The Prince and the Pawn

by Reid, B. B.

  Ever’s head swung back and forth in disbelief between me and what was now just a heap of metal before silently whispering, “Fuck.” Shoulder to shoulder, neither of us spoke for several minutes until Ever eventually broke the silence. “It’s not fair,” he mumbled with a shake of his head.

  I wasn’t in the mood for his shit, but since his number, besides the bitch who did this, was the only one I could recall, I decided to amuse him. I wasn’t sure anyone else would have come anyway. They’d all taken her side. The irony was that none of them had seen or spoken to her either.

  “You’re the only asshole I know who can hit the jackpot by fucking up.”

  “How exactly is this winning?” I spat as I gestured toward my totaled Lamborghini. It looked like someone had dropped a goddamn building on it. If I weren’t so pissed, I’d be impressed. How the hell did she do it? The cheeky bitch had even left a red Christmas bow on the crushed roof along with a four-letter word written in lipstick on the hood.

  Liar.

  My fists balled at my side while Ever rubbed his chin, studying what was once my car. “Because Jamie made a remark that I thought was ridiculous until I found you stranded out here in the middle of the night.”

  “And what’s that?”

  He shrugged before finally meeting my gaze. There was a twinkle in his eye that sent a chill down my spine. “When a good girl is gone, there’s no getting her back.” Ever laid a placating hand on my shoulder, but I could tell he was biting back a laugh. “If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open.”

  I shook off his hand before taking one last look at my baby and turning away. Yeah, we’ll see about that. One way or another, Tyra was going to get in line, even if it meant facing her to do it.

  If I’d known that this was just the beginning, I would have hunted her down much sooner.

  “THANKS AGAIN FOR TONIGHT,” I whispered even though we were, for the most part, alone. “I had a great time.”

  “It was my pleasure,” Oliver whispered back. He cleaned up astonishingly well and had made it impossible, despite my hang-ups, to keep my eyes off him the entire night. Oliver had been a balm on my darkest of days these past weeks and had even become a friend. “To be honest, I was surprised when you finally said yes to a date, but not more than when you suggested what we should do in place of dinner.” He winced, and I knew he was reliving our “date.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he peered down at me. “Are you sure we won’t get into trouble?” he asked for the fifth time. “I don’t exactly have half a million dollars lying around.”

  Brushing off the dust he’d gotten on his button-up, I smiled. It hadn’t been hard at all getting Oliver to commit grand theft auto once he saw the car I had in mind. Getting him to destroy it after I had him tow it to his father’s recycling center, however, had been the hard part. Contrary to what anyone might think, I hadn’t done it for me. Tonight had been for River.

  And I refused to believe it meant something that my first sighting of Vaughn, or rather his car, after months of being in Blackwood Keep occurred only after agreeing to a date with Oliver. I’d held my breath the entire time, expecting Vaughn to appear while we waited for Oliver’s brother to arrive with the tow truck. It had been a risky move, but everyone who’d ever been wronged hadn’t lied. Revenge tasted good. I wondered what Vaughn had been doing at Brynwood.

  You don’t care. “I’m sure.”

  “So whose car was that anyway?”

  “It belonged to River’s father.”

  Oliver stared at me for a few seconds, and I wondered if he could hear my heart racing inside my chest. My only regret was not being there to see Vaughn’s face. Imagining it had me pressing my thighs together and my breaths coming a little faster. When Oliver leaned in, mistaking the source of my excitement, I even let him kiss me. His lips touched mine, and I greedily moaned even though there was no spark to set my blood on fire, no feeling like I’d been made whole, that my soul was no longer mine, or that my life had been irrevocably entwined.

  I knew it wasn’t just a pipe dream.

  With one kiss, Vaughn had turned the fantasy of a soulmate into a reality, and then with a single blow job from my sister, he callously destroyed it. As Oliver deepened the connection, I found myself being transported to that first kiss with Vaughn. Not wanting to face it, I pushed Oliver away and, with it, the memory.

