EVIL KING: A Dark High School Elite Romance (The Royal Court Book 1)

by Rebel Hart

  “Hey.” The drunk man had sat up and looked over at me. “Do you have a dollar I could have?”

  “Uh, no. We’re both in fucking jail,” I growled. He stood up and started ambling over toward me, and I sighed with frustration. “Dude, don’t come over here. I’m gonna have to kick your ass if you do.”

  “Mackey!” A guard watching the cells screamed. “That guy just killed someone. Sit your ass down unless you want to be next.”

  Glad to see I was being seen as innocent until proven guilty. Still, I glared over at the drunk guy, and he backed off, wandering back to his spot and attempting to sit, but missing and spilling onto the floor.

  “Fuck,” I hissed.

  Exhaustion started to set in within the next couple of hours. The night after Miss Abrams jumped, I didn’t get much sleep for obvious reasons, and it was probably past midnight now. I’d probably been awake for a solid twenty-four hours or more and had done everything in that past twenty-four hours that sapped a body of its energy—fighting, sex, lack of food.

  Shit, maybe I needed to go back so Venom could kick my ass. What was I, an idiot?

  A cop walked over and started to unlock the cell door. He slid it open, and I couldn’t resist the urge to say, “If you let him out like that, he’ll walk into oncoming traffic and die.”

  “He’s not getting out,” the cop retorted. “You are.”

  “What?”

  “Unless you wanna stay,” he said.

  “No.” I jumped up from where I was at, took quick strides past the drunk, and passed through the cell door. The cop shut and locked it behind me and then started to lead me back toward the front of the department. “Did someone come forward?” I asked.

  “Yeah, with video evidence proving you didn’t do it,” the cop responded. He used his badge to open the door dividing the lock-up part of the station from the lobby, and when it slid aside, he motioned me out. “Get your stuff from the counter. Try to stay out of trouble, Mr. Keane.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I watched the door close behind me and then walked out into the lobby, where Cherri, Sicily, Alistair, and Avery were all waiting. “Hey.”

  Cherri let out a sigh of relief and ran at me. “Hi!” She jumped up into my arms, and I hugged her tightly before setting her down and kissing her. She rubbed my face. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I looked over at Sicily. “Hey, man.”

  “Hey, buddy.” I released Cherri and walked over, and Sicily met me for a hug. “You didn’t think I was just gonna let you rot in here, did ya?” He stepped away from me and punched me in the gut. It was shock over the punch that sent me doubling over, not pain. “That was for being friends with benefits with my sister. I told you not to do it if you were just gonna go back to Cherri.”

  “She was in on it,” I huffed. “She’s got someone else too.”

  “Huh?” Sicily said. “Oh. Sorry.”

  I shook my head. “That’s okay.”

  I collected my stuff from the receptionist behind the front desk and then walked out into the cool air with Cherri’s hand gripped tightly in mine.

  When we were at Cherri’s car, Avery turned around to face us. “Okay. We need to find Nathan next.”

  “Find Nathan?” I asked. “Why? What happened?”

  Cherri sighed. “We found Alicia Loche. Dead.”

  “What?” I asked. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?” Cherri said.

  Things starting clicking into place. There were still some blank spaces, but Connor’s behavior was starting to form a narrative in my head. Nathan really didn’t have anything to do with Miss Abrams freaking out. That happened because of Connor. Why she brought up Nathan, specifically, I still wasn’t sure, but maybe Alicia was starting to figure it out and threatened to go to the police. She may have been an evil bitch to me, but she loved her son.

  But if Connor was killing women who had dirt over him… “We have to get back to my mom,” I said, fear rocking through my body. “Right now!”

  34

  Cherri

  My car was barely parked before Deon was hopping out of the passenger’s seat and rushing toward his front door. He raced up the walkway and opened his door. He threw it back, turned and looked around, and then rushed out of sight.

  “Shit,” I hissed.

  “Go,” Avery said from the back seat. “Ali and I will stay with the car.”

  After leaving Nathan’s, Avery, Alistair, and I combined down to one car, which was good because I didn’t have to worry about locking up and could just run in after Deon. My heart was racing, already dreading finding Ciara lying on the ground the same way I found Alicia. That would hurt me significantly more, but I tried to keep it out of my mind as I passed through the door and into the living room. I turned to the left, and my stomach flipped over.

  Deon had his arms wrapped around his mom, hugging her close, with her squeezing him back tightly, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, sweetheart.” She looked up at me and smiled. “You did it.”

  I nodded. The relief was borderline sickening. “Yeah. I told you I would.”

  She blinked a few tears away. “You did say that.” She released Deon, walked over to me, and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you.”

  I hugged her back. “Please don’t thank me. This is all half my fault.”

  She pulled back and put her hands on either side of my face. “This is no one’s fault but Connor’s. That devil wouldn’t know love if it reached up and smacked him in the face.”

  “Speaking of which,” Deon said. “We think he killed Alicia Loche.”

  “Oh, dear,” Ciara whispered. “I tried to warn her, but she didn’t want to listen to me.”

  “You tried to warn her?” Deon asked. “What do you mean?”

