No Prince

by Stevie J. Cole

“Keep this shit up, and I’m going to make your life really hard.” I patted his cheek a little harder than necessary. “Baby.” Before I could take another breath, he had me caged against the tree. His proximity made me weak in ways I would never admit. The leather of his jacket creaked as he inched toward me. “You already do.” With one swift movement, he grabbed my wrist and placed my hand against his hard crotch, then offered a full-on, bad-boy smirk. “Baby.”

“I don’t have sex, Monroe.” I leaned over, gripping the edge of the mattress while I inched close to her reddening face. “I fuck.”

This gave me so much second hand embarrassment

“I don’t give a shit about anything but who hits you.” Something twisted in my chest. “Then why ask if I’m screwing him?” His hand dropped to his side, then swept through his hair as he took a step back. There were seconds, minutes, eternities before he spoke. “Because a guy like that doesn’t deserve your fucking time.”

“And just so you know, Roe,” he tossed the helmet to me, and I caught it against my stomach. “I won’t let anyone hit you, either.”

His display should have pissed me off, but the sad fact was, no one had ever cared enough about me to get so angry. No one in my life had ever been willing to fight for me. And the look in Zepp’s eyes when he thought Max was hurting me—he was willing to kill.

This was not a fairytale. I was no damsel, and Zeppelin Hunt was certainly no prince.

If I ever got her in bed, she wouldn’t sit down for a week without feeling me.

“That kiss.” She hesitated. “Do you care if I liked it or not?” “What if I do?” “Then that would make you less of an asshole.” I swept a finger over her bottom lip. “What if I wanted to do it again?”

“I’m gonna go to jail for something, Roe. Might as well be you.”