Page 20 of Evil Queen

Nikita

When Nathan stepped down into the living room, laid on the couch, and put his head in my lap, I didn’t stop him. His eyes immediately fluttered closed, and I threaded my fingers into his hair to stroke his head and calm him. Not only had he endured a dinner with Kyle and Brayden after the intensity of the day, he said in his voicemail that he also heard from Deon, and god only knew how that conversation went. If he wanted to talk about any of it, I’d be there to listen, but if he didn’t, that was fine too.

Of course, I realized that I shouldn’t have jumped up and gone running over to Nathan’s the second he called, but for as long as I could remember, I was there when he needed me. Yes, things were a little off between us right now because of how things were with Cherri, but that didn’t change that Nathan was going through a lot at the time. I was the one person who understood it the most and could keep him from jumping off the deep end.

“Did you eat at dinner?” I asked.

“I did, I promise. You can ask Kyle and Brayden tomorrow. I had a rib eye with aioli sauce and roasted potatoes.”

“Good,” I replied. Nathan’s eyes flicked open and landed on mine, and my heart leaped up into my throat. The way I felt about Nathan was the kind of love from movies. I was powerless to refuse him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Dinner was interesting. I may or may not have told Brayden that he can be the king of The Royal Court next year.”

My eyes widened before I could stop them. “Wow. I’m surprised Kyle didn’t freak out.”

“He did. Kind of. I told him that The Royal Court isn’t really as important as we make it out to be, and if being the king of this thing I’ve constructed will make Brayden happy, then I want to give that to him.”

One of my hands rested on Nathan’s stomach while the other came to rest on his forehead. “Just to make him happy? Why is Brayden’s happiness suddenly so important?”

He shook his head. “It’s not just his happiness. It’s all of you guys. You’ve all suffered so much, and I just want to make good with you. Whatever any of you want, whatever would help you guys and make things right, that’s what I want to do.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I replied. “You’re just going to turn into a pushover to make people happy?”

“Not a pushover, but I want to make amends. I can’t turn back time, and I can’t give you guys back the peace of mind you lost while messing around with my corrupt family and me, so the only other thing I’ve got is giving you guys whatever you want.”

The resonance of his words terrified me down to my core. “Is that what I am?” I slid out from under him. “You know I have feelings for you, so is that what you’re doing? Just making amends?”

“What?” Nathan sat up. “No! Nikita, I’m in love with you. I have been for as long as I can remember.” He scooted over to me and put his hands on either side of my face. “Nikita, you mean more to me than anything in this world. Deon’s out there, hunting my dad down because he threatened to hurt you, and nothing matters more to me than making sure you’re okay.”

I stared as deeply into his eyes as I could, searching for the truth. “How do I know for sure? If you’re doing everything in your ability—”

“Nikita Jones.” He leaned in and set his lips on mine. There was a strong, encapsulating heat that boiled up around us and wrapped us closer to one another. Before I could stop myself, my arms slid up Nathan’s sides and pulled. He pulled away, only enough to speak, and said, “You are the only thing in my life that has meaning. If nothing else happened, if Deon never came back, if my dad ran rampant around this world, if Cherri got herself kicked out of school, none of that would matter to me as long as I had you.”

The hard edges around me were softening at an expedient pace. “You don’t have feelings for Cherri?”

“I never did,” Nathan replied. “She was about getting back at Deon, and now it’s about trying, probably never succeeding, but at least trying to do right by her after the pain I’ve caused her. I know what you think, that someone who has done what I’ve done doesn’t deserve redemption, but even if I never fight my way back, doesn’t she deserve for me to try?”

Tears fell down my cheeks before I could stop them. “I don’t want to compete with her.”

“You don’t have to.” He kissed me again. “Honestly, there’s no competition. You win by a landslide, Nikki.”

He pushed himself against me, and I didn’t resist. We fell back against the couch, and the next hour or several faded from my memory. Nathan was like a blizzard. It was best to just weather it. I couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of me, but I was too entombed by the snowfall to care. It just felt good to have Nathan around me, holding me, touching me, kissing me, anything that he wanted. I loved him so much that it was dangerous, not just for me but for everyone around me. So much of my life had been passively waiting for my life to come to me, but now that Nathan was mine, I didn’t want to let him go for anything.

“Can I be honest with you about something?” Nathan asked. Our plan after our dalliance on the couch was to end up in bed, but we ended up in the large bowl bathtub in his bathroom instead. “I was really nervous about coming home tonight.”

“Nervous?” I asked, loving the feeling of his arms wrapped around me. “Why?”

“Well, you’ve pretty much been with me every night for the past month. It was going to be the first time that you weren’t here with me. That’s why I stopped and got coffee. I was planning to just stay up tonight.”

I frowned. “That’s not good for you. Even if I’m not here, you need to sleep and eat and do normal things.”

Nathan squeezed me a little closer to him. “I guess you’ll just have to always stay near me to make sure I do it.”

“Brat,” I grumbled, even as a smile found my face.

It killed me to know that I was with someone who had done something I was so against. What Nathan had done to Cherri was unforgivable. How could I love him and be with him, knowing that she’d probably be permanently scarred from what he did to her? How could I justify not persecuting him when that’s what he deserved?

“So,” I started, looking to change the subject. “You said Deon contacted you?”

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