by Rebel Hart
Well, that wasn’t quite the reaction I was hoping for. The last thing I wanted was Nathan’s minions snooping around after me, keeping tabs on me while I was trying to get to know Deon again and get to the bottom of this prison rumor.
I shoved Nathan away from me. “I’m not some damsel that needs protecting. I hate when you do that. You may need your knights, but I don’t.”
Kyle snapped his fingers. “There’s the Cherri I’m used to.”
“It’s like she said,” Avery cut in. “She’s not afraid of him. We were just wondering where a guy like that blows in from.”
“Exactly,” I grumbled, taking a quick bite of my sandwich. “It’s not like Postings is the rough-and-tumble capital of the world or anything. Last year, when Becky Townland got a tramp stamp, she was the talk of the town for, like, six months. This guy comes in tatted, ripped, and looking like a grown man. It’s a little jarring. That doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.” Nathan watched me in silence. “What?” I asked.
At that, he shook his head and redirected his attention to his food. “Nothing. You’re right. Jaxon, Nikita, consider that order rescinded.”
That was unusual. “Really?” I asked. “Just like that?”
He looked over at me and smiled. “Baby, I just want you to be comfortable. You know Nikita and Jaxon will keep you safe if you feel threatened, but if you’re fine, then I’m fine.”
Avery and I locked eyes for a moment, and then my glance quickly shifted to Colette. They both looked as confused as I did. Nathan’s sudden turn toward being kind and reasonable was unsettling, to say the least.
“What?” Nathan asked. “Is it that shocking that I’d do whatever you wanted me to?”
My head whipped back toward him. “It’s kind of shocking.” I smiled. “But it’s good. Thank you.” I leaned in and gave him a kiss, and it was one of the rare times kissing Nathan didn’t make me feel like a cheap, paid-off whore. If he’d always been like this throughout our relationship, I’d be hard-pressed to not actually be in love with him. “Anyway. Avery’s right. We were just wondering where someone like him came from.”
“I told you already,” Colette said. “He was in prison.”
I rolled my eyes. “You heard one rumor. Who’s to say that’s really true?” Everyone at the table went quiet and looked away from me. “What?”
Nathan nodded in Brayden’s direction, and he got a smile as wide as if Nathan had just offered him a million bucks. He leaned across the table toward me. “He was in prison. The first two years he spent in juvie. The second two he spent in an adult prison!”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Brayden sat back in his chair with a smile. “Come on. We know everything that goes on around here.” He looked at Nathan, and Nathan nodded to confirm.
“It’s a fact?” I asked Nathan.
He side-eyed me. “My dad told me.”
There wasn’t a reason to question if what Connor had told Nathan was true. Connor was the king of Postings. If something salacious like that happened with someone in his town, he’d know about it.
“Wow.” I tossed a quick glance in Deon’s direction, but I looked away before Nathan could see me. “Do you know what he did?”
Nathan shrugged. “He didn’t tell me that much, just told me to stay away from him, and I’m passing that order onto all of you. Whatever personality he tries to sell you, don’t buy it. He’s bad news, and we’ve all got too much going for us to mess it up on him.”
No doubt, any member of The Royal Court going anywhere near Deon wouldn’t improve our station. Apart from Brayden, we’d all be graduating this year, and if it got out that any of us were fraternizing with someone who’d been to prison, an adult prison no less, the news would spread fast, and we’d all probably struggle to get anywhere.
Still, it was Deon. I couldn’t just not talk to him. He wasn’t a bad man. Until I heard from his lips that he’d been to prison, I refused to believe it.
Colette led the table in a variety of miscellaneous subjects, like her upcoming class president campaign, as well as what we all planned to do for the upcoming Spirit week. I did the best I could to remain interested, but every time I got a little too bored with the conversation, I would catch myself looking over at Deon. The draw I felt toward him was too strong to deny. As much as I wanted to follow Nathan’s orders and just let it go, I couldn’t ignore the history we had or my curiosity as to what the last four years had been like for him.
