Page 50 of Evil King

My cheeks burned as I admitted, “Nathan and I were having sex, and it was it’s typical, boring stuff.”

“Right,” Avery replied.

“Well, then, all of a sudden, in the middle, I started to think about Deon, and I got all turned on and started, quite literally, using Nathan as a sex toy. I said Deon’s name.”

“Yikes!” she yelped. “What… Uh… What did he do?”

“Well, he freaked out, understandably. Then we got into this big fight, and I tried to break up with him.”

Avery froze in place and looked over at me. “Seriously?” I’d threatened to do it many times, but I never followed through, so the shock must have been huge.

“Yeah,” I said. “Seriously. I said the words, ‘Let’s end this.’ I told him that we were empty and that I didn’t know why I was even with him.”

“Wow.” Avery finished adding toppings to the bowl of ice cream she was putting together for me and then handed it over before starting on a bowl of her own. “I guess it didn’t work. You said youtried.”

“No, Avery. He told me that Miss Abrams is forcing him to have sex with her. She’s blackmailing him,” I explained.

Avery brought her bowl over and sat on the other side of my bed, facing me. “Are you sure he wasn’t just—”

I shook my head. “No, no. He wasn’t. He lookedterrified,and then, when I tried to tell him that it was rape, he literally covered my mouth and wouldn’t let me say it. It was awful.”

“My god,” Avery said. “Based on your description of sex with Nathan, I wouldn’t think someone wouldwant to blackmail him into continuing sex.”

“I know. That’s why I think there’s something else going on. He wouldn’t tell me what she had over him, so I’m gonna need to find out for myself.”

“Why not just tell Nikita?” Avery asked. “She’s in love with him and certifiably insane, so she’d find out. Or just kill Miss Abrams.”

“If I tell her, it’ll get back to Nathan. I need to try to get him out of this on my own.”

“Here you go again,” Avery said. “Why do you have to save everyone? Just worry about yourself for once.”

“I can’t. It’s not in my nature. Just think, if I can get him out of this, I can say goodbye to him for good. I’ll apologize to Deon, and everything will be fine.”

Avery took a bite of her ice cream. “Somehow, hearing you describe the situation doesn’t give me confidence that it will be fine, but I trust you. Just please be careful, okay?”

“I will. I promise.” I took a bite of my ice cream. “Actually, I don’t really know what I’m gonna do just yet. Some ideas would be nice if you had them.”

Avery thought about it for a minute and then perked up suddenly. “Oh! What about Sicily? He knows everything about everything, and if he doesn’t, he can find out. At least that’s what I hear.”

“Sicily, huh?” She wasn’t wrong about the rumors about Sicily’s abilities, but he also happened to be Deon’s best friend, despite the odds. Throwing some awkward interactions with Deon into this mess did not strike me as desirable, but it might be the best way forward. “I’ll think about it. Thanks.”

“Of course. What are best friends for if not shady contacts?” she asked with a chuckle.

Avery and I finished our sundaes. Having gotten out some of what was clogging up my brain, I was finally able to go back to working on college applications. Avery had already been accepted to her dream college, but I had no idea where I wanted to go. I got an almost immediate response from one of the colleges I submitted to, a local Maine college who’d heard of The Royal Court. They were excited about my involvement with them and wanted to set up an early interview. I left the email to sit while I thought it over. Not only did I not have any idea where I wanted to go, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. My whole life had been The Royal Court for four years. What did one do with those skills after high school?

Thanks to Avery lobbing topics at me, I was able to be more talkative during dinner and calm my parents’ fear about my sudden odd behavior by blaming it on not knowing what I wanted to do for school. My mom told me not to rush it, that something would come up, but I honestly wasn’t sure anything would. Didn’t most people have an idea by now? Avery knew exactly what she wanted to do and exactly where she wanted to do it. Why didn’t I have a better idea?

“You promise you’ll be okay?” Avery asked when she was preparing to leave the next day.

“I promise. I’m going to do homework in the living room so that I’m not being a hermit and then watch a movie with Gus,” I explained. “I’ll be glad to get back to school tomorrow.”

“Me too.” She gasped. “Oh god. Are we nerds?”

“I don’t know about me, but you definitely are,” I replied with a smile before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Ugh, go be with your cute boyfriend who loves you.”

She chuckled. “Well, don’t be so happy for me.”

I stepped back and waved as she pulled out of the driveway and then went back inside and did exactly as I promised. I grabbed my backpack and computer and holed up in the living room to work where my parents could be assured that I wasn’t receding again, and eventually, Gus wandered down with his homework, set up next to me, and started working as well.

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