Royal Ever After (5 page)

I rode back to the pub, thinking about my love for Brooke. My entire existence was built around my brothers. It was who I was. But my feelings were changing. I no longer desired to be the bad boy rebel prince. If I could go somewhere safe with Brooke and live the rest of my life in peace—no more bloodshed—then isn't that what I should do?

I found John, Gabriel, and Iain sitting around the meeting room table. Their faces were long but their eyes lit up when they spotted me. Iain shook my hand as Gabriel gave me a one-armed hug; a white shoulder-sling kept his arm close to his chest.

John stood up and gripped my biceps. “I'm glad you're okay, Lucas.”

“Me too,” I replied.

We sat down at our seats. Our club had become so small. I ached inside for the loss of Charles. He was my closest brother. I'd never forget him for as long as I lived. But how could we break the news to my parents. They'd be heartbroken. Mum, would bury herself in liquor and Dad would bury himself in work.

I had to get revenge for Charles. I had to make sure the family was whole before I got out.

John sighed. “We all want the Russians to bloody pay but we need to think this through. We're hanging on by a string here. If we went against the Russians now, we'd all end up in body bags. As of right now, all the Russians involved in that deal are dead. Give me a chance to talk with some of the higher-ups in their organization. For all we know, Boris was doing this alone. Once I get more information, we can make an informed decision.”

The one thing I wanted in the world—revenge—was finally within my grasp. But I didn't feel complete. Not without Brooke by my side.

My paper was nowhere close to being started. There wasn't much information about Prince Lucas on the internet. His brother John was next in line of succession. What was I supposed to write about? I was close to asking the professor for advice.

My mind was completely distracted. Two pregnancy sticks sat behind me on the bathroom counter. There was no denying it—Lucas and I were having a baby.

But I hadn't seen him in weeks. I tried to get a hold of him at pub but John told me he was really busy. I tried to call him at his house but I had no idea where he lived. The internet didn't give me anything.

What if I was just another one of his conquests?

My luck that I would get pregnant the first time I had sex. I was on birth control but I must've missed a day by accident. There was just so much that happened to me over the past couple weeks.

How could I tell him? Should I even bother? I barely knew the man. He might run for the hills the second he sniffed trouble.

But he was the right one for me.
I knew it deep down in the pit of my stomach.

I needed to focus on my paper. All I had was a title that didn't say much. What did I want to covey? I didn't want to just recite his whole family history.

The family aspect was the key.

The words flowed through my fingers and into the computer. I wrote and wrote until my wrists began to cramp up.

Outside the booming engine of a vintage Aston Martin approached. I saved the document and slammed the laptop shut. My paper would have to wait...

Lucas was here.

I checked my makeup in the mirror and brushed my hair quickly.

The doorbell rang and I tried to still my pounding heart. I opened the door, wearing nothing but a silk robe. Lucas' eyes went wide.

“I'm pregnant,” I blurted out, my hands shaking.
Bad timing, Brooke.
My man stood in the hallway with a faceless expression.

Lucas finally smiled and stopped me before I could say anything else.. “You better invite me in before I take you right here in the hallway.”

I grabbed Lucas' arm and pulled him inside. His mouth latched onto mine while his hands wandered underneath my robe and felt my pregnant belly.

“I love you...my princess,” he whispered to me.

“I love you too, Lucas.”

This rough and hard man was all mine.

And I was his to do with as he desired.

We would be a royal family soon enough.

The End

Read on for the full version of Brody's Baby

Copyright 2016 Winter Scott

All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: This ebook is a work of fiction. Any resemblance characters in this story may have to real people is coincidental.

No section of this book may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission.

Description

What if one wrong decision could end it all?

One moment in time controlled your fate.

That girl you thought was trash turned out to be the one.

That one-night stand turned into a family.

Would you risk it all to protect them?

