Page 18
Rich of Royces
T here was only so much that Liam could take before exploding, and Avril Knight knew that. Possibly as well as any woman on the planet. Only Tess Williams might know it better, and if that were true, the gap was actively narrowing.
She’d ambushed him, as well. After coming over early in the day, he’d found her alone in her apartment, as Anna was out having lunch with her mother. But that had been almost an hour ago. Since arriving, they’d hung out in the living room, lazing about while watching a show she liked. That should have been what tipped Liam off, kept him wary. When Avril was involved, the lack of an explosion was, in its own curious way, proof that one was coming.
Because, leaning into him, batting her eyelashes, and acting as though it was too much trouble for her to get up, she’d asked him to grab her something to drink from the fridge. And like the freshly hatched baby turtle waddling toward the ocean, he hadn’t thought of looking over his shoulder as he got up and headed for the kitchen.
Thinking he’d open the fridge, he instead ended up spun around by the shoulder and then pushed against it. Before he could utter a single word, she’d shoved something against his chest—a digital stopwatch, of all things—then dropped to her knees.
Once his cock was out in the open, expectant eyes had stared up at him. Just below them, moist lips waiting for him to shrug off his stunned state.
“Oh,” he’d said, finally catching on.
She had him hard well before the stopwatch ticked past the thirty-second mark. Even though Tess hadn’t started having him record her until she’d handled some preamble, Avril didn’t opt into that route—well, maybe she didn’t even know about it being an option. Liam was in no state to shout for a misstart, bring the runners back to their blocks, then have them go again.
In typical Avril fashion, she both excelled and showed off. It wasn’t enough for her to twirl her tongue around his glans, then down his length; she needed to send shivers down his spine with her nails, which she lightly scraped up and down the underside of his shaft. It wasn’t enough for her to pepper his cock with soft, wet kisses; she went all the way down to his balls and marked that territory as part of her knightly fiefdom too.
But more than anything, she wasn’t in a hurry. In fact, if she could have hit a time of 7:33, he was certain she would have. This was Avril’s response to Tess’s text, almost precisely one week after it had been sent.
Instead, she spent the first four and a half minutes unraveling him, then the final three pacing herself, even going so far as to turn his wrist so she could see the timer’s count. He wasn’t deep into her throat until the final minute, and by then, practically coming apart at the seams from his own personal earthquake, he was easy prey. At a time of 7:21—or so Avril claimed, he was too busy groaning and pouring his cum down her throat to pay attention to any of that—he climaxed.
Grinning like the villainess she was after cleaning him up, she proudly abandoned him, weak at the knees and heart pounding, and sought her phone, then sent the new time to beat into the group text. Only, unlike last time, the other competitor—a woman Liam was beginning to understand was far more competitive than he’d ever have believed three months ago—soon sent her congratulations.
Well done. I wonder if that will still be the time to beat twenty-four hours from now.
It wasn’t too much of a challenge, Avril replied, which, once Liam was back with her in the living room and could see both messages over her shoulder, caused him to scowl at her. So, it won’t bother me if it is. I was just playing around.
“Thanks,” he grunted, flicking near her ear as he headed to the restroom to clean himself up.
A grin and a blown kiss pursued him as he headed down the hall.
By the time he made it back, Tess and Avril had shared a few more competitive remarks, which led him to believe that, long-term, he ought to expect to be “The Price is Righted” by both women. Neither seemed in any hurry to set a time that would be difficult for the other to beat. He supposed he should be happy about that, though he wondered how things would go once one failed to beat the other’s time. Would they admit it in the group text, or would he be sworn to secrecy, then “subjected” to blowjob after blowjob until it could be beaten?
He supposed he’d eventually find out.
“You can open up a red one once you make it home,” Avril announced once he returned to the couch with her.
“Only a red one?”
“You get to cum down my throat, then I give you an additional reward, and then you moan about it not being enough?” Avril said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, and?”
Rolling her eyes, she reiterated, “A red one. But if you can hold out tomorrow, when Tess is sucking you off in her kitchen, maybe I’ll let you bring your Christmas gift along for spring break.”
“Don’t try to weaponize me against her,” he said, poking her thigh. “I’m going to be fair and impartial”—at that, Avril snorted loudly—“and I won’t be bought. Besides, I doubt customs will let me bring a massive glass jar full of fortune cookies on the trip.”
To that, Avril merely shrugged. “You’ve got all your passport stuff good to go, by the way? Ready to fly far, far away?”
“I always am,” Liam said. “With how much my parents liked traveling, with where my brother lives, it’s always up to date. Honestly, I might have left the country more than anyone going on this trip.”
Avril curled one corner of her mouth thoughtfully. “How many have you been to?”
After a relatively brisk trip down memory lane, he said, “Twenty-two, I think… if I count ones that we actually visited, not just flyovers or ones we stopped in. I’m sure there’s one or two places I’m forgetting about, though.”
