One Night with the Prince (21 page)

“I’m glad you are here. Now come on, I’m sure Demetrius needs a hug right about now.” I joked. She laughed and got up with me, as we went to find our friend.

Chapter twenty-six

Anna

“So? How does it feel to probably be the next queen of this country?” Carol asked. I shrugged, popping a grape in my mouth as we lounge around the music room. Syd and Rachel were here as well.

“I don’t feel anything.” They all gave me questioning glances and I elaborate, “I don’t feel anything because, I’m not thinking about that part.” Syd shook her head.

“Why not? Sweetie it’s a very important part of all of this!” She argued. I rolled my eyes and sat up from the floor.

“Every time I start to think about that I feel like crap. My palms start to sweat and I feel hot and flushed. To put it lightly it makes me scared like a little girl.” Carol giggles at me while Syd and Rachel just rolled their eyes.

“Well you need to think about it, otherwise when the time does come it will hit you like a ton of bricks, and you won’t be able to manage it. Just take it slow. Ease into the idea. That way you’re not bombarded when it’s time.” Rachel suggested. I tossed another grape and caught it in my mouth before answering.

“Yeah, I guess that’s a smart thing to do. I mean I love Zach, so I will think it over for him. But what about the media here? How are they going to take a girl no one really knows, and have them rule by Zach’s side?”

I slightly shudder at the word ‘rule’. Having that much power does scare me to no end, but I knew Zach could help me through it.

“Well it’s not like they don’t already know about this competition, so that won’t be a big deal. They will just have to get to know you.” I freeze at what Syd says. She saw my face and realized her mistake.

“Oh my goodness! I completely forgot! I’m so sorry Anna!” I shook my head to stop her.

“You mean, the media already knows about this competition?” I asked in a low slow voice. They all gulped and nodded. I stood up from the brown-carpeted floor and dusted myself off. I was angry, and a certain someone needed to explain things to me. Carol got up as well.

“Please don’t be angry Anna!” She pleaded. I sent her a smile but I knew I still had anger in my eyes.

“Believe me I’m not mad at you.” And with that I stalked off to find a certain lying prince. How could he?! One thing I couldn’t stand were liars and he lied to me! And not just him, the King, Queen, even Dem?! I bet the whole castle knew! Son of a biscuit! I feel so played right now! Why did he have to lie to me!?

I mean the King was the one to say it, but I have a feeling Zach was behind it. Liars are the worst! The only time I ever lie is when I’m doing a surprise for friends, or doing pranks, but I make it blatantly obvious that I did it! Everyone here was lying to me!

It made me angry to think about it! My dad lied to my mom and me so many times with his affair! Dang it Zach! Why did you do this?! You could’ve just told me the truth by now! I marched towards his office and didn’t bother knocking as I just barged in.

“Anna!” Zach shouted in surprise. But when he saw my livid face and his smile was wiped clean. Dem gave me a confused face, and I pointed to him.

“You. Out. But we are talking later!” I warned. He looked a little scared and zoomed out of there closing the door behind him. Zach stood up from his chair and was coming around to me, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“You lied to me.” I stated, but I could hear the raw hurt in my voice. He looked confused so I explained a bit more, “About the media not knowing about all this!” I yelled. He flinched at my loud voice as I hardly ever screamed like this. He walked closer to me but I backed up.

“Please, please understand. I know I shouldn’t have lied but I didn’t want you to just leave!” He defended. I crossed my arms shaking my head.

“You should’ve told me! That’s no excuse! You at least should have told me when I got used to the idea! Anything would’ve been better! But you just had everyone lie to me! If you really cared about me you wouldn’t have done that!” Angry tears began to fill my eyes. My dad lied to my mother and I all the time.

“It’s already hard for me to trust guys, and I opened myself up to you and you just lied to my face! I had to hear it from someone else!” I waved my hands in the air. He trapped me against the wall and I tried to struggle but he held me steadily.

“I forgot! Okay? I know that’s no excuse, but Anna, I knew out of all the girls that came here, you were the one for me! And then I hear you’re not meant to be here! It was selfish, but I couldn’t let you go! I admit that I made the most selfish decision ever, and I’m sorrier than you can ever know.” He finished sounding defeated. I pushed him gently away and this time he allowed it.

“Just give me a moment alone. I need to think.” I walked out not waiting for him to respond. I heard a crash when I was outside from his study but paid no mind. You might think I was overreacting but lying was a sensitive issue for me.

I walked outside with hot tears threatening to spill over. Flashes of my father’s face attacked my mind, assaulting my emotions. It made me shake with anger and sadness. How many times he had smiled at me, kissing my cheek goodbye as he leaves to go on a ‘business’ trip.

I made my way to the training yard. I headed under a tent that had punching bags, ignoring the onlookers. I didn’t put on any gloves as I start kicking the crap out of the bag with angry tears blurring my vision. The bag turns into my dad and I punch and kick with everything I have in me. My breathing starts to strain, but I don’t stop.

After a while my dad turns into Zach and I stop mid punch, making it go back to a punching bag. I realized I’m not that angry with Zach. I’m frustrated and a bit mad but not angry with him. Just having him lie to me like that made everything that I have so carefully hid how I really feel about my dad leaving, come back to me.

“Someone is one ticked off red head.” I hear behind me. I spun around and see Dem there with his arms crossed. I wiped away some tears and sniff.