My knuckles crashed against the side of Harry's head, his face swollen from my constant barrage. Piss had stained his crotch as he lay on his knees. His whimpering only made me want to hurt him more. Harry was the neighborhood rat—skinny, losing hair, and always quivering with fear. Not much more than an empty suit. He knew every little piece of gossip around town and it only took a little bit of force to get him to spit out everything. My fists were balled into wrecking balls and I wouldn't stop until I got my information.

“Who did the job, Harry?” I asked, cocking my arm back. “Who stole the drug shipment from the Kelly brothers?”

“Fuck you, Brody.” Harry spat out a bucketful of blood onto the concrete floor. His left eye was so swollen that he could barely see out of it. Why couldn't this job just be easy for once?

“Wrong answer, Harry.” I pummeled him with punches, his head knocking back and forth. “I'll ask you one more time.” I knelt down until we were face to face. Sweat beaded on Harry's brow. I pulled out a switchblade and watched Harry's eye light up as the shiny blade sprung out.

“Come on, Brody,” Harry pleaded. “We've been buddies for a long time. Hell, remember when your mother would bake those apple pies for the neighborhood picnics. I could almost taste 'em right now.”

My mom's pies really were the best. The annual neighborhood picnic was the best time of the year when I was a kid. But now it was only a memory. I had no empathy for this piece of shit. “Just because we grew up in the same neighborhood doesn't make us buddies, Harry. Now tell me who stole the drugs and I won't cut out your eye.”

Snot bubbles grew out of his nose as he breathed in and out. “Oh God. Oh God. I don't know, Brody. I swear it!”

“Wrong answer.” I grabbed the back of Harry's hair and craned his neck back. I put my knife just below his eye, the blade cutting into his cheek and drawing blood. This job could get pretty gruesome at times. But I was damn good at it.

“No! No!” Harry screamed. “I'll tell you what I know.” He knew I wasn't bluffing about cutting out his eye. I had done it to a guy in the neighborhood before.

I lifted the blade from his cheek but kept it close. “I'm all ears, Harry.”

Harry took a deep breath and wiped his runny nose. “I know it was a dealer but I don't know his name. Heard some junkie slut talking about him and his big score.”

I put my knife right back to his eye. “You better be fucking telling me the whole truth.”

Harry cowered in fear. He was so pathetic. “I swear it!”

“Who's this junkie whore?” I asked, digging the knife into his cheek. It might be faster if I just cut his eye and got it over with. Harry would tell me every secret he's ever kept. But then who would be the rat the next time around?

Harry winced from the pain. “Some addict that lives on the twentieth floor in the abandoned building on Luther Ave.”

“What's her name?”

Harry shut his right eye while his swollen one remained closed. “Uh....Erica. Yes! Erica was her name. Pretty sad story if you ask me. She was probably the hottest piece of ass before the drugs.”

I released Harry's hair from my grip and carefully put my switchblade back in my pocket. “See, that wasn't too bad. Now, I hope you're telling the truth because I'd hate to have to come back here and carve you up.”

“I wouldn't tell you a lie, Brody.” Harry slumped over with tears in his eyes. Next time he'd be more forthcoming.

I left the rat and hopped into my black Dodge Charger sitting outside. I put the key in the ignition and my baby roared to life—the one sound that made me feel at peace. I gripped the steering wheel and my bloody knuckles were all torn apart. I would need to put some bandages on later. Especially if the bosses made me do another job.

I worked for the Kelly brothers as an enforcer doing the dirty work that nobody else wanted to deal with. I was good with my fists and never dreamed of doing anything else. The money was good and the hours even better. I'd rather go to jail than rot in a nine-to-five job.

I parked outside the Kelly's Pub and locked the car. The sun was barely overhead but I needed a drink after that meeting with Harry. I looked around at my surroundings, scanning the crowds for any danger. My job could be pretty hazardous and the Kelly's Pub had seen its fair share of drive-by shootings. When the coast was clear, I entered the bar.