“Then you might have me beat. I’d have to think about how many I’ve visited. I’m probably not too far behind, but I’ve been to mostly tropical destinations. But you mentioned that your parents like cold places.” After he nodded, she made a face. Any mention of the cold was enough to cause a response from her. Moments later, however, she grinned. “We’ll both have upped the count by one here in about a month.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I appreciate you handling everything too. I’d say I should pay for my expenses, but—”
“But you’d look really silly if you tried it,” Avril completed. “Everyone else knows how it is; a Knight has to pay for her peasants, after all.”
Rolling his eyes back at her, he began to respond, only to be cut off by the sound of the front door being unlocked.
One beautiful woman with raven-black hair walked in. And right behind her, another beautiful woman with raven-black hair followed. Upon seeing him, both brightened the room with their lovely smiles. Just one would have been enough.
“Hi, Liam,” Anna said, entering the living room.
“Hello, you two,” Evelyn Royce said, setting down her handbag as she did the same.
If there was a woman capable of matching Victoria in style, Anna’s gorgeous mother was it. Today, she reinforced that belief.
Wearing a creamy, figure-hugging sweater dress that fell midway down her thighs, which she matched with black knee-high boots, she could have silenced a furious political debate if she happened to walk in the middle of it. Possessing an arousing figure, as well those same alluringly pouty lips that she’d granted to her daughter, her eyes, a shade of light blue that edged toward being considered grey, were nevertheless full of warmth.
So, the exact opposite of what he’d received when he’d met the other of Anna’s parents.
It was something Liam was eternally grateful for. Even before meeting her for the first time a couple of months ago, he’d heard she was kind and reasonable. Nevertheless, he’d still fretted right up to when he’d finally been introduced to Anna’s lovely mother. It had come after his disastrous encounter with her father—an ambush, in all but name. That hateful man had made it clear that he disapproved of him and Anna dating, and Liam knew why: business. Ridiculous as it was in this modern era, Arnold Royce seemed to see his daughter solely as a bargaining chip for his own gains.
Blessedly, Evelyn Royce didn’t support her husband’s selfish plans. Not when it came to her only child, at least. Upon meeting her, that had become abundantly clear. She wanted Anna to experience a proper relationship or two, enjoy herself, and enjoy being with someone. In fact, during a moment of alone time between them, she’d been the one to suggest that he invite Anna over to Perrymont. So, she was a big part of the reason that he’d found out about Café on Ice, then taken Anna there, then brought her back to his dorm.
He wasn’t sure how she might feel about what had happened in said dorm room, aware as she seemed to be about her daughter’s inexperience. But based on his early impressions of her, he doubted she’d be shocked and appalled by it. She wouldn’t ruin his life over it, at least, whereas Arnold might. He’d blatantly implied that he didn’t intend to let Liam and Anna stay together for long. So far, nothing had come of that threat, though Evelyn might also be to thank for that. She’d said she’d work on soothing her husband’s wrath, and maybe she’d been successful.
One could hope. Liam didn’t exactly want to deal with Arnold again. He imagined that Anna’s feelings were a little more complex, but he’d only ever seen her in a neutral or bad mood when her father’s name came up. He wanted her to be free of his selfish insistences for as long as possible.
“Two beauties come in through my door; how lucky am I!” Avril grinned. “I only thought there’d be one.”
“Surprise,” Evelyn said, smiling back. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen either of you, so hearing that you’d both be here, I figured I could be efficient about it. How are you both doing?”
“Better now,” Avril said.
“Very well, nice to see you,” Liam said, smiling first at Evelyn, then at Anna. “Glad to be back.”
Anna blushed but beamed at him. As always, a week away from these women—specifically, Avril and Anna, though the surprise visit from Evelyn was hardly disappointing—was a trial he suffered through as best he could.
“Are you planning to stay over for a little while?” Avril asked Evelyn.
“If I’m welcome, I suppose I might,” Evelyn replied.
“You’re always welcome here,” Anna said.
“Then I shall stay,” Evelyn said, smiling.
Inhabiting some sort of idyllic fantasy, Liam found himself surrounded by three sublimely beautiful women. Sharing the couch with Avril and Anna, Liam couldn’t understate how fortunate he felt. As unrealistic as it might feel to him, this was his normal, his expected. When he came over to this apartment, he knew he’d be welcomed in. If only one were here, he’d probably engage in a blissful act. If they were both here, he could spend time with two incredible, gorgeous women.
It was crazy, and yet it was now the norm.
“How goes the preparation for your all’s trip?” Evelyn asked, one attractive leg folded over the other. “It’s getting closer and closer.”
“Everything’s good to go,” Avril said. “The Sunday after this one is the final day for voting; then, we’ll finally all know where Liam wants us to go. And then we wait one more painful month.”
