Page 22 of Club Royal: Calendar Collection

Freddie

Freddie rubbed his palm across his scruff, the scratch of it loud in the bathroom.

He considered doing something he had never done before, but it was for a good cause, and it was a tough decision to make.

Not because it’ll change his appearance, but because it’ll set him on another path.

A path of creating awareness around something that was still not talked about enough and that would bring with it a wave of censure, opinions, and everything else that came with a prince taking a stand and showing what he believed in.

He had thick skin, but sometimes, it still burnt.

Arms slid around his waist, and lips pressed against his nape. “You don’t have to,” Damon said.

“I want to, I’m just…” Freddie sighed. “Scared, I suppose. No, not scared. Resigned. I know exactly how it’ll go, and I’m exhausted just thinking about it.”

“I’m here. We can do this together.”

Freddie spun in Damon’s arms, and he cupped his husband’s cheeks. “We can, and we will.” He dropped his mouth, fusing their lips, and took everything Damon gave him. Then he rested their foreheads together and closed his eyes. “The truth shall set us free.”

Damon chuckled. “Can’t go wrong with the truth. It’ll eventually come out that they’re telling lies, anyway.”

Freddie inhaled and opened his eyes. “Let’s do it. Movember, here we come.”

“At least by growing moustaches together, we won’t have any issues with rashes.”

He chuckled and slapped Damon’s butt as he walked away from him. “Too right.”

Dressing in a suit, like he preferred when he was talking business, he kissed Damon goodbye and headed to meet his father.

He had never got rid of the feeling that he still had so much he had to learn before he could become king, but his father constantly told him he wasn’t worried about Freddie taking over.

He hated thinking about that, because it would only happen when his father died, and that was something he didn’t think he could deal with any time soon.

After his mother’s sudden death, he had kept a close eye on his father, making sure he did everything he could to stay with them as long as possible.

Thankfully, Andrew had his two partners now, which made him want to live as long as possible, too. Which worked very much in Freddie’s favour.

He nodded to Colt as he passed him to enter the inner sanctuary of Randall’s office. Randall, being his father’s PA, knew he was coming and had a cup of tea already made and waiting to take in when he went.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” Randall said.

“Morning, Randall.” He held his hands out. “Let me take them in.”

“No, it’s—” Freddie raised an eyebrow. “Thank you.”

Dominic opened the door to the king’s office after knocking and closed it once Freddie was through.

“Morning, Father.” He placed the two cups of tea on the table.

“Morning. How are you today?”

Freddie blew out a breath as he settled into the most uncomfortable chairs on the planet—something Andrew purposefully kept because it made visitors want to leave sooner.

“Damon and I are going to do Movember.”

Andrew smiled. “That’s wonderful. Are you planning on doing any activities relating to it, or just as a show of support?”

“I don’t really know. It’s something I want to talk over with you, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. We can do that first if you like?”

They launched into a discussion about whether to make a big deal of it or to keep it small.

They were both concerned about his involvement taking away the spotlight from the issues the charity was there to highlight, so they made a note to talk to both Mav and Kai about possible spins to make it look like they weren’t trying to be on the front page of the paper.

They also talked about events that might be worthwhile, and Andrew suggested talking to Nick.

Then he took another breath. “There’s another reason why I want to do it.” Andrew waited, tilting his head. “I had a prostate cancer scare a while back.”

Andrew leaned forward, forehead creased. “Just a scare?”

Freddie nodded. “My blood test came back with high levels of PSA, so they did another couple of tests. It was a false alarm, but it hit home that things like this are never planned. It can never be planned, and it’s something that can happen to anyone.”

“That’s very true. Any reason you didn’t mention it?”

He stared off towards the window. “I suppose I didn’t want to worry anyone, mainly, but also…if I didn’t admit it out loud, then it wouldn’t be true.”

Andrew stood and settled beside him, sliding his arm around his shoulders. “I understand. We will stand beside you regardless, though.”

“I know.” And he did. “We’ve just had so much loss lately…”

Andrew pulled him in for a hug, and Freddie sank into his embrace.