  “I-I-I’m sorry,” he immediately apologized. “Did I hurt you?”

  I shook my head when words escaped me. I felt like I’d regressed to that girl who’d gotten her heart broken on the beach eight months ago. “I’m fine. It’s just…slow is the only pace I can handle right now.” I peeked up at him. “Is that okay?”

  He readily nodded, making it even more clear why I could live a thousand years and never deserve him. “I can live with that.”

  I offered him a shy yet relieved smile, but before I could say more, the door behind me opened, and I groaned. I didn’t have to turn to know who was standing there.

  “Tyra, it’s late, and I have work in the morning.” I peered over my shoulder in time to see my dad had shifted his stern expression to Oliver. “Young man, I’m sure you also have somewhere to be.”

  If fate were kind, the floor would open up and swallow me whole, but fate had a twisted sense of humor.

  “Uhh, yeah, sure,” Oliver stumbled to agree. “Well, I guess this is good night.”

  I waved as he headed for the elevators before stepping inside the room. Ignoring my father, who was busy putting on his coat, I immediately headed for the open crib where the incubator used to be. I wasn’t at all surprised to find River awake. He’d become a bit of a night owl in the weeks since he stopped breathing and simultaneously ripped out my heart. I was surprised to see the deep frown on his face as he waved his fist.

  “What’s the matter, Riv?”

  His only response was to turn his head as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me. Puzzled, I checked his pamper while he sucked on his fist and found it dry. Only a couple of weeks from being discharged, he was on a precise feeding schedule to pack on those last few ounces he needed, so I knew he’d been fed less than an hour ago. I started to pick him up, but then Nurse Honey’s warning echoed in my mind. It was ironic how much had changed in the last few weeks. I’d gone from running at the prospect of holding my baby to being scolded for holding him too much.

  Feeling belligerent, I picked him up anyway. He was mine, and I was his. I could damn well hold him when I pleased.

  “Tyra,” my father sighed as I made my way to the recliner. “It’s late. He needs to be in his crib.”

  “But something’s wrong,” I said as I cradled River against my chest. “He’s upset.”

  River’s eyebrows were thicker now. Bunched together, I realized that he looked just like his dumbass daddy when he frowned. I held him against my chest and wondered if the hours we’d spent in this chair these past few weeks could really be contributed to his rapid development. River was now considered full-term, but because of the reflux and apnea he experienced a few weeks ago, his doctor had extended our stay until my due date to be safe.

  I didn’t even want to think about how much the extra couple of weeks in the hospital would cost. I didn’t care. As long as River was healthy, nothing else mattered. Not the money, not Harvard, not even the fact that Vaughn had no interest in being a father. Leaning down, I gently touched the tip of our noses. “I’m sorry, River. It looks like it’s just us.”

  A tear slipped from my eye just as he started to cry.

  Vaughn was a creature of habit, and the diner a few blocks from the hospital was very much a part of his routine. I knew the risk I was taking by allowing Oliver to bring me here, but I decided that the reward of running into Vaughn was too sweet to pass up. It wasn’t enough for him to know that I was the one who’d destroyed his precious car. I also wanted him to see that I hadn’t allowed his lies and betrayal to bury me. I was very much alive, and with or without him, River and I would th
rive.

  Recalling how big the burgers were, I settled for a basket of fries and a coke while Oliver demolished his turkey burger. “So,” he said as he pushed the empty food basket away. “Do you think you’ll go back to Harvard in the fall?”

  My stomach churned as everything I’d eaten threatened to return to the surface. I knew sooner or later I’d have to accept the inevitable and withdraw from school permanently. I’d considered every possibility, every scenario, and even with my father’s help, there was just no way, not without my scholarship and not without—My lips tightened as the rot that had taken over my heart threatened to expand again.

  Fuck Vaughn Rees.

  “I don’t think it’s in the cards. Even if I hadn’t lost my scholarship, I couldn’t ask my dad to play the role of a single father all over again while I’m away at school living carefree. I’ve been selfish long enough.”

