Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 24

When Isaiah asked him to leave, Royal knew that the man behind him was Jamie. The one he had been in love with for so long was why Isaiah was in this weird situation with the Royal in the first palace. Maybe Royal had to thank Jamie in some insane way. After all, if he had been here, Royal would never have gotten close to him, and he would never have found his family or Isaiah. Because even if Isaiah didn’t love Royal. The truth was that Royal was in love with Isaiah, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Just as he had said, he was in the pantry, the lightbulb lit up, and he wiped his tears away. While looking through the snacks, he heard a thud and some yelling, and he assumed Isaac was up to something again. But when he heard two doors slam shut, he realised it must have been Isaac’s and Isaiah’s.

Royal focused on the food in front of him, and he frowned. He had been right. Rick and Luca had been grocery shopping last night, and all the snacks had been put away, but why did no one ever think to clean out the out-of-date food? He sighed, fine, he would do it himself. After all, right now, what he needed more than anything was a distraction. He began by grabbing all of the out-of-date food, and surprisingly, there was a lot. While he did, he stuffed some cereal bars into his pocket. They would be handy later.

When he got to the out-of-date raisin cookies, something snapped. Royal’s eyes widened as the back of the pantry slowly creaked open, leading to some sort of underground system. Well, he said, blinking a few times, it made sense why the back of the wall had really small shelves instead of larger ones, for ease of access to whatever the f**k this was.

After binning everything, Royal let curiosity get the best of him, and he opened the door once more and descended the stairs. There was no light, so he had to grab his phone and turn on the torch. He shouldn’t have been surprised when he realised there was no service. There was more light when he reached the bottom, so he put his phone away.

There was nothing here, well, nothing of note. As he walked down the hallway, the faint drops of water hitting the concrete ground, the smell of dampness and mould, hit his nose like a brick, and he gagged a little. He realised the bars leading to a cell resembled a jail cell. And from the look of it, none of it had been used. He was about to walk away and never speak of this to anyone when he heard a cough further down the hallway. He continued walking down the hall until he stopped in front of an occupied cell.

He looked down, and sitting on the ground was a man. He had shoulder-length blonde hair covered in blood. His tattered shirt was in the same condition, tattered, dirty and bloody. The skin peeking through was pale, with the wounds a stark blood red, and the fresh ones were the older ones in different stages of healing. The man looked up at him. His eyes were bruised, his face dirty and bloody, too.

Despite being in the cell, he was chained to the wall, leaning on the bars, the closest he could get to moving about. “Oh,” he said, his voice oddly raspy as he stared up at Royal through hazy eyes. His eyes narrowed when he stared at Royal’s eyes. “You’re not Rick.”

Royal’s eyes widened a little as he gulped down his fear. “Rick did this to you?”

“Go away, Iridium. If Rick finds you, he will kill you.”

Royal frowned as he stared at the man. “My name’s not Iridium. It’s Royal.”

“I don’t care. Go away, you’re going to get killed.”

When the man’s stomach grumbled, Royal saw his cheeks flush a little, but he remained stoic, glaring at him. “You haven’t eaten? I have this.” He pulled out the cereal bar from his pocket. He had initially stuffed them in his pocket for when he got high, he wouldn’t have to move, but this man looked like he needed it more than him.

“I can’t eat that.”

“Why not?”

“They’ll kill me,”

“I won’t tell them if you don’t.”

Royal unwrapped the bar for him, and after ensuring the wrapping was tucked tightly into his pocket, he handed the man the bar. Royal reached in through the bar, but only his hand went through, and after some straining on the man’s part, he managed to grab it. Royal had never seen anyone eat something faster before. He knew he should have left. If someone saw him down here, it would cause trouble, but what awaited him there?

Nothing. All he truly had here was Isaiah. And with the love of his life, Jamie, having returned from Italy, he was busy with him. Royal wasn’t sure, but he knew Midnight tolerated him because Isaiah liked having him around. So, he sat on the ground near the cell, crossing his legs and staring at the man. “So, how did you piss Rick off?” he asked.

“Do you have another one?” The man asked, staring at Royal intently. Royal nodded, and he grabbed the other bar from his pocket and unwrapped it before handing it to him. This time, the man ate it much more slowly than before, almost appearing to savour the taste. After he finished eating, he sighed. “I pissed Rick off by being better than him,” he muttered. “And clearly, the man has a very fragile ego.”

Royal snorted. “He does seem like the type, too, but he’s been nice recently. To everyone, especially Lu-,” he didn’t finish that sentence. Was it a good idea to give this random man Luca’s name? “Lulu,” he finished. Codenames would work just fine.

“Lulu?”

“Yeah. That’s not their real name. I’m not going to lie, but I don’t know you or what you did, so I don’t think it’s smart to give you everyone’s name.”

“And how did you end up down here?”

“My friend, his love? I guess what you would call them came back after four years. And he needed me gone from the room, so I left and wound up here.”

The man raised his eyebrow as he scratched at his arm. “And this friend of yours, is he really a friend?”

Royal shrugged. “He’s my best friend, though I don’t think I’m his. But that’s okay.”

“And you like him.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Your face lit up when you mentioned him,” the man responded, snorting a little.

Royal groaned, leaning against the bar, tilting his head to the side to see the man. “Okay, so I like him. But he doesn’t like me like that. I know that much.”

“How do you know?”

“Because whenever he talks about that person, his face lights up.”

They went into an awkward silence, and Royal shrugged, sighing a little. “My name’s Royal,” he said, smiling at the man. “What’s your name?”

The man stared at him, frowning slightly. “Enma. My name’s Enma.”

Royal grinned. “Okay, Enma. It was lovely meeting you, but I'd better get back before someone notices, oh and don’t worry, the next time I come, I will bring more food.”

As Royal stood up, Enma roughly grabbed his hand through the bars. His hand couldn’t fit, but he had pushed it enough for it to get through. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what.”

“It was nice meeting you, too, Royal. But don’t come back. If Rick catches you, he’ll kill you.”

Royal smiled down at the man and patted his hand before gently peeling his hand away. “You’re hurting yourself like that, don’t do that. And I will see you soon.”

Royal might have found another friend, his second one in two years. He might have been on something like a roll, and he wouldn’t let Rick stop him from befriending the man. After all, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

~*~