Royalty (RiffRaff Records Book 1)

by L. P. Maxa

I kissed his lips before stealing the baby from his arms. “It was good. Long day, we had three new babies come in. And I think they’ll be staying for a few weeks at least.” I kissed the top of her fuzzy infant head. “Katie Bug, I missed you so much. How was your day?”

  “You talkin’ to me or the little attention stealer there?”

  I sat down on the couch next to Mace, leaning into his side when he wrapped his arms around me. “Both.”

  “Well. Katie ate. I ate. Katie napped. I napped. Katie spit up, I spit up.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I laughed. “You spit up?”

  “Well, Katie projectile vomited in my mouth, so…yeah, I spit up too. That doesn’t make you not want to make out with me, right? Because I swear I brushed and used mouthwash.”

  I laughed even harder. “We need to set up cameras so I can watch you guys while I’m at work. I’d have paid good money to see this tiny baby throw up into your mouth.”

  “You and the rest of America, I’m sure.” He smoothed his hand over the top of my head and then placed a kiss on my forehead. “Speaking of the rest of America, I wanted to talk to you girls about something.”

  I smiled. I loved it when he called us that. His girls. It was adorable, and every single time I melted a little more. I didn’t even know if he was aware that he did that. That he called us his and grouped us together. “Okay. What’s up?” I brought my knees up on the couch and laid Katie on her back so that she could see both of us. “You have our full attention.”

  “My record label called this morning and they told me I needed to reschedule part of my tour.”

  I pulled back so I could look at him. “I thought Jacks and Lexi told you to take all the time you needed? It’s only been a month.” The thought of him leaving made a knot form in the pit of my stomach. What about Katie? What about me?

  “I know, but they held off as long as they could. I have a crew of people who aren’t getting paid right now. They depend on me. It’s not forever, six weeks, tops.”

  “Okay. Wow, um, you want me to help you find a nanny for Katie?” The thought of someone else watching her was making me almost sick to my stomach. She was so tiny still. She needed someone who knew what they were doing. I’m sure Mason could afford the best. Maybe we could find another nurse?

  “I was hoping you’d stay with her.”

  I cocked my head, turning my body to his. “Me? I have a job, Mason.”

  He replied quickly, “I’d hire someone to help you. Like you’d be in charge and I’d get you a nanny. We’d just replace me with someone who actually knew what they were doing.”

  Like I was a working mother, except Katie wasn’t my daughter. “Mason, working at the hospital and then coming here hasn’t been easy over the last week. It’s almost an hour drive each way. My days are long, and my nights are longer. I haven’t minded, at all. I’m glad I could be here for you and Katie, and I’ve loved seeing you guys at the end of the day but—”

  “You could take a leave of absence? Just until I’m done with the tour? Please, Payton. I don’t trust anyone else.”

  Did I falter when he said he wanted me to stay, that I was who he trusted to help him raise his baby sister while he was away? Of course I did. Was I sad thinking of being here without him? Certainly. Would our new relationship survive him being on tour? We hadn’t even defined what was going on with us. We hadn’t even talked about it yet.

  “What do you say?”

  “Mason, I love my job…” I didn’t want to leave her with someone else that was for sure. And I couldn’t imagine not seeing her every day, not witnessing every milestone. “Ugh, okay, I will take a six week leave of absence, but that’s it.”

  He let out a breath, a smile on his lips. “I’ll pay you. I can pay you whatever you were making at the hospital. And I’ll also cover the cost of a maid or a nanny. Whatever help you need, it’s yours.”

  “You can pay my rent and my car payment. I don’t need you to pay me that much to live in your house and take care of Katie. That’s ridiculous. I love her.”

  “I’m paying you, and if I have to contact the hospital to find out how much you make, I’ll do it.” He took my face in his hands, kissing my lips sweetly. “You’re saving my life here, baby.”

  I gave him a weak smile. “When do you leave?”