Liam blinked, surprised to hear his name come up. He realized quickly that he hadn’t fully realized that Evelyn knew he’d be going on the trip. But after his name drop, she didn’t appear in the least bit surprised or perturbed. Nor about the fact that he had the ability, somehow, to decide where they’d be going.
“It’ll probably be Fiji,” Liam said. “Only one person was willing to throw out where she wanted to go.”
“Victoria,” Avril added. “It’s the only place she’s never been. Me neither, actually. So, I’m all for it.”
Evelyn nodded. “I’ve never been there, either. But I hear it’s as beautiful a place on Earth as one can find. I really should visit it myself, one of these days.”
“There’s room on the plane for one more,” Avril noted, to which Anna furrowed her brow. Liam felt the same, though he imagined his consternation was from a slightly different place. Namely, Evelyn’s presence would add a layer of difficulty to his time with the other women visiting the islands.
Evelyn, for her good graces, only laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think a mother should go to a romantic, tropical getaway at the same time her daughter and boyfriend are visiting. No, I think both her parents should be at least a thousand miles away during that.”
Anna blushed again, and Liam commiserated for her. It seemed that when her mother and Avril mixed, a little more of the latter’s brand of playfulness imbued them both.
“I’ll find some other tropical beach to lay out on during that time,” Evelyn said. “What are the other places that you all were considering?”
“Maldives, Bora, Bora, Tahiti, and the Bahamas,” Anna answered.
Pursing that luscious mouth of hers thoughtfully, Evelyn tapped her nails on her knee. “Maybe Bora, Bora. We’d be in the same ocean, but they’re at least a thousand miles apart, right?”
“Probably,” Avril said. “When I checked the time in the air for everywhere, it was only about a nine-hour flight to Bora, Bora. We’ll be up in the clouds for eleven or so for Fiji. Plenty of time for a certain someone to shore up his lacking knowledge of baseball pop culture.”
Evelyn arched an eyebrow at the same time that Liam rolled his eyes. “Speaking of, it’ll be right after opening day when you all depart. How do you think things will go? I heard about the troubles with Vargas.”
Avril waved a flippant hand through the air, yet curiously, Anna’s response—one of slight alarm—was the one that piqued Liam’s interest. That was all it would do because he had no way of figuring out why she’d reacted in such a way. Unless she just really didn’t want to get Avril going about baseball.
“It’ll be fine; he can whine and moan all he wants, but he’s still going to have to play. The arbitration panel was just the other day, and he didn’t get his way. Boohoo for him; he either plays under the salary offered this year or loses his nineteen million. I hope he does, the whiny jackass.”
“I hope it will work out,” Evelyn said diplomatically. “I know it’s been quite the headache. It’s all that’s been talked about over the past few weeks.”
“You have no idea,” Avril groaned. “But whatever, I’m gonna be on a beach soon enough, sipping something fruity, looking absolutely stunning.”
“Cheers to that,” Evelyn said, raising an invisible champagne glass.
The upcoming vacation remained the primary topic of conversation for the remainder of Evelyn’s time there. Promises to share pictures to decide which idyllic destination was more idyllic were established, clad in the smiles shared between Avril and Evelyn. Throughout things, Liam couldn’t help but feel that there was something he was failing to recognize. It itched at his brain for a good twenty minutes, keeping him as a partial listener as everyone else chatted, before it finally dawned on him.
Did Anna’s father know he was going on this trip with his daughter?
The question dropped on his head like an anvil, causing him to lose what little focus to the conversation he had left. Did he? Surely… not. With how against their relationship he was, if he knew that precisely one man—the ill-desired boyfriend of his daughter—was going to one of the most romantic places in the world with her, her best friend, and some other women, there’d have been some consequence. He wouldn’t just sit idly by and let such a thing happen, right?
Glancing about, no one seemed to have noticed how withdrawn he’d suddenly become from the conversation. And they all kept chatting about the beach, the sun, and their plans—the ones safe to mention in front of Anna’s mother—like nothing was the matter.
Gotta be, Liam told himself. There’s no way.
But it couldn’t hurt to ask.
About an hour and a half after her arrival, Evelyn checked her phone and realized she’d tarried a bit longer than she’d perhaps meant to. Showering the apartment’s inhabitants with one final warm smile before she headed back into a brisk, pale afternoon, Anna’s wonderful mother departed. Then, at long last, Liam could finally ask the question that had been weighing down his thoughts for over an hour.
“No, hell no,” Avril said, chuckling. “We don’t need to deal with that ugly nonsense.”
Near her, Anna nodded. “Only my mother knows that you’ll be coming. I’m completely fine with it staying that way.”
Finally, Liam could bend his neck, sending that anvil crashing onto the floor. At least this time, he wouldn’t have to deal with Arnold Royce.