Page 70 of Royal Havoc

“Tulip?” he says, full of worry.

Slowly, I slide my hand towards his, grazing my pinky over his skin. The hairs on my arms stand on end, shocking my weakened system to life.

“I missed you,” I purr softly.

All the anger he harbors rushes away at the sound of those words. “You can’t scare me like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Who hurt you?” he rasps, examining the bandage with worried eyes. His fingers twitch, wanting to inspect it properly.

“Me,” I answer honestly.

“How? Where were you?”

My teeth graze my bottom lip, trying to hide my smile. Absolutely loving the way he makes me feel. No one has ever worried about me the way he does or cared enough to protect me. I heard him beating on his door, trying to get to me, when they dragged me from my room.

“The tank. I wanted out. I needed to see you,” I explain, noticing the scabs on his healing knuckles.

His questioning eyes roam over my face. “Why did you hurt Sasha? It’s been months since I’ve seen her. I thought she left,” he admits, turning to peer out the window.

“No, silly, the doc hid her from me after I caught you coming back from her room that night.”

His eyes grow wide. “That’s why she went missing?”

I bite my bottom lip. “Yes. He knew I’d want revenge.”

“What did you do?”

Unable to hold in the girly giggle his shocked face induces. “Cut out her tongue,” I answer, void of emotion.

For a second, I fear his eyeballs might actually fall from their sockets. “It was months ago. Why would you risk us being together? I’ve told you I love you,” he rants.

Blinking across the table at him. “She’s lucky I didn’t slice her jugular.” Leaning forward a little. “I will kill anyone that tries to take you from me. Promise.”

His head swivels, searching our surroundings, worried someone might have heard me. “How many times do I have to tell you? You can’t say shit like that.”

“It’s the truth. And I’m supposed to tell the truth.”

He shakes his head. “Stop listening to Bolton’s bullshit. Keep your mouth shut and behave. I’m going to get us out of this shit hole.”

“I —”

He stands. “Tulip, I want you to meet someone.” Turning, I notice Dan escorting a guy towards us. “Ollie,” Brock smiles.

“Brock,” the guy says, smiling back.

“Ollie, this is Tulip. Tulip, this is my brother Ollie, short for Oliver,” he proudly introduces us.

He sits beside B, and I immediately notice the resemblance, even though his sibling has darker hair.

“B’s told me a lot about you.”

Plopping my chin on my fist. “Really? I’ve not heard a thing about you. Didn’t even know you existed.”

Ollie laughs, side-eyeing B. “We were split up when we were young. It took me a while to find him after I graduated.”

“You look a little old.”

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