  “I told Harlow to give me a few days to get Katie taken care of, and then I’d let her know. I’m sure I won’t head out for another week or so.” He put his arm around my neck and pulled me back down against him. “We have plenty of time together before I go. Don’t start crying now.”

  I scoffed. “Me? We both know you’re the one who stalks me when you’re on tour.” Because I’d been his friend during his last one. I’d heard the tales of groupies and whiskey. I just prayed that things would be different this time. That I was enough for him.

  He kissed my temple, my cheek, the corner of my lips.

  “I’ll miss you both like crazy.”

  ***

  I woke in the middle of the night to find Mason’s side of the bed empty. I sat up, looking around the room, assuming he’d be perched on the chair feeding Katie. But he wasn’t there. I got up and tiptoed across the hall to her crib, she wasn’t there either. I walked silently down the hallway, following the sound of music coming from the old record player in the living room.

  I smiled when I recognized the notes to the Eagles album Katie loved so much. Her favorite song was “Witchy Woman,” but “The Best of My Love” was what they were swaying to. I leaned against the wall, watching Mace dance with his baby sister, my heart swelling with love for them.

  When he noticed me standing there, he grinned. “I couldn’t get her to fall back asleep, and we didn’t want to wake you.” When he held his arm out, I crossed the room and laid my head on his chest, my face next to hers. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear this song and not think of this moment.”

  I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t. My eyes were tearing up and my throat was clogged with emotion. I knew that Katie wasn’t my daughter, and I knew I was only here in their lives because of some horrible awful tragedy. But in that moment, I was so thankful. I felt so blessed to be wrapped in Mason’s arms, with my hand rubbing Katie’s back. I didn’t want him to leave, but more than anything, I didn’t want to either.

  When the song ended, she was asleep. Mason walked her back to the nursery and laid her in the crib, then grabbed my hand, pulling me back across the hall to his room. “She’ll be okay in her crib for a couple of hours.”

  I stuck out my bottom lip. “But she just looks so tiny in there.”

  He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, dumping me on his bed a few moments later. “I’m going to make you make noises.”

  I watched him as he let his briefs fall to the floor and giggled when he lifted the hem of his T-shirt, the one I’d been sleeping in. “I figured it was just easy to never wear panties again.”

  “Good girl.” He hovered above me, his hands by my head and his lips inches from mine. “Tell me you want me.”

  I smiled, scrapping my lower lip with my teeth. “You know I want you.”

  His grin turned wicked. “Tell me how you want me.”

  Fuck me like you love me, like you never want to let me go. That’s what I wanted to say. Those were the words running through my head. But I wasn’t brave enough to say them. “You know I hate to be treated like glass, friend.”

  He chuckled and lined up the head of his cock at my entrance. “Then how about I shatter you instead, baby?” He surged inside me, burying himself as far as he could go.

  I arched up into him, my nails clawing at his lower back. “Fuck. Yes. Just like that.”

  He set a ruthless pace, driving into me over and over. His hands were on my thighs, holding them up where he wanted them. “You’re so good, so fucking perfect.”

  I love it when he said those words. I was always perfect when he was inside me. That was how I felt too. Li
ke we were two pieces made for each other, my body made for his. “Please don’t fucking stop.”

  He hammered into me harder, my body moving up the bed with each thrust. I put my hands out, stopping myself on the headboard. “Good girl, stay just like that.” He grabbed one of my thighs, hiking it high on his hip.

  “Fuck. Yes.” I knew I was being loud, too loud probably. But everything about tonight was exactly what I wanted. What I needed. I wanted to feel wanted, like he couldn’t get enough. Like I drove him wild.

  His muscles were flexed, his arms bulging with excitation. There was a single bead of sweat running down his chest. I wanted to sit up and taste it. But I was too close, I felt like my body was about to explode under his.

  “Come for me, baby.” He pulled all the way out and then slammed home.

