Free Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra) by Sariah Wilson

thing in the entire world. He loved that I got something so important and basic about him. I’d felt the same.
    “If not, I understand. I do have the new Call of Duty , if you’d like to play that instead.”
    He turned on his big-screen TV and showed me the paused game. I never got to play console video games anymore—just the ones I could play on my computer. My fingers itched to pick up one of the controllers.
    If he suddenly whipped out a plate of candy bars and a chocolate cake, there was a strong possibility I might never leave the guesthouse again.
    No wonder he didn’t mind staying here.
    “I actually have to finish studying, and then I have this rehearsal thing tonight at the school.”
    “Speaking of which,” he said as he walked around the couch and grabbed something off the kitchen counter. It was only when he tossed it to me that I realized it was a set of keys.
    My keys.
    “I had your truck fixed.”
    That brought me crashing back to reality. “I asked you not to do that.”
    “No, you told me not to do that, and I did it anyway because it needed to be done.”
    While part of me was outraged that he’d done something I’d asked, okay, told, him not to do, another part of me was touched and grateful. I didn’t know which face to show. I was floundering. If I was nice, he’d think he had a chance still. But If I was mean, I’d be acting like an ungrateful, spoiled brat.
    So instead I asked, “What are you doing? What kind of game are you playing?”
    “Game? I’m not here to play a game.” Then he came and stood right in front of me. He couldn’t possibly have missed my sharp intake of breath. He stood so close we could have kissed if either one of us moved forward just an inch. Then I stopped breathing completely while he said, “The only games I play are of the video game variety. But if this were a game, I would win. I don’t lose.”

    The rest of my day consisted of unkind thoughts about arrogant, conceited men who believed they could do whatever they wanted. It was like real life was some video game and Rafe thought he had a god mode cheat. It got worse when I started up my truck. The engine purred, and I realized he had done a lot more than just replacing the battery.
    “I’ll pay him back,” I told myself, as a way to make things okay. He would be very far down the list, though, given that some of the other debtors had the ability to make us homeless.
    He only had the ability to make me insane.
    While working at the diner, I thought of what Amanda had said about how I was trying to make myself angry at him. Logically, he had done something nice and thoughtful. And I was mad at him for it? I couldn’t rationalize that he was implying I was too weak or was unable to do it myself. I was sure that never even entered his mind. He saw something that needed to be done, and he did it. That’s how Rafe was.
    Part of me expected him to show up at the diner again, but he didn’t. Instead, just before my shift was supposed to end, I got a visit from Stuart.
    That would be Stuart, the flower delivery guy, with whom I was on a first-name basis thanks to Rafe.
    “Stuart! What are you doing here?”
    He held a large bouquet of sunflowers. He didn’t have to say anything. I knew they were for me. I’d told Rafe once how much I liked sunflowers and how I missed them in the winter. And somewhere in his royal bloodline he had an ancestor who must have been part elephant, because he never forgot anything.
    “You know the drill, Genesis.” He set the flowers down on the counter. “Enjoy!”
    I did know the drill. The drill was he told me I had flowers, and I would tell him to bring them to one of the widows in Frog Hollow. “Wait!” I called after him. But apparently he had forgotten the drill himself, as he was already out the door and climbing back into his delivery truck. Stuck, I took the note out and read it.
     
    Thank you for saving me today and preventing me from burning the house