Page 6 of His Princess

I touched the bag.

The same as Mom, clothing was a weakness for me. It was Michael Kors, which wasn’t exactly designer but also wasn’t cheap. I loved things like this. Without Mom, this might be the last bag I bought. My bottom lip wobbled, and I bit it to stop the nonsense. I stared down at my lap. My dick had gone down a bit, thank everything, but it twitched as I thought about Colt.

“What is wrong with you? Disgusting ex-stepfathers who make awful propositions and chase me out of the house are not what should get you hard, you idiot,” I snapped at my crotch, but I doubted my dick cared about my opinions. It had always gotten hard for whatever it wanted, whether or not it was a good idea, including, bizarrely, a documentary I’d watched once about prisons. It really had no taste, and I couldn’t reason with it.

Huffing, I grabbed my bag and dragged out my matching pink leather wallet. I got out and slid my card into the automatic reader at the pump, then punched in my numbers and waited, the way I normally did.

Not Authorized popped up on the tiny screen. I took the card out and stared. My name was on the card, but Mom had given it to me, which meant.... “Fuck, he canceled my card! Seriously?”

Fear clawed at me. What would I do with no money? There had been a few times when Mom was in between boyfriends or husbands when we’d had no cash, and I definitely didn’t remember those weeks fondly. I opened my door and dragged out my phone to reluctantly dial Colt.

“You canceled my card already?” I asked as soon as he answered.

An amused hum came down the line. “Huh, well, I thought you didn’t need my money? My wife would have full access to whatever funds necessary.” He sounded so fucking smug.

“You.... I’m going to find Mom, and when I do, you’re going to have to explain this all to her!” So, take that!

He only laughed as I ended the call.

But I didn’t have gas in my car to go searching for Mom, and I didn’t have my own bank account. I chewed on my bottom lip and tried the three other cards in my wallet. Thankfully, the last one worked, but I had no idea how long it would continue doing that, so after filling my tank I went into the gas station and bought a sandwich while lamenting the fact that I didn’t have a pin for the card to pull out cash. With grim determination, I set out.

Mom had three good friends in the city, but none of them had seen her, and all three ladies hadn’t heard anything at all about her taking a vacation. I went to her favorite salon, and that was even worse because she’d been in for a style and cut today, totally changing her hair.

“She went platinum blond!” Misty, the older woman who ran the place, grinned and touched her own white-blond hair. “She could give Dolly in her heyday a run for her money. Your mother is pretty as a peach.”

“Thank you,” I said faintly before nearly falling out the door into the sunset of a balmy, early September afternoon.

She’d changed her hair, which she always did when there was a new man, without fail.

“It’s a new look for a new life, Quin! This time, everything will be perfect.” She would smile sweetly and hug me, and I would always hold my breath, hoping that she would stay happy for once.

It never lasted.

I was so stupid; of course she’d left. A rich guy like Colt wouldn’t be dumb enough to actually kill someone. My heart was sick as I sat down behind the steering wheel of the Porsche, then tapped it.

“Mom, why would you leave me?” I whispered. Tears I hadn’t expected started. I sniffed and wiped my hand over my eyes. We’d always been a team. She would find a man and tell me all about him. Ask my opinion. Have me help her pick out a new wardrobe. Why not this time? Was her new life not going to include me?

I stared out the window and shivered.

Colt was right about her.

“Okay, get your act together.” I rested my forehead on the steering wheel. Mom had always skipped from man to man, and I’d wanted to go to college so I could break us out of the cycle and take care of us. I was in my senior year—I’d even gone to school during the summers to condense the time it would take—and I was so close to being able to do something for us, but not quite there.

For a while I went numb and stared at the dashboard.

I was startled when someone knocked on the window. “Yes?” I glanced at the police officer as I straightened. Oh, hell, what now? I lowered the window.

“Did you know the owner of this vehicle reported it stolen?” He gave me a stern look. His brown eyes were friendly enough, but I got the idea he already thought something bad about me. “I’m going to need you to step out, son.”

After being called princess so much, the son felt wrong.

Groaning, I covered my face with my hands and started to laugh. What a nightmare. The beast had sent the castle guards after me. I felt delirious as I got out of the car. “I didn’t steal it. It’s my car. I’m on the insurance paperwork. My stepfather’s pissed off because my mom left him.”

The cop sighed and stared at the car, tapping his hand against his thigh. “Show me the insurance paperwork, and I’ll let you go.”

“What about the car?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have it towed to the impound lot.”

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