If he’d never left, Nathan, The Royal Court, my popularity, none of it would be a thing. Even if my dad still got promoted and even if we moved out of the neighborhood, I’d probably have been sneaking out to go see Deon. The thought made me smile. My life could have been so different. I’d give anything to know the little detail that sent us careening onto vastly different paths.
As if he sensed me staring at him, Deon turned and looked over. His eyes locked on mine, and it was as if everything else going on in the lunchroom just stopped existing. Every time he’d ever looked at me like that flashed across my brain in rapid fire. Sitting on his front stoop, so close that we’re touching, but there was still that hesitation to even hold hands. Holding out a hand to pick me up after I’d taken a hard charge during a game of basketball. Standing in front of my house with an anticipatory smile after he came to ask if I could come outside on hot summer days. Whatever had happened hadn’t changed who Deon innately was, just like Nathan and The Royal Court hadn’t changed my core. Deon and I were opposing ends of a very strong magnet. The more we tried to stay away from each other, the stronger the pull was.
“Do you want me to introduce you or something?” Nathan growled.
That time, when Nathan’s voice pierced my thoughts, I jumped. “What?” I looked at Nathan. “What are you talking about?”
“If you stare too much harder, he’s going to burst into flames,” Brayden quipped.
“Will you guys relax?” Alistair jumped to my aid. “Anyone would be bothered by that guy’s appearance. Leave her alone.”
When I looked over to Alistair, he tossed me a wink, and I grinned. Avery smiled, and her promise to have my back came into my mind. She was right. I wasn’t alone in The Royal Court. Even if my life didn’t go the way I expected it to, I made a couple of really good friends, and I knew they would support and take care of me while I attempted to find out exactly what happened with my childhood crush.
9
Deon
When my mom, Ciara, set a plate of breakfast food down in front of me, it was with a sigh of disdain. Her curly red hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, allowing her authentic Irish freckles to shine and making her disappointed expression even harsher because it was through such a beautiful lens.
“What?” I hissed.
“Nothing,” she replied. “Just, you said you were going to really try and make the most of school this year.” She sat down across from me with a plate of her own and a cup of coffee.
“How am I not?” I asked. “We’re only a few weeks in, but I’ve done all my work so far. I made a friend. What are you looking for?”
“Isn’t it Spirit Week this week?” she asked.
“Yeah? So?”
She sighed. “I just thought you might participate. Really get into the fun of it.”
“I’m not wearing pajamas to school. That’s stupid,” I grumbled back, taking a bite of my bacon.
It wasn’t just that I found something absurdly ridiculous about the idea of wearing pajama pants to school. It was also that I was trying to blend in and didn’t think that was the way to accomplish it. There had to be plenty of students who were choosing to forego the weekly traditions, and I would just be one of those students. People already watched me more than they did anyone else in the school. The last thing I needed to do was slap a brightly colored bow on myself and go walking around like I was just any other student.
I wasn’t.
“Is it just the pajama day, then
? Will you do some of the other days?” she asked. “I don’t think you have any sports jerseys, but we could find one for you before Wednesday. Or you could match with your new friend for twins and triplets day on Thursday?”
I imagined myself making any valid attempt to try to match anything with Sicily. He was my exact opposite. He was short while I was tall, was lanky while I was buff, had brown hair to my red, and was hyper while I was tame. Us trying to look like twins seemed like the quickest way to make me the laughing stock of the school and extend the time people spent keeping their eyes on me.
“Look, Ma. I really hate to play the whole prison thing, but I’m just not in the same place as a lot of these guys. I spent the last two years of my life with adults. I’m going to school. I’m trying to keep myself out of trouble and in good academic standing. Honestly, I didn’t even expect to make any friends, but Sicily turned out to be an okay person to spend my time with. I just can’t promise you that I’m gonna do all of the young and naive kid stuff. That’s just not who I am anymore.”
