Royal Affliction (The Anti-Princess Saga) Read Online Free

that alone, I could not express my gratitude.
    “How are you doing, chica?” she asked, squeezing me tight.  She looked up into my face and her own fell.  “What’s wrong, Tessa?”
    “Nothing, just nightmares waking me up at all hours of the night, as usual.”  I tried to contort my face into a happy-go-lucky smile, but I guess it didn’t work since her expression didn’t change.
    “Are you remembering them yet?” she asked.  I shook my head and she grimaced.
    “I’m fine,” I reassured her, trying to convince myself as well as her.  “Just a little tired.”
    I left her there because I didn’t feel much like talking about my problems at the moment.  Not that I could talk to her about my underlying issues, or anyone for that matter.  I was alone.  There was no one that I could confide in with whatever was going on in my life because I could never give them the whole story.  I felt a little lonely for that fact.  Not lonely enough to return home though which said a lot.
    I made my way to the back of the building, put my purse inside the locker that Carol and I shared, and glanced into the large mirror that hung on the door.  It looked like I hadn’t slept in about a week, and I felt like I hadn’t either.  I tried to make myself look happy and unbothered.  It took all my effort but I managed.
    The first half of my shift went fine.  I helped a few regular customers who were always pleasant, and tipped very well, and I even took it upon myself to reorganize the counter so that it looked more inviting.  Anything to keep me from remembering how tired I was.  When I came back from lunch, however, I was unhappy to see a man that I knew, and despised, sitting at the counter.
    It was Brent Fowler, the one and only human boyfriend I’d ever had and a good reason why I wasn’t looking for another one any time soon.  He looked up from his plate and flashed me a smile, the kind of smile that said, “I know you don’t want to see me, but here I am.”
    Brent was a big man, not fat, but muscular.  He always took pride in knowing that he was stronger than most men, and I knew that he was.  He wasn’t exactly what you would call “sexy,” but he’d been sweet, at least in the beginning.
    We’d dated off and on for a year and a half now and were off at the moment.  When he was nice he was a great guy that you just wanted to be around, but when he wasn’t…he was the biggest dick on the planet.  Not the kind of man you wanted to marry and I wasn’t sure why I’d gone back to him so many times.  Familiarity?  We’d been apart for a few months now and he was most likely here because he thought that it was time to give it another try.  I didn’t.
    Since I saw no easy way of avoiding him, I approached him.  “What are you doing here Brent?  You know that I have asked you several times to stay away from me.”
    He arranged his face into the look of that innocent little boy who never did anything wrong.  He’d used this look on me far too often while we were dating for me to know that it wasn’t genuine.  My face hardened.
    “It’s not against the law to eat pie, is it?”
    Brent was one of the jealous types but I’d chosen to look past his faults.  There is nothing stupider than a young woman in love.  But everyone has their limits to what they will take, mine had been Brent putting my co-worker, Jacob, in the hospital.  I’d moved to another apartment complex a month beforehand just to put some distance between us, shoulda found a new job too.
    “Brent…just go.”
    He stared at me for a minute, his eyes softening the longer they stayed linked to mine.  Without another word he slinked off his chair, pulled some money out of his wallet and dropped it on the counter.  “I will always love you,” he muttered under his breath as he walked through the exit.  I don’t think he meant me to hear him, but my species had excellent hearing.
    Someone came to stand beside me.  It was