“What do you want?” I croaked as I nursed my now red knuckles. He shrugged himself off the pole of the tent and walked over to me and grabbed my hand gingerly, as he led me over to where there was water and ice. He grabbed a towel and poured some ice into it and gently placed it on my now throbbing hands. He sat us down and stared out into the sun filled training yard.

“I know that wasn’t just from Zach lying to you, if it was at all.” He said after a long period of silence. I sighed and closed my eyes begging myself to drown the feelings that were resurfacing.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I murmured, staring down at my lap. He lifted my face to his, and I would have jerked away but all of this has left me feeling drained.

“Looks like you need to. It will help.” He tried to encourage me. I shook my head slowly.

“You’re right. I’m not that mad at Zach. frustrated, yes, but not mad. He should have told me. I would have understood eventually. But when I found out he lied to me, it just brought all these feelings back to me.” I looked at him for a moment before turning my gaze out to the horizon.

“My dad left my mom and I. He left us for some cheap young girl who could be my older sister. But that wasn’t what hurt the most. It was all those times I look back and knew he was lying straight to my face. And he did so with a smile on. Lying is a very intense subject for me, because it’s hard enough for me to trust any guys Dem, add into the fact that the guy I love and trusted lied to me, well, I felt shattered.” I sniffed, feeling like the biggest cry baby ever, but can’t help when I feel that sting of betrayal. I heard him sigh and he wraps an arm around me.

“First off, I’m sorry I went along with it. It seemed harmless at the time, but then again we didn’t know your history. I get it, you have trust issues, and I think Kia is finally starting to realize that. But don’t let this ruin what you guys have. Your father is stupid, and I wish I can punch him for you, but don’t let what he did prevent you from having something good, and real.” I looked at him and gave a breathless laugh.

“I never knew you could be so deep Demmy. But I wasn’t going to toss in the towel on Zach and me. It was just overwhelming, and all those issues that I have buried so deep came back in full force.” I shrugged, taking the melting ice off my fingers, flexing them so they won’t be so sore later.

“Now, you should know never to bury anything! Because it can come back to life like a zombie and eat you alive!” He joked. I laughed and pushed his side, but then gave him a hug shortly after.

“You’re like the big brother I’ve always wanted.” I smiled against his white shirt. He chuckled and ruffled my hair.

“Yes, and you’re the annoying little sister!” I fake being hurt and push him off the bench. It was easy since he never saw it coming. He pouted and began to mock cry.

“I’m telling Mummy!” He sobbed. I ‘awed’ and crouched down next to him as he buried his face in his hands.

“How about we get you a cookie?” I cooed. He sniffed and looked up at me with wide eyes, before turning into a smirk. I gave him a questioning glance before he hopped up quickly and flipped me so I was on his back, and he started to give me a piggy back ride. I was laughing and hit the back of his head.

“Put me down Dem!” He chuckled and began to jog, jostling me in the process. I didn’t know where we were going until he stopped in front of Zach’s study. He put me down and cracked open the door. I couldn’t see anything because he was in the way but he closed the door with a grimace.

“Remind me to call a redecorator.”

I made a pained face.

“Is it bad?” I asked in a small guilty voice. He scratched the back of his neck.

“No. I think he was trying the tornado look. I think he’s got that down to a tee. Let’s go find him because he wasn’t in there.” I nodded and felt a little sick. I felt bad for reacting so harshly. Even with my dad gone he has to ruin everything! We walked for a while before we get to Zach’s room. I tell Dem to go as we both heard someone was in there and I knew it was Zach. He nodded and gave me a hug of encouragement. With a deep breath I knocked.

“Go away!” He yelled. I flinched at his hurt and angry voice. I walked in anyways and I see that the room is dark, and he is outside on his balcony. He must have heard the door open because his back was to me.

“I said leave me alone!” He ordered. I ignore his demand and walked up beside him.

“Zach?” I said in a quiet voice. He spins to face me looking shocked. I could see the relief and fear in his eyes. He was afraid I’d come to end things. I shook my head and hopped up on the thick railing, knowing he wouldn’t let me fall, and pulled him to me for a soft kiss.

“I’m sorry I reacted so harshly. It really wasn’t you I was so angry at.” I said in almost a whisper, as both of us didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere. He pushed some hair out of my face.

“No, I’m sorry for not telling you the truth from the beginning. It was selfish. But I’m curious, what caused you to be so angry, if it wasn’t me?” He asked. His eyes were full of relief knowing I wasn’t going anywhere and I still loved him. I sighed and made a gesture for him to back up. He did, and I got up to go sit in the chair and bring my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them.

“My dad is what brought that anger on. I was always a huge daddy’s girl. Sure I love my mom to pieces but it was always my dad and I. He protected me and loved me. He would make sure there were no monsters in my room at night. He was everything to me. But then he started to go on all these ‘business’ trips. He was home less often, and it was becoming less and less frequent that we’d spend time with each other.” I stopped as I squeezed my eyes shut so I couldn’t cry. I was tired of crying today, and Zach wrapped an arm around me.

“Every time he’d leave he’d tell me he loved me and kiss my cheek goodbye with a smile on his face. I’d call him every so often to see how his trip was going. He would tell me these stories and how he’s getting me a souvenir from wherever he was and was thinking of me constantly. But after a while he’d answer my calls less and less. Then one day after my dad has been gone for over a week, my mom and I got an envelope in the mail addressed from my dad. I eagerly ripped it open and I felt my world crumble around me.” Zach gave me a squeeze, encouraging me.