Page 3 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

It was only me that had changed.

“Cherri.” I looked up and my dad was rounding the corner into the kitchen. He led with his arms out wide, and the tears that I didn’t realize I was holding back broke free.

“Daddy.” I leapt down off the stool and met my dad’s embrace, burying my face in his chest, and letting my emotions spill out. “I missed you.”

“Aw, baby,” he said in his comforting, dad-voice timber. “I missed you.” He let me go and used his thumbs to flick away my tears. “I’m happy you’re home.”

“Come, sit,” I said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” My parents did just that, each sitting themselves down at the island, and I walked around to the other side so I could face them both. Standing allowed me to fidget as I pushed myself to begin my apology. “I, um… I owe you guys an apology. You’re wonderful parents and you didn’t deserve the way I behaved these past handful of months.”

“I just don’t understand,” my mom said. “You’re a good young woman. I think what upset your father and I the most is that we didn’t raise you that way.”

“You didn’t,” I said. “A friend of mine… died.”

“Who?” my father said. “Not Avery?”

“No, none of my friends from these past few years. A friend of mine from South Postings.”

“Deon?” my mom asked.

I nodded. Imagining his smile and my heart breaking. “Yeah.”

“We saw him on T.V.,” my dad said. “I was unaware you were spending time with him again.”

Deon’s name and face had been in the news right around the time he went missing. Connor attempted to frame him for Miss Abrams’ death, but not much else about Deon had been released. As far as they knew, Deon was a kid I stopped hanging out with four years ago, and then they didn’t hear anything else about him.

“It’s complicated, and a lot of it I’m not in a place to discuss, but we’d been speaking again. We were going to be together before… it happened.”

“What happened to him?” my mom asked.

That was the only part of the story I’d planned that I hadn’t quite figured out. Anything too permanent would result in their later disbelief if Deondidcome home again, but anything too vague would make them think I was lying again.

I went for the only thing I could say honestly. “I don’t know.”

My mom and dad exchanged an uncertain look. “How do you not know? If you can’t confirmhowhe died, how do you know that he died?”

“His mother told me,” I lied. “Naturally, she didn’t want to discuss the details. We’d only just recently reconnected so…”

My mom stood up and walked around the kitchen island and pulled me back into a hug. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. Losing someone is never easy.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

She leaned away a little, but kept her arms fastened around me. “Where have you been staying? It’s time for you to come home.”

“Just… another friend, but…” I looked over at my dad who was watching me with sympathy, and then looked back up at my mom. “I’m not moving home.”

“What?” my dad said. “Cherri, I know we had to put our feet down, but this is your home. We can see that you’re remorseful, and that’s a difficult thing to go through. We can help you through it.”

“My friends, the ones youdoknow, we’ve all had a really hard second semester. Now that we’re all graduated, The Royal Court is going to kind of hole up together and spend the summer relaxing. We’ve earned it, I think,” I said.

“The Royal Court?” my dad said. “You’re going back to them? Are you… reuniting with Nathan?”

“No,” I said exasperatedly. “He’s got a new girlfriend. A woman heactuallylikes. Nikita. We will be at his house, but we’ll all be there. Avery, Alistair, Colette too. Kyle, Brayden probably. Even Jaxon. It’s a recovery for the six months we all lost.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” my mom said. “You go. We trust you.”

My dad scoffed. “Rebeccah. She should be at home.”

“She’s been away from home this long and has done fine,” my mom responded. “It’ll be good for her to be with her friends.” She looked down at me with a hiked eyebrow. “If you’re being honest, that you’re sorry to your father and I, you can prove it by continuing to be responsible. Check in often. Take care of yourself.”

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