Page 47 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

My mom stood up and walked over, offering both Alistair and Avery hugs, then she turned to me for one. “Hi, baby.”

I hugged her back. “Hey, mama.”

“To what do we owe this unexpected visit?” my dad asked, sitting up on the couch and stretching.

“Uh, I actually have to talk to you guys about some stuff, but Avery and Ali just wanted to say hi,” I explained.

Alistair put his arm behind my mom’s back and pulled her into another side-hug. “I’m hoping we can have a homemade Rebeccah dinner sometime soon.”

That lit my mom up. “Of course! I’d love it! You just say the word and it’ll be done!”

“We’ll have to do it soon because Ali and I are leaving for New Haven in a couple of months,” Avery said as she beamed. “I got accepted to Yale. Full ride!”

My mom and dad gasped loudly, then my mom threw her arms around Avery. “Oh sweetheart! Congratulations! I always knew you’d knock ‘em dead.” There was probably a part of them that was sad they were missing out on the college experience with me. It wasn’t like Iwasn’tgoing to college. It wasn’t like I definitely was either.

I had no idea what my plan was. I was just focused on finding Deon.

“Thank you,” Avery said, then pulled away. “So, yes. I’d love dinner soon. To celebrate!”

My mom nodded. “I’ll make whatever you want. You just tell Cherri what and when and it’ll be done.”

“Okay!”

Alistair put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair like I was some little sister. “Well, we won’t take up any more of your time. I know you have things to discuss. If you need us to come back for you, just let me know.”

“Thanks, Ali,” I replied.

Avery and Alistair offered a final round of hugs to my mom, Gus, and my dad who finally wandered over, then they offered me warm smiles and good lucks, and left.

“Are you hungry, honey? There are leftovers if you’d like. Dad made his fresh fried rice,” my mom said, already charting a course for the kitchen.

“I’d love that,” I replied.

I wasn’t hungry at all. In fact, I’d gorged myself on pasta at the restaurant, but the idea of getting a mouthful of my dad’s home cooking was too good to deny. Looking back over my shoulder, I smiled at my dad. “You comin’, daddy? I got some stuff I wanna talk to you guys about.”

My dad had his hand on Gus’s back, and Gus was already starting to drift again even though he was standing straight up. “Yeah. Let me just get this kid to bed. He can barely stand up.”

“No,” Gus whimpered. “I wanna stay with Cherri.”

“You know what?” I said, walking up to him and putting my hands on his face. “I’ll stay over tonight. Once I’m done talking to mom and dad, I’ll come up and snuggle with you just like we used to do, okay?”

Gus nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

I released him and my dad led him off towards the stairs and I turned into the kitchen instead. My mom was just setting a bowl of the heated fried rice down on the kitchen, and the smell of the spices was comforting. I sat down at the island stool behind the bowl and dug in immediately. The taste was even better than the smell and it simply reminded me of home. Not necessarily the large home we were in currently, or the smaller one we used to live in in North Postings, but just being around my family and loving one another regardless of the circumstances.

“Okay,” my dad said, walking into the kitchen. “That was easier than I thought it’d be.”

“Really?” I said. “He was damn near asleep standing up.”

He chuckled. “I guess that’s true.”

“So, what did you want to talk to us about, sweetheart?” my mom asked.

I set my fork down and slid the bowl aside. “Well, it occurred to me that there is still a lot you guys don’t know about what’s going on with me right now. Not just now either, but why all that stuff happened during my spring semester.”

My mom tilted her head. “I thought you said it was because your friend died.”

“Kind of, but it’s more complicated than that… way more.” My parents exchanged a brief side-eye and there was something in it that was mysterious, but I didn’t ask. There was already too much in my brain to worry about for the moment. “Well, in the interest of making a long story short, but also kind of long, Deon isn’t dead. He’s alive, although we don’t know where he is.”

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