Page 65 of Royal
“Own safety,” I interjected dryly. “Yeah, I know.” I held the phone closer to my ear and softly sighed. “Are you sure you can’t sneak over after work, though? It’s been two days, and nothing has happened.”
“Royal Alexander Henderson, are you asking for a booty call?”
“Ah fuck, don’t use my full name,” I said with a laugh. Damn him for knowing how to get me to smile when I was trying to stay annoyed at him.
“Look, once this guy is caught, I’ll let you do whatever you want to my body. As often as you want,” Grayson practically purred into the phone. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Yeah. Eight years of it,” I agreed, growing hard at the thought. “The hate-fuck doesn’t exactly count. We…we weren’t in a good place that night.”
Just the memory of how I treated Grayson that night made my skin crawl. I never wanted to feel that way again. Some people could have angry sex and feel great afterward. But not me. At least, not when it was with Grayson. He meant way too much to me.
I wanted us to have the make-up sex we deserved. The kind that would rock my fucking world just as much as it rocked my bed. I wanted that sucker banging into the wall, close to breaking. I wanted Grayson’s lips on mine as his dick pumped in and out of me. My nails would claw his back, and I’d bite his neck just like he liked.
“Royal?”
“Yeah?” I asked after clearing my throat.
“You okay? You got quiet.”
“I’m fine.” And horny. “How’s your sexy Agent Stone today?”
“Damn right he’s mine. Don’t you forget it, either.”
I chuckled.
“In all seriousness, things are kinda tense here,” Grayson said. The playfulness had left his voice. “We put a rush on the lab work for the letter, but we haven’t got a DNA match in the system yet. Phoenix is calling the police department in Bellingham, Washington, where the first victim was found, to see if we can get any useful info there. Since that’s where the murders began, we feel that’s where Ameinias is from.”
Made sense.
“So, you call him Phoenix now?” I asked.
“Get that jealousy out of your tone, Charming,” Grayson said, back to his playful self. “I hope you know I only say that shit to pester you. I don’t actually want him. He’s hot, yeah, but he’s not my type. Too serious.”
“Oh yeah?” I smiled and kicked my legs up on the table. “And what’s your type?”
“Eh. Tall and handsome. Muscled, but not too much. Kind of a pretty boy. A guy who’s sort of a nerd but can be an asshole when he doesn’t get his way. Blue eyes and a nice ass. Someone with a kind heart, who knows how to put up with my shit, because god knows I have a ton of baggage.”
“Did you just call me a pretty boy?” I ignored the way his words settled over my heart. Or tried to.
“Huh? Was I talking about you?” Grayson asked. “I was just describing my dream guy, Royal. Don’t know what you thought.”
“Sure.” I looked at the time and saw I had a few more minutes before I had to be in the studio. “I ran into Jack today at the grocery store. He had his new fiancée with him. So that was fun.”
“He still an ass to you?”
“Not as big of an ass as you are, Gray, no worries.” I smiled when he grumbled into the phone. “But yeah. We don’t get along. He seemed worried about me, but I’m sure he was putting on a show in front of her. You remember how he is. One way in front of people, and another way when we’re at home.”
“Yeah. I remember,” Grayson growled. “Still want to kick his ass for how he treated you.”
That wasn’t even the worst of it. At Jonathon’s funeral, my dad had told me that the wrong son had died. Hearing that shit had messed me up for a while.
“No sense dwelling on it,” I said to him but also myself. Negativity was like a poison. Once you let it in, it continued to grow until it was all you could think about. “I need to get into the studio. Call me later?”
“Sure.”
I turned my phone on silent and left the break room. Rick glared at me, and I was too fed up with his shit to fake being nice, so I glared right back. I loved my job. But I could find another one I loved more. Better than staying somewhere that made me miserable.
I took a seat beside Michelle and said hi to her. The cameramen positioned their cameras, and the lighting was adjusted. I took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then released it.