That thought brought a visible frown to her face. “You’ve lost so much of your childhood already, Deon.”
It was like she was sawing my heart in half. It wasn’t unreasonable for a mom to want her child to seize what touch of innocence he had left, even if I didn’t really have any left. “Tell you what. I’m probably not gonna do pajama day, or crazy hair day, or twin day because Sicily looks like a dwarf compared to me, but I promise I’ll…involve myself. You know? I’ll go to football games. I’ll attend the dances.” I smirked. “I’ll even sneak out and go partying if it makes you feel better.”
Her mood lightened, but she still looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “You’re a smartass, you know that?”
“Who do you think I get it from?”
I winked at her, and she chuckled, and the rest of breakfast passed by much less tense than it began. She updated me on how things were going at work. She worked for a housekeeping business, cleaning up much nicer homes than we would ever live in. That was how she had the misfortune of meeting my father, though to hear her tell it, that was the greatest thing that ever happened to her. Once I was done eating, I packed up my backpack, climbed into her old, beaten up Cadillac that she forced me to use instead of just taking the bus, and started off for school.
The first thing I saw when I pulled into the parking lot nearly made me puke up my entire breakfast. A car pulled in just a few down from mine, and two people climbed out. One of them was Avery, Cherri’s best friend, and she was wearing a pink, silk, spaghetti-strap pajama top and a matching pair of shorts with lace around the base, and her hair sat right on top of her head in a curly bun. On her feet, she was wearing a pair of cliche bunny slippers. For the fact that things were already getting pretty chilly, she’d definitely sacrificed comfort for the look.
And then there was Cherri.
Cherri climbed out of the driver’s seat of the car, wearing a pair of lavender satin shorts with little chameleons all over them, her favorite animal. On the shirt, which was a short-sleeved shirt, a single, larger version of the chameleon that was on the pants sat right on top of her bust. On her legs, she wore white thigh-high socks and finished the look off with a pair of slippers with another of the little cartoon chameleons on the top of each shoe. The entire ensemble clung to her body in all the right ways, and whereas I was going to hop right out of the car, I now needed to wait because my body was already coming to attention at the way her chest and ass pushed at the fabric.
It was unreasonable for one person to be so good-looking.
Apart from that first time we spoke, Cherri and I had only talked on two other occasions during the two homeroom classes we’d had at the beginnings of the weeks since. We’d have homeroom together again today, and I wanted to try to engage her a little more. If it weren’t for Nathan and learning the unfortunate news that she was dating him, I’d already have made more of a move, but I had to handle things with more finesse than I was hoping.
When I’d calmed down enough, I finally got out of my car and entered the school. I bypassed my assigned locker, not at all trusting leaving any of my things off my person at any given time, and started off toward my homeroom. It was at this point that I started to realize, everyone was staring at me again. It was back to how it was when I first showed up, ignoring the fact that I had been starting to shift toward not being the dead center of attention in the past few weeks. I didn’t know what was wrong at all until Sicily turned the corner up ahead of me and waved to catch my attention. He shuffled up to me in a t-shirt with Zs all over it, a matching pair of loose-fitting pants, with a pair of slippers.
“Hey,” he greeted, looking me up and down. “You must be uncomfortable when you sleep.”
I continued to scan all the students as they passed me and slowly came to the realization that every single student was wearing some form of pajamas. “What, does everyone participate?”
“Yeah, man, even the teachers.” He motioned off to where the principal of the school was standing and talking with a couple of teachers, and I saw they were all dressed in similarly comfortable clothing. “Are you just a sourpuss or what?”
“I’m not a very spirit-week kind of guy.” I groaned as another group of students passed me by, whispering. “Shit. I wanted to blend in. This isn’t blending in.”
“I got another pair of pants in my car at least. I mean, I don’t know a whole lot of people who wear leather jackets to bed, but maybe you could just say you run cold?”