  I cried out into the darkness, my orgasm overwhelming all my senses.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Mason

  Four weeks and three days

  Payton, Katie, and I were at dinner. I was leaving to go on tour in seven days. Payton had started her leave of absence from work today and we were celebrating. This was the first time that we had taken Katie anywhere other than doctors’ appointments or walking around the ranch.

  “You look especially beautiful tonight.” I reached under the table and put my hand on her thigh. She was wearing a short maroon dress with some little boot-looking shoes. She’d fancied up Katie too. She was in a dress and there was a bow stuck to her dark baby hair.

  “Thank you.” She licked her lips and smiled wickedly. “You look pretty good yourself, friend.”

  I chuckled. “Friend, huh? You ever going to stop calling me that?”

  “Are you ready to define our relationship, Mace? You want to have ‘the talk’? I figured still calling you my friend was just saving you from a panic attack.”

  Well. She fucking had me there. I was not ready to define us. I wasn’t ready to say that she was my girlfriend, even though we both knew she probably was. Hell, she was basically living with me and helping me raise my sister. We were legit playing house. “Uh, I mean…”

  She rolled her eyes and adjusted Katie’s frilly dress. “Just stop.”

  “Are you mad?” I picked up my whiskey and took a deep sip.

  “No, Mace. I’m not mad.” She shrugged. “I knew who you were before we even started doing whatever the hell it is we’re doing. No need to give you hives in order to pick a label.”

  I knew she said she wasn’t mad, but she sure sounded mad. Or at least, annoyed. I couldn’t blame her. I was acting like a child. How was I supposed to raise one if I kept acting like one?

  “We’re together. We’re banging each other, we aren’t banging anyone else…We’re, uh, dating?” We were going on dates, even if most of them consisted of takeout at home. She just stared at me, her eyes blinking steadily. “Look. You know that I care about you. You’re my best friend, you’re the only person I trust in this whole damn world. You’re too good for me. You’re an angel. But I’m trying here.” Please let that be enough. Because much more of this and I was going to honestly freak the fuck out.

  “That was sweet, in a Mason sort of way.” She put her hand on mine on top of the table. “I’ve never asked you for more than you can give. And I’m not going to start now, okay? I knew what I was getting into with you.”

  That made me sound like a mental patient or something. I wasn’t. I was just a guy who had always imagined his life going one way. And suddenly it was headed in the completely opposite direction. “I won’t sleep with anyone else, while I’m on tour, I mean. I swear.”

  Payton’s eyes went wide and she took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I would hope not, Mace. That would be called cheating.” She annunciated the word like it was one I’d never heard before.

  I couldn’t call it cheating. Cheating would mean that Payton was for real my girlfriend. I could think of her as my partner, my best friend, my soul mate…but the word girlfriend was making me start to get clammy. M Kat would be shaking her head at me right now, and my dad? His eyes would be darting back and forth between us. Because he’d understand where I was coming from.

  Luckily we dropped the relationship talk and fell back into an easy rhythm. We laughed and joked. We took turns holding Katie when she got a little fussy in her car seat. After we paid the bill and we were standing to leave, an older couple stopped us.

  “We just wanted to tell you how adorable your baby is, and how good.” The woman was smiling, looking into the car seat in my hands.

  I smiled back. “Thank you, I think so too.”

  “Pretty baby and a beautiful wife. You are a lucky man.” The old guy winked at me before ushering his wife out the door. I stood frozen in my spot. They thought we were a family. They thought it was mom, dad, and baby. That we were married. That we’d met and fell in love. That we’d had a wedding. That Katie was planned, that she was ours.

  But none of that was true.

  We weren’t a family. My family was dead.

  And we hadn’t met and fallen in love. We’d met and hooked up. And now? What were we doing now? Dating? That sounded so fucking lame. But I couldn’t even say the word girlfriend out loud?

  “Mace? You okay?” Payton snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hey.”

  I shook my head and turned to her, a smile on my face I didn’t feel. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry.”

