judges you.”
She stares ahead at the Dodge insignia on my glove compartment, unblinking.
“I’m glad you came by,” I add. Yeah. Really glad. “I need to go inside, but I’ll stop over tonight on my way home from work. We can talk more.”
The last week, I’ve been staying late, timing my work schedule with the hospital visiting hours so I don’t miss Demi when she comes home.
“No,” she says. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Before I can protest, she climbs out of my car, shuts the door gently, and ambles to her Subaru. Demi feels guilty. It’s that Rosewood kicking in. But she shouldn’t. Brooks Abbott is the douchiest son of a bitch I’ve ever come across, and I’ve spent time behind bars. He trumps them all. He’s selfish and narcissistic. He didn’t deserve her in the first place, and I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t get to keep her after all he’s done.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Royal
“You’re late, Royal.” Pandora folds her arms when I return from lunch.
“First time for everything.”
“You’re lucky I don’t tell Daddy.”
“I’m staying late tonight to make up for it.” My fingers hook my belt loops. “Worked ten hours overtime last week. Highly doubt he has a problem with me grabbing an extra fifteen minutes at lunch.”
She pouts, and I know that look. She’s trying to start shit, and it’s all because she saw me run off with Demi.
“Who’s the rich bitch that came in here looking for you? New girlfriend?” Pandora leans over the counter, her tits falling out of her unbuttoned top. I don’t look, and I’m sure that pisses her off.
“Not new,” I say.
“Old girlfriend?” Pandora huffs through her nose.
“Yep.”
I clock back in at the computer beside her and turn to leave, only her nails dig into the flesh of my forearm.
Groaning, I face her.
“Does she know?” she asks, one pencil-thin brow arched. “Does she know what you are?”
A flood of panic courses through me so quickly it stings. Out of hundreds of scenarios, Demi finding out from someone like Pandora never crossed my mind. They were never supposed to cross paths in the first place. I never counted on Demi showing up in South Fork out of the blue.