I sat quietly on the couch as I watched Royce and some creepy looking woman talking. They seemed to be in a very deep conversation that nobody was able to listen to.

My mom was in the bathroom taking a relaxing bath while Mark was in the kitchen making lunch.

Pablo was beside me with the same confused expression I had as he stared at the strange lady dressed in all black.

The cut on his lip was healing well, but it was still very noticable. He didn't seem to mind it though.

"I don't trust that woman at all. She gives me the weird vibe." Pablo whispered in my ear.

I nodded in agreement and coughed into the side of my arm while I watched Royce smiled at the woman.

My cough was still bothering me and my nose was stuffy but other than that I was fine. Royce still looked a bit pale as well and his voice was very raspy but somehow he sounded sexier.

"Should we introduce ourselves? Usually Royce never brings over anybody home unless he's fuck-" Pablo started to say but stopped when he realized his mistake.

He gave me an apologetic look but I patted his leg to show him it was okay, causing him to smile back at me.

I stared back at Royce and was surprised to see his hooded eyes already on me. He was practically glaring at the hand I placed on Pablo's leg. I quickly pulled it away and placed it back on my lap.

Royce however didn't seem pleased, so he got up from his seat and walked over to me.

"Do me a favor?" he seriously said and shot Pablo a dirty look before grabbing my hand.

He dragged me to the kitchen where Mark was so busy concentrated reading a cookbook, he didn't notice us. He was really trying hard to make a good meal for us, especially for my mom.

Royce on the other hand didn't waste any time to roughly press his mouth against mine. It was a desperate kiss that tried to show his dominance over me.

I parted my lips and let his wet tongue roam my mouth as he pressed me against the wall. Our bodies were close together as he placed his leg between my own.

In less than a second, he quickly pulled away then left the kitchen like nothing happened.

I was out of breath and could feel my heart beating fast against my chest. My lips felt bruised as I tried to calm myself down.

No doubt Royce was a good kisser.

"Chris?"

I looked at Mark and blushed when he stared at me with concern. Probably wondering why I was against the wall all by myself looking all flustered.

"I was uh wondering if you needed any help cooking?" I lied in a rushed tone, hoping he wouldn't notice my embarrassment.

Mark poured some olive oil on a pan then grabbed some chicken breasts. "Thank you but I got it for now, Chris. This kitchen is deadly! I burned my finger four times already." he warned with a friendly smile.

"Okay then." I replied and left the kitchen to go back to sit with Pablo.

Royce was still talking to the strange woman that seemed to be sitting nice and comfortable next to him.

Pablo was on his phone texting when I sat down next to him.

"Jealous bastard isn't he?" Pablo teased without glancing away from his phone.

"How can you tell?" I replied with a light laugh.

Pablo chuckled and finally put his phone away to give me his full attention.

"I was suppose to go to the new book store down the block with my girlfriend today but she's going out of town with her parents. Want to join me instead?" Pablo asked in a very quiet voice so Royce wouldn't hear him.

I thought about it for awhile and actually liked the idea of going to a book store.

"Sure, let me change out of my pajamas." I replied and got up to head upstairs.

I quickly changed into my jeans and black thin jacket since I was still sick and didn't want it to get worse.

I went back downstairs and noticed the way Royce eyed my body up and down. His mouth fell into a frown and once again he got up.

I stood at the very last step and waited for his next move. He stood in front of me with cross arms and narrowed eyes.

"Where are you going? You're still sick and shouldn't even be thinking about leaving this house." he scolded.

"I know but I feel fine. I'm going to a book store with Pablo." I innocently replied.

Royce sent a deathly glare to Pablo then stared back at me.

"No you're not, unless I'm going with you." Royce seriously stated.

I nodded and didn't know if Pablo was going to like the idea very much.

We walked back to the livingroom and I told Pablo that Royce wanted to come along. He didn't look upset so that was a good thing.

"I just adore book stores. They are a living wonderland." the mysterious woman said with joy when Royce invited her to join us.

"This is Annette by the way...I'll explain everything later." Royce introduced Pablo and I before he headed towards the door.

Pablo drove us all to this small book store that had endless aisles of books. It was pretty amazing.

Annette's blue eyes widended at seeing so many books while Royce shrugged not really caring.

I wondered what Annette wanted with Royce..

She was way older than Royce and had this antique look to her. Kind of like a fun grandmother who loved to dress in all black with weird jewelry.

There was no romantic thing between them but there was something..

They acted like they knew eachother for a long time so I wondered if she was an old friend?

"Frankie! What you doing here bro?"

Royce's loud hoarse voice brought me back from my thoughts. I stared as Royce made his way to Frankie who had some books in his hands.

