Royally Mated

Chapter Three

Her father merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ali," he began, in that specific tone of his that meant she was being stupid again, "why on Earth would I know anything about wolves. They don't even live around here. If you really want to know, go on down to the library. I'm sure there's a book or two that will satisfy your curiosity." He ambled away into the kitchen, most likely looking for more beer.

She tossed her head back and sighed, letting her head thump quietly against the door behind her. Her father wasn't always like this, at least, she didn't think so. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could faintly recall a loving dad that showered her with affection. He spoiled her rotten and was her best friend. But when her mother suddenly died, it left him a husk of the man he once was. Or so that was what everyone told her. She had only been six at the time, and nearly two decades later, it was hard to see the man from her neighbor's stories as the man she knew now.

Shaking her head and standing up straight, she decided to visit the library tomorrow. She knew it would be closed by now, seeing as everything in the rundown town never opened before ten in the morning, and she was too tired from her overnight shift to do anything for the rest of the day.

She just wanted a nap, and maybe some waffles. She'd have to check if they had the ingredients hidden somewhere in the pantry.

Her plans for a lazy day were cut off when her phone let out a shrill sound, alerting her of an incoming call. Seeing her best friend's name flash across the screen, she groaned before swiping and putting the phone up to her ear, keeping it a couple of inches away.

"Ali!" the voice on the other end shrieked. She winced, knowing her friend too well. "You'll never believe what happened!"

She huffed before racking her brain, trying to think of what would have her best friend practically jumping off the walls. "Did One Direction get back together?" An offended gasp let her know that she guessed wrong. "Um...is your mom pregnant again?"

Paisley had a twin brother, two older brothers, and four younger sisters. Her mother was constantly jumping from man to man, which was incredibly easy for her, seeing as she was the owner of the only motel in town and was the most popular prostitute in about fifty miles. Ali didn't judge; everyone had to make a living somehow. Paisley especially didn't judge, seeing as she loved children and would constantly offer to take her younger siblings out of her mother's hair for the day to take care of them.

Paisley huffed before whining. "No! One more guess, but you'll never get it!"

Ali squinted before giving up. "An absent, yet extremely rich aunt died suddenly under suspicious circumstances and left all of her money, possessions, and estate to you, leaving you the owner of a private island, fifteen servants, and a mansion worth a couple billion dollars."

There was a long pause before Paisley burst out laughing. "No! Ali, goodness, where do you come up with this stuff. No, this is even better!"

Even better than owning a private island, a mansion, and some people to do your bidding?

"The hottest guy I've ever seen, and his two also-hot-but-not-as-much friends, just check into the motel!" Ali waited for more information but seeing as none came, she figured this was all.

Paisley, like her mother, loved male attention. She was the first to admit that she was a total slut, or would be if she could actually find someone to sleep with. There weren't a lot of options around in a town that had just under four hundred people living in it.

"And...am I supposed to care?" She heard her father grumbling from the kitchen and decided it would be best to take this conversation to her room. Heading upstairs, she kicked open her door as Paisley answered.

"Of course you are! This might be the guy who I can finally nab. And he looks rich! Like, super, super rich. I could get myself a sugar daddy! Well, he might not be old enough to be a sugar daddy, but what else could I call it? Sugar brother? Sugar boyfriend? Sugar hookup?"

"Paisley!" Ali cut her off before she could keep rambling. The girl could talk for hours and still have more to say, so it was best to stop her before she actually did.

"If you want him, go try to get him. No sense in wasting your time telling me about it."

"Oh my god, you're totally right! What am I doing?" The line cut off and Ali rolled her eyes. Maybe if she actually slept with someone, she might tone down herself down. It was wishful thinking, but she could only pray that it would happen. Don't get her wrong, she loved her best friend, but when she got into one of these moods, Ali just needed to take a step back.

She herself had absolutely no interest in guys at the moment. Of course, at some point in her life, she wanted a family. A loving husband and maybe a kid or three. But first, she wanted to travel the globe; she wanted to get away from this slow town and see anything and everything the world had to offer.

She wanted to taste foreign foods, participate in religious festivals and holidays, watch cultural practices, and learn different languages.

She wanted to experience the world, not just live in it.

Her phone beeped as a text message popped up with an image attached.

see? hot right?

The message was from Paisley, so she unlocked her phone to look. Then, she nearly dropped it in shock. The guy from the gas station was in the lobby of the motel, talking to an older man and another man about his age. All of them, like her friend said, were attractive. Wherever he was from, there must be something in the water. The longer she looked at the picture, the more jealously flowed through her.

Of course Paisley had to stake her claim on him, the guy she saw first. The only man she had ever really been interested in, if you didn't count fictional characters. Her friend could have anyone, why did she want to go after him?

Snapping herself out of it, she locked her phone and put it back down. She had no right to feel this way. If Paisley wanted him, she could have him. He wasn't her's and seeing him first meant literally nothing.

Running her hands down her face, she decided she really did need that nap.