His jaw tightens and he turns his face to the side, as if to hide it from me.

“Royal . . .” I pull his face back to mine and brush my lips against his. He sucks in a small breath, but stays where he is. “Can you promise me that? Say it. Please . . . say it.”

Breathing heavily, he crushes his lips against mine, before pulling away and grabbing my hand to walk us out of the water. “Let’s get you back inside and changed. All that matters to me right now is that you’re taken care of. I’m not letting you get sick because of me.”

He quickly wraps his arms around me and picks me up to cradle me against him, before I can say anything more. Releasing a long breath, I wrap my arms around his neck and press my face against the side of his as he carries me past Jax and Blaine and back into the warm hospital.

He asks Jax where my room is and he carries me there, shutting the door behind us, before undressing me from my wet gown and helping me back into my clothing.

The nurse comes back in a few minutes later, shakes her head at me, and gives me my discharge papers.

“The doctor has cleared you to go. That’s what I tried telling you as you were rushing past me down the hall.” She looks to Royal, standing there dirty and wet. “There’s instructions on what you need to do over night. I’ll just let you read it yourself since y’all seem to be in a hurry.”

“Thank you,” I say, while flashing her a weak smile. “Sorry about the puddle.”

She looks down at the floor where my wet gown is laying in a huge puddle. “Mmm hmm. I’m sure you are.”

Grabbing my hand, Royal leads me out of the room, motioning with his head for the boys to follow. “I have a pit stop to make on the way home. You good with that, Blaine?”

Blaine squeezes his shoulder. “Hell yeah. I’m always down.”

After Royal helps me into the backseat of Blaine’s truck, he closes the door and walks over to talk to Jax.

“Hey,” I say to Blaine as he jumps in the driver’s side. “Should I worry about this little pit stop?”

Blaine grins. “Nah. This is going to be good. Trust me.”

Royal jumps into the truck a few minutes later and wraps a blanket around me, before pulling me into his arms. “Get comfortable, but I need you to stay awake for a while.” He leans in and kisses the top of my head. “Can you do that?”

I squeeze his hand and bury my face into his chest. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not tired yet.”

“Good,” he whispers.

The drive back into town is quiet. I’m suspecting it’s due to my head injury, and neither one of them want to give a reason for my head to hurt even more. I’m thankful for the silence, but I won’t be for long.

I want to find out what happened with Royal tonight, but tonight probably isn’t the best time to talk about it. I’ll wait until the morning.

“This is going to be fun,” Blaine says, while shifting the truck into park.

Sitting up, I look around to see that we’re parked outside of Colton’s house.

“Stay here,” Royal demands. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Oh trust me . . . I never want to step foot in that house again,” I mutter.

Royal quickly kisses my forehead and then jumps out of the truck, slamming the door behind him.

I hear Royal digging in the back of the truck for something, before I see him toss a rope down beside the truck and rush up to Colton’s door.

Without even bothering to check if the door is unlocked or not, he kicks at the door three times before it flies open and he rushes inside.

“That’s always fun to watch,” Blaine says, while lighting a cigarette and rolling down the window. “At least he won’t need to break any of my shit now.”

I don’t say anything. I just stare at the door, waiting for Royal to come back out. A part of me even wishes that I could see the scared look in Colton’s eyes as Royal kicks the shit out of him. Maybe Madison will get her wish and he’ll piss his pants and ruin his damn perfect carpet.

We wait patiently for about ten minutes, before we hear Colton cussing as Royal drags him out of the house, naked, by his neck.

“You’re fucking crazy! What are you doing, you, crazy son of a bitch?”

Royal slams him face down into the grass, grabs the back of his head and slams it into the ground, repeatedly.

Grabbing the back of his hair, he pulls his head back and presses his knife to his neck. “Come by her again, brother . . . and you’ll see how fucking crazy I can get.”

“Fuck!” Colton yells. “I’m done. I’m done.”

“Good,” Royal seethes.

He turns toward the truck to look at Blaine who is now sitting out his window. “Bring me that fucking rope.”

Blaine laughs and throws down his cigarette, while climbing out the window. “Hell motherfucking yeah.”

I place my hand over my mouth and watch as Royal ties Colton up to his porch, naked, his face now covered in dirt, grass, and blood.

Royal stands back so that he can get a look and reaches to light a cigarette. “If you scream loud enough, maybe one of your neighbors will come untie your fucking ass.” He flicks his lit cigarette at the side of Colton’s head.

“Fuck you!” Colton screams while pulling at the ropes. “I’m calling the cops.”

Blaine disappeared into the house a couple of minutes ago, but steps back outside, smirking as he looks down at Colton. “With what?” He holds up a cell phone. “This?” He shakes his head and then leans down to set the phone down in front of Colton where he can’t reach it. “Good luck, bitch.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you! Come back here and untie me!”

Royal and Blaine walk back to the truck, ignoring Colton as he continues to yell at them, cussing and pulling at the ropes.

Blaine pokes his head inside the truck and smiles at me. “Told you it’d be fun to watch.”

I look back out the window at Colton struggling, naked, and tied to his porch. I have to admit that it somehow makes the night worth it.

I smile and grab Royal’s face as he hops back into the truck. “How did you get him naked? Did you undress him?” I ask with a laugh.

Royal smiles against my lips and then kisses me. “Caught his ass in the shower. Now let’s get you home to rest.”

I nod my head and then lean back into him as Blaine pulls away from Colton’s house. With this neighborhood, I’m pretty sure that the cops are already on their way to untie him, but just knowing that they’ll find him naked, baring his little dick to the world, makes me a happy girl. Maybe he’ll learn to stop being such an ass to everyone.

We pull up to Royal’s house.

“You two good for the night?” He questions over the seat.

“Yeah,” Royal responds. “I’ll let you know if she needs anything.”

“Alright, brother.” Blaine smiles at me. “I got your back, girl. If you need some ice cream, a chick flick, or a full body rub . . .” He playfully lifts his brows. “Call me.”

Royal palms his face and pushes him away. “Don’t push my ass tonight.”

Laughing, I pull Royal’s hand away from Blaine’s face. “Take it easy on dirty Blaine. He means well.”

“She totally gets me,” Blaine says teasingly, before becoming serious. “Now get your ass inside and take care of her.”

After Royal helps me out of the truck, he takes me downstairs to his bedroom, undresses us both, and crawls into bed, pulling me under the blankets with him.

Every once in a while I doze off, but Royal wakes me up to check on me, before rubbing my head while I fall back to sleep again.

This goes on for most of the night, as he is now, but this time, it’s with him on top of me and between my legs.

When I open my eyes, I reach up and grab his face as he slowly enters me.

He’s extra careful with me, slowly thrusting in and out, while leaning his forehead against mine and breathing gently against my lips.

Looking into his eyes and seeing the passion inside of them as he buries himself deep inside of me, has me about ready to break. All of my emotions take over and suddenly I feel as if I’m going to suffocate if I don’t get the words out.