tw: mention of death and murder
LUKE'S POV
"OUCH! What the fuck!" My eyes shot open as I feel the angry red burn of a slap hit my cheek.
"What did you say!?" He shouts, eyes wide and seemingly panicked.
"I don't know! I just woke up" I groan, hand to my cheek.
"You asked if I had boobs!" He shouts yet again, looking at me like I have three heads.
My eyes turn to slits with confusion. "Carlos, I didn't ask you anything. I'm serious, believe me, dude" I crack my neck and back.
He gives me a hesitant look. I'm serious, I never asked him this. "Can you forgive me for something sleeping Luke said" I give him my best pouty, puppy dog-like eyes.
Carlos creases his expressions as his eyes inspect my face. "Fine but never say that again!" He points, rolling out of bed before sulking into the bathroom.
Before we know it, we're back on the road. Four hours later, we find ourselves at the residence to the monarch of Larkspur.
"It's like a cottage?" Carlos says softly as we approach the building. He looks shocked, wide eyes and dropped jaw.
"It's bigger than a cottage" I laugh. It's a mansion, not a palace or actual castle, just a mansion.
"It could fit like ten of my houses inside of it" He rolls his eyes as we find the stable to place our horses.
"Still not a palace or castle" I chuckle, tying Echo to a post. "Be a good boy... don't be mean to the nameless horse" I laugh, looking at Carlos's unimpressed glare.
"He has a name" Carlos snaps.
"And it is...?"
"Uh-" He looks back at the horse. "Ray. His name is Ray" He smiles.
I nod, patting Echos neck. "Well don't be mean to Ray. Good boys, stay"
"There's no security" Carlos whispers as we walk to the front door.
"There are. You just don't see them and they know me so... don't worry" I chuckle, knocking on the front door.
We hear the clatter of something falling then a distant male shouts "BABE? GET THE DOOR!"
When the door opens, I see a woman I haven't seen since elementary school. "LUKIE!" She shouts, jumping into my arms. I'm surprised a guard didn't answer. To be fair, the security and crime rates around here are so low it's almost unnecessary.
The Princess of Wisteria slash duchess of Larkspur wraps her legs around my waist as her head tucks into my neck. "I've missed you" she mumbles.
I let out an awkward laugh as my eyes meet Carlos's, seeing his confused look. "Hey, Flynn" I chuckle, rubbing her back, back and forth.
"And I don't think we've met! Hi, I'm-" Flynn jumps down and wraps Carlos in a hug.
"Princess or- duchess Flynn. I- I never thought I'd get to meet you. Hi!" Carlos seems almost star-struck.
"Ok, we're gonna be friends. Come on" Flynn takes Carlos's hand and before I could say something about his thing against contact, Flynn is dragging Carlos away without a second thought.
"Reg?" I call out, kicking my shoes off and closing the door behind me. I look at the middle of this huge foyer and see a pink tint on the white marbled flooring. My heart thuds as I think about what happened here.
"Luke? Is that you?" A voice calls from another direction.
"Where are you?" I laugh, walking aimlessly around.
"Here!" I find the room. A huge kitchen with food cooking on the stove in front of us.
Reggie walks out of a walk-in pantry, infant on his shoulder with some pasta in his hand. "Luke! Oh my god," He says, placing the box down before walking over to me.
"Hey and hello there. Gimme" I say, clenching my fists open and closed.
"She's a baby, not an object Lucas" Reggie snarls as he hands the little girl over. "Evelyn, this is your uncle Luke," He says with a smile.
"She knows who I am" I gasp faking offense. A hand goes on my chest as I rest the baby girl on my left shoulder.
"How's Flynn been? She seems to have more energy" I ask as Reggie turns back to cooking.
"She's good... Speaking of my wife, where is she?" Reggie laughs, making a face at the baby on my shoulder.
"She took my friend and ran" I laugh quietly along as I take a seat on a stool in front of the counter.
"A friend? Is Alex here?"
I shake my head. "A new friend... also known as the dude I'm hopelessly in love with" I whisper the ending just so Reg could hear.
"Ah, that kinda friend. Speaking of love, I heard in the grapevine that you are engaged... and you never told me!" His eyebrow cocks with a glare.
"That's why I'm here... surprise? Besides, I only found out last week" I chuckle awkwardly, spotting a crib a meter away. I get up and lay Evelyn down, the mini Reggie.
"Ya know, stealing all my thunder. Getting married, getting crowned? It's not a good look for you Lukie" He rolls his eyes.
"It wasn't my idea. I wanted to wait out of respect... also I'm marrying Caroline" This makes Reggie spit out the liquid in his mouth.
"YOU'RE MARRYING WHO NOW?"
"Yeah... Alex thought you'd react this way" I chuckle.
"Anyways uh- how are you doing? With it all" I ask, leaning against the counter.
Reggie's smile drops as he looks at the ground. "I did what I did for my country and more importantly, my daughter. Doesn't mean that I'm not hurting"
"I understand, but you did what was righ-"
"My parents are dead now because of that. It wasn't what was right! People don't need to die for these things! My father was... fine, my mother was perfect. Now they're dead. So please don't tell me this was what was 'right'" Reggie snaps, slamming his hand down onto the marble countertop.
