The Heart of Cars

Chapter 16

As we get to the car, I turn around to see a shadow move behind the building and the girls are staring at us wide-eyed. I get in my car and buckle my seatbelt. As I pull out of the parking lot, Brittany hangs up her phone call with her dad. "He says go to the house." I nod and look in my rearview mirror at her. She looks pretty shaken up. I watch the road and drive carefully, which Brit seems to notice, but doesn't comment. We pull up to her house and her mom and brothers quickly run out. I get out as far as I can so she can get out too. Once she gets out her mom pulls her and me into a hug that her younger brother joins in on. I try to pull away but they won't let me until the king clears his throat. I step away from them and silently follow the king into his home with Colton to my right. We sit down in his study. I sit in the comfy chair by the unlit fireplace like always and Colton stands by the back of the chair. "Are you gonna stand the whole time?" I ask quietly. "Yeah, I've been sitting for a while."

"Liar, you were just standing guard outside the mall for hours. Hence the reason you are here and not another one of the soldiers." He gives me a small smile and the king shuts the door quietly. "What the heck happened Jo?"

"We were just at the mall and some girls came up to us saying some stuff and I got a bad feeling and so I found the guard, Colton, as it happened to be and we came here. I told her to call you so I didn't get sent back for bringing Colton or being near him. I thought it would be okay because I didn't want to start anything. There was three of them and I didn't want Brittany to be tempted to help me. But we did only ride in my car and I was the only one that drove." I smile and the king laughs. "Well, at least you didn't break all of my rules. Also, it's okay that you were near him. I understand that this was a special case and you won't go back but I have a question for you. Why are you so scared of going back?"

"Because...I liked the fighting, it made me challenge myself and I liked knowing I could beat anyone there. I liked knowing I was the best fighter and no one would bug me or Brittany or Sam. I liked knowing that I didn't have to watch my back since everyone was scared of me. And I know that if I go back, I'll turn into her again and that scares me, a lot more then I'll ever care to admit, even to myself." I shrug and look down at my hands. I see Colton looking at me funny out of the corner of my eye. This is not how I wanted him to find out. "You didn't know, did you Colt?" I look up at the king's odd name for him. "No, I didn't even know she went to River Run until a few nights ago."

"No freaking way..." I say quietly to myself as I stand up and take a close look at Colton. No way. He's...the king's son, isn't he? I heard dad's men that the oldest prince was always sent away so he doesn't get killed but I never thought it was true, let alone that it was Colton. It makes sense though, they kind of look alike and the king called him 'colt' which I've never heard him be called before, have I? He also seems so comfortable around the royals and on my birthday he was looking for them. He looked so worried about Brittany today...holy crap...he really is the king's oldest.

*edited*