Red, White and Royally fucked

- 30 -

Henry

After we came back to the states, I barely saw Alex for a month, and it was a dreadful time. We facetimed as much as we could, and we tried making plans to see each other, but the paparazzies followed Alex like a dog with a bone, and it triggered his anxiety. Shaan more than once needed to drag me away from a public setting to prevent me from beating up the damn paparazzies that wouldn't leave my boyfriend alone. The tabloids were writing excessively about us – much more than I had ever pictured they would. Our relationship had become very public, and we were being scrutinized constantly. Even my sister and Nora was getting ambushed by reporters wanting to know about me and Alex. Or Nora and Alex and their previous relationship, which for some reason had completely escaped my knowledge.

Every night I received heartbreaking phone calls from Alex as he continued to have terrible night terrors about us being chased by paparazzi and getting into a deadly car accident. And every night I tried to calm him down and promise him something like that would never happen. But truthfully, it could. It absolutely could.

Every day I struggled with the fact that I was the reason he was hurting, and I was too selfish to let him go. Even though I know I should. It would be the best thing for him.

And then another disaster hit. Something I should have known would come but had completely forgotten all about. My new novel got released. And the publisher shitbag I once screwed decided to publicly announce the true identity of Athur Wales.

"Oh fuck!" I shout when Shaan has changed the channel to the local news. Alex – who I'm fortunate enough to finally have near me again - thanks to Shaan sneaking him from his dorm to my apartment in the middle if the night - is laying on the couch with his head in my lap, carefully wrapped into a blanket like a delicious Mexican burrito.

"What?" he mumbles sheepishly with heavy lids.

"They know I'm Athur Wales."

"What?" He instantly sits up, miscalculates the wideness of the couch and his own moving abilities, and slides right of the couch hitting the ground with a thump. Shaan carefully unwraps Alex from the blanket that – In Alex' opinion - so clearly tries to kill him, while I'm now standing with arms crossed glaring at the TV while they are interviewing the piece of shit I thought I could trust. Once Alex is free from his blanket, he is right by my side. "What an asshole!!!" Alex shouts and I just nod in agreement. "And he is not even that good looking. Why did you even sleep with him?"

"That's what on your mind?" I shoot him a side-glance, "the hotness of someone I once slept with."

"No, of course not. But still... kind of, yeah... he is bald!" Alex gestures to his own luxurious thick locks. "It's nothing like me."

"Darling, no one can be compared to you. You are beautiful and have great hair." I kiss his forehead. "Now can we please concentrate on the problem at hand?"

"Yes of course." Alex suddenly falls very silent, and I know he is mentally spiraling, which also explains his attempt of distancing himself from this disaster by putting all the attention to my ex sexual partner.

"I'm sorry..." I mumble again, which unfortunately has become almost every other word I say to him.

"It's not your fault Henry," Alex repeats, as he always does. But I know it's my fault. And he knows it too, even if he isn't saying it.

"Your royal highness," Shaan says and turns the tv up, so both Alex and I turn our attention to it.

"The newest book, The Lost Heart of The Prince, written by the English prince himself," The voice on the TV explains and I instantly holds my breath, "explains in great detail the sexual encounter between the Prince and the character that we strongly suspect to be based of Alexander Claremont-Diaz and how they went from said encounter to become frequent lovers and, as we now know, end up as real life boyfriends. The book is currently available in every bookstore, and my prediction is it will be sold out before noon."

"Shaan!" I shout and he grabs his phone instantly, beginning to dial.

"I'm on it, sir." And then proceeds to contact the bookstores and the publisher.

"Don't worry, Alex. I'm fixing this. I'm going to remove every single book, and everything is going to be okay."

"It's too late, Henry. The book is out..." He is covering his mouth with a trembling hand and his eyes are closed as he tries to take deep breaths.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I never wrote your name, I promise."

"It doesn't matter, Henry. My name is associated with it now. My sex-life is now public to everyone." He lets out a shaky breath and his calmness scares me. Usually, he would be frantic now. Shouting. Throwing things. This however – this is fucking terrifying me.

"Alex..."

"I think I have to go home for a while." He says with glossy eyes when he finally looks at me again.

"Right. Of course... I'll get Shaan to call you a car."

"No, Henry." He puts his hands on my shoulders, and I see it in his eyes before he even says the words.

"I need to go home to Texas."

With Alex gone, there is no point in me staying in the states, so when my brother calls me back to England to do damage control, I don't even fight against it. The quicker I resolve this bloody mess, the quicker I get to see the love of my life again.

We didn't break up. I can find comfort in that. We are just having a long-distance relationship for now. Which is better for all parts, I guess.

I stare out the plane window, watching the clouds around us and am deeply missing the last time I was here, trying to convince Alex that he indeed wasn't behind on his assignments. And now, he has put his education on hold, because he no longer knows if he will ever be able to follow his dream. All because of me.

"The lawyers are looking over your contract." Shaan says as he returns to the seat opposite me, still with his phone in his hand. "So far, they believe they can successfully sue the publisher and get all your books removed from the bookstores and libraries. However..."

"All the copies in private homes will always be there. Including the one about Alex." I shut my eyes hard and hide my head in my hands. "How could I be that stupid!"

Shaan just sits there, watching me uncomfortably. He is still not used to seeing me like this, which I get. I'm not exactly the same person he met. And I'm definitely not great company these days.

"Sir," he eventually interrupts me, and I glance at him through my fingers. "I need you to hand over your phone and your laptop. Orders from the palace. They want to check it and install some software to protect you devises from being hacked. Just in case."

"Fine." I wave my hand at him as If that info was nothing than just an annoying fly. "Take what you want. Who fucking cares..."

Shaan lets one hand rest consolingly on my shoulder for a moment before taking the phone out of my hand.

Upon landing in England, I'm instantly taken to the palace where the king and my brother is waiting for me with a very displeased look on their faces.