Page 29 of Evil King

Sicily tapped my arm and then rushed off, which I was glad for. Cherri’s cheeks had developed a light pink hue, and she nodded her head back behind me. “So, hey. Wanna find a spot to talk? I know all the good nooks and crannies.”

Finding nooks and crannies with Cherri wasexactlythe kind of thing I was interested in. “Yeah.”

She turned around, and I followed her through the foyer of the house and out through a pair of sliding glass doors that led to another smaller pool in the back of the house. Not as many people were out there, but there were still enough people that no one seemed to be paying us much mind. I could see that all the members of The Royal Court, apart from Nathan and Brayden, were hanging out somewhere out there. Cherri led me past the pool, out through a gate, and down a path to an isolated gazebo way in the back of the property. It was totally isolated, and the roars of the party were a muted, distant rumble. The pitched roof was lined with white lights, and the gazebo had a modern firepit in the middle and couches on all four sides.

Cherri led the way up the stairs, and I took a seat while she turned on the fire pit, the fake coals glowing in a variety of different colors as the fire started to blaze up. She sat on the couch adjacent to me, kicked off her stiletto heels, and pulled her feet up to get a little more comfortable. Part of me wanted to go sit next to her and kick back, as well, but I figured the distance was okay for now, especially considering she did have a boyfriend.

“This is oddly nice and warm for the Loches,” I said.

She laughed. “Yeah. It’s actually my doing, technically. For my birthday my sophomore year, Nathan had Avery poke a little bit and find out what I would find really romantic. I told her sitting around a fire in the woods with just the sounds of nature seemed lovely. It reminds me of being back in our old neighborhood. Of course, Nathan isn’t going anywhere near theactualwilderness, so this was his compromise. It’s not bad, though.”

“It’s not,” I replied. “So…you guys are a real, actual couple?”

Cherri tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

The cool wind mixing with the warm fire created a delightful temperature against my skin. “I don’t know. I kind of thought from the way you talked about him yesterday that maybe you’re not really into it.”

“Can I be honest with you?” Cherri asked.

“Of course.”

“I’m not. I mean, back when we first started dating, I thought he was really cute. I’d never really been with anyone before, so it pulled me in, but he’s not a good guy.”

Understatement of the year. “Then why are you with him?”

She shrugged. “Because it’s easy, I guess?”

It was time to take a leap. Something about the strained look on Cherri’s face as she spoke about Nathan told me that I had to make a now-or-never move. “Can I be honest with you?” I asked.

She smiled. “Of course.”

“Being with you is…soeasy for me.” My heart started to pound faster than I expected. “We liked each other back in the day, and it feels like there’s something between us now. Why couldn’tthisbe easy?”

When she started to nod, I was relieved. “Being with you is easy. Not just easy, but it feels… I don’t know. It feels right. Like we haven’t been apart these last four years.”

“Yeah. I mean,” I stood up and moved to sit next to her on the couch she was on. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t dreamed of picking up where we left off. Haven’t you?”

She turned to face me, and there was less space than a person could fit in between us. Cherri was wearing some sweet, flowery perfume that made me lightheaded. Mixed with the smell of the fire, the scent was so intoxicating that it would be burned into my brain forever.

“Yeah,” she said, “but I had to get over you. I didn’t know what happened to you, Deon. You were justgone. Your mom said you didn’t want to see me. I couldn’t contact you. No one from the neighborhood knew what happened to you. You just weren’t there anymore. I was crushed.”

“Yeah. I know. I’m sorry. I thought about reaching out to you a bunch of times, but then I thought you’d be better off without me.”

“Why would I be better off without you?” she asked. “Is it true what everyone is saying about where you’ve been?”

I wasn’t unaware of the rumors. In fact, I was pretty certain Nathan had started them on purpose. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “I was locked up. Two years in juvie. Two in adult.”

“You were in an adult prison?” Cherri asked. “Why?”

That was the million-dollar question. My mind took a whirlwind trip back to that day when Cherri and I were on our date, and a body dropped from the sky. I had no idea where that body came from or why it crossed paths with me. All I knew was, my life diverged onto a totally different path that day, though I couldn’t bring myself to regret the choices I made, not for a second.

I sighed, knowing it wasn’t the time to come totally clean to Cherri about that just yet. “It’s complicated.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I stopped her. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, just…not here.”

She settled, seemingly accepting that for the time being. “Was itthatbad that you got sent to an adult prison?”

“Well, no, that was more my fault. The group of friends I picked weren’t the softest, most-liked group at the juvie, and one of the guys tried to kill one of the guards and break out. No one wanted to snitch on anyone for what happened, so they took us all down for it. I was the only one who didn’t get added time, but they did send us all up the river for it.”

She shook her head. “Jesus. I can’t imagine sending a sixteen-year-old to an adult prison. How did you survive?”

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