Page 41 of Royal Crush

The moment the doors opened, Aleric reached out and grabbed my shoulder, preventing me from rolling onto the platform. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

I looked up at him. “It’s not going to plummet if that’s what you’re worried about. They use this for food shipments too.”

“When was the last time it was serviced?” There was a tremor in his voice.

“Do you have a phobia?”

Swallowing heavily, he shrugged. “Probably not aphobia. Just a healthy, totally rational fear of small compartments that could send me careening to my death.”

I fought back a sigh, though it was full of affection instead of irritation, which in turn made me irritated with myself. I had no business getting soft with this man. “You can trust me, or you can take the stairs. But I’ve reached my quota of being carried for the week.”

Biting his lip, he let me go, but he kept very close to me when I rolled inside and hit the button. His tiny squeak when the car lurched made me grin, and the second it began to rise, he ducked down and snagged my hand, squeezing it hard.

Christ, I’d thought he was exaggerating. I felt a little guilty as the doors opened and he hurtled himself out, and I pretendednot to notice when he pressed two fingers to his throat to feel his pulse. He looked alright, if not a bit shaky, and I would definitely be insisting on him using the stairs when we headed down.

“Breathe,” I ordered when I realized his chest wasn’t moving. I pushed my chair further into the corridor and grabbed him around the wrist. He had either gone limp noodle, or I didn’t understand my strength because with that single tug, he collapsed on my lap.

“Fuck.” His curse came out a wheezing gasp. His eyes were big and wide, and God, I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t move.

“Breathe,” I said again.

He obeyed. Fuck, I loved when he obeyed.

“It’s just an elevator, and it’s perfectly safe. We survived.”

“I feel like I’m made of jelly.” Then his eyes went even wider, and he scrambled up. “Shit, sorry. That probably wasn’t comfortable.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I can’t feel it.”

“Not even this?” He gave his nicely rounded backside a pat, and I fought the urge to reach out and feel for myself if it was as firm as it looked.

My mouth watered a little, and I swallowed heavily. “Not even that. Not where you were sitting, anyway.”

Now, if he’d been sitting on my face, that would have been a totally different story, but that was a road I wasn’t prepared to go down. Not right then. Turning my chair, I gave a single hard push and rolled to the apartment door. It opened with a code, and I was relieved when it didn’t smell like old food or mold.

The place had been recently cleaned. There was even a bowl of fruit on the little breakfast nook table in the corner. It was a small little spot—barely a one-bedroom with a standing shower that I’d never been able to use—but it was perfect for afternoons when I really wanted to disappear.

I’d splurged on comfortable furniture that I could transfer on and off of without an issue, and while it felt weird to bring someone into this space that had been mine and only mine for a long time, somehow, Aleric felt good here.

He felt…right.

Like he belonged.

Maybe his role as me was getting to me a bit more than I expected.

“Why is this both bigger and nicer than my apartment?” he asked, turning in a circle. He didn’t sound angry. Just tired.

“If you’re angling for a raise, you know that’s not my department, right?”

He gave me a dark, irritated look as he shuffled over to the sofa and sat down. He sank half an inch, his brows flying up. “Where the hell did you get this, and do I want to know how much it costs?”

“No. And it was special ordered. There’s a company that makes furniture to support bodies without putting pressure on the wrong spots.” Basically, it was expensive. And difficult to find. And I knew it was maybe a shitty thing to imply, considering he was a broke actor who was just getting back on his feet and I was a prince throwing money at an apartment that I barely used.

If I wasn’t careful, the guilt would eat me alive.

“I could literally sleep here. This is better than my bed.”

I grinned, rolling into the kitchen to check the fridge situation. There was a container of what looked like iced coffee concentrate, unopened boxes of milks and creamers, some fresh fruit, and some juices that weren’t labeled.

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