Page 50 of Evil Queen

I pulled the phone away from my ear and put it on speaker. “Dee?”

“Yeah?” Deon replied. “What the fuck is going on?”

“You’re on speaker. Kyle is here.”

Kyle’s eyes went wide. “Wait. Deon?”

Deon chuckled. “Yeah, hey. Long time. We never got to chat after I came back.”

Kyle touched a hand to his head. “Am I drunk or something?”

“No,” I said. “Deon’s alive.”

“Holy shit,” Kyle said. “Holy shit!”

“Yeah, your emotions are valid right now, and I am going to deal with that, but we don’t get many chances to talk. Hey, Deon. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t really matter where I go. I keep seeing the same couple of guys. They haven’t made any move. It just seems like they’re keeping their eyes on me. You think Connor sent ‘em?”

“That’s my inclination,” I replied. “We’ve got some on us too. Jaxon started seeing them last week.”

“Is Cherri okay?” he asked.

“Holy shit!” Kyle asked. “Cherri thinks he’s dead!”

“Yeah, and we’re keeping it that way,” Deon said. Kyle and I locked eyes, and I hoped he understood the position I was in. “Answer my question.”

“Yeah, she’s fine apart from getting her ass kicked by Nikita on Friday,” I replied.

“What?” Deon said. “Why did she do that?”

“Cherri started it with her,” Kyle said, and not even I knew that. “I spoke to Sicily, and he told me that Nikita was trying to ask him something, and Cherri got in her face.”

“That doesn’t sound like her,” Deon said.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s like I told you, she’s in a place right now. It’s because she thinks you’re still alive.”

“Wait. What?” Deon asked. “Why?”

“I’m not sure,” I lied. “She and Sicily are trying to track you down, but they’ve been coming up empty. With you so off the grid, I imagine they’ll keep coming up empty.”

“Why don’t you tell her?” Kyle asked. “That would fix everything!”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Deon and I said in unison.

“I don’t even know that I’m gonna survive,” Deon said. “Even if I do, I’m probably headed back to prison for the rest of my life. Trust me. It’s better if she believes I’m dead.”

Kyle looked at me and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think that’s true.”

“Kyle, I swear to god, if you tell her—” Deon started.

“I won’t, but let the record show I do not agree with this,” Kyle said and looked across at me. “This is a terrible idea.”

I didn’t respond. It wasn’t like I had much choice, and I did see the logic behind Deon’s reasoning. If Cherri was already this bad from losing Deon once, I was terrified of how she would be after losing him twice. “Hey, here’s a question for you,” I said. “You know my friend Brayden?”

“That mini-me jackass?” Deon said.

Kyle immediately opened his mouth as if he was going to yell at Deon, but I got my hand up just in time to stop him. “Yeah.” Kyle glared at me. I’d have to chisel out some time to ask him what his newfound protectiveness was all about. “Have you seen him by any chance?”

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