  She looked at Deon, almost embarrassed. “After everything happened, I called her and tried to tell her that she and Nathan were probably in trouble, but she refused to listen. She told me I was trying to break up her family. Just like I did before.”

  “She’s never been a particularly kind or understanding woman,” I said. “You tried. That was all you could do.”

  Sicily walked into the house and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god.” He turned around and held a thumbs up out the door, and then turned back and smiled. “Hey there, Mrs. Keane.”

  “I told you, Ciara is fine, Sicily,” she said.

  “Sicily’s actually the one who cleared Deon’s name,” I said. “He had some video footage. Let’s not talk about why.”

  Ciara walked over and gave Sicily a huge hug. “Thank you.”

  He grinned. “Aw, of course. I wouldn’t leave my boy in trouble!” He looked at me. “Hey, Alistair wanted me to tell you that they contacted Nikita, and she’s gonna track down Nathan. We can’t really do anything else for the time being.”

  “Can we really just sit and do nothing?” I asked.

  “Nikita and Kyle were the two memebers of the court that I knew from my time with the Loches. Trust me when I say, Nikita will find Nathan. She’s crazy about him. Always has been.”

  I’d gotten that inkling, too, over time. Somehow, thinking about Nathan and Nikita maybe managing to find some happiness in all this nonsense made me happy. I hoped she could find him before it was too late. “Okay.”

  Deon reached out and took my hand. “Hey. Can you…stay? I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. I just want you near me.”

  I looked at Ciara, and she smiled and nodded. “You’ve been through a lot. I can imagine you’d want to be together. Please just make sure your parents know you’re here and safe.”

  “I actually called them when I was on my way to Nathan’s. They know I’m okay.” I looked at Deon. “I do have to take Alistair and Avery home, though.”

  “Oh, I can take them home,” Sicily said.

  I looked at him. “Really?”

  “Yeah. You two have been through a lot tonight. Let ol’ Sic take care of it.” He smiled
and tapped Deon. “It’s gonna be funny, convincing those money babies to get in the beater anyway.”

  “Oh, please Snap it,” I said. “That is going to be really funny.”

  He winked at me and then turned, waving his hand through the air. He left, shutting the door behind him.

  “Well, I think we’d all better get to sleep. I start my new job in the morning,” Ciara said.

  Deon scoffed. “You already have a new job? You lost your other one, like, six hours ago.”

  She grinned broadly. “I didn’t raise an Irish brat all by myself without being resourceful,” she said. “And apparently, you can be famous in the home cleaning business, and I am, so someone called me not long after I got sacked.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Mom,” Deon said.

  She waved a hand. “Any place that would fire me for such a frivolous reason was a bad place to be, anyway. Come on. To bed with us.”

  Ciara walked us back to Deon’s room, gave us each a cheek kiss goodnight, and then headed on to her room. Once she was gone, Deon grabbed one of the pillows off his bed and a sheet and laid them out on the floor.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m all yours, remember?”

  “I do remember,” he said, as he dropped to the ground, “but if I get in that bed with you, I’m going to want to do things to you that my mom would hear and probably dislike. So I’ll sleep safely down here.” He raised a seductive eyebrow at me. “We will share the bed in the morning after she’s gone.”

  A rush of excitement blasted through me at the thought, and I realized that Deon was probably right. We were better off in separate sleeping accommodations for the night. Not just because we may attract the wrong kind of attention from his mother, but because we also both legitimately needed to rest. It’d been quite a long couple of days for us both, and if we didn’t sleep, we’d start to lose the ability to function. So as much as I wanted to climb on the floor with Deon and try to sleep with him, I got on his bed and wrapped his blanket around me. Surrounded by Deon’s scent, my eyes started to feel heavy, and within a few minutes, I’d completely passed out.

  A dreamless sleep was actually quite welcome. Ordinarily, I’d be dreaming of being with Deon, but now he wasn’t far from me, so I was more anxious to get back to my reality than to escape to a dream. My cell phone alarm went off, which would normally be waking me up for school, and it stirred me awake, though Deon snored right through it. I looked over the edge of the bed and snickered at the sight. He was completely tangled in the sheet, the pillow was halfway across the room, and sweetly, his hand was extended and hanging onto my foot.

  Oh no. I was dangerously in love.

  Despite being on the floor, he was knocked out like he was in a California king at the four seasons. He looked so cute that I could die, so I grabbed my phone and snapped a few pictures for keepsakes. I flipped through them happily until a light knock on the door pulled my attention away.

  The door opened, and Ciara peeked her head in, then looked down at Deon and laughed. “Oh my.”

  “I know,” I chuckled back.

  “Well, four years of a prison bunk, and anything feels comfortable,” she said.

  Guilt found me at that statement. “He told me what he did for me. I’m so sorry. I feel like it’s my fault.”

  She shook her head. “If he felt you were so worth protecting, you must be very special. You’re together now. That’s what matters.”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  “Do you think you two will go to school today?” she asked.

  I imagined trying to deal with a whole day of stares, questions, and rumors, all while being worried about if Nathan was dead or not, and the thought alone made my head hurt. “Uh, no. Probably not.”

