Page 12 of Evil King

“A way up,” Nathan replied.

“A way up?” I repeated.

“Yeah.” He fanned out his arms, mocking my earlier action. “Join The Royal Court. Serve by my side as my brother.”

“Serve?” I didn’t know whether to be amused or pissed.

Here I was, a man who had been to an actual prison with actual criminals, and my brother was, walking around like a fucking Hollister gangster. He wanted me toserveat his side? The few times I started to say something, I stopped, not quite sure of how to respond to such a request. It felt disgusting just to be offered.

“If you need time to think about it, that’s fine,” Nathan said.

I shook my head. “The only thing I need time to decide is whether I’m gonna knock your fucking lights out with my fists, or just piledrive you and be done with it.” Flashing the middle finger on my right hand never felt so good. “You can take your littleroyal court”—I whined the words—“and shove it up your rich, entitled ass.”

A quick moment of fear or maybe even pain flashed across Nathan’s face before it went back to his scowl. “You’re gonna regret that.”

“I’ll try to mask my concern,” I responded flatly. “Come near me, and you’ll seeexactlywhat I learned while you were out here, playing fake-president with your little friends.”

Nathan nodded at the door, and a few seconds later, it opened. Students started to filter into the room. They moved in a rush because the class had already begun, and when everyone finally settled down into their seats, I could see that both Nathan and Nikita were gone.

“Please take a seat,” the teacher said, but her voice was weak, and she was shaking as she said it.

I stormed to an open desk near the back of the classroom and threw myself down into it with rage boiling in my blood. It was because everyone was running around like he was the king of the goddamn world that Nathan believed he was some big, important person. It would be no skin off my back to teach him that he was actually relatively small in the grand scheme of things, but after everything my mom and Cherri had already been through, I wanted to keep my head down and my nose clean.

That didn’t mean Nathan wouldn’t get his ass kicked if he made the first move. With him snaking around, and on the heels of his less-than-frightening threat, I’d have to keep my wits about myself even more than I was already planning on. Staying away from Nathan and, by extension, my dad was the ideal option. Even if all he could do was keep me in an unpopular, lowly position in the school, as long as Cherri knew that was bullshit, the rest didn’t matter to me.

Class was monotonous and boring. I couldn’t help but compare the bland teacher to the guys who were my teachers behind bars. In juvie, I had something closer to actual teachers, but even they were hardened because it took a certain breed to teach a group of kids who were on the verge of giving up on life, some who already had. They weren’t so bad, but when I got to the adult prison, my education didn’t matter. The single time I’d inquired about it got my ass kicked for being a nerd, and I pretty much let it go after that.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the perspective, I caught the eye of one Harlan “Venom” Williams, a stacked guy with dark brown skin and tattoos all over his face. Half the prison was terrified of him. I never knew why he took an interest in me, but he had the guys who’d kicked my assdealt with, and he took me under his wing. He commissioned some of the smarter guys around the prison to become my new teachers, and one of them was a Ph.D. who’d gotten caught up in some embezzlement scheme. The guards let us hole up in the library for hours forclassesto stay on Venom’s good side, and he got me through all my basics with no issue. My mom had some of Posting Proper High’s school materials mailed to me, and I was able to keep up pretty well. When I got out, my parole officer arranged to have me tested to determine if I could come back for my senior year.

I passed with flying colors.

How fucking strange that the people on the inside were better to me than those on the outside. There was a reason for it all, for sure, but one thing Venom taught me early was that it was best not to ask questions. I survived prison because of that tenet, and it was going to get me through the different-colored beast of high school.

When the bell finally rang to signify the end of class, I was beyond relieved. I filtered out, and no one bothered me as I did so. Everyone kept away from me still as I made my way toward my next class.

A few times throughout the day, I caught Cherri in the hallways. More than anything, I wanted to talk to her again, but she was surrounded by the other members of The Royal Court, and I couldn’t approach her. There was definitely something different about her. She was a borderline tomboy back in the day, but she was more frilly now. Her giggles were a little more high-pitched, and she carried herself with a resigned dignity that wasn’t bad, just a little different from the girl thatdemandedto be allowed to play basketball with the guys back in our old neighborhood and would gut-punch them if they tried to take it easy on her.

Those things aside, she still had her dorky snort and still seemed to awkwardly laugh when she lost interest in what someone was saying. On occasion, I’d catch her relaxing her stance and knocking her hip out to one side until she realized it and stood up straight again. Under that Royal Court mask was the same girl I fell in love with all those years ago.

I was happy to see that Cherri was doing well, and though I wanted to be with her, her involvement with The Royal Court changed things quite a bit.

6

Cherri

When I shut my locker, Nathan’s face appeared on the other side. I turned my back to him and started walking in the opposite direction.

“Come on, baby!” he whined. “I told you I’m sorry already!” The students around us parted so that he could easily come up to my side and walk in tandem with me. “I just wanted to see you.”

“You had mesummonedlike one of your little subjects,” I hissed back. “I’ve already told you that I refuse to be treated like an underling, and you know that I don’t really like Nikita. Between that and Miss Abrams, that’s three strikes for the day.”

“Cherri.” Nathan rushed a little ahead of me and stood in my path. “I’m sorry. I really did just want to see you.”

“Then why did you leave, like, sixty seconds later? Did someone tell you I was talking with someone outside The Royal Court? I’m allowed to have friends other than the eight of you. You don’t control what I do, and the second that you think that you do, I’m out of here.”

“I know, baby, I know.” He took a few steps closer to me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me in. He dwarfed me in size, and my body settled all too comfortably into his like pieces that don’t necessarily belong together but are close enough to let be. “Nikita mentioned that you were talking with some guy, and I panicked. You’d seen me with Je—Miss Abrams, and I was a little afraid you might retaliate.”

“I’m not that kind of girl,” I spat back.

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