No Prince

by Stevie J. Cole

Never in my life had I met the challenge I had in Monroe.

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

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

“Who doesn’t drink milkshakes? You really are a psychopath.”

“And you really are hot.”

I gripped her jaw and drove her against the cracked glass of the phone booth. “Say it again.”

“I don’t need you,” she whispered.

“You’re a goddamn liar!” I covered her mouth with an angry kiss, full of teeth and tongue. The feel of her lips and her tiny frame pressed against me was something I had desperately needed. Her kiss, the drug that granted me the fix I had been craving. Her fingers raked through my hair, pulling me closer, and the kiss grew deeper, more brutal. I would have kissed that girl forever, and that was enough of a realization to terrify me, which was why I shoved away from her.

To protect me. To pro...

“The first time I noticed you was two summers ago when you were washing some shit car in your drive. I told the guys you were off-limits.” He nudged me. “You’re welcome. Hendrix would have tried to screw you.”

“Do you not want to stay?”

I waited, knowing this—us—was becoming a habit. That we were both probably out of our element. We were loners when it came to relationships, but the more time I spent around her, I was finding it hard to believe that anyone would really want to be alone. Even her.

“Because people always let you down.” She hesitated for a second. “Human connection is a lie we tell ourselves we need. We don’t need anyone but ourselves, and it’s best that way.”

“You’re the only girl I’ve ever given a shit about.” I grabbed her hips and pulled her on top of me.

Her hands went to my face. “Good.” And then she kissed me.

Her hand brushed my shoulder before her arms wrapped around my waist, her chin pressing to my shoulder. And goddamn, that broke me. I buried my face in her neck. Monroe was making herself a lifeline, and I was fucked.

His lips pressed to mine. He kissed me like I was oxygen and he was suffocating. It was so much more than a kiss; it felt like a promise, unbreakable and binding. His hands went to my hips, tugging me tight against him.

Then it hit me like an eighteen-wheeler barreling down a road: She was a stripper and a virgin. How messed up was that, that we lived the kind of life where she was rubbing her tits in men’s faces and straddling their laps when she hadn’t even had sex. Something about that was downright tragic. Monroe James wasn’t at all what I had thought she was—what anyone thought she was. And she was so much better than I deserved.

No, it made us both broken. And in that moment, I didn’t care if I was. I wanted Zepp to fix me as much as I needed to fix him.

He brought me to the beach. On a whim. Because I’d never been. No one had ever done anything for me the way Zepp had. And he’d done a lot, expecting nothing in return. He may have been a bad boy, but he was the best person I had ever known.

Grabbing his face, I slammed my lips over his. “I don’t deserve you,” I breathed against his mouth.

His fingers swept my cheek. “You des...

“There is no one ...

Zepp was everything I never asked for and didn’t want, but needed. In a short space of time, he’d become vital to me, the only hope in a bleak world.

I couldn’t stop staring at her. Never in my life had I wanted to be with a girl the way I had her. I couldn’t get enough of her; I couldn’t kiss her enough. She had made me a certified pussy, and I didn’t even care. And last night—that was a hell of a lot more than chasing a moment of bliss. I was pretty sure what I had with her was what most people spent an entire damn lifetime searching for.

I had never given a shit about a girl before, and somehow, this girl had managed to break me apart without even trying. Because I was pretty damn sure I was in love with her.

“Because I fucking love you. Okay?” I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, panic winding through me at the abrupt confession. “I love you, and I’m terrified of losing you. I hoped Dizzy would kill his ass because you wouldn’t let me do it, and I can’t lose you.”

She stilled. “I love you too,” she whispered, her teary gaze meeting mine. “I’m scared he’s going to get to you. And…I can’t.”

“I could never love anyone else, Roe. You’re it for me.”

And he was it for me. Because no one had ever loved me like he did. And I wasn’t sure I could live without it.

He said he loved me, but he didn’t try to stop me from leaving. He had just let me go.

He let me go…

“All I wanted was your love, Zepp!”

“And that’s something you’ll always have.” The resignation in his words killed me because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. It was “I love you, but I’m letting you go,” and I didn’t want to let him go. Ever.

He looked out the window, his jaw slowly ticcing. “I’ll never love anybody the way I love you, Roe. That I promise.”

“I love you.” And then I walked away, my heart shattering into little pieces that I left on the floor of that visiting room. Zeppelin Hunt would always be the boy who had shown me what love was, even when he couldn’t love himself.

“I would have done anything for you. And you just…” She shook her head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter.”

“Everything I did was because I loved you.”

“Then, I don’t want your love because it hurts.” When she looked up at me, tears welled in her eyes. “It still hurts! I can’t ...

“I meant it when I told you I would never love anyone the way I loved you. Because I won’t love anyone but you.” My throat tightened. My chest caught. I crossed the small space, dropping to my knees and taking her face in my hands before pressing my mouth to hers.

“Please, don’t hate me. I can’t take that.”

“I can’t stop loving you.” Her voice broke on a soft sob while her fingers wrapped around my wrists. “I tried. So hard.”

“If you’ll give me another chance, I swear to God, I ...

“Can we start with thre...

I fought a smile, then kissed her again. Fuck three months; I was getting that girl...

knowing there would never be anyone else for me but him. No one could come close. Our happily ever after wasn’t shiny or pretty, but it was ours.

He was no prince, but Zepp Hunt was mine. Always.