Pablo rolled his eyes at Royce's yelling in a teasing manner then started to inspect the books on the shelves. Annette followed him but walked further away to a different aisle.

I stayed still in my spot and looked around the book store. It was very quiet and warm in here.

It felt nice.

Royce was occupied talking to Frankie so I made my way to the very back of the store. I found a high bookcase that had many Horror stories including Stephen King books.

The spot was a bit tight but it was comfortable since the carpeted floor gave me the urge to grab a book and sit down to read a book.

I checked the prices and was surprised to see that some were only three dollars.

I tried reaching for a book that was high up on the shelf but then felt somebody rub themselves against me.

"Here I got it." an unfamiliar male voice spoke a bit too close to my ear.

He grabbed the book and handed it to me as I stepped away from him.

"T-Thanks.." I said a bit uncomfortable.

The guy had dark brown hair that was nicely combed back with gel. His eyes were a light green that matched the green shirt he was wearing.

He had a perfect sharp jawline and thin cheekbones that caused me to look down with a blush.

I needed to stop staring so much at his face.

"No problem uhhh..." the guy said and stopped when he didn't know my name.

"Chris." I quickly replied.

"Nice to meet you, Chris. My name is Greg." he said with a chuckle and extended his hand.

I shook his hand and couldn't help but notice how soft and firm it was.

"Same here..do you like to read a lot?" I questioned.

Greg shrugged and showed me the book he was holding in his hand, "Not really, but I just adopted a kitten so I have no idea how to take care of an animal. Hopefully this book will help me out a bit." he replied with a smile.

I smiled back and nodded in understanding, "That's so nice of you to do." I sincerely said.

"Thank you." Greg replied with a light blush covering his cheeks.

We stood silent for a couple of seconds until I saw Royce approaching us with a bored face expression.

"Uh I have to go now but it was nice to meet you Greg." I rushed out and tried to walk by him.

"Wait! I usually don't do this but your really cute and I might never see you again.." Greg exclaimed then out of nowhere felt his lips on mine.

It was a hard kiss that made me stand in shock as his firm hands held my face.

Without wasting another second, I pushed him away and wiped my mouth.

"Greg...I have a boyfriend.." I mumbled, still not believing what just happened.

"It's just a kiss. No big deal." Greg laughed.

I was about to reply until I saw Royce standing behind Greg with crossed arms and a smirk.

"Actually it is a big deal if you do it right in front of his boyfriend." Royce spoke up.

I stood quiet as Greg turned around to look at Royce.

"Damn, you're hot." Greg said out of breath.

"Really? Thanks man. I try to workout as much as I ca-" Royce started to say but then suddenly punched Greg.

I flinched as Greg stumbled back on the bookcase. He was distracted actually listening to what Royce was saying.

"I swear I can never leave you alone for a damn minute because then you have fucking strangers kissing you." Royce cursed in anger as he grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

He dragged me to another hidden corner between two bookcases then pinned me against the tallest one.

I looked at him as he grabbed my chin and made me turn my head.

I was about to question him until I felt his wet mouth on my neck. He bit down without a care causing a whimper to escape my lips.

"Royce, not here!" I protested while I tried to push his body off of me, but instead was pressed harder against the back of the bookcase.

I ran my fingers through the back of his hair and tugged hard at it when I felt his warm tongue.

I gave up trying to get him off so I let him do as he pleased.

He sucked and bit down on the same spot on my neck for almost a minute. It felt so good but I tried my best not to get hard from his simple action.

When he finally pulled away he had a proud smile on his face.

"Now everybody will know you're mine baby boy." Royce whispered right above my lips then gave me a quick kiss before walking away.

I placed my hand on the sore spot on my neck and knew right away it was a hickey.

A blush covered my cheeks as a woman passed by with her little girl. She eyed me suspiciously as I kept my hand on my neck.

I groaned in frustration and left to go find Pablo.

Luckily, he was paying for his books already. I looked around for Royce and saw him talking to Annette.

"Are you ready to go? Dad called and said dinner was ready." Pablo said once he saw me.

I nodded and adjusted the collar of my jacket to cover my neck.

"Yeah..let me go tell Royce and Annette." I replied.

I went over to Royce and overheard Annette talking.

"If you have children it's more than likely they will be the same. Just like your mother passed it down to you."

Royce frowned and bowed his head down like he was just given the worst news ever.

"Royce?.." I said to get his attention.

He looked up at me and my heart almost broke in half when I saw the sadness in his eyes.

"It's time to go." I quietly informed him as we stared at eachother.

"Alright." he simply said and walked by me without another word.

Annette placed her hand on my shoulder then stared at me with her light blue eyes, "In your eyes he forgets all about what hurts." she said with a smile then left.