Harrison was behind the bar, cleaning glasses with a white rag. His handle-bar mustache made him look like a bartender from those old western movies. “Give me the usual, Harrison.” I sat down at the bar as Harrison put a bottle of Jack Daniels in front of me. The alcohol burned nicely on the way down. It was already taking the edge off.

“How's my favorite motherfucker doing?” a loud Irish accent asked.

I turned my head to the side to see the younger Kelly brother, Damon. He was already bald but it didn't phase him. He would have shaved his head anyways. Five gold rings sat on each finger of his right hand. You never wanted to take a right hook to the face from Damon unless you wanted imprints of all five rings in your flesh.

“I'm one step closer to finding the guy who stole the drug shipment.” I took a swig from the bottle and let it slowly drain down my throat.

Damon slapped me on the back and took a seat next to me. “What did our little rat cough up this time?”

“Harry didn't have a name for me but knows a drug addict who was talking about the heist.”

Harrison put an empty glass in front of Damon and filled it with whiskey. Damon downed it all in one gulp. “You do whatever it takes, Brody. I want my drugs back and I wanted this mess cleanly thrown away.”

“Don't worry about it, boss. I got it under control.” I was confident I'd have this all cleaned up by tomorrow.

Damon held my face in his palms and kissed me on the mouth. Some sort of Irish thing but I'd gotten used to it. “Don't let us down,” he told me. Damon left and the stench of cigarettes still lingered in the air.

Damon was the entire reason I was in this business to begin with. After my mom passed away, my father didn't want the burden of raising me so he sent me off to a boarding school when I was ten. I was a scrawny kid with no meat on the bones. The other kids used to call me noodle boy and beat the shit out of me. I used to walk around the halls with black eyes and bruises. The headmaster never even gave me a second look.

That all changed when I met Damon and his brother Russel. For some reason they took me under their wing and taught me how to stand up for myself. They probably felt sorry for me. I learned how to not only throw a punch but how to take one. Soon enough the Kelly brothers and I were running the boarding house. A boy couldn't even go to the bathroom without our permission.

Those were the best times. When we felt like kings of the world. Like nothing could stop us. Then we were put out in the real world and had to fend for ourselves. We had to beg, borrow, and steal but the Kellys finally built themselves an empire with me at their side. But the bigger the empire grew, the more problems we had to deal with. More people wanted a piece of our pie and it took all we had to protect it.

This latest with the drug shipment stolen was just another in a string of thefts. If what Harry said was true, then the Kellys were taken by a common drug dealer. If word got out, every Dick and Jane would try to steal from us. I had to finish this.

I took one more drag on the whiskey bottle and filled up my flask. I had a long day ahead of me and only booze would get me through it. I winked at Harrison and left him a tip.

–

The building on Luther Ave had been abandoned for some time. All the windows had been broken or shot out. Vines were creeping up the sides, making it more like an urban jungle. It used to be the shining center of what was supposed to be the new business district in the city. But the group ran out of money and the building and the district were never finished.

I entered the tower through the opening at the bottom where two large doors used to be. Bums littered the giant lobby that would have been magnificent if it was ever completed. I carefully stepped over each one until I got to the elevators. I pressed the button and cursed aloud when I realized that the elevators weren't operational. I opened the door to the stairway and started my way up.

Twenty flights of stairs later and my legs and feet were burning in hot lava. Sweat poured down my face and dripped onto the floor. Drinking all that whiskey was probably a poor choice. This chick better know some info.

I walked into the hallway and peeked my head in the open doors. The place was exactly what you would expect of a drug den. Stained mattresses lay in every room and that was the only furniture. The place reeked of piss and shit probably because the toilets didn't work. Most of the addicts I passed by were all men, gazing up at the ceiling with bands tied around their arms.

I came to a room at the end of the hallway with a woman laying down on a mattress. She was a little younger than me with jet black hair. Her jeans and t-shirt were all ripped apart. I could see what Harry meant when he said she could be a hot piece of ass if it wasn't for all the drugs. She would have definitely been one of those sluts I'd take home and fill with every drop of my seed. But not this shell of a human being in front of me.