Page 3 of Evil King

My dad turned and greeted me, setting one of his hands on my head. “Hey, squirt. Last week of your last summer before graduating. How’s it feel?”

“Weird,” I said, “but exciting.”

He grinned at me. “It’s very exciting. Between your grades and The Royal Court, you’re gonna have your pick of the colleges.”

“That’s what I hear,” I grumbled.

“Hey, bud,” my dad said, turning his attention to Gus. “Slow down, or you’re gonna choke.”

“It’s really good,” Gus replied with his mouth full of food.

My dad laughed. “Well, I’d better get some before you eat it all.”

Both of my parents got plates of their own and joined Gus and me at the table. We discussed a few different topics, how things were going for my dad at work, my mom’s progress on her current writing projects, how Gus’s summer assignment was coming along. Mostly, I listened and was happy for my family’s ability to stay the kind of close that lack of wealth necessitated, even after transitioning into a wealthy situation. When my phone eventually rang, causing me to get up and leave the table, I was actually a little sad, but I got up anyway, dropped my plate in the sink, walked out to our house’s backyard, and sat by the pool to answer my phone.

I lifted the phone in front of my face since it was a video call and answered it.

Avery, my best friend, appeared on the screen. She must have also been outside where she was because her beautiful light cocoa skin was glowing in the sunlight, and she had her curly black hair up in a bun on top of her head.

“Ugh, I will never stop being irritated at how you can just wake up stunning,” she said.

I laughed. “You’re one to talk.”

Avery tilted her head. “You okay? You seem off.”

I scooted up to the edge of the pool and dipped my feet in the water. “Yeah. I just had a crazy dream.”

“Oh, really? What about?”

Avery was my best friend and had been for the past four years. She was the only person I’d gotten as close with as I used to be with Deon, and I’d told her nearly everything about me. I had, however, kept everything about Deon to myself. Part of me didn’t want to succumb to how embarrassed I was that I’d been ghosted so suddenly.

“Just my life before my dad got promoted and I met you guys.” The warm water rippled as I swished it around.

Avery dramatically threw a hand to her chest. “A life before you metme? How horrible.”

“Shut up,” I giggled.

On the other end of the phone, the image started to blur and twist a little bit. I thought maybe Avery dropped her phone or something, but when the image became clear again, it was no longer Avery’s face on the screen, but a paler-skinned man with a clean goatee and long, light brown hair that dropped past his shoulders. His chocolate eyes brimmed with happiness, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling widely.

“Hey, Cherri,” he greeted.

“Hi, Ali.” I raised an eyebrow. “Pretty early for you to be at Avery’s.”

Alistair, one of the guys in our group of friends, grinned from ear to ear. “Well, you know I don’t travel in the daytime.”

I snickered as Avery’s hand came flying into the frame and smacked against Alistair’s head. “Stop it. Give me that,” Avery demanded, but Alistair leaned away from Avery, keeping the phone secured in his hand. “Ali!”

“I’m having a conversation with my dear friend,” Alistair replied.

My whole body was filled with warmth at the interaction. Avery and Alistair had liked one another for a while, but Alistair had been staying away from Avery out of respect to another friend of ours, Kyle, who Avery had dated for a while. Avery’s relationship with Kyle was mostly political, but she was head over heels for Alistair. If they were finally moving in a good direction, that made me happy.

I raised one of my hands. “Um, if you guys need to get a room, I can go.”

“Oh my god.” The phone went blurry again, and then Avery’s face appeared again, rushing off with Alistair rolling around laughing on the pavement behind her. “I swear, you two are going to be the death of me.”

“Are we gonna talk about that?” I asked.

Avery lifted her head to the sky. “No, we are not.” Her face came back down, and she looked at me. “You’re coming today, right?”

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