I gave her a confused expression and didn't understand what she meant?

Once we were finally home, my mom was having a conversation in the kitchen with Mark.

"Look at the delicious food your dad made for us! Isn't it lo-" my mom began to say with joy until she saw Annette.

"Oh is this a friend of yours?" she said while glancing at Royce and Pablo.

"Yeah, her name is Annette. Annette, these are my parents." Royce introduced in a monotone voice.

He was acting very quiet and that really depressed me.

Something was bothering him..

"Nice to meet you, Annette. I'm Angela and this is my husband Mark. Please sit down and have dinner with us." my mom kindly offered as she stood up to grab an extra plate.

Annette smiled and accepted the offer.

Everybody started to sit down around the table except for Royce.

"I'm not very hungry so I'll just be going to bed." he announced before going upstairs.

"He still sounds sick. I should go make sure he drinks some medicine before he falls asleep." Mark told Angela and left the kitchen.

I wanted to follow him but I knew Mark noticed something was wrong with Royce and wanted to talk to him about it.

He did raise Royce afterall so it doesn't surprise me how well he recognized those small warning signs.

"Lift the collar of your shirt before your mom sees that giant bruise on your neck." Pablo whispered in my ear as he reached over for the salad bowl.

I felt my face heat up as I quickly adjusted my jacket.

"Honey, I made your favorite chocolate cake for dessert. " my mom said with a dimpled smile and combed my hair back with her soft hand.

In all honesty I didn't have a favorite dessert so I knew my mom was just satisfying her cravings and not feel guilty about it.

Her belly was growing so fast it almost looked like a beach ball. She dressed in elegant clothes, making her pregnant belly pop out more.

"Thanks mom." I said and gently rubbed her belly.

"God makes no mistakes when creating his children. Some of us are just born different and that's what we just can't understand sometimes..." Annette spoke up causing us to go quiet at her random words.

She calmly sipped her tea as we suddenly heard horrible crashing sounds coming from upstairs.

Pablo got up from his chair and rushed out the kitchen. My mom followed him without a question while I was close behind but stopped when Annette didn't even flinch.

She continued to drink her tea then stared at me with her cold blue eyes.

"I wouldn't get near him if I was you...he's just accepting how God has made him."

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^

Tears blurred my eyes and my hands trembled in fear as I watched Royce destroy his room in front of me.

He knocked over his nightstand and covered the whole floor of broken glass and pieces. His bed was turned over and now he was in a corner crying.

Mark tried to control him but Royce kept pushing him away.

There was no spot on Royce that wasn't covered in blood..

His knuckles were badly cut open from hitting the wall so much and grabbing the broken glass from the window.

Royce's eyes were dark red from the bloody tears that fell down his cheeks.

He kept yelling at the top of his lungs like a crazy person while he cried at the same time.

He tugged hard at his hair and picked up a piece of glass. Mark quickly took it away and watched in horror at how broken his son was.

"I'm a fucking freak!"

"Even my kids will be fucking suffering like me! Why is the world so unfair? What did I do to deserve this?!"

"I just want to feel pain! Why can't I be normal dad! Please tell me! Why?.." Royce cried out to Mark in a begging tone causing everybody in the room to hold back tears.

Mark wiped his eyes and tried his hardest not to break down. "I-I'm sorry son...I don't know." he replied.

Royce wiped his bloody eyes and fell to the floor. He rocked himself and cried into his knees.

The room was silent as all you can hear was Royce's sad mumbles..

"mom.."

"mom.."

"please.."

My mom covered her mouth and left the room with tear filled eyes. She couldn't handle seeing Royce so upset.

Pablo coughed to hold back his tears while Mark deeply sighed. They didn't know what to do.

"Can I try talking to him alone?" I asked both of them.

The stared at eachother and reluctantly agreed before leaving the destroyed room.

I carefully walked over to Royce and kneeled down in front of him. I pulled his arms from his covered face and made him stare at me.

His eyes were so red I could barely see his natural eye color and his cheeks were stained in dark blood.

I wiped his tears with my shirtsleeves then got between his legs to get closer to him.

"You're perfect to me..." I kept repeating the honest words my heart begged Royce would believe as I softly kissed his wet lips.

He only stared at me in return causing me to kiss him once more. I put all my love and passion into the kiss to show him how I felt.

I felt his arms wrap around my torso and soon we were tightly embraced in a hug. I held him as he buried his face into my neck.

A feeling of relief overwhelmed me as the room was once again fell silent. It was like the sad calm after a horrible storm..

"Please don't ever leave me brat..you make the pain go away.." I heard Royce mumble in a broken voice then looked deep into my eyes.

Just then Annette's words finally made sense to me..

'In your eyes he forgets all about what hurts..'