The Bravest Hero (A Curvy Girls Club Novel Book 2) Read online

  A Curvy Girls Club Novel

  By Twyla Turner

  ©Copyright 2020 by Twyla Turner

  Cover image ©fxquadro: Depositphotos.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.

  To those who march to the beat of their own drum.

  And those who struggle to find their rhythm.

  Table of Contents:

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  The Mia Chronicles: Part II

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other books by Twyla Turner

  Connect with Author

  Prologue

  Eight years ago…

  “Nope. I changed my mind. Just can’t do it.” Royal proclaimed as she turned on her heel and began to walk back down the driveway to her little Toyota.

  Her friends, Mia and Kennedy grabbed either of her arms as her other best friend Payton looked on anxiously.

  “I don’t think so, hermana.” Mia said as they turned her back to face the imposing McMansion.

  “The party is for you. The guest of honor can’t skip out on their own shindig.” Kennedy added as they practically dragged her forward.

  “Pssh. It’s not for me. My parents could care less about me,” Royal argued. “This party is for my brother’s engagement to Suzy McStuffyPants and for my sister passing the bar exam. They could give a shit about their disappointment of a daughter who got a Bachelors in Photography.”

  Royal King was the baby of the prominent King family. She was also the black sheep. Her father, Roland King was a respected judge and pillar of the community in Palo Alto, California. Home of Stanford University, where her whole family were alumni and yearly donors. Her brother, RJ, Roland Jr., obtained his MD there. As a damn brain surgeon, no less. As well as her sister, Ruby, who just finished law school at Stanford Law. Even her mother Rochelle had graduated from Stanford with a degree in Business/Finance. Or more aptly put, a degree in husband hunting. Though she did run the family like a well-oiled business as a devoted housewife and community organizer. More like a Stepford Wife, as far as Royal was concerned. Royal had opted to go to UC Berkeley instead, wanting to put some distance between herself and her stifling and overbearing family. The fact that she had a passion for art and photography didn’t help in the least. She was the disappointment that they wanted to hide.

  “Your name was still on the invitation as one of the guests of honor,” Payton stated.

  “Yeah, in fine print at the bottom,” Royal scowled.

  “Either way, let’s go have some fun.” Mia grinned mischievously as she flipped her long wild curls. “Let’s go fuck with these stuffy bastards.”

  “Yeah, we all just graduated, so we can look at it as our party. Screw everyone else!” Kennedy grinned happily.

  “Okay,” Royal breathed deeply.

  She pulled her arms free of her friends’ clasp, smoothed back her flawless black extensions from her deep sienna-colored skin, and tugged down her conservative black dress that fit a little too snuggly over her short plump frame. She hated everything about her strait-laced look and wanted to change it desperately every day. She only held onto the farce for her family’s sake.

  She shook off the negative thoughts and looked to both sides of her. To the family she had chosen, in her three amazing friends. Payton, the smart one, the Sci-fi junkie, the dark-skinned beauty who had yet to find her confidence. Kennedy, the romantic, the dreamer, the fair-skinned, Black and Irish mixed, redheaded and freckled optimist that saw beauty in everything. And Mia, the no nonsense tough girl, the caramel-skinned Afro-Latina with a heart of gold underneath the hard shell she protected herself with.

  “Let’s do this,” Royal said as she opened the ornate front door.

  The four of them walked through the house to the backyard, passing a few hired staff along the way. Mia, Payton, and Kennedy gaped in awe as they took in their opulent surroundings. Royal just sighed inside, knowing what was to come. The girls had no clue because they’d never met her family before. She’d kept her friends away from her family in the four years that she’d known them. And for good reason.

  They stepped outside into the warm sun that bathed the expansive backyard. White canopies lent shade over the food that was laid out on a long banquet table, as well as the tables and chairs setup for dining later on. A quartet was playing music softly off to the side. The wait staff her parents had hired were winding their way through the guests milling about, passing out champagne and hors d’oeuvres. And Royal even spied a few ice sculptures her mother probably threw in for good measure. She internally rolled her eyes. There wasn’t even a single fly or mosquito in sight. No insect would have the audacity to spoil a King party.

  “Damn! Your parents can really throw a party!” Mia whispered loudly.

  “Yeah. And all for an engagement party and two graduations.” Kennedy commented in awe.

  “I can’t even imagine what your brother’s actual wedding will look like.” Payton chimed in.

  “It’ll be an overdone mess. My parents always have to have the best of the best. No one can outdo them… EVER. That’s why the sun is shining when it’s been raining all week. Not even the weather dares to interfere with a King party.” Royal grumbled as her eyes landed on her family. “Come on. We might as well get this over with.”

