Prince's Addiction (The Exiled Royals Series Book 2)

by Iverson, Ivy

  Lily’s blue eyes brightened and she stood up and rushed over to Kate, clinging to her legs like Velcro with her hug. “You’re back. Did you bring me anything?”

  Kate hugged her close. “You know it was a bar, right?”

  “Well did you get food and sneak me some?” she asked, blinking wide, guileless eyes back at her.

  Kate shook her head. “You know that Dr. Thomkins doesn’t like when you eat anything not on your prescribed diet, honey. You know that’s not good for you.”

  “But if you snuck me cake we won’t even have to tell the doctor!”

  “No, Lily Anne, now why don’t you finish painting—on the cardboard—so that Auntie Joan and I can talk.”

  Her sister pulled away and skipped back to her posters. Joan stood and gave Lily a quick kiss on the top of her head before heading back to the kitchen. She grabbed a soda from the fridge and started to guzzle it.

  “So, spill.”

  “Spill what?”

  “Well, did the set up work? Did you get him to bend and gamble?”

  Kate rolled her eyes even as she slipped off her flats and fake-out bandage. “No. I got Ben to arrange for the chip special and everything. I know he wanted to. He practically watched the table more than he watched me, you know?”

  “Then what happened?”

  “He was half way there and I could see him gripping one of the chips for dear life, but he just didn’t do it. It seems Prince Godonov has some marginal willpower, at least in public. I’d kill to have a look at his computer. If I could do that, then maybe he’s been doing things on the sly.”

  “Then you’ll have to have another date—oh the sacrifices you make for Lily.” Joan said with mock sorrow.

  “It’s not funny. He’s not just some beefcake from a calendar, Joan.”

  “But he could be. Hell, he could be Mr. All the Months.”

  “It’s more serious than that,” she said, starting to pace a little.

  The smirk fell from Joan’s face as she noticed Kate’s distress. “What’s wrong? Why are you so worked up?”

  “Because it got too serious. He asked me to dance, and I’d already had a few. I wasn’t supposed to, but it felt so good in his arms. Then I tried to make an excuse to go home and it was mostly normal on the ride and then there was this moment.”

  Joan frowned, intense brown eyes regarding her. “Wait, define ‘moment.’ Did ya’ll kiss?”

  Kate blushed.

  Oh, caught.

  “He did, but I liked it and definitely kissed back.”

  “That’s good then because he’ll want to see you again—invite you over. If you get a look at his place or access to his computer…you’re pretty smart, I mean, before you dropped out of stuff, you were a decent programmer in high school. You crack a password and bam! In like Flynn.”

  “I just…maybe this isn’t the right idea anymore. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him.”

  “Whoa, who said anything about falling for him? A kiss isn’t a marriage proposal, pull it together, Kate.”

  “But he’s not as big a schmuck as I assumed. Actually, he’s charming and sweet, and… maybe this isn’t right.”

  Joan pursed her lips and was about to answer before Lily ran up and grinned at her sister. She had things in each hand. First, she unveiled the slightly lopsided Rattlers poster, complete with lumpy snake mascot front and center. Kate oohed and ahh’ed over it appropriately. It was cute, but it wasn’t her sister’s best work. Instead, her whole face lit up when Kate spied the gorgeous beaded bracelet in her sister’s hand.

  Lily reached over and looped it over Kate’s wrist. It was a mix of lavender and pink beads with a cute faux silver butterfly hanging from it. “We made this in art class, and I made one just for you!”

  Kate grinned and hugged her sister tight, enjoying the feel of her in her arms. It was the only thing she wanted: her sister—her only living family—alive and healthy. “It’s adorable, Lilz, just like you,” she poked her sister lightly on the nose.

  Lily rubbed the tip and rolled her eyes. “It’s Lily. I’m too old for kid’s names,” she said, but she bit her lip and looked at her hands. She wasn’t nearly as confident as she was pretending to be. “But you like it?”

  “I couldn’t like anything more.”

  Chapter Nine

  There was screaming.

