Page 51 of Evil King

“Hey, bud,” I said.

“You were weird yesterday,” he said immediately. Gotta love kids’ lack of filter.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m fine now. When you get older, you’ll understand.”

He looked straight into my eyes with all of his little-brotherly innocence and asked, “Did something happen with Deon?”

It threw me for such a loop that I almost didn’t know how to answer. “Um. Why do you think that?”

He shrugged. “You were so happy when he came back, but now you’re sad again like you were right after he left before.”

I hadn’t even put those things together, but I probably was acting pretty similarly to how I was right after Deon disappeared four years ago. Maybe that was what triggered my parents so badly too. “I did something that upset him, but I’m going to apologize soon.”

He nodded. “Good. Hurry up so you guys can have a baby.”

“What!” I yelped. “A baby?”

He tilted his head and looked at me with the most naive expression. “Isn’t that what happens when you love someone?”

Note to self—tell dad it’s time for The Talk. “Uh, no, buddy. Not quite that quickly, but yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll do it soon.”

It probably wasn’t Gus’s intention to have my mind running off to a future having children with Deon, but after that, it was all I could think about. It was the only thing that felt right when I thought about what I wanted in my future. Sure, I wanted to develop a skill and get a job doing something I loved, but when I thought about raising a couple of kids, being married to Deon, working hard with him to give our family better than what we had—that was a clear future for me.

Alistair, Colette, and Avery found Gus’s confusion about relationships hilarious as I told them about it on the way to lunch at school the next day.

“That’s so fucking cute,” Alistair said.

“He’s also not totally wrong,” Avery said. “A lot of people jump from not even dating to babies.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want my baby brother thinking that,” I whined. “Although, in truth, it kind of made me happy to think about, you know? A little family with Deon? I might like that.”

Colette wrinkled up her nose at me. “That’swhat you’re striving for?”

“Shut up, Colette,” Avery snapped. “It’s perfectly normal for someone to want to be a stay-at-home parent. That’s a really difficult job.”

“I’m not saying I have it all figured out, anyway. I’m sure I’ll wantmorethan that, but I at least want that,” I said.

“Well, you’re probably going to have to get going ending things with Nathan and making nice with Deon,” Alistair said. “Otherwise, things are gonna get awkward pretty quickly.”

“Thanks, Ali,” I grumbled.

“Speaking of which,” Avery said. “There’s Sicily.” Avery was pointing toward where Sicily was sitting at a table alone. “If you go quick, you can miss Deon, maybe.”

“Good point. I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you guys later,” I said and peeled away from them as they kept going.

“Why does she need to talk tohim?” I heard Colette huff, and I wished Avery a bit of silent good luck in covering for me.

I waited patiently while a group of students passed me by, and then I started making my way across the lunchroom toward Sicily. I was feeling good that I could make my request without having to have a weird interaction with Deon, but before I could make my way all the way over to the table, Deon sat down across from Sicily with a tray of food.

“Shit,” I hissed to myself.

I kept going, at least having prepared myself for seeinghim. What I hadn’t prepared for was what happened next. I was near the table when someone else walked over and sat down next to Deon. She didn’t have any food, but she snuck a grape off of Deon’s tray like it was nothing and perched it between her lips. All my movement slowed to a halt as I watched Deon lean in and wrap his lips around the grape, kissing the girl in the process. My stomach turned immediately, and I struggled to catch my breath.

Had Deon moved on already?

I wanted to turn around and run away, but I thought about Nathan and the position he was in and knew I had to keep going. It was difficult not to cry as I watched Deon and the woman continue to brazenly kiss and flirt, and I watched my family dream go up in smoke.

When I was within a few feet of the table, I stopped. I couldn’t stand to get any closer, so I just put my hands up on either side of my mouth and called out, “Sicily!”

---