Page 46 of Evil King

“I don’t—”

Before we could get the plan decided, the bedroom door opened again, and Annika walked back in. She returned to her spot on the floor and looked up at us. “What?”

Sicily looked at me, and I just stared back at him, unsure of what to do. Finally, Sicily turned and looked at Annika, opened his dumb mouth, and blurted out, “Deon was just telling me he thinks you’re very beautiful and would like to take you out.”

My jaw dropped. “What the fuck!”

Sicily’s arms flew up. “You didn’t tell me the play!”

“So then just wait. That wasn’t wingmaning. That was just telling her!”

Annika laughed a little, then tilted her head at me. “Do you really want to go out?”

“I was going to do it much better than that,” I replied. “But, yeah. I’d like to.”

“How does tomorrow sound?” she boldly asked, and it sent a rush of excitement through me.

I smiled at her, still wary of moving on from Cherri, but I knew it was the best plan for me. “Tomorrow sounds great.”

18

Deon

Thankfully, Annika was much more laid back and relaxed than her brother. After finishing breakfast with the massive Luciano family, I disappeared to one of only two bathrooms in their household to shower and then made my way downstairs where Annika was sitting in the living room, talking to a man who made the guys I was locked up with look like middle schoolers. His arms looked like tree trunks on either side of his body, and even though he was sitting, I could plainly see he was six and a half feet tall, if not more. His hair was closely shaved, close to being bald, and he was wearing a warehouse polo and a pair of cargo pants. His dark eyes were sunken, and he had wrinkles poking out from just about everywhere, but the second Sicily and I stepped into the room, he stood up, towering over me.

“Hello,” he greeted, and then he held his hand out to me.

I took his hand, and the way he squeezed was not a subtle warning, but it took a lot more than that to frighten me. “Hello, sir. Nice to meet you.”

“Deon, this is my old man, Gray Sr. Pop, I’m guessing Annika told you already, but this is my friend, Deon.”

Grayson still had a tight grip on my hand, and he shook it a couple more times. “Good to finally meet you. I hear you’ve earned the affection of more than one of my kids.” He released my hand and crossed his arms.

“I’m lucky,” I replied. “If it’s okay, I’d like to take Annika out today.”

“He asks permission? I like this guy!” He grinned at me. “You may. Just don’t keep her out too late, and treat her well.”

“You have my word,” I replied.

“All right, well.” Grayson wrapped an arm around his daughter. “I did the dad thing. I love you. Have fun. I’m going to get some rest.”

“Night, Daddy,” Annika replied, and after that, Grayson ambled off toward the stairs and out of sight.

Sicily snapped his fingers. “Sounds like that’s code for you two crazy kids to get outta here.” He fished into his pockets, pulled out his keys, and handed them to me. “Take the beater. She’s no Lambo, but she’ll get ya around.”

I grabbed the keys, grateful that I’d managed to find such a good friend, given my circumstances. “Thanks. I’ll have your sister and your car home in a few hours.”

Sicily smiled and winked at me, and I turned to Annika. She looked amazing in a floor-length, brown-and-green striped romper. She had a long-sleeved jean jacket over it, and her long brown hair flowed down the sides of her face and over her shoulders. It was a very fall look, perfect for the date I had planned.

“Ready?” I asked.

She nodded. “Ready.”

Given that the date cropped up out of nowhere, I didn’t have much pre-planned. Fortunately, when you’re locked up, you have a lot of time to think about the things you’ll do when you get out. I must have imagined fifty or more date ideas in my head, and though I’d planned to go on them all with Cherri, it at least gave me a reserve of options to pull from. I drove us about an hour outside of Postings to one of Maine’s most popular apple orchards. By November, all the leaves had fully changed from green to different shades of orange, red, yellow, and brown, and it gave the property a gorgeous fall atmosphere. It was a little cold, but that was fine because it meant we could hold close to each other while we took a hayride from the front of the property to the back, and we could stick additionally close together while we picked what was left of the season’s fresh apples and bought some discount pumpkins to gut for some seeds to roast.

The real crown jewel of the orchard was the inside of the barn at the base of the property. You could cook apple slices and pumpkin seeds over burning fires that let off enough heat to sit around them comfortably, regardless of the cold outside the barn. They sold cups of fresh apple cider and even melted caramel to make caramel apples if you wanted. My mom used to bring me when I was younger, and I always dreamed of bringing Cherri someday. She loved apples. It was one of her favorite foods and her favorite smells, and I always thought she’d really love coming.

As I stood in line for cider while Annika found us a fire to sit by, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to the person I’d always imagined I’d come to the orchard with. Annika was great. She was really beautiful, funny, and kind from what I’d gotten to know of her the day before, and during the hayride, she talked about her plans for college and beyond. She was also incredibly smart. She didn’t seem bothered by my criminal history and was a delight to be around. There was really no reason why I shouldn’t be enjoying myself, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep Cherri out of my mind.

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