Page 59 of Royal Crush

I was affronted. “Yes, you did. You said a relationship with me would be a bad idea.”

He hummed in thought again, then shook his head.

“No, look, I get it. You’re a prince, and yeah, you’re a super down-to-earth guy, and I love that about you. But I also understand that you can’t be seen with someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” he repeated.

I rolled my eyes. The fucker really was going to make me say it, wasn’t he? “Disaster? Former child actor with a history of public meltdowns and drug abuse? The one everyone’s waiting to fall apart again? I can’t imagine the shit you’ll get for that.”

He sighed and then flopped back, hooking his hand in the front of my shirt to take me with him. We were a mess of tangled limbs, and it was entirely uncomfortable. “This isn’t going to work.” The words stung, even if I knew they were about our positions.

“Let me—” I grunted as I sat up halfway, fixed his legs out straight, then helped him turn onto his side. He let out a happy sigh and pulled me against his front.

“Better. And also, you’re a moron.”

“Thank you,” I said dryly. “I feel so incredibly loved.”

His hand softened against my cheek as he traced my faint freckles. “You’ve been through hell and back.”

“So have you?—”

My words were stopped when he pressed a finger to my lips. “This isn’t a competition, Aleric. Be quiet and listen to me.”

I swallowed thickly and nodded. He didn’t remove his finger.

“You’ve been through hell and back. I know what you told me is only a drop in the ocean of bullshit forced upon you as a child. And I know you were thrown into situations that robbed you of the life you should have had.”

My throat went tight, and my eyes heated. I nodded.

He rubbed his finger over my lower lip, and the gesture was oddly soothing. “I have spent my entire life under scrutiny, and that’s not going away anytime soon. If ever. The last thing I want to do is add to your trauma because if the press get even a whisper of what we’ve done, they will never leave you alone. Never.”

Closing my eyes, I nodded and leaned against him. He held me tighter. “Is it ridiculous to say that I don’t care?”

He laughed. “No. But it’s ridiculous to think you mean that. After everything you’ve been through?—?”

Pulling back, I looked up at him. “Some things are worth it, Camillo.”

He hummed softly and didn’t respond, but his grip on me became almost desperate, and I wondered how long we could stay like this before we had to go.

Sixteen

CAMILLO

Something had changed.There was no denying it. We sat on Aleric’s sofa until the sky dimmed and Cillian started to become slightly hysterical in his texts. I allowed Aleric to carry me to the top of the stairs before taking my chair all the way down, and then I scooted down on my ass and got myself situated.

Rather than having him drive me back, I called for a car and told them to be discreet. The neighborhood wasn’t loud, but there were plenty of families who were taking dogs and kids for evening walks.

Aleric and I hunkered down at the park beside his car, and when mine showed up, I realized that we hadn’t figured anything out. We hadn’t defined what we were or what we wanted to be. I could kiss him, but it felt like breaking the unspoken rules we’d created the first time we touched.

So I didn’t. I stared at him for a long, long moment, then got into my car and did my best not to think about it until I was home.

I had a big, grand plan to get to my apartments and promptly fall completely apart because I had no idea what to do with these feelings, but that was immediately waylaid by Cillian. He met me in the foyer with his Glare of Discontent that I was prettysure he’d gotten patented, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall.

“Don’t,” I warned him.

“I quit.”

I rolled past him, waving him off. “No you don’t.” I had to empty my piss bag before it exploded, and I was unsurprised to hear his footfalls as we headed for the bathroom. I situated my chair in front of the toilet and emptied the bag before tossing it into the red-lined bin. “If you’re going to stand there and disapprove at me, the least you can do is help.”

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