Royal On The Run (unedited)

Chapter Thirty-One

(A bit of a shorter chapter here, but don't worry, plenty of story still to come)

Sebastian

    "....I think he's your father." Those are words I never thought would come out of Naomi's mouth. Before today, I never would have thought those words could hold any truth in them. Now, I knew better. I knew that despite how much I hated how it sounded, I knew it was truth.

    Everything fell into place once the words had come out of her mouth.

    The way that no matter how much Anthony tried, he'd always treated me as something more than a brother. He'd never been cruel to me, he'd loved me, cared for me after our parents died. I'd always known him as my brother, called him my brother to his face. He'd always give me a tight-lipped smile when I said that to him, it'd never struck me as an odd thing to do until now. Now, it was as if everything that had happened between us as I grew up was for an entirely different reason.

    Despite the age difference, we were growing up together. But why had I called him my brother? Instead of my father? I knew that I looked like him, I thought nothing of it. There'd been pictures of my mom pregnant with me, pictures of her holding me after my birth. Those had to be real, but they weren't.

    After our parents were gone, Anthony stepped up. I'd just thought that was him being the big brother he was supposed to be, now I knew that was a lie. He was acting like the father-figure because he was the father.

    "Did he try to warn you about that as well?" Deacon's voice came from somewhere in the distance. Though I couldn't hear him clearly, I pieced together what he said. "He can't be your father, I mean, it's weird."

    Weird didn't even begin to cover it. In response to Deacon, I could only shake my head. No matter how I tried to make words come out of mouth, they just wouldn't move.

    Naomi kissed me again and when my eyes refocused, she was all I could see. She was the one piece of normal in my life now. She'd always been her and had never been afraid to show who she is and how she felt like showcasing herself. Her hair was still like a chocolatey brown along with her eyes, she had the most beautiful eyes, they really did make me feel like I was melting. And her lips, they were moving, but I wasn't hearing what she was saying. I just nodded along with what she said, a hazy smile on my lips.

    Naomi's face got closer, I thought she was going to kiss me again, instead a sharp pang tinged each of my cheeks.

    She'd pinched me.

    I let her go in an instant, the world around me coming back into focus. My hands went to my cheeks as I heard her laughter clear as day across from me.

    "About damn time, Bas. Don't you think, Deac?"

    "Totally." Deacon responded, mirroring his sister's laughter. "Thought we lost him there for a minute."

    "Felt like I was lost." I admitted. Though my cheeks were still tender, I smiled softly at Naomi. "Thanks for that. I was in a daze, I suppose."

    "mm-hmm." She nodded, her laughter fading. "Are you okay, Bas? I hope I didn't make you mad for my theory."

    The fact that Naomi thought I'd be mad at her for something like that was insanity at its finest. She was telling me something that was relevant to the current situation. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but now that I'd heard it, I understood and accepted why she'd said it.