Shay Jonez is rising star in urban fiction. Her Hood Life and Love Series is a mix of dark crime and corruption set in St. Louis.
EXCERPT FROM THE HOOD PRINCESS AND THE PREP...
Three months later, as I sat in on a meeting that Granny B was attending, I found it hard to focus. My mind kept wandering back to the most annoying man I had ever known. Not that I knew a lot, but no man had ever made me feel like he does. I smiled as I thought about the last time I had seen him. Just a few hours ago, but it seemed like forever ago. He had woken me up with breakfast and flowers. We ate, and he told me about his day and I talked about mine. It had felt so normal to laugh with him and just be me. He was still arrogant, but now I thought it was kind of cute and when he flirted or popped up where I was, it seemed sweet.
It was also the little things I was noticing like when he talked, he made eye contact the whole time. I always have his undivided attention. He made my heart leap just by entering a room, followed by a shower of warmth from head to toe. Was it love? I wondered, thinking about the picnic we had last week after the public apology. It had sucked, and the guys had been jerks, but he made sure my day ended on a positive note.
Two weeks ago, after helping to repair the club and pay for the damages, we had gone to the beach. We had laid in the sand and talked well after the sun went down. We had drank wine and the whole thing was just like a movie. Every spare moment of my time was taken up by Cornell, and I didn't even care. It was the highlight of my day now. On busy days, he would just pop up for five minutes or less, but he never left without kissing me or touching me. The kiss was always hot as hell and left me wanting more, but It was the slight touches that set me on fire. How he would hold my hand or wrap an arm around my waist like it was what we did. sometimes we'd be talking to someone like in the interview we did a few days ago, and he would steal my attention. He didn't care who I was talking t or what I was doing.
In the middle of the interview, we had a moment on camera. He started playing with my hair and I looked at him. Our eyes met and held and we both just grinned at each other. A picture of that secretive grin had made the papers. The people had loved that, but it had been real. It was moments like that for me.
It could be love, I thought, letting out a huff.
"Are we boring you Victoria?" Granny B asked?
"No mame," I quickly replied, "Of course not."
"You have been daydreaming again," she said with a knowing smile.
"Sorry mame," I replied, sitting up straighter.
"We are closing anyway," Granny B replied, turning again to the French ambassador. Or was it the Turkish? I did not know, but he was an ambassador. "We will be attending the Ambassador's wedding in two weeks. Please have Olivia schedule that, and you will need a new dress. It is an evening event, so wear a tiara, please."
I nodded and stood as they did. I exited the room behind them, clutching my notepad and pen to my chest as I thought back to my favorite subject. I never expected to connect to him, not on the level we had reached. I didn't know if I was falling in love. What I knew what that having him around for another sixty years wasn't looking so bad.
Two hours later, I looked into the eyes of an angry old man. He didn't like me, I could tell. Everything he had been saying was intended to piss me off. I didn't like him either. From his bald head to the wrinkles on his chin. He had to be like eighty and he thought he was everybody's daddy.
So he was the head chancellor of the scarlet order and Granny B's right-hand man. Since I got here, he had been complaining. First, I didn't want to be here. This was not on my damn schedule, and I didn't like to deter from my schedule. Granny had asked me to sit in this meeting today in her place. Apparently, these were my go-to people. They were to advise me as they had done my grandma and her father before her.
To me, they just seemed old and tired. No one was younger than sixty. Thank God for technology and the history library here, or I'd have totally bought the bullshit leaking from his teeth. He was upset about my drunken night, my night out, and now that the prince and I were out so regularly, in the open, where it was dangerous.
Like I didn't have a small militia of guards surrounding me every day. Like anyone ever got close or even touched me. I could never even take pictured with people or give them hugs. These were my people, according to them, and I had never reached into a crowd or taken a photo with them because it could be dangerous. There were seven men here and if I have my way, they will all be gone by the time I take the throne.
Lord Phillip continued, "a recent poll shows you to be unfavorable to the people. They question your sanity and stability. I just want to put it on the table that there is another heir, someone who will take their role as king seriously."
There was a hushed murmur around the room as I perked up and eyed Philip with all the disdain I could muster. Oh, he wanted to play chess? With checker pieces?
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He had the decency to look uncomfortable. He should. He was lucky he was still sitting comfortably.
"All I am saying is that if you don't want to do this, you don't have to. You can go home, to America and it will be like nothing had ever happened."
I sat back in my chair and digested that. Had Granny B not threatened my mother, I probably would have turned this entire offer down. Protecting her had been my reason for accepting my grandmother's offer. However, she had expressed her dislike of whoever the alternative was. Which meant that my mother was still in danger until she died or stepped down. Even with that obstacle lurking, I realized I had gotten used to the idea of being queen. I was looking forward to it and I now liked my grandma. She was a little hard around the edges, but I understood why now. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
This dude had some huge balls, to even say that to me, yet he had. It made me think of a desperate chess move. He was jumping ahead of his game and not waiting until a better time. I had been rocking this princess thing. I knew it because the papers were gushing about me every day. I had seen no poll, and my publicist would have pointed that out. It made my hackles raise, and I wondered if the old dude with the crusty goatee was a traitor. Was he working for the opposition? Did the other guy even want the throne, or did he just not like me?
I leaned forward and smiled at him. Game on Sir lord. "Phillip, choose your next words carefully. Are you trying to get rid of me?" Checkmate, I thought. I guess he forgot I held all the important pieces on both sides. He was simply a pawn.