“No offense,” I responded, “but I don’t think any pants you have are going to fit me. Besides, I…I don’t want to wear pajamas. It’s school. Pajamas are for home.” I sighed. “I’m clearly going to be forced to participate more this week, though.”
Sicily nudged me with his arm. “Does that mean we’re twinning on Thursday?”
We turned and started heading back toward the senior wing. We didn’t have the same homeroom, but the classes were in the same direction. “What?”
“Twinning. Twin winning.” He scoffed. “Geez, come into this century, grandpa.”
“I don’t want to mess you up if you’ve already made plans with someone else,” I replied.
“Yeah, uh…” He let out an awkward chuckle. “I don’t really have that many friends. I mean, don’t get me wrong, people like me, but they mostly just like that I can get stuff for ‘em. No, you know, real friends.”
It was an oddly vulnerable moment. “You consider us friends?”
He looked up at me, shocked. “You don’t?”
“I do,” I replied, and the happy look on his face instantly roped me in. “Yeah, let’s do that twin thing on Thursday, I guess.”
He clapped. “All right! I mean, obviously, we don’t look anything alike, but I think your style is pretty cool. You just come as you, and I’ll come as you too. Bada-bing, bada-boom.”
That was an awesome compromise. “Cool, but maybe I’ll get a hat like yours.”
He snickered, overjoyed. “Hell yeah. That’s amazing.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Behind bars, I didn’t really have what anyone would call a friend, but more I had guys who looked out for me because it benefited them to do that. Back before I was locked up, I had lots of friends, though most friendships at that age were vapid and fleeting, to begin with. The only person I felt truly connected to back then was…
“Hey.” Sicily and I reached my homeroom class just as Cherri and Avery did, and Cherri greeted me with a warm smile. “Nice PJs.”
I nodded back at her. “Ditto.”
She grinned, and Avery squeaked and walked into the classroom, leaving Cherri and me behind. I looked back at Sicily, and he put his hands up. “Hint taken. Catch you later.” He walked off with a stupid smile on his face, but it made me happy to see.
“So,” Cherri started as we stepped into the classroom. “You and Sicily. Unexpected friendship there.”
“Yeah. I didn’t see that coming, that’s for
sure. He’s a good guy, though,” I replied.
“Really? He always seemed kind of smarmy to me.”
I leaned against my desk, sitting my backpack on the floor next to it. “Yeah, you know. I get the feeling that lots of people think that, but really, I just don’t think anyone has taken the time to get to know him. I mean, he got so geeked just now because I told him we can be twins on Thursday.”
Cherri threw her hands to her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Oh my god. Are you going to twin with Sicily on Thursday? You guys are gonna look like Pinky and the Brain.”
I laughed. “Probably. What about you?”
“I’ll be triplets with Avery and Colette. We do it every year,” she responded. “Speaking of which.” Almost as if on cue, Avery slid over and linked arms with Cherri. She had a bright smile on her face. Cherri tapped her. “This is Avery, my very best friend.”
I held out a hand to shake, which Avery did. “Nice to meet you,” I said.
She nodded. “You as well. I’ve heard,” she snickered, “lots about you.”
Cherri unlinked her arm from Avery and shoved her away. “Okay, that’s enough of Avery.”
The teacher walked into the room, closing the door behind herself, and clapped to bring everyone to attention. “Okay, everyone. Find your seats. The bell will be—” Mid-sentence, the bell to start class rang. “It rang. Well, let’s get started.”
Cherri gave me a final smile and then turned to walk back over to her seat, but Avery lingered. She looked over at Cherri, and when her back was turned, she slid me a piece of paper that I could see had a phone number on it. Avery winked at me and then walked back to her seat. For half a second, I was infuriated. Cherri had just introduced her as her best friend, and she immediately slid me her number, but when I unfolded it, I saw a very simple message under the number.
Trust me. She wants to talk more. Give her a call.
I looked over at Avery, and she smiled at me, made a call motion, and then pointed at Cherri. I grinned. It was Cherri’s number. I finally had Cherri’s number.