  Her head tilted, her long hair falling over her shoulder. “Please don’t let what that man said freak you out. He didn’t know, and it’s not his fault. They were just trying to be polite. It’s not going to be the last time that happens, Mason.”

  I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moment to feel the pain his words had caused. Feel the loss of my parents, the injustice of it all. The confusion of Payton in my life. The fear that I’d lose her and Katie, that I’d be all alone.

  When I opened them she was still staring at me. I held my hand out. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get this baby home.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Payton

  Last night, after we got home from dinner, Mason drank the largest glass of whiskey I’d ever seen, and then passed out in bed. It was the first night since we’d started having sex that we hadn’t. He didn’t even stir when Katie woke up before dawn. I knew what that old man said would fuck with Mace’s head. And it had. It couldn’t have been worse timing either. After that talk we had about our relationship, some stranger basically calls me Mason’s wife? Yeah. I pretty much expected the alcohol-induced coma.

  I wanted to be irritated at him. But I just couldn’t muster the emotion. He’d lost his parents a little over a month ago. He was doing the best he could, and under these circumstances? I thought he was doing okay.

  “Morning, beautiful.” He walked into the kitchen where I was sitting at the island, sipping a steaming cup of coffee. He paused to kiss the top of my head, then bent to do the same thing to the snoozing baby in my arms.

  “Morning,” I murmured. He poured himself a cup and then joined me. “You okay?”

  He furrowed his brow. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  If he wasn’t going to bring up dinner, then neither was I. What was the point? He was leaving in less than a week. I didn’t want to fight with him, argue, discuss. None of it. “No reason.”

  “What do you want to do today?”

  And just like that, we brushed it under the rug.

  ***

  Mason and I were lying on the floor in the living room. Katie had fallen asleep during her tummy time and none of us had bothered to move yet. The sun had set hours ago. We’d spent the day lying around the house and being lazy. I’d done some yoga and Mason had watched. Then he’d put Katie in her crib and made me stay in downward dog for a while. Suffice to say, we defiled the hell out of my yoga mat.

  I couldn’t get enough of him. I wanted him all the time. I’d never had that reaction to anyone before. I’d had boyfriends, and I’d had pl
enty of sex. But the way I wanted Mason, the way I felt about him. It was something different. I couldn’t deny him, ever. Every time I thought about him leaving for six weeks, my eyes filled with tears. I didn’t want to tell him I was sad, that I was scared. I didn’t want to put any doubts or fears into his already overcrowded mind. So I kept my emotions at bay so that every once in a while, I’d be allowed a glimpse of his.

  “You want to just sleep on the floor tonight? I’m too tired to move.” I turned and looked over at him.

  He smiled, climbing to his feet. “Come on, I’ll carry my girls to bed.”

  I watched as he carefully picked up Katie, making sure not to wake her. “I really like it when you call us that.”

  “Call y’all what?” When the baby started to fuss he started swaying with her the way she liked.

  “When you call us your girls. It’s sweet. Makes me want to do dirty things to you with my mouth.” I took his out stretched hand when he offered it.

  “I call you that? Huh, I never even realized it.”

  “Oh, well in that case, never mind about the mouth action.” I shrugged a shoulder and headed into his room while he put Katie down in her crib. He liked her in there so we didn’t have to worry about waking her up.

  “Well, now, wait a minute…” I started to laugh when he walked into his room with his pants around his ankles. “You already said that you would. No take backs on things as serious as mouth action, gorgeous.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Mason

  Four weeks and four days

  Payton was lying naked in my arms, the moonlight illuminating her skin. My sense of déjà vu was strong tonight. Only this time she wasn’t awake, and her hypnotizing voice wasn’t keeping me grounded and sane. It was just me and my fucked-up head.

  I really like it when you call us that, when you call us your girls.

  Pretty baby and a beautiful wife.

  What the hell was happening? Why was I freaking out about it? Payton didn’t deserve someone who couldn’t even call her his girlfriend. I should be able to tell people I was happy they were mine. That I thought I was pretty damn lucky too. Because I did.