"Reg I didn't mean-"
"You had to have seen the stain. It won't come out so I see it every morning. My daughter is going to grow up and ask what that is. What do I tell her? Grandma and Grandpas's blood? No, I can't do that!" At this point Reggie is screaming, tears streaming down his cheeks.
I stand speechless as footsteps start running towards our area. Carlos and Flynn poke their hands in but I can't bring myself to look them in the eyes.
"What's going on here?" Flynn raises her voice, rushing over to her sobbing husband.
"I'm sorry Reg- I didn't mean to" My heart aches as I sense Carlos standing next to me.
JULIE'S POV
I lean over, standing on my toes. "Let's give them some space and take a walk"
Luke nods as we silently walk out the front door and down to the lake nearby. "What happened?"
"You know what kinda happened right?" He says as I sit down on a rock near the water's edge.
"Not the whole story. I just know the Peters gruesomely died in the middle of their own home" I shrug, seeing Luke grab a couple of rocks and chuck them into the water.
"Well, what you don't know is they basically killed each other. One night, the King started acting strange and he- he killed the Queen and was going after the Duchess next. At the time she was... sevenish months pregnant. Reg saw this and ended up..."
I nod, "I think I get the idea. He killed his father to save his wife and child. How old was he?" I say, realizing how young he appeared to be a father, husband and soon king.
"Seventeen. His father forced him into marriage at fifteen. Flynn and Reg love each other but it was arranged at first. I say this because the birth of his child wasn't planned" Luke chuckles, whipping another rock across the water.
After a couple of minutes of nothing, watching Luke skip the rocks, a voice calls out from behind us. "Hey! Carlos!"
We turn around and see Flynn in one of the most beautiful casual dresses I've ever seen. "Carlos, come on. I wanna show you something" She squeals, taking my hand.
"Oh uh- ok" I force a smile as she drags me away without a chance to say goodbye to Luke. He just stares as I get dragged away.
"Ok ok ok! Hi, what's up?" I laugh as the princess drags me into a large man-cave-type office area.
"Luke has never had friends before so I just need to ask, how?" How did you manage to befriend him?" She asks, falling onto the couch lazily.
I take a deep breath and sit down across from her. "I don't know. Well, I'll be honest, I'm like ninety percent sure he has a thing for me..." I trail off, remembering the feeling of his lips on mine.
"Probably, wouldn't be surprised. Why do you think this? I mean Lukie isn't very good at hiding his crushes so..."
I force a laugh. "Uh he may have kissed me yesterday" I force a laugh and rub my shoulders.
Her eyes go wide. "I need a drink before you tell me about this, you drink?" She asks, getting up from the couch.
"Uh- I don't know. My parents never drank and we never had money" I laugh, shifting in my seat.
"Well, here is some... water" She hands me a glass cup full of cold water. I mutter some form of thanks as she sits back down.
"Ok, so tell me about the kiss! Oh my god, this is exciting... also not because of his father's laws. I mean- I dunno this is confusing" She waves her hands around, taking a sip of the golden liquid in her glass.
I shake my head and rake my fingers through my hair. "You don't know the half of it"
"I'd like to know the half of it- scratch that actually I'd like to know all of it if you're willing"
I bite down on my bottom lip. "I really need a girl friend to talk to about this. Sworn to secrecy?" I chuckle, shaking my head.
"Sworn"
I take a deep breath and lift the baggy shirt off my body, exposing my feminine figure. "I'm a girl. Like a full-on girl. I get my period, I can bear children, I have boobs, I have to work twice as hard as men do and I'd become Mrs instead of Mr after getting married- You get the point " I stutter out, feeling my heart pound.
The duchess looks like she's about to pass out. She stays silent and her eyes bug out. "You're like some badass Mulan chick. Oh my god! Your name isn't Carlos, is it?"
"No no- uh I'm Julie. Carlos is my brother's name. Holy shit does it feel nice to tell someone this" I breathe out, feeling relieved she isn't freaking out.
"Of course! Oh my god I can't believe I have a girl to finally to to about these things. The guys around here never get me and the girls are all stuck up princesses... literally" The duchess scoffs, leaning even further back.
"I get it. Princess Caroline can be a stick in the mud" I scoff, thinking back to the pink Princess.
"I second that- so uh what's your story?" She asks, raising her glass slightly.
"Oh everything I told you was true, just my name was changed and Carlos is the younger brother, not me and the oldest... that make sense?" She nods.
Our comfortable silence is ripped from us suddenly as a shout come from the other room, scaring the life out of both of us.
"CARLOS! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!"
~~~~~~~~
My block is... still a thing BUT UH- I got this out...
I'm preparing for comments yelling at Luke for being insensitive I mean Reggie had to kill his own fucking father!!!
(Sends SS Reggies rant)
I've been reading too many mafia books... I know their death is gruesome but I've been thinking about this for a while so.... Like a while as in before I read those books... idk it's dark but suck it up 👍🏻
Uhhhhh I'm sleepy so goodnight.
-Mama guppy (iykyk) 🐠