Page 7 of The Prince and the Double Shot (Runaway Prince Hotel #2)

PHIL

Z ane might be one of the most self-centered people I have ever met in my entire life, and trust me, when you are royal, that’s about everyone you meet. He had done nothing but play games with me as soon as he sat down. Why? What did he hope to get out of it? A rise, a quick tumble in his bed?

As if I would be that easy.

I mean… I had thought about him all day.

The way his muscles threatened to tear his shirt off his body with every shrug was swoon-worthy. The way he stuck his tongue in the side of his mouth as he listened was charming and…

No.

I had thought about him all day because he looked enough like Petra that they could be related. Those silly red curls that I wanted to run my fingers through, and the way his deep chuckle made his eyes light up, reminded me so much of him that it hurt.

What good could come of it? Nothing. Right?

Or wrong?

He was nothing like him. Not really. Their personalities were night and day. Petra was serious and smart, and Zane was a jokester. He hid behind his bratty attitude and abrasiveness too well for anyone to ever know him. I could tell that within minutes of speaking to him.

Secrets – we all had them.

Was that why he… Was that part of his disguise – his secret? This buffoonery was just a ploy meant to deceive? Why?

No.

It was too good.

If there was a real person buried under all that pompousness, it would be impossible to find. He had to be the star of some high school sports team, and that probably meant he had peaked years ago and was now coasting on his past.

My stomach growled.

Fuck… I had eaten the last of my frozen burritos yesterday. I opened my tiny fridge to find a small tub of butter standing all alone. I should have thought about this. Then again, I was just learning to think about these things. In the castle, someone brought me a tray three times a day.

What the hell was I supposed to do now?

I was hungry, but the last thing I wanted was to go back out. What if I bumped into him again? The temptation was too great. Even if it wasn’t Petra, he still looked so much like him that I knew I would eventually become weak.

What would he think? What would Petra say if he could see me getting turned on by someone just because he resembled him?

He won’t say anything? He has gone into the green like everyone who dies. His energy has intermingled with all the other energies in the world that feed the plants with their sustenance. The energy that makes things grow and flourish.

He was dead.

I was alive.

I could hear my mother’s voice telling me that I had to learn to live again. I had to try to thrive in the best way that I could. It was why she sent me here, wasn’t it? I had to forgive the past and try to find some semblance of a future, or I would wilt away in the shadows.

I had to try.

But Zane, no matter how hot he was or how much he looked like Petra, was not the right choice. That was easy to see. His pompousness was…

There were glimpses, though, of something real underneath. Barely perceptible, but underneath the surface, if you looked hard enough, you would find them. Moments of actuality instead of bravado and smoke… But what, if anything, did it mean?

Nothing.

Zane could be nothing more than a dalliance.

Mother would not be unhappy if I dallianced a lot on this trip.

I knew her. When I had fallen off my bike and scraped my knee, she put me right back on it and demanded that I ride until she told me to stop.

Life was full of bumps and bruises, and we needed to learn to cope with them – to move on from them.

Life had definitely bruised me. Maybe even broken a few bones with its harsh realities.

She would also laugh at the fact that I’d been surviving on frozen burritos all this time.

It took me three tries to microwave one that was actually edible.

You would think that I had used a microwave before, but…

Princes rarely cooked, at least where I was from.

We had staff for almost everything. Our job was to rule and to lead, not to nuclearize a frozen bean burrito in a contraption that even the kitchen staff would turn their noses up at.

I deserved an actual meal. All of the hard work and energy that I gave to the plants was tiring.

I needed to replenish my own if I were going to continue to give so much.

The plants here were fairly healthy, but their placement had caused hardships that I needed to correct.

Ripping a plant out of the ground and shoving it back into the earth was not the way to successfully transplant.

I wish more gardeners understood that. Plants were as alive as any other living thing on Earth.

They were made of the same energy that every living thing was made of.

But humans tended to treat them with little to no respect.

My people understood the proper order of things.

Every living thing goes back to the green from which it came.

A pool of energy that fed this planet, maybe even the whole cosmos, was not without limits, even if it did sometimes feel that way.

The energy of life was rarely created – it had always been here.

Everything had a limit – even the green of creation.

I grabbed my wallet and walked out of the hotel room that had become my home.

