Royal looks up from racking the balls and grips the edge of the table. “Seriously, Motherfucker. Don’t you have shit to do?”
Blaine releases my chin and I oddly find myself smiling. “Avalon,” I say, answering his previous question. I look around at all the people dressed in leather jackets. You can tell the majority of them came on bikes. “Are you part of a motorcycle club or something?” I ask hesitantly.
Royal pulls me away from Blaine and in front of him, handing me a cue stick. He helps me aim it at the cue ball and then leans in next to my ear. “Nah . . . it’s just a place where other uncivilized people like myself can come and feel at home; a place that Colton will never have the balls to step foot in.”
He backs away from me and I take my shot, breaking the balls. None of them go in, so I hand my stick to Royal. “And you do tattoos here too?”
“Yeah . . .” He takes his shot, followed by two more, sinking three striped balls in a row. “A lot of the bikers that come here get work done from me or Blaine. Jax helps run the bar, but can’t tattoo for shit.”
I notice how Royal watches me when it’s my turn. For some reason . . . having his eyes on me gives me a little bit of excitement. It’s not the fact that he’s watching me, but more of how he watches me that gets me. He’s so damn intense.
A few beers later, I’m having fun and laughing with Royal and a few of his friends. I sort of gave up on pool after the second game, when realizing that Royal is a damn pro. He even managed to hit the balls when he had his eyes on me. I can’t compete with that.
My phone buzzes in my pocket for the fifth time in the last hour, but I hit ignore and fall back into conversation with the guys.
There’s no way that Colton is over being a dick. He didn’t even bother to try calling me until at least two hours after I left, so I’m guessing his precious little party was over by that time.
“I love this song,” I say, temporarily interrupting the guys.
Royal watches me carefully as I walk over to the middle of the bar and start dancing. With his lips against his beer bottle, he smirks, right before I turn away.
Now that it’s later into the night, a mix of a different crowd has joined our little party. A group of girls are dancing around me, pulling either guys that they came here with or random guys out onto the floor with them. The longer I’m here, the more I realize what Royal said. This place is for anyone who accepts it and wants to have fun.
I’ve been dancing for no longer than two minutes and I’ve already gotten not one, but two offers for a dancing partner. Jax wasn’t kidding about the guys in here. I politely decline, just enjoying my moment of freedom, but another guy that I’ve never spoken to grabs onto me, not even bothering to ask.
“I’m good.” I grab his arm and pull it away from my waist. “I don’t want to dance.”
It looks as if he’s about to pull me to him again, ignoring my request, but Royal stands up, giving him a hard look.
That look alone is enough to send the guy packing. Getting back into the moment, I close my eyes and begin swaying my hips to the slow rhythm, while running my hands through my hair.
A pair of tatted arms snake around my waist and I get pulled against a hard body with a sexy grunt. My heart instantly pitter-patters when I recognize the ink and smell the sexy scent of Royal. That smell is now burned into my brain and will forever be known as Royal. Forget the actual name of the cologne; it’s called Royal now.
“You don’t look like the dancing type,” I say nervously, almost forgetting how to dance now that our bodies are so close.
He brushes my hair over my shoulder and brushes his lips against my ear. “I’m not.” He growls. One of his tatted arms wraps around my neck as he grinds against me, pulling me as close as he can. My breath escapes me for a moment at the thought that this man is even touching me this way. “But what kind of man would I be if I didn’t protect my brother’s girl from all of these horny assholes by dancing with you?”
The vibration of his voice against my skin and the way his body moves sinfully against mine causes me to clench my thighs and take a deep breath. Maybe I’ve had a little too much to drink. “It’s getting late,” I whisper.
Letting out a long breath, Royal releases my neck and spins me around to face him. “I’ll take you home.”
He whistles over to Blaine and Jax, getting their attention, before pointing down at me, and then grabbing my hand to pull me behind him.
We don’t bother speaking until we break free of the bar. Stripping his leather jacket back off, he slips it on me, before once again helping me into his helmet. “You live with my brother?” He questions stiffly.
I shake my head and hop onto the back of his bike after him. “I live with my friend, Madison. It’s on Forest Lane. A red house.”
He nods his head. “I know it.” Then he reaches for my hands again, wrapping them around him. I can feel the rapid beating of his heart and it somehow causes mine to speed up. “Hold on.”
I stay on his bike for a few seconds after we arrive in front of my house. Is it weird that I want to spend more time with him? Being around him is so different than being around his brother. It’s an exciting and thrilling rush. I want to ask him why they don’t talk, but I’m afraid to offend him by getting too personal. I want to ask him a lot of things.
“Thanks,” I say, while finally hopping off. “I had a lot of fun, and I honestly needed this.”
Royal nods and grabs his helmet from out of my outreached hands. “Sure. Maybe it will give my asshole brother something to think about.”
“I’m sorry about your friend,” I blurt out. “Colton is a jerk for the way he reacted. I won’t be seeing him again for a while, until he pulls that stick out of his ass.”
That makes Royal laugh and I can’t deny to myself that the sight is stunning. “Come by the bar next week. Let me put some of my work on your beautiful body.”
“I don’t know,” I say quickly. “Colton kind of has this thing about tattoos and I told him . . .” I stop and really think about what I’m saying, realizing that I sound like a complete idiot right now. I’ve been nothing but good to Colton and he’s been doing nothing but pissing me off lately. “Actually . . . I might do that. I’ll think about it.”
Royal smirks and throws his helmet on. “You do that.”
Before I can respond he drives off, glancing back at me for a split second, before disappearing.
“Holy fuck!” I say to myself in a heightened tone as soon as Royal rounds the corner. My breathing is extremely fast now that I have a moment alone. He’s sinful and completely stunning and I can’t help but want to see more of him. He gives me the rush that I’ve been craving.
When I look over at the front porch to catch my breath, Madison is standing on it, giving me a funny look. “That was not Colton. Far from it.”
“Tell me about it.” I walk past her. “It was his brother.”
Her face is a mix of shock and exhaustion. “Seriously? This sounds like an awesome ass story that I need to hear.” She lets out a breath and gives me a half smile. “I’m still mad at you, but we’ll discuss that later. Spill.”
After we get inside, I tell Madison a quick version of the story, before disappearing to my room and crashing. I sort of failed to mention that Colton’s brother happens to be ‘the friend’ that was downstairs at the party; the one that I got her kicked out of.
I’ll give her time to cool off first. I don’t have a death wish . . .