  It was the blood-curdling shrieks that woke her from a fitful sleep. Goosebumps spreading all over her flesh, Kate bolted out of bed and rushed for her sister’s room, all the while her heart was pounding in her chest. She reached her sister’s bedroom threshold but had to wait there, feeling the agony pouring over her as a violent seizure rocked through her sister’s body.

  Ever since the accident five years ago, Lily had developed severe epilepsy. She had seizures so severe that she had broken an arm once with her thrashing, and often wet herself or spent hours afterwards fuzzy and unable to concentrate.

  However, no matter how badly Kate wanted to run to her, she had to wait until her sister stopped shaking. It was dangerous to try holding someone down when they were in the throes of a seizure—it could cause torn ligaments or broken bones as well. The minutes dragged on, and if she lived to be ninety, Kate would never forget the sight of her sister’s eyes rolling back in her head for so long.

  Finally, God, finally, the tremors stopped and she ran across the room to cradle Lily. She touched her sister’s cheek and tried to ignore how cold it felt. “Lily, baby, are you okay? Can you tell me what day it is?”

  Her sister’s eyes were still rolling back in her head, still mostly just the whites of her eyes. Her mouth was frothing with spittle and she was far from answering.

  Horrified, Kate set her down on her lap and yanked out her cell phone. Dialing 911, she rocked her sister as she waited for a reply. They’d had great progress for the last six weeks, but it was time to go back to their home away from home, the emergency room.

  “Hello, Emergency Response, how may I help?”

  “It’s my sister, please send an ambulance. 2122 Sparrow Court. I…she’s not waking up.”

  ***

  The doctor had been back with Lily for over an hour. They’d asked her to leave the immediate examination room in the ER and go to the plastic waiting chairs in an alcove. The doctor said they needed space to work, and Kate was terrified it was something they’d done to divert her, to keep her away because her sister was dying or was, perhaps, already brain dead. It was a fear that had been playing on her especially this last year. It was why they’d hooked up with Ops for Kids in the first place. Her concierge job at a second-rate casino and hotel didn’t come with medical benefits. There was no way for them to afford the hemispherectomy, the surgery that would stop these traumatic seizures as Lily’s different medications continued to fail.

  However, Ops for Kids wasn’t limitless in its resources, and it was depending on the donation of the Godonov estate. That was why Alex had to be outed as the gambler he most likely continued to be and it was why he had to lose his inheritance by the 10th. Lily was getting sicker by the day; after all, the brain could only survive so much electrical trauma.

  Kate sat in the overcrowded room and tried to ignore the spasms that lanced through her back due to the cheap plastic chairs. They were the same color as traffic cones. How much more depressing could a hospital get? There was coffee in her hands and she clung to it fiercely, the heat pouring from the cup was the only sensation tethering her to reality at all.

  And in the middle of all of this, her thoughts still turned to Alex. He had surprised her so much. She assumed he was some brainless, spoiled aristocrat. Yes, he was haughty and had a big mouth sometimes, and sometimes he didn’t seem to get the actual cost of things in the real world. Still, he was a brilliant chess player with a smile that was so bright that it could power the Vegas strip all alone. He was sweet and chivalrous…and who carried a girl several blocks just to save her embarrassment and pain?

  She sighed and th
ought back fondly to his magic trick. He’d been so sweet then. Sure, it had been in an effort to distract her, to obviously derail her from getting him to gamble, but it had still made her smile. Somehow, on the worst night of her life, Kate felt the truth in her bones that had Alex been there he would have comforted her, would have held her in those strong arms and made her feel safe. More than that, though, he would have smiled that wide, eager smile and made a corny but endearing joke and make her laugh as well.

  She wished he were there and after two days that shouldn’t even be true.

  He was the only way to ensure her sister got the surgery. All these doubts plaguing her mind shouldn’t be there, shouldn’t be part of the equation. And yet, here she was, depressed as hell and longing to hear his jokes and feel his presence. It was all she wanted.

  “Ms. Morrison?” the doctor asked. He was an older African-American man with graying hair and a paunchy belly. “I’m Dr. Johnson, can we talk?”

