I drag myself out of bed, shower and then throw on a pair of old jeans and my flannel shirt. Ironically, this is essentially the same outfit I wore the first time I arrived at the Royal mansion. My closet here is stuffed full of expensive clothes, but I’m not wearing a single stitch that was picked out by Brooke Davidson. That might be petty and stupid, but I don’t care.

I open my door and stop. Reed is leaning against the wall opposite my bedroom.

“Morning.”

I slam the door shut.

His strong voice easily carries beyond the door. “How long are you going to ignore me?”

Two years. No. For as long as humanly possible.

“I’m not leaving,” he adds. “And eventually you’re going to forgive me, so you might as well hear me out.”

I walk over to the window beside my bed and look down. The drop from the second story to the ground is pretty steep and I’m not sure the whole knotted-sheet thing works in real life. With my luck, the sheets would come untied and I’d crash to the ground, breaking several bones, and be stuck in my bed for weeks.

I cross the room, throw open the door, and march past him without a word.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the Brooke thing.”

You can take your sorries and choke on them.

Halfway down the stairs, he catches me by my upper arm and tugs me around to face him. “I know you still care or you wouldn’t be giving me the silent treatment.” He even has the nerve to flash me a smile.

Oh my God. He is not allowed to smile. First, because he’s insanely hot when he does that. And second, because…argh…because I’m mad at him.

I give him a cold look and jerk out of his grasp. “I’ve decided that I’m not going to waste my time or energy on people who don’t deserve it.”

Reed waits until I’m down the steps before calling after me. “So you don’t care about Easton, then?”

His mention of Easton has me turning back, because other than Val, Easton became one of my closest friends here. “Is there something going on with him?”

Reed descends the rest of the stairs to stand next to me. “Yeah. You ran off and he’s had his whole life full of women he loves abandoning him.”

The guilt makes me flush hot. “I didn’t abandon him.”

I left your cheating ass behind.

Reed shrugs. “Then you’ll need to convince him of that, not me. But I’m confident you’ll win him over.”

What an arrogant ass. I school my features into as sweet of an expression as I can manage. “Will you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Take your condescension, your unwanted advice, your creepy lurking outside of my door and shove it up your ass.”

I whirl around. There’s no grand exit for me, though, because Reed merely follows me into the kitchen where I find the rest of the Royal household, sans Gideon.

“Doesn’t anyone have practice this morning?” I ask warily.

Easton and Reed play football. Those two should be at school by now. Callum’s usually gone to his office before dawn breaks. I have no idea when the twins roll out of bed. This morning, everyone is sitting at the large glass-topped table that’s situated in a nook that overlooks the pool and then the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

“Special day,” Callum says over the top of his coffee mug. “Everyone is participating in this family get-together. Sandra prepared breakfast for you—it’s in the refrigerator. Why don’t you grab it and sit down? Reed, stop hovering and take a seat.”

It’s not a suggestion for either of us, and despite Callum not being my dad and despite Reed’s tendency to not listen to him, we both do as Callum says.

“It’s good to have you back,” Sawyer says as I take my seat. At least I think it’s Sawyer. The burn mark around his wrist that I once used to identify the twins has healed over, so I’m not positive.

“Yeah. It’s getting cold and Reed promised you’d take us all shopping for winter clothes,” Seb chimes in.

“Oh, he did, did he?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty helpless without you.” Reed’s low voice strikes me hard in the gut.

“Don’t talk to me,” I snap.

“I agree,” Easton says. “Don’t talk to her.”

I jolt up in surprise to see all three Royal boys shoot glares in Reed’s direction. His mouth tightens. I tell my stupid heart that it’s not allowed an ounce of sympathy for Reed. Whatever he’s reaping here at the breakfast table, I know he’s sown a thousand times over.

“Morning, Easton,” I chirp. “Have I missed anything interesting in bio?” I want to bring up the strange hug from last night, but this isn’t the place.

Still, I need to know that he’s okay. Easton has a few addiction problems. I think he misses his mom and is trying to fill that gap with everything and finding that nothing works. I’ve been there.

“Yeah, we’re dissecting pigs.”

“Seriously?” I make a gagging noise. “Glad I skipped.”

“Nah.” He nudges me with his shoulder. “I’m kidding. You haven’t missed shit. Assessments are next week, though.”

“Oh crap.”

“Don’t worry. Callum will take care of everything, won’t you, Dad?” Easton sticks his chin out.

Callum ignores Easton’s challenge and nods placidly. “Yes, if you need more time, Ella, I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Because in his world, money buys anything, including extra time to take standardized tests. Maybe I won’t even need to take a college entrance exam. I don’t know whether that makes me happy or upset. Both, I guess. Confused emotions are the standard in my head right now.

Like when Reed takes a seat next to me, my body rejoices, remembering all the pleasure he pulled out of it. And my heart flips in memory of how he filled the cracks in my heart with affection and warmth that I hadn’t even realized I needed in my life. But my head reminds me that this boy was terrible to me. The one concession I can make is that he tried to warn me off, but I kept after him like a lovesick idiot, telling him that he wanted me and that he just needed to admit it. So I guess we’re both to blame.

He told me to stay away.

He told me I didn’t belong.

If only I’d listened to him.