Page 64 of Evil King

Her hand folded out of her lap, and her phone was in it. The screen was shattered but still lit up when I gently pulled it out of her hand. As I pulled it out, I could see her hands were cut and bruised, but I tried not to look too hard at it. Instead, I tapped the screen. Her phone was locked, as to be expected, so I entered her birthday into the passcode bar.

“It’s yours,” she said softly, still not looking at me. “Your birthday.”

That killed me much more than it should have, but I entered my own birthday into Cherri’s phone, and it unlocked immediately. Carefully, avoiding making the screen damage any worse, I tapped the contact book and scrolled until I found Avery’s phone number and hit the button to call her. It only rang once before it answered.

“Cherri! Oh my god, I’m freaking out. Where are you?” Avery yelped.

“Avery,” I said. “It’s Deon. Hang on.” I held the phone out to Cherri, but she wouldn’t take it. “It’s Avery, baby. She can help.” But Cherri wouldn’t move, so I lifted the phone back to my own ear and stood up to walk a few feet away from the car. “Avery.”

“Deon, what the hell is going on? Is Cherri okay?” she asked.

I looked at the shell of Cherri in the passenger’s seat of my car. “No, she’s not.”

“Oh god. What happened?” There was already a shake to Avery’s voice.

“She told me that…” I had to bite my own lip to keep my emotions back. “Nathan raped her.”

Avery gasped, and then I could hear her start crying. “Shit. I should have gone after her. I shouldn’t have let her go alone. I…” She started to sob, and a few tears slipped from my eyes as well. “Hello?” a male voice said.

“Hello?” I said.

“Hey. Deon, right? My name is Alistair. I’m Avery’s boyfriend and Cherri’s friend. Did Nathan…” He growled. “Fuck.”

“She needs to see Avery,” I said. “She’s just frozen right now.”

“Yeah. I can bring her to you. Where are you?” he asked.

“Do you know where Proper Park is?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be there in five minutes,” he said, and the line went dead.

I walked back over to where Cherri was still sitting, frozen in the passenger’s seat. I knelt next to her and set her phone back in her lap. “Avery’s on her way with Alistair. Was that okay that I called them?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah. Thank you.”

It was a relief hearing her talk, even if it was just in spurts. “What do I do, Cherri? How do I make it better?”

She stared forward and didn’t say anything again, and it defeated me. Nathan had broken Cherri beyond what I could do to help. My hands balled into fists at my side. Once Cherri was in Avery’s care, I was probably going to end up doing something that’d land me back in prison for the rest of my life. With no other option, I just sat quietly with Cherri. For the entire time, she didn’t move. She didn’t speak. I wanted to hug her, hold her, comfort her, do anything to take the pain away, but I knew nothing would undo what had already happened, so I just sat in front of her, powerless and angry.

Finally, another car pulled into the parking lot where we were, and it had barely come to a stop before Avery was hopping out of the passenger’s seat. I stood up and backed away, and Avery reached in and wrapped her arms around Cherri. For the first time, I watched Cherri fold. She collapsed against Avery’s grip, and then the sounds of them both sobbing filled the air. I turned and walked a few feet away, and my anger exploded. I lifted a garbage can up off the floor and chucked it across the lawn, sending garbage cascading everywhere. I turned and punched a tree, cracking the bark under my force. The rage inside me was building at an impossible speed, and if I didn’t get my fist to Nathan’s face soon, I was likely to start taking out my anger in worse, more dangerous ways.

“Hey.”

I whipped around, and a tall man with a goatee and long, light brown hair that fell well past his shoulders was standing there. I’d seen him around the school and in different gatherings of The Royal Court. Alistair, one of Nathan’sprinces.

“He fucking…” I gritted my teeth. “He raped her.”

“Yeah,” Alistair responded. “Please, please tell me you’re gonna kill him?”

My eyes widened. “Kill your king? You’d be okay with that?”

Alistair looked almost as angry as I felt. “I’ll fucking drive you.” He looked back at Cherri and Avery, and I noticed that they were no longer crying. Avery had managed to coax Cherri to turn around, at least, and they appeared to be talking. He looked back at me. “Cherri’s the best one of us. She means a lot to Avery and me. I’ll…” He sniffed in. “I’ll never forgive myself for letting him hurt her.” He shook his head. “Nathan’s a fucking brat, but he’s not a rapist. Well, he wasn’t. Whatever snapped in him snapped hard.”

“Well, I’ll snap his neck for consistency,” I said.

“Ali!” Alistair turned, and Avery had gotten Cherri out of the car. “We need to take her home.”

Alistair and I walked over to where Avery and Cherri were standing, and I was at least marginally relieved when Cherri reached out for me. I opened my arms, and she walked into a hug, and I held her tight. “They’re gonna take you?” I asked, and Cherri nodded her head against my chest. I looked up at Alistair. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

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