  “I don’t think you’re selfish,” Oliver whispered. “Not every road traveled will be easy. The scrapes and bruises you earn along the way are inevitable. The real test is at the end of your journey. It’s when you decide whether to let those wounds fester or allow them to heal.”

  I thought about what he said as I watched the ice melt in my glass, turning my coke flat. “I’m…trying. To be honest, I think it’s going to take some time.” An image of my sister with Vaughn’s dick down her throat flashed through my mind. “A lot of time.”

  “There’s no rush,” he promised.

  Somehow, I became lost in Oliver’s brown eyes. He had the longest lashes, which gave him this wide-eyed innocence. I’d even been bold enough to call him pretty once, and he’d actually blushed, giving me the impression that maybe he was innocent. Dare I say, a virgin? It was a weird change of pace being the wicked one for once. Even more bizarre was the idea that a guy this fine could still be a virgin at twenty-one.

  “You say that now,” I teased, “but when your balls are blue, you’ll be singing a different tune.”

  “You might be right,” he flirted back. “You are pretty fucking sexy. When you’re not making babies cry, that is.”

  I gasped. “When have I ever made a baby cry?”

  “Your bitch face is pretty killer. I once saw, with my own two eyes, a newborn burst into tears when you passed.”

  Gasping, I shoved his shoulder, but he barely moved an inch. “Take that back!”

  A devious gleam entered his eyes. “Kiss me, and I will.”

  Nibbling my lip, I contemplated his offer. Even after eight months, it felt like I was moving too fast. And that’s when I decided to take fate into my own hands for once. So what if he wasn’t the guy the stars had written for me? I’d rather write my own ending from now on. Leaning forward, I stole his lips, and when Oliver slipped his tongue between my lips, the moan I released this time was for him. I wasn’t sure how long we remained locked together, but by the time I finally pulled away, I was damn near sitting in his lap. His erection poked my thigh, and I considered the possibility of letting him take me to his car and finding someplace secluded to park.

  “I have to use the bathroom, and then we can go,” I whispered against his lips before standing.

  Blinking a few times to clear the lust from his eyes, he nodded before reaching for his wallet. That kiss had been pretty fucking great, which explained why I’d practically skipped to the bathroom.

  A few minutes later, I was washing my hands when I heard what sounded like a scream.

  Springing into action, I fled the bathroom only to stop short at the sight of Oliver sprawled onto the diner floor. I couldn’t look away from the blood gushing from his nose, his lips—God, everywhere. He was out cold. Heart racing, I rushed over to him, his name on my lips.

  I didn’t get very far.

  Strong hands wrapped around my ponytail and pulled until my neck felt like it would snap. Expecting to see some masked stranger or just a stranger, my lips parted when my gaze connected with the familiar green eyes glittering above me. And then contrary to the rough way my captor’s hands handled me, he laid a gentle kiss on my lips. Vaughn might as well have breathed air into my lungs. I felt alive again like I was flying. Fortunately, I was wiser now. I knew that eventually, I’d crash and burn.

  “You wanted my attention, you have it,” he promised on a whisper, “and you’re going to be sorry that you do.”

  I was too stunned by his kiss to be afraid. I’d forgotten so many things—how soft his lips were, how talented, and how, with each kiss, it felt like he was signing his name next to mine, sealing our fate on an ironclad contract.

  Soulmate.

  Fortunately, I didn’t get the chance to waltz down memory lane before he shoved me toward the exit. “Walk.”

  I’D FUCKED UP, SEALED OUR fates, and signed our death certificates. After witnessing her kiss some prick through the diner window with the promise in her eyes to give him more, I didn’t give a fuck. Tomorrow, we would both walk into hell together hand in fucking hand.

  “Walk.”