  She stood and trailed out with him to the corner of the waiting room near the vending machines. God, she hadn’t eaten in hours and suddenly all the Snickers looked heaven sent. Her stomach rumbled as hunger gnawed at her. “Is she okay? Did she?”

  “She’s stabilized but this was her worst seizure. She really needs to have brain surgery as soon as possible. It’s the only thing left to stop the faulty signals from crossing her corpus callosum and causing further damage. We want to set the surgery for July, as we’d discussed. Another seizure this huge could leave her in a vegetative state at best or, at the most dire, might kill her.”

  “I know but we have to wait until Ops for Kids can pay. There’s nothing I can do, and it’s not like your team is going to take an I.O.U.” Her breath hitched.

  The doctor nodded, his eyes brimming with concern. “I know, Ms. Morrison, and it’s completely unfair, I agree. I’m just keeping you appraised; your sister’s condition is deteriorating. I’d call the foundation again and do anything I could. Lily just doesn’t have much time left.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” she said, her voice coming out small and broken.

  After he left, she pulled out her cell. She’d go hug Lily in a minute and sit by her sister’s bedside. Right now? Right now she needed to put in motion everything that needed to be done.

  “Joan, hey, it’s me. I need to still make it to the Rattler’s special fan night. We have to try plan B and I’ll see if I can get Alex to ask me out again. I…it’s him or Lily, and it’s always going to be Lily.”

  Chapter Ten

  “She ran off?” his cousin, Xavier Rostov, the once and maybe future prince of Ruminea asked.

  All of the cousins’ lives had taken a serious hit. Their mothers, all sisters and queens of their respective nations, had taken the notion that the best way to cure their ne’er do well sons of their flaws was to exile them and threaten to cut off their inheritance. His cousin, Raymond, had suffered that indignity due to his former womanizing ways. He’d weathered that storm, mostly, but Alex and Xavier were both struggling in their exile. Xavier was a haughty, egotistical jerk who could even grate on Alex’s nerves. He was a great guy to have in a bar fight and loyal to a fault, but he always had to be the best at everything.

  If you asked Xavier, he simply was the best at everything.

  His cousin shook his head and ran his hands through his thin goatee. Xavier wasn’t as tall as Alex was, but few men were. He was maybe six feet but had always loved soccer so he had a svelte yet muscular build. He was dark-haired with startling hazel eyes that seemed to see into your soul and, frankly, cut through any bullshit you tried to pedal.

  Alex also resented that gift of his cousin’s as well.

  He wanted to curl up in his bullshit and hide from it now; he’d never had a woman reject him before, and he didn’t want to admit that was what Kate had done. He’d kissed her, hoped for more, and she’d rabbited faster than anyone he’d ever seen; she’d practically set a land speed record on the way to her front door.

  Sighing, he took up position to spot for his cousin. They were taking turns in the gym at Raymond’s hotel with the bench press. He’d already done two-hundred-fifty pounds but, of course, Xavier being Xavier, he had to go for the full three hundred. He was about to do it too, even as he cut Alex down.

  “So, seriously, you laid one on her and she just ran off?”

  Alex squatted by his cousin and readied his arms even as the bar left the bench press rack. “Yeah, I kissed her and she kissed me back. Then, she ran off,” he groused, as Xavier strained and his vein on his forehead popped out as he lifted the bar up and down a third time.

  Bastard was going to give himself a stroke.

  Good.

  “Damn, you like her don’t you?” Xavier asked, gritting out between steadying breaths.

  He rolled his eyes. “You’ve done five. Don’t your poor arms need a rest?”

  “I can do ten, you bastard. Let’s keep talking about how you got shot down, cousin.”

  “No, let’s not,” he said, grabbing the bar and setting it in the rack. “You can get someone else to spot you with an attitude like that.”

  Xavier smirked as he sat up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that being rejected hurt so much. Of course, come to think of it, no lovely lady has ever been able to resist my wiles.”

  “With confidence like that, why wouldn’t she want to knee you in the crotch?” he joked, tossing a towel to Xavier. “I’m serious. Kate’s not like any girl I’ve ever met. She’s special, and she ran away so fast.”