It wasn’t what I was used to, but it had a bed and a bathroom.

It was enough, and I was grateful for having it.

I knew that my mother had paid the bill and had probably asked for the most functional but not stylish room that they had.

The work I was doing… Well, that was to help me find myself again.

My people believed that your hands in the dirt was the cure for almost anything and everything, and they weren’t wrong.

When you give your energy to another, the symbiotic relationship fills you with something else – something that could never be measured – purpose.

“And where are you off to?” The judgmental voice stopped me dead in my tracks. “I thought I saw you down in the bar just a little while ago with Zane.”

I turned to find Sheena standing there with her arms crossed. She reminded me of my mother, and I was terrified of her.

“I was, but… I left.”

“You did? Huh?”

“Zane and I appear to be like water and oil.”

“I thought you two might get along. He’s a very nice man once you get past all of his bullshit.” She laughed deeply. “And I know how full of it he is, trust me. But underneath all that bullshit is something else if you’d just look for it.”

“You thought we’d… You asked him to ask me out?”

“I nudged him. I only gave him a little push to do what was already there, Phillipe. Someone had to try to break both of you out of your funk.”

“My mother put you up to this?”

“No. That was my own doing. It doesn’t take a seer to see your struggles, hon. You also have this… You’re easy to like, and I want to see you succeed. Don’t you?”

“Succeed? What does that even mean? To forget him? To move on?”

“Moving on? Yes. But you should never forget him. How could you? A man who captured your heart the way he captured yours will always be with you. If you close your eyes and listen, I am sure that you can still hear his voice guiding you. What would he want?”

“Not to die.”

“True. But you’re being flippant, and I hate that. You’re as full of your own bullshit as Zane, but you’re too stubborn to even know it – much less admit it. You’re hanging on because you're scared to let go.”

“You barely know me.”

“Oh, honey, I have known you since the day you were born, even if we never met.” She glanced away and smirked. “Well, we actually did meet once. It was a long time ago in another life. But that’s not for you to know. We all have our secrets, don’t we?”

“That’s what Zane said.”

“Some secrets are darker than others. He hides his well. Too well if you ask me. He might need someone even more than you do. Life-givers… Isn’t that what your people call themselves?”

“Donneurs de vie…”

“Yes. Maybe you should extend some of that mantra to yourself and maybe to others in need. I am sure it would go a long way with Margaurite. She’s been calling every few days to check up on you.”

“Of course she is.” I rolled my eyes.

“Are you enjoying your time here?”

“I’ve enjoyed working in the gardens. It’s been nice to feel the sun on my face even if the days are overcast. You get so much rain in this area.”

“Do you miss home?”

“My home disintegrated in front of my eyes the moment Petra died.”

“But would you like to have a home again, Phillipe? The world is a lonely place for a nomad.”

“I’m tired, Sheena.”

“Then try. Wouldn’t you love to wake up one day and feel like at least part of you has healed? It can never be as it was because your love was true. But you can have a second chance at life, Phillipe. All you have to do is try.”

“God, I can totally tell that you’ve been speaking to my mother. What are you asking me to do?”

“Maybe you could give Zane a chance. He’s a very nice guy underneath all that… weight he carries. I think that you need a friend, Phillipe. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to share everything with?”

“I have friends.” I bristled.

“When’s the last time you spoke to any of them?” I shrank from her gaze. God, she really was a lot like dear old Mom.

“God, you really have been talking to my mother.”

“Of course, I have. Don’t be daft, boy.”

“I’ll give him another chance, alright? The way I walked away, though… He may not want to see me ever again.”

“I think that you will find him rather forgiving. Like I said, he’s truly a very nice boy. I think that the two of you were meant to meet. The burdens we carry are meant to be shared. The load is heavy if we try to carry it all ourselves.”

“Does the same go for you?”

“I struggled with my own secrets, just like you. But I found someone to help lessen the load. It’s all I can hope for any of my… workers.”

“Is that all?”

“You’re dismissed,” she laughed deeply. “By the way, the gardens look lovely. Not even your mother could have done such a nice job, and she is one of the most powerful witches I have ever seen.”

She grinned, and before I could say anything, she turned and walked back the way she had come.

What had I agreed to, and did I really have any choice? It seemed that fate was going to put Zane in my path once again, whether I could handle it or not.