Page 62 of Evil Queen

“Hey,” I said. “I know this is kind of a vulnerable moment, but can I get those two tickets for Sicily and Cherri? I have to go chat with him anyway.”

“Oh, sure,” Kyle replied.

He separated two tickets from the stack and handed them over to me. I took them, offered Nathan a quick kiss on the cheek, and then stood up and rushed over to where Sicily was sitting. I dropped down into the seat across from him, and he jumped a little, then let out a sigh of relief when he noticed it was me.

“Cherri making you jumpy?” I asked.

“What? No,” he replied, and he was serious. “It’s, uh… It’s nothing.”

I decided to take a shot in the dark. “Have you seen some guys following you?”

Sicily’s eyes shot up to mine. “Why would you ask that?”

“We’ve seen them too. Where is Cherri now?” Sicily nodded toward the windows that gave a view of the courtyard, and I saw Cherri standing out there, working on a cigarette. “She’s smoking now?”

“She doesn’t even like it,” Sicily replied, “but she thinks it takes the edge off. I don’t know. Maybe it does.”

“Well, we think these guys who are following us may be looking to pull a snatch and grab, so just stay together, okay? Don’t ever be alone, and if you can, keep some of us in your sights, just in case.”

“Yeah,” Sicily said. “I’m sure Cherri’s gonna let us start hanging around you guys all of a sudden.”

“Look, I said what I said. You do what you’re gonna do,” I replied and slid the prom tickets across the table toward him. “Here.”

Sicily picked the tickets up, his eyes uncomfortably shifting as he did. “I gotta say, Nikita, this is unexpected. You’re great and all, but—”

“No,” I cut him off. “I couldn’t say no more if I wanted to. Those are for you and Cherri. It doesn’t have to be romantic. I know it won’t be easy, but try to convince her to go. Have fun and be normal. We’ll leave you alone. I swear.”

“Aw, thanks. I’m the techie between us, so I can convince her to go.” He chuckled and slid the tickets into his bag. “Anyway, was that it?”

“No, uh, I wanted to ask about Cherri. Does she… Does she still have feelings for Nathan?”

Sicily recoiled. “No offense to him, but Cherri never had feelings for Nathan. Seems to me that he never had any feelings for her either.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“I mean, I saw Cherri with Deon, and they…” He smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And I saw you and Nathan together. You guys are pretty great too. I think it’s obvious that you two are much better for each other.”

That made me happy, but I kept a straight face. “Do you know how long she’s gonna hold this grudge against him for Deon and the rape?”

That took Sicily by surprise. “The rape? What are you talking about?”

For a moment, I thought I’d stuck my foot in my mouth. I’d just naturally assumed that Cherri, or maybe even Deon before he left, told Sicily about what happened. “Um.”

“Are you talking about when he attacked her right before Deon left?” he asked.

“Oh.” I let out a sigh of relief. “Yes.”

“Oh. Yeah, Cherri isn’t holding a grudge about that. At least, I don’t think she is. I think he’s the one of you she’s least mad at. All her rage comes from losing Deon. It has nothing to do with that attack. She told us straight-up that it wasn’t like Nathan to do that to her. She said he wasn’t in there when it happened. She knows Papa Loche has him fucked up in his head.”

“I’m shocked. I thought she was holding that against him. She’s mad at him the least out of all of us?”

He nodded. “Yeah. She knows how caught up he was in everything. Yeah, he asked you all to take her and run, but it’s because you guys listened that she got so upset.”

That gave me much more to think about than I thought it would. If Cherri wasn’t holding Nathan’s attack against him, then why was I?

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