  “Then maybe you need to pursue her. You have her number right?”

  “Definitely, but I don’t know. The first time, she barely consented at all to go out, and then she insisted on calling the shots. She wanted to leave right away on the dance floor and then ran so fast after the kiss. I don’t know if I want to call her and get rejected all over again.”

  “And if you have it this bad, man, then even I know it’s not going away either.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he said. “At least I can keep trying. She’s just…you have to see her, Xav. I’ve never seen a prettier girl. I’ve never felt anything like this.”

  “Then go on and call and then kiss the girl.”

  He nodded and fished his phone out of his shorts pocket. As he did, it started to ring already. Curious, he looked down to see a number that he didn’t recognize. Frowning, he pressed his phone on:

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, this is Joan. I’m Kate’s friend. She was slammed at work but she wanted me to invite you to join us on Saturday at the Rattler’s family fun day. They’re the double A team in town. They do this fans play the team thing. You put your name in a hat and they make a team of twelve. It’s a fun time. Can you come out?”

  He grinned at Xavier. Who was striking out now?

  “Tell Kate that I’d love to.”

  Chapter Eleven

  There were a few things that having connections could do for you, and, to be honest, Alex had never been afraid of using his family’s inroads when he needed a favor. For example, the general manager and owner for the Rattlers were huge fans of his cousin’s casino and hotel. In exchange for a free stay, he and Kate were put on the fans’ roster. He couldn’t control everything, but when he’d texted her the good news, she’d texted back with quite a few smiley faces.

  Clearly she was excited for the chance to play some softball in a friendly match with the Rattlers. They didn’t play actual baseball for the yearly tournament, apparently because the pitches were slower and safer.

  Still, it was with a bounce in his step that he approached the field.

  The stadium for the team wasn’t much. It wasn’t even a big enclosed concrete affair, not for double A. It was a modest field with some bleachers and a few stands for hot dogs. He’d seen colleges with better equipment and facilities to be honest. Still the team was friendly enough and their manager was fast in explaining for him what the rules were and which of the dugouts to take.
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  He smiled broadly when he spied Kate. She was in short shorts that highlighted all the delicious curves of her legs and hugged her ass. Her t-shirt was a size too tight and made her breasts look even perkier than he thought possible. Blood was quickly rushing to other places than his head, and he felt his shorts get just a little tighter.

  “Kate, you look gorgeous, darling.” And, indeed, she did. The sun was streaming down over her hair and making it appear even more dappled and golden.

  She nodded and gave him a quick hug. That was enough to drive him mad, just the feel of her soft curves against him as well as the soft scent of her perfume, so like raspberries. It felt a bit like a tease because all he could think about, even as she pulled away and started making small talk and started swinging the bat, was more.

  The feel of her lips on his own.

  “Hey!” she said, brightening. “Look in the stands. My best friend Joan and my sister, Lily, are here to cheer us on.”

  He looked to where she gestured. There was a tall Asian woman in the stands and beside her was a tow-headed girl with long hair and eyes as brilliant as Kate’s. The family resemblance was clear. She was holding up a big purple and green sign that said “Go Rattlers” with the “s” backward. There was something familiar about the woman, Joan, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Maybe she just had one of those faces.

  “They’re cheering against us?”

  “Lily loves the Rattlers. We come to every family night game. Besides, she made the sign before you were beyond awesome and got us the spots on the bench. Man, I’ll never know how you did that.”

  “My cousin has his uses,” he admitted, chuckling. So far, he had to admit that Raymond had been far better in helping him with his lady troubles that Xavier had been. “But,” he said, stepping closer to her, and running a few fingers over the side of her cheek. “You’re something else, something amazing. I’m happy to do this for you.”

  “Hey, Kate, who’s your friend,” some idiot in the same team uniform—the fans who were playing were all in gray away uniforms—asked. He was slight, maybe about 5’9” with a wiry build and black, curly hair. He draped an arm over Kate and hugged her tight. Unlike with him, Alex noted, she didn’t push this creep away.