Page 4 of Evil King

I groaned. “I don’t know, Avery. That just doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Avery poked out her bottom lip as she settled into a chair a few feet away from the pool. “Oh, come on. It’s an annual event. You’re the queen. You have to be there!”

My heart thudded a little harder, thinking about it. Avery, Alistair, and I were all part of an elite group of students called The Royal Court. There was nothing particularly special about us, apart from the fact that we were all incredibly rich and had been specially recruited by the King of The Royal Court, Nathan Loche. Although we were really just a group of entitled kids who one of us decided were worth special treatment, that one kid’s dad, Connor Loche, was one of the most powerful and influential people in Postings. Therefore, we received the special treatment we all enjoyed.

Connor also happened to be the guy who gave my dad that life-changing promotion. Right afterward, Connor invited my dad to one of his family Christmas parties, and while my parents were rubbing elbows with the elite, I was brought to Nathan’s sub-party, where Avery pulled me aside and told me that he was the King of The Royal Court and wanted me to be his queen. We started dating shortly thereafter and had a tumultuous relationship for the next three years until I found out he was sleeping with one of the teachers at our school. I broke up with him officially, but I maintained my role as queen.

“It’s gonna be so awkward,” I murmured to Avery. “I don’t want to be around Nathan at all.”

Every year, during the last week of the summer, right before school started, Nathan hosted a massive Royal Court pool party that every single student in our city got an invite to. Everyone expected the entire Royal Court to be in attendance, but the thought of having anything to do with Nathan when I’d successfully managed to avoid him all summer just didn’t sit well with me.

“So, don’t be around him.” Avery shifted as Alistair made his way over to where she was sitting and sat in front of her between her legs so that he could look into the camera as well. “The three of us will get some booze, get some food, find a corner, and just shit talk everyone.”

I grinned. Thatdidsound like fun. If I could go to the party and not see Nathan, I would probably enjoy myself. The party was always hosted on the Loches’ massive estate, and with five hundred or more people there, it should be easy to lose myself.

Right?

“Come on, Cher. If you don’t go, Avery isn’t gonna have a good time at all, and you know how much she loves parties,” Alistair said.

“Oh, please,” Avery scoffed. “When we went to the movies last weekend and you couldn’t go, Ali whined the entire time that we shouldn’t be there without you.”

“No.” Alistair turned away from the camera. “I don’t even care.”

It was a good thing I had Avery and Alistair. Things with The Royal Court often felt very vapid, but they were a couple of good souls who I’d found through the whole thing. Even once I was off to college and, hopefully, leaving Postings and The Royal Court behind, I hoped that I’d be friends with them forever.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ll come.”

Alistair started to clap, and a wide smile found Avery’s face. “Yay!” she sang. “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

“It’d better be. It’s the last party before our senior year. If it isn’t epic, I’m holding the two of you personally responsible.”

2

Cherri

Ihad other, more revealing bathing suits that I might have chosen to wear, but given the circumstances, I decided on a teal and white two-piece with a halter-top and bikini bottoms. I twisted my blonde hair up into a messy bun on top of my head and skipped a majority of my makeup regimen in case I did decide to get wet. I’d been blessed with my mother’s natural beauty and didn’t require much makeup on a good day, but I did put on some mascara to frame my blue eyes and called that good enough.

Over my swimsuit bottoms, I pulled on a pair of blue-jean short shorts, and I added a black camisole that was successful in accentuating my large bust for my slim and short frame, but it failed to hide the straps of my top, not that it mattered. It was a pool party, so people expected to see swimsuits, either in full or poking out of street clothes. To finish the ensemble, I slid on a pair of black roman sandals to show off my latest pedicure.

I loaded my wallet, phone, and car keys into a small tote bag alongside a towel, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a power bank, and then I left my bedroom and made my way out to the driveway. Thanks to my auto-start Audi, it wasn’t necessary to pull my keys out of my bag. They were close enough that I was able to press the unlock button on the door and then the ignition buttons again once inside to start it. I smiled as it purred to life, and I petted the steering wheel.

“Good afternoon to you, too, CJ.”

CJ, the name I gave my car, stood for Cherri Jr. It was the only rich person’s luxury I’d struggle to give up if I had to. I loved my car, and as a poor kid coming up, my own car was something I didn’t think I’d have until well into my adult years. Thanks to my dad’s promotion, I was given the car for my sixteenth birthday. It was my favorite and most expensive thing that I owned. The steering wheel had a jewel-encrusted crown in the center. The crown was a gift from Nathan, given to me because, as he said, I was his queen, but other people said it was because he wanted to brand me.

Postings was a beautiful city tucked away in the mountains of Maine about two hours north of Portland. The city was almost a perfect square and was divided into thirds. North Postings was where I was born—the slums, filled with run-down homes, low-funded schools, and tons of crime. The neighborhood I lived in wasn’t as bad as some of them, but trouble was always just around the corner. People didn’t often escape North Postings. It was a trap. It was difficult to thrive, so it was difficult to get out.

Postings Proper was the center third and was where the thin middle-class population lived. It was also where most of the major malls, schools, and entertainment was located. There was a Postings Proper shopping district where my friends and I often spent our time, and our high school, Postings Proper High, was right in the middle of it.

South Postings was where I lived currently. It was the ritzy district, where only the wealthiest lived. The entire area was overseen—not on paper, but in some unspoken code—by Nathan’s dad, Connor. He was the wealthiest, most powerful man in Postings, close to the top in all of Maine. There weren’t many places in the entire state where people didn’t know him by name, and there were none in the city. That was probably why no one seemed to mind that the Loche Estate sat directly on top of the highest hill of the city, looking down over it like some gilded castle.

Gold-plated gates wrapped around the entire property, and the big, white-tipped roof and marble pillars constituted the welcoming facade of the main house, not to be outdone by the smaller versions of the house to the east and west.

As I approached, I could see that the manicured lawn to the left side of the estate had been paved over and turned into a parking lot, exactly like former years. Eight of the spots were a regal blue, with minimalist symbols on each to designate where the members of The Royal Court could park. I drove up to the manned security station, and Reynoldo, the security guard, quickly recognized my car and waved to me with a smile. The gates roared and parted to allow me through.

I pulled my car into the parking lot and over to the blue spot with a crown matching the one on my steering wheel. I parked my car, seeing that all seven of the remaining spots were already taken, and the ninth member of The Royal Court, Nathan, was parked in the family driveway, away from the rabble. I climbed out, grabbing my bag as I went, pressed the button on the outside of my door handle to lock it, and then started off down the temporary white brick path that led around the main house and toward the expansive yard behind it where the party was held.

Music met me first, followed quickly by the sounds of hundreds of voices. Splashes indicated that people were already enjoying the pool. At the end of the path was an archway laced with white calla lilies. It was an odd aesthetic for Nathan, but I didn’t question it. I never wasted my time trying to figure out what was going on in his mind. I started ruffling around in my bag as I passed through, looking for my phone so that I could locate Avery, but when I passed under the arch, the music stopped immediately, and the entire party started to applaud.

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