Page 37 of Evil King

Cherri’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at me. “Yeah. This is wonderful.”

I grinned back at her. “Good.”

Cherri cleared her throat as a gentle blush rose to her cheeks. “Um, what was your question?”

“Have you ever really thought about it? About what you really want?” I asked again.

Cherri was quiet for a long while. Her expression was calculating like she was really trying to figure it out. Finally, she looked up at me. “I want you.”

That wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but it covered my body with chills. “I want you too.”

The way Cherri eyed me in the wake of that confession left me powerless to resist her. Even though I had no intention of being a guy on the side or letting anyone, Cherri included, use me, I was still just a human. I’d waited four years—hell, longer—to kiss Cherri. We’d been interrupted the night before, but with the evening air whipping around us in our secluded spot, there was nothing to hold me back. I brought my hand up to settle against Cherri’s cheek, and she didn’t pull away as I leaned in and placed my lips on hers. She took a soft breath in as we met and held it while we melded against one another, releasing it only as we pulled away.

I took a deep breath. It felt like years of weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “I have wanted to do that for averylong time.”

Cherri grinned. “Me too.”

Nothing in me wanted to ruin the moment. Cherri was looking at me with that gaze that told me we could go further, but I wasn’t about to fight with Nathan for Cherri’s affection. “I don’t like sharing,” I admitted.

She nodded, looking disappointed. “I know. That’s fair.”

I ran a hand through her hair as I said, “But when you’re ready.”

She leaned into my hand and smiled at me. “Yeah. You’ll be my first call.”

15

Cherri

It was a good thing my parents volunteered to chaperone at one of Gus’s out of town school trips because my best effort to keep my voice stifled was failing. My phone chimed in my ear, and I lifted it to find the latest in a string of lewd descriptions Deon had sent me of what awaited me when I was ready to leave Nathan and start a relationship with him.

I’d tie your hands so that you’d have no choice but to do exactly what I want.

With the hand that wasn’t already fastened between my legs to rub, I sent a reply.

Yes, sir. Do whatever you want to me.

Shit, Cherri, I’m close.

Me too. Don’t stop, baby!

The heat in my body swelled higher and higher until I felt like I was going to be engulfed in flames in the best way. My legs shook and shuddered as I brought myself to climax with the thoughts of giving myself over to Deon filling my brain. A scream I couldn’t control escaped my lips, and then I collapsed against my bed, taking deep breaths in and out.

We are definitely going to be late to school now.

That’s your fault for sending pre-shower dick pics.

Guilty. See you soon.

See you.

I didn’t want to go to school. I barely wanted to move. If I had three wishes at my disposal, I’d use one to bring Deon to me, one to poof everyone else out of existence, and the last one to give us an endless amount of time to soak in one another. I only had myself to blame. Ending things with Nathan seemed like the ideal choice, but in the three weeks since he’d put his hands on me, he’d been an absolute angel. I arrived at school every day to a fresh bouquet of flowers, tiger lilies, myactualfavorites this time, and I’d gotten a collection of other gifts and trinkets as well. He asked me out on a date every night, and when I said I didn’t want to go, he was completely respectful of that decision and backed off.

No, I wasn’t dumb enough to think that Nathan was totally reformed, but I also couldn’t just write him off. Regardless of how stressful our relationship had been in the past, and regardless of the fact that he completely snapped, wehadbeen together for nearly four years. I could convince myself that I could do it all I wanted, but the truth of the matter was that when it came time to pull the trigger, I simply couldn’t do it.

Still, a single morning sexting with Deon had resulted in more arousal and more orgasms than I typically had with Nathan, and he wasn’t even physically involved. All it took was a look from Deon to have my heart bouncing around like a loose superball, and it wasn’t just a physical attraction. Allof our history was there, keeping me emotionally and mentally invested in him in a way I’d never been with Nathan.

Was it just a matter of mustering up the courage? Did I have to bring someone with me like Avery or Alistair to make sure that I didn’t back out when it was time to drop the hammer? It was long past the time to end things with Nathan, so why was it so hard?

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