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I nod, following Ren up to the counter. The girls who were standing around gossiping with the shop clerk are clearly anxious for us to leave so they can close up shop and leave too. I smile at their eagerness and study them more closely.
I wait while Ren pays for our soaps, and my eyes snag on a piece of paper that one of the girls is holding.
“Is that the King?” I blurt out, and the girl nods, showing me the picture more.
It’s a little blurry, but I can still make out his huge frame, lean muscles, and inky black hair, slightly mussed in an effortlessly sexy way. Something shifts inside of me, a new kind of tension coiling its way around my muscles. It’s just beneath the surface, itching to break free.
I don’t even realize I’m staring, open-mouthed at the photo until Ren nudges me in the side.
“Isn’t he the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen?” the clerk asks me with a dreamy sigh. I blink a few times, trying to come back down to earth.
“King Koda is hotter,” one of her friends says. She rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, but he’s like head over heels in love with Queen Salem now.”
“True,” chimes in the other girl. “So now it’s just King Ryker and King Romer left.”
“And King Noah!” another girl adds.
All four of the girls share another dreamy sigh, and I share a look with Ren.
“Are you going tonight then?” I ask the girls as Ren grabs our bag.
“Yeah, but just to watch. You have to be eighteen or older to participate,” pouts one of the girls. I bite back a smile.
“Well, we’ll see you there then,” Ren says. I wave as we leave.
“We’re not eighteen,” I whisper to Ren.
“We basically are. Besides, don’t you want to say that you met a King?”
“Oh, stop. You’re just excited for the food.”
Ren and I giggle as we hurry down the streets to our hotel. Ren heads into the shower first, and I grab my laptop. I should be writing my next article but instead, I find myself googling King Ryker.
Image upon image of him pop up on the screen, and I bite my bottom lip. How can a guy like this still be single? It’s obvious that half of the women in town would kill to be his Queen. So why hasn’t he picked anyone yet?
His midnight black hair looks so soft, even in the pictures, but that’s not what has all of my attention. It’s his mismatched eyes. I didn’t notice them in the grainy photo the store clerk showed me.
One green and one dark blue.
I know it’s not possible, but as I scroll through each photo, I could swear he’s looking right at me. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion. That has to be it.
Tell that to my racing heart and shallow breaths, though. My body seems convinced that this man is not only attainable, but that he belongs to me. Crazy, right? Too bad I can’t blame my raging hormones on a trick of the light.
The shower turns off in the bathroom, and I quickly close the browser window and shut my laptop.
“We’ll have to hurry. Mind if I blow dry my hair while you shower?” Ren asks.
“Not at all.”
I hurry to strip and step under the water as Ren gets dressed. The hair dryer turns on as I’m washing the soap out of my hair, and I smile.
It reminds me of being back home. There have been so many changes in the last few months. The group home Ren and I were assigned to during our last few years of high school ended up shutting down. Officially, the story was that the couple running it had health issues and had to step down. Those of us who stayed in the home, however, know the truth. Roy was a mean drunk and Hilda was caught selling drugs to one of her foster kids. Charming.
I was sure Ren and I would be separated for our final weeks of high school, but we managed to convince our social worker to let us move into an apartment together instead. It’s truly been a dream after all the places we’ve called home over the years.
Our apartment is about the size of this hotel room. We’re constantly getting ready together and pushing each other out of the way so we’re not late to work. It’s just our way of life, and it makes me happy to know there are some familiar things amidst a sea of change.
