Page 18 of Evil King

Sicily laughed. “With a question like that, you’d think the rumors are true. It’s a dance, man. Very few people from here go, though. The Royal Court usually throws their annual Anti-Party on the same day.”

My mind was racing at a mile a minute. Cherri was dating Nathan. My dead-beat sperm donor was going to be hanging around. I didn’t know what to deal with first. As if summoned by my thoughts of her, Cherri walked through the door of the cafeteria right where Sicily and I were sitting. She glanced to the left and locked eyes with me. Avery was at her side and noticed the second Cherri seemed distracted. She linked her arm through Cherri’s and pulled her forward, and eventually, Cherri turned away from me.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t even dream about it,” Sicily said. “Nathan’s gotten violent over Cherri before.”

“I said I’m not worried,” I grumbled back, keeping an eye on Cherri even as she walked away.

“Well, you should be,” Sicily said. “All I’m saying is, when it comes to Nathan, be careful.”

8

Cherri

It was interesting to see Deon sitting with Sicily, of all people, as we entered the lunchroom. If it hadn’t been for Avery pulling me forward, I might have stopped to ask. There were a few smarmier guys like that in our old neighborhood, and it always drove Deon insane. I guess the last four years had changed him too.

“Just salivate, why don’t you?” Avery asked.

We were approaching the line of students waiting to grab their lunches, and they all stood to one side, allowing us to pass by without having to wait.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied.

“Oh, come on. You damn near broke your neck keeping your eyes on him back there.”

The lunch lady reached over the typical line of food to hand Avery and me the special Royal Court meals that Nathan’s dad, Connor, had shipped in for us every day. Avery’s was usually one of a few salad choices since that was her food of choice, and I typically got a sandwich of some type with a side salad or the occasional fries covered in cheese, my favorite food.

“Have you spoken to him anymore since yesterday?” Avery continued.

We made our way out of the lunch line, allowing the regular flow of traffic to continue as we walked toward our regular table in the center of the lunchroom. It was a long, rectangular table, and fortunately, none of the other members of The Royal Court had arrived yet.

“No,” I responded. “After what Colette said, I’m not sure that I should.”

“Cherri, come on. You know as well as I do that adults like to gossip as much as teenagers, if not more. I know I got kind of caught up in it at the time, but the more I thought about Colette’s supposed rumor, the less I believed it. Firstly, she likes to be the center of attention, and that story puts her smack in the middle of it. Secondly, she often over exaggerates. You know she’s a drama queen.” She stabbed her fork into her salad. “All I’m saying is, don’t take it at face value. One of your virtues is not buying into gossip. Don’t start now.”

“Yeah.” My sandwich lacked its typical flavor, but I wasn’t convinced it wasn’t because of my own internal struggle as opposed to anything wrong with the food. “Either way, I need to be careful. You know how possessive Nathan is. If he catches me interacting with Deon, he’ll make Deon’s life a living hell.”

Avery rolled her eyes. “I guess that’s true. I’ll watch your back, though.”

“How possible is that, really, with Nikita and Jaxon snooping around all the time?”

Avery snickered. “It’s not,” she said, and we laughed.

I glanced across the lunchroom to where Deon was sitting with Sicily. As expected, Deon wasn’t saying much while Sicily was prattling away. They were an odd pair, beefed-up and dark Deon with the energetic and lanky Sicily. It made me smile to think that Deon was making friends, even if it was with someone like Sicily. If I asked Deon honestly about the rumors, would he tell me the truth? Either way that I thought about it, the rumor Colette heard did support why Deon would disappear so suddenly and then turn up four years later, looking the way he did. I knew Deon, though. He was an amazing guy. There wasn’t a single thing I could see him going to jail for. He’d never even had a single interaction with the police—men falling from the sky notwithstanding.

But Deon wouldn’t go to jail forthat. We had nothing to do with that guy’s death. They wouldn’t blindly hold a fourteen-year-old responsible for something like that. Even if he got caught, after some investigation, they’d realize he had nothing to do with it.

Right?

“What areyoustaring at?” The sudden voice snapped me to attention as Nathan, Brayden, Alistair, and Kyle all got to the table and took their respective seats. “Something interesting over there?” Nathan asked with a scowl.

Shit. Here I was just talking about the importance of hiding my history and renewed interest in Deon from Nathan, and he caught me staring at him red-handed.

“Hey, baby,” I said as Nathan sat down, and I quickly shuffled a kiss his way as a distraction. “Nothing interesting. More terrifying.”

Avery eyed me before getting distracted by Alistair leaning over to pepper kisses on her cheek. “Hey, you,” she said.

“Hey.” He smiled across at me. “Hey, Cee.”

“Hi,” I greeted him.

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