Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 10

Sebastian sighed. “It’s fine. Are you high, Royal?” Royal looked down at his feet as he nodded slowly.

“If you’re still hungry, why don’t you get some McDonald's?”

“Really?” Isaiah asked, a grin on his face.

“Yeah. Luca said he’s staying at the station tonight, something about a new lead in a case he’s working on, and he wants to focus on that. So, find one of my monsters and go to McDonald's.”

“Okay. Thanks. And do you need any help?” Isaiah asked, eyeing the husband.

“No. We’ll be fine.”

Isaiah and Royal slipped out of the kitchen and into the small foyer. They both dropped their shoes and went three doors to Sebastian and Ashton’s home. They walked in without knocking and heard yelling. Curiosity got the best of both of them, and they followed the shouts into the living room to see Ravi being held back by Thea and Wendy. While Julian was stopping Silas, the glass table was also in the middle of them.

“Isn’t he the one who got stabbed?” Royal asked, pointing at Ravi. “What did we miss? No, what did he do?”

“He tried to make a move on Julian!” Silas snapped as he tried to move out of Julian’s way, who raised an eyebrow at the boy.

“I didn’t know you two were together!” Ravi yelled. “That would have been very helpful news, Thea!”

“They’re not together,” Thea replied, staring at Ravi. “And you need to stop moving around, or Uncle Lucky will kill us for letting you rip your stitches out.”

“Wait,” Ravi said, pausing his struggle. “They’re not together?”

“No?” Royal said, frowning. “I don’t know, I’m high.”

“No,” Thea said, rolling her eyes at Royal. “They’re not together.”

“Then why did Silas try to kill me when I flirted with Julian.”

“Wait, you were flirting with me?” Julian asked, turning around with a frown as he stared at Ravi.

“Have been for a while, thanks for noticing.”

“Anyway, can one of you drive us to a drive-thru? Uncle Sebastian said you would,” Isaiah said, staring at the siblings whose faces were both flushed.

“Julian goes; I don’t want him anywhere near Ravi.”

“On the promise, you don’t try and kill Ravi,” Julian replied, looking over at Silas, who had a deep scowl.

But Royal’s eyes wandered over to Isaiah, who had pulled his phone out, and all of these emotions towards him flooded up to the surface; all he wanted was to kiss him, and he knew he could, but it wouldn’t mean anything to him, and so he refrained from doing so.

Isaiah nudged Royal, who blinked a little, looking around. Ravi was back to sitting on the couch and heard the door slam shut upstairs with Silas nowhere in sight. He sighed as he followed the two boys into the moderately oversized garage.

They climbed into Julian’s black car. Royal sat at the back and rolled the windows on either side down. He enjoyed the breeze as he caught the side profile of Isaiah. And the urge to kiss and hold him washed over him once more. He snorted at his thoughts. No matter how much he wished for it, it simply would not happen, and he had to accept that.

He frowned when Julian rolled up all the windows, but he said nothing.

“Do you know when Jamie is coming back?” Julian asked as he eyed Isaiah.

Royal didn’t miss how Isaiah tensed up, but he said nothing. “No.”

“Do you want him to come back?” Julian asked instead, his voice barely above a whisper.

Isaiah didn’t reply for a moment, and Royal thought that maybe he had managed to sneak his way into his heart, and the thought of that had butterflies in his stomach.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I miss him. We haven’t spoken since he left three years ago. But I’ve heard he’s still with Amethyst; why would I put myself through that again?”

“So you do still have feelings for him?”

He shrugged. Royal didn’t want to watch that. He didn’t want to witness any of it. He didn’t want to see Isaiah talking about Jamie. He had never even met the boy, but he could see how attached Isaiah was to him and hated it.

“I do still have feelings for him.”

“Then why are you making out with Royal? Why are you pretending to be lovers with him?”

That stung more than he would have liked it to. He caught Julian’s gaze in the mirror and smiled a little. It wasn’t Julian’s fault. He didn’t know about his feelings towards Isaiah, and no one knew about them.

“Royal knows it’s more of a friends-with-benefits kind of anything besides the fucking.”

“And did you ask him how he feels about that?” Julian replied.

Royal felt the blood drain from his face. He didn’t know. There was no way he knew. Royal had made sure to keep his feelings for Isaiah hidden. He didn’t want to give anyone a reason to leave him again. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Royal doesn’t mind; he knows it's a friends-with-benefits kind of thing, and he likes to touch and affection; it’s a win-win situation for both of us.”

When Julian pulled into the drive-thru, Isaiah took that opportunity to climb into the back.

Royal knew he was being a horrible friend, but what was he meant to do? He couldn’t simply squash his feelings for him. That wasn’t how emotions and feelings worked. But he turned to look at Isaiah, and even if the boy was scowling, he still found him to be beautiful, the way the streetlight shone down on his dyed black hair or how they illuminated his side profile, highlighting the hickey he had left on his neck. He was a f*****g fool for it.

Isaiah told Julian what he wanted, and Royal did the same. Julian drove around, and in silence, he turned to look at the two boys.

“However you feel about Jamie, Isaiah, you must deal with it.”

“Why?” the boy snapped. “It’s not like I will be seeing him anytime soon.”

Julian coughed a little as he scratched the back of his head. But he was distracted when Julian handed him the food. He gave the bag to the back, took out their drinks and passed it to Isaiah. He took one caramel frappe out, and after getting a straw from Isaiah, he began drinking.

“Julian, if you know something, tell me,” Isaiah snapped.

“Jamie. He’s here. Midnight just texted me; he turned up at the house.”

Royal’s head snapped over to Isaiah as he saw the blood drain from his face, but he didn’t miss the smile on the stoned boy’s face.

Oh. Oh. Oh. He knew he was screwed.

No matter how much he wished for it, Isaiah would never see him the way he saw him. And there was nothing he could do to change that.

~*~