The feeling of his parent’s arms around him had always soothed him, but in recent years, he had let himself not want it.

He might’ve needed it, but he hadn’t wanted it.

Not because he was aloof and independent, but because he didn’t want to have to rely on it.

Maybe he was more worried about his father’s longevity, after all.

They moved on to other subjects, and when they finished, Freddie said goodbye and headed for his next appointment.

His entire being was lighter than it had been since the initial worrying doctor’s appointment, but sharing his news had been easier than expected.

Now he just had to do it for the rest of his family.

But not right then. At that moment, he needed one thing only.

Damon.

He entered their room and found the man himself on the sofa, engrossed in something on his laptop. Damon’s head lifted when he entered, and he put the laptop aside.

“Everything okay?”

Freddie nodded. “Yeah. It was hard, but I told him. As expected, we have his blessing, and he’s given me some good ideas and some people to talk to. It’ll hopefully help mitigate any chance of my news upstaging the charity itself if it gets out. Which I’m sure it will.”

Damon stood. “Come on.” He grabbed Freddie’s hand. “Let’s get a drink.”

“I’m not sure—”

“I am,” Damon interrupted, dragging him towards the door.

“Don’t you need to get back to whatever you were doing?” Freddie tried to persuade him to stay indoors where he could hide for the day, but Damon was having none of it.

“Don’t you want to see your friends and family? Because I know they are at Book Drunk.”

The crafty bastard. “Fine.”

He wouldn’t tell them the news in public, but being with his family and friends always soothed him in ways not much else could. Only Damon’s presence alone made everything even better. It wasn’t something he could explain, and he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to.

“We could almost have a full house if Christian, Patrick and Kieren were here,” George said from across the cafe.

Freddie’s chest pounded before he breathed to calm it.

He had never liked so many of them in one place at once, but knowing their bodyguards as well as he did, he believed they were just as safe there as they were anywhere else.

It didn’t matter how many of them were around; if someone wanted to get to them, they would.

He just had to remember the events of the past few years to know that.

“If I’d known you were here, I would’ve stayed home,” he said to his brother, nudging his shoulder as he slid past.

“Nah, you wouldn’t,” George said. “You’d have been here sooner if you’d known.” He winked and leaned into Eddie, who slid his arm around George’s back, holding him close.

Freddie loved the men his brothers and cousins had found.

They couldn’t have been more perfect for them if they had tried.

His family had been through a lot, but he wasn’t under any illusions that others had it worse than they did.

Even if they took the money and status out of the equation, people had been through much worse.

Despite it, though, they had become even closer.

And so, he asked the question that he was sure George had been waiting for. “I think it’s time for a party.”

George gaped at him, and even though the reasoning behind it was serious, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Say again. I don’t think I heard you right.”

“It’s time for a party. I need to talk to Nick about the details, but—”

George sat forward. “Why Nick? Why not me? I’m just as good as Nick is.”

A chuckle sounded, and Freddie looked over his shoulder to where Felix sat trying to maintain his composure. At least until he saw Freddie looking. Felix chuckled again. “You’ve done it now, Your Highness. A competition is bound to ensue.”

And that was when Freddie got an idea.

“I think a competition is a healthy way of bringing more awareness to this cause. There are going to be two parts to it, though.”

Felix smirked, and Freddie turned back around, seeing lots of raised eyebrows and tilted heads.

“The first part is easy. You just need to grow a moustache.”

Uproar sounded across the cafe, and Oscar came over to shush them. “Stop causing havoc with the rest of my customers, or I’ll have to ask you to leave.” His face was serious, but his mouth twitched. He leaned down to Freddie and whispered, “I’m not sure Ozzie will like having a moustache.”

Freddie whispered back, “Ozzie doesn’t have to, and I suppose I might have to give Christian a pass, too. You’ll end up looking like you have road rash otherwise.”

Oscar went pink and skedaddled behind the counter again, and Freddie and Damon chuckled, the only ones who’d been able to hear their conversation.

“So what’s the competition?”

Damon