  She started towards where her parents and siblings were talking to some associates of her father and their wives. Her father was tall and formidable with rich mahogany skin. Her mother was of average height, light brown skin, and stood with a regal air about her. Her brother was almost the splitting image of their father except he was fairer like their mother. And her sister Ruby could’ve almost passed for their mother’s twin sister, they were so much alike. In the past, Royal always wondered if her mother didn’t like her because she was darker like her father and his family, who her mother didn’t get along with all that well.

  Royal’s mother spotted her and smiled stiffly as they walked up to the little gathering.

  “Oh, honey, you made it.” Rochelle called out to her as she stepped forward.

  Her mom clasped her upper arms lightly and softly kissed each
of her cheeks. No actual motherly hugs from Rochelle King. She was probably afraid of wrinkling her expensive clothing.

  Her mother leaned into her and whispered in her ear. Her words punched Royal in the gut and officially kicked off a shitty evening.

  “It looks like you’ve put on even more weight since the last time I saw you. You must remind me to bring you over to meet my personal trainer. I’ll pay for everything. He’ll take good care of you,” Rochelle suggested.

  “Hmm…like he takes care of you, mother?” Royal whispered back, challenging her mother with a raised eyebrow.

  She knew Biff, or whatever his name was, was doing more than helping her mother keep her boney body rail thin. Royal was pretty sure her mother’s workout entailed riding that manwhore’s wang. He was every wife’s favorite trainer in the area. Some wives just hired him to look at and stay motivated. But there was a whole gaggle of wives whose husbands were extremely busy, rarely home and/or boinking their mistresses. Too busy to bother with giving their wives attention. So, those women loved having Biff around to give them the one-eyed snake. The man was basically a gigolo disguised as a personal trainer.

  “You like having an allowance, do you not?” Rochelle asked quietly.

  “Yes,” Royal ground out.

  “Then you’d do well to keep your mouth shut,” Rochelle hissed. “It’s not like you’ll ever make any money as a photographer and it’s doubtful that you’ll find a suitable husband who can afford to take care of you, when you don’t even try to take care of yourself. Wealthy men don’t like fat and sloppy women. So, keep my business out of your mouth and you can continue to freeload off of our good graces.”

  Royal blinked rapidly, holding back her tears. Her chest rose and fell harshly as her heart pounded. She wanted so badly to tell her mother where she could shove her allowance, but she didn’t have any solid leads on employment just yet and she needed that money.

  Fucking bitch! Royal shouted in her head.

  Outwardly, she sucked up her tears, gritted her teeth, greeted the rest of her family and introduced them to her friends. Mia had been standing closest to her and must have overheard what her mother had said, because Royal felt Mia’s hand wrap around hers and squeezed reassuringly.

  “It is a pleasure to meet all of you,” Roland Sr. said graciously as he looked at each of Royal’s friends.

  His eyes lingered on Mia’s body for a little longer than acceptable. His wife may have wanted to stay ultra slim, but his tastes ran towards voluptuous like she used to be when they first met.

  “A pleasure.” Rochelle smiled as she nodded her head to them. The grin never reached her eyes. She’d noticed her husband’s gaze.

  “So… What did you get your degree in, again?” One of Roland’s judge friends, Bill, who currently taught law at Stanford, asked curiously.

  “Photography, from Berkeley.” Royal answered without shame, though she saw her parents squirm uncomfortably.

  “Interesting,” Bill remarked and gave a look to his wife.

  Roland laughed awkwardly. “Haha… You know how these kids are these days. Wanting to make their own path.”

  “She’s the black sheep, after all.” Rochelle waved Royal off as if she was the hired help. “There’s one in every family.”

  “Well, it is only fair since you already have a brilliant brain surgeon for a son with a lovely fiancée, and a promising attorney and future judge for a daughter. We’d never be able to compete if she had of been an engineer or rocket scientist.” Bill’s wife, Madeline, joked.

  They all laughed good-naturedly, except for Royal and her friends. The conversation continued as if they weren’t even there. Even her family and their friends’ body language changed to push them out of the discussion, turning their backs slightly to them. Dismissing them.

  “Well, ain’t that some shit?!” Mia snapped, barely under her breath. “¡Tu madre es una puta fea!”

  “Come on, let’s go get something strong to drink.” Kennedy said as she guided Royal over to the bartender.

  “What did you just say, Mia?” Payton asked, curiously as they walked.

  “I said, ‘Your mother is an ugly bitch!’” Mia replied without remorse.

  “You’re right about the bitch part.” Royal finally spoke, when she trusted her voice wouldn’t break. “But she spends thousands of dollars to make sure she’s beautiful at all times.”

  “I’m not talking about looks. Yeah, she’s beautiful, but she’s so ugly on the inside that it makes her look less attractive,” Mia clarified.