  “I’ll call his parole officer on the way into work. He’s really nice. He should understand.”

  “Good,” I said.

  “Will you all go after Nathan?” she asked with a worried look on her face.

  “Probably.”

  She sighed. “Okay. I’d try to stop you, but I have a feeling I’d be unsuccessful.” I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to. “Well, please just be careful. Keep him safe.”

  I nodded. “I will. I promise.”

  With that, Ciara crouched down, kissed Deon on the forehead, gave me one last smile, and then left. I turned my attention back to my phone, checking in with my parents and all the members of The Royal Court. No one had heard from Nathan or Nikita, but everyone had been briefed on what had taken place. Kyle, Brayden, and Jaxon were overseeing things getting cleaned up at the Loches with Alicia, and Colette had gone to Avery’s to sit and wait to hear from Nikita. Unexpectedly, Kyle sent a message saying that he considered me part of the court even if I wasn’t with Nathan, and everyone fired off agreements. I truly believed I would only walk away with Avery and Alistair, but it was beginning to look like I was going to luck out all around.

  A gentle squeeze on my foot preceded Deon saying, “What ya smiling at?”

  I looked down and met his warm gaze. “My friends.”

  “Did they find Nathan?”

  “Not yet.”

  In a single, swift movement, Deon sat up off the floor, crawled up on the bed, and slid over me until I was on my back. He took my phone and set it off to the side, then set his lips on mine. Not much for morning greetings, I guessed.

  Fine by me.

  My fingers combed into his hair to pull him down even further as I parted my lips so that his tongue slid in. One of his big, heavy hands smoothed down my thigh and pulled my leg up to wrap around his back while his other worked in the opposite direction, up under my shirt to take one of my breasts in to squeeze. My bra never made it back on after our dalliances in the car the day before, which was working to our favor now. All Deon had to do was roll my long sleeved t-shirt up my torso and over my head to expose my entire upper half. He didn’t return to my lips after removing my shirt. He moved to take my breasts into his mouth, one at a time, alternating at delightful intervals to give both mounds appropriate attention.

  Unlike our frantic, rushed movements in the car, the morning was our own, so Deon was taking his time. He let his hands wander all over my skin, and I mirrored his actions, crawling my hands under his shirt to pull it up and eventually off of his torso. I hadn’t gotten him totally shirtless in the car, just a layer down, but now, with his shirt off, I could see the colorful array of tattoos that covered his entire upper body from his neck down to his waist, a few of which even continued past the hem of his jeans. I wanted to study them more closely but became more interested in him climbing off the bed and removing his pants. Something else I hadn’t gotten the best view of in the car sprang out, and I thanked whatever god was listening for the beauty before me.

  With an arousing strength, Deon grabbed my legs and suddenly pulled me to the edge of the bed. He unbuttoned my pants and pulled them off my legs. He tossed them aside and then perched himself at my entrance before leaning down over me. He kissed me, once quickly, then another longer one.

  “I love you,” he huffed to me quietly.

  I placed my hands on either side of his face. “I love you.”

  With that, Deon slowly started to push into me. He moved at a slow, drawn out pace, fastening his lips to a spot on my neck and sucking. When he was fully inside me, I let out a moan, and he started to back out of me again at the same dragging speed. It felt amazing, making me hyper-aware of his feeling, burning me as I went in a way I was entirely welcoming of. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held on, and Deon started to slowly pick up his pace. My hips started to grind forward to meet his thrusts, and with a calculated grind, his shaft started to saw along the best spots inside, dragging me closer and closer to the edge.

  “Deon,” I whimpered, “it feels so good.”

  “You feel so good, baby.” He kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

  “I love you too! Don’t stop.”

  I’d had sex bef
ore, but I’d never had that. The way Deon drove me crazy was unlike anything I believed I actually could experience. He fit against me like a perfectly-sized glove. If I could stay that way forever, I’d choose to do it, no questions asked.

  “Shit,” Deon growled. He lifted his head and looked down at me. I loved the look of his face. “I’m gonna have to get used to the feeling of you so that I can last a bit longer.”

  “I don’t know that I’d stay conscious if you could,” I replied.

  Deon slammed into me, and an orgasm snapped out of me like having the wind knocked out of my lungs. My whole center exploded, and I went numb other than the feeling of Deon pounding even further and faster into me.

  Finally, he pulled out of me, and with the sexiest growl, his seed came spilling out of him on the base of my stomach.

  He collapsed on top of me, breathing in and out deeply. We both shook and shuddered in the wakes of our orgasms, each trying to catch our breath until Deon finally mustered up enough energy to prop himself up over me.

  “Good morning,” he said with a sly smile.

  I shook my head before grabbing him and rolling him over to his back. I straddled him and his eyes widened. “Good morning,” I replied.

  He tapped my thigh. “Your down-there area is inhuman, so I’m gonna need a minute.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I guess.” I dragged my hands over his chest, lining the different tattoos. It’d probably take years before I knew what all of them meant, but I picked out a few to ask about. “What’s this one mean?” I asked, pointing at a somewhat demonic-looking red face with two horns curling up out of it that started just above his collarbone and dragging down over his left pec.