  I watched Tyra as she stepped over her date and waited to feel some semblance of remorse, not for the asshole I’d left bleeding on the floor, but for the fear making her shoulders tremble. None came. I’d always been a bastard, but I’d never been this cold. I’d been fighting this darkness my entire life, but after losing Tyra, there had been no one left to disappoint. No one to fear hurting.

  Getting her out of the diner proved to be easier than I thought. I’d almost gotten her to the car idling across the street when her shock faded, and she remembered to fight back. It was the middle of a weekday, so the roads were mostly deserted. Even if it weren’t, there was no one in Blackwood Keep brave or foolish enough to help her. Grabbing her around her waist, I tossed Tyra inside Jeremy’s back seat before following her in. Jeremy didn’t utter a word or even bother to take his eyes away from his phone. The fucker casually pulled off with a yawn as if we hadn’t technically kidnapped someone in broad daylight.

  Of course, this hadn’t been my plan when I asked him to stop so I could grab a quick bite. I wasn’t expecting to find her in the diner on a goddamn date less than twenty-four hours after she destroyed my Lamborghini. I didn’t miss the way she stared through the back window, her expression frozen in horror as the diner, hospital, and everything else quickly faded from view. Jealousy had me pulling her into my lap and tightening my grip when she tried to get away. She could worry about her boyfriend later.

  “Are you insane? Let me go, Rees!”

  “You started this, Bradley.” In her ear, I whispered, “You can’t bow out now when it’s starting to get fun for me.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You definitely seemed in the mood,” I retorted with a hint of violence. I couldn’t get the image of the way she’d dared to look at another man. As if she hadn’t once looked at me that way. As if I hadn’t sacrificed everything to save her life. Fuck her would be the correct sentiment.

  Without having to be told, Jeremy drove us to the beach house, and after he parked, I sat there wondering if it was wise to get out. There was no telling what I would do to Tyra once I got her alone.

  She fucking kissed him.

  She’d been writhing in his lap like she was two seconds from riding his dick right there for all to see. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to tie cement blocks around her ankles and toss her obstinate ass in the ocean. If I killed her, I’d never see her, touch her, or smell her sweet scent ever again. But then…neither would he.

  Opening the car door, I pulled her out and started for the house that had once been our Eden. I didn’t bother pleading with Antonov not to tell my father about this. I knew he would if he hadn’t already.

  Fuck it.

  Watching Tyra through that diner window, I realized I had nothing left to lose. Once inside the beach house, and only after closing and locking the door, I set Tyra down only to catch a right hook to the face. I deserved that. When she tried again, I caught her wrist, bending it back and making her whi
mper in pain.

  “This would be considered self-defense,” I taunted as I walked her back toward the couch. Pushing her down on it, I climbed on top of her, forcing her to lie flat on her back. “Choking every bit of air from your lungs if you tried that again, might be considered murder.” I held her gaze as I smiled. “I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

  “Vaughn,” she said, sounding calmer than I expected. “You have to let me go. I have to get back—”

  “Your boyfriend will be well-rested when he wakes up,” I snapped before she could finish.

  “He’s not my boyfriend, and you had no right to do that to him!”

  “I had every fucking right unless you want to tell me you destroyed my Lamborghini on your own?” She stilled, and I had my answer. “Didn’t think so. You’re lucky I didn’t break both of his legs.”

  “For helping me destroy your car or for kissing me?”

  “To pay him back for kissing you, I’d have to kill him, pip.” Crooking my fingers under her chin, I held her defiant gaze. “And make you watch.”

  She froze—stunned at my threat or maybe the fact that I wasn’t bluffing—before anger took over. “So, what should your punishment be for letting my sister blow you?”

  I stared at her for a long while before shaking my head at her cluelessness. Selena had been a pawn and nothing more. Just as Tyra had been my father’s. Even if I bit the bullet, literally, and told her the truth now, I knew Tyra well enough to know she’d never believe me. She’d taken a chance only to end up feeling like a fool. She wouldn’t make that mistake a second time. I could have simply walked away eight months ago, but I had to ensure that she would never forgive me. Not in this lifetime or the next.