  Any other person would have been pissed that someone called their mother an ugly bitch, but not Royal. Other than popping her out, there was nothing else motherly that Rochelle had done for her. She birthed her and then criticized her. That’s it. Now, if someone called her old nanny, Rosa, out of her name, Royal would be ready to throw down. She had been the mother Royal needed growing up. But she had moved on to a family with younger kids once she wasn’t needed at the King residence any longer. Royal missed her every day.

  “Let’s just forget about it and try to have a good time.” Kennedy suggested.

  “I second that,” Payton agreed.

  “Hey, Royal. Who’s the kid of the jackasses that were downing your degree? Do they have a son?” Mia asked as she scanned the party.

  “Yeah, actually. He’s over there.” Royal pointed to a handsome, yet strait-laced looking young man. “His name is Shawn. Why?”

  “You should fuck him. Just to piss off his parents. I would if it wasn’t for Alejandro.” Mia grinned deviously. “I mean, I could still take one for the team if I have to.”

  “I already have,” Royal shrugged and downed her beer in one gulp. She slammed it down on the bar and nodded for another one.

  “Already have what?” Kennedy asked.

  “Fucked him.”

  “What?!” They all shouted in unison.

  “Really?” Payton asked as she looked at the guy in question. “That does not compute. He isn’t even close to the type of man you are normally attracted to.”

  “My family was close to his family. We spent a lot of summers playing together and on vacation together. Honestly, he was one of my best friends. We decided that if we were still virgins by the time we graduated high school that we would give our virginities to each other before college. I think he just wanted to get in some practice.” Royal sighed and took a swig of her fresh beer.

  “I was always in love with him. So, I was hoping that once we had sex, he’d want more from me than just friendship. I quickly found out that he just thought of our arrangement as friends with benefits. We went away to college and he didn’t keep in contact. I saw him a few times on breaks and he’d have a different girl with him every time. I was just his guinea pig so that he didn’t look inexperienced when he got to Stanford. You know me. Always in the friend’s zone.” Royal finished and chugged the rest of her beer.

  Maybe I should take it easy on the booze. Maybe my family can kiss my fat ass! Royal thought to herself, indignantly.

  “I’ll have another,” she told the bartender.

  “Maybe you should take it easy?” Kennedy advised, reading Royal’s thoughts.

  “Maybe you should keep up. It’s a celebration, bitches! Another Curvy Girls Club Extravaganza!” Royal shouted, in full-on self-destruct mode.

  The other three girls looked at each other with wary expressions.

  “I’ll be DW. I got this.” Payton said with conviction, though her worried face didn’t match her voice.

  “I’ll be second in command,” Kennedy volunteered.

  They’d come up with the DW system a long time ago. Instead of DD for Designated Driver, they’d coined the term DW for Designated Wingwoman. The DW was the person responsible for not only getting everyone home safely, but also to watch out for creepy, date-rapey looking guys and to make sure they didn’t completely embarrass themselves. It was a lot for one person to look after three others, so another would alw
ays pick to be second in command. Second in command was the person who could have a few drinks but not enough to get wasted, so that they could wrangle the drunken troops.

  It wasn’t long before Royal was irrevocably drunk.

  Through blurry vision, she spotted Shawn chatting with his woman of the hour. He was handsome as ever. Tall, caramel-skinned, and adorable dark curls tamed and cropped close to his head. His date was some blonde bombshell who would normally make Royal feel insignificant. If only it wasn’t for the liquid courage coursing through her veins. She stumbled over to make her presence known, when she should’ve taken a seat somewhere and drank some water.

  “Sup, Shawn!” Royal exclaimed, overly loud.

  “Uh… Hey, Royal.” Shawn shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

  “Long time no talk. What have you been up to? Never mind. I can see what you’ve been up to.” She drunkenly gestured up and down at his date.

  “Um, Royal? I think you may have had too much to drink. Let’s go get you some water,” Shawn suggested kindly.

  “Pssh! I’m fine,” she waved him away and focused on his date. “You know we lost our virginities to each other.”

  “Oh God!” Kennedy groaned before trying to grasp Royal’s arm to pull her away.

  Royal shook her arm free and continued on.

  “I was his guinea pig before we left for college. He wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing before he got there. Dude, trust me when I say, he needed the practice. He was a two-pump-chump back then!” Royal burst out laughing.

  Payton quickly stepped in. She and Kennedy tried grabbing Royal’s arms as Mia laughed hysterically at her joke.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Shawn growled under his breath.

  “What’s the matter?” Royal frowned and added a whiny baby voice for good measure. “Are you embarrassed because you sucked in bed?”

  “No. I’m embarrassed because I can’t believe I ever got it up for you. You look sloppy and pathetic.” Shawn said, not holding back any punches.

  “Fuck you!” Royal shouted.