by Rebel Hart
“That’s a kabuki mask. It’s a Japanese theater thing. I just thought it looked cool.”
“What about this one?” I asked, pointing at a confusing image of a triangle encircling his belly button that looked like it was twisting in an impossible way.
“That’s a Penrose Triangle. It’s an optical illusion. Again, I just thought it looked cool.”
I scoffed. “Do any of them mean anything?”
“Yeah.” He lifted his arm and brought my attention to a bowl of overflowing cherries on his right rib cage. “This one does.”
“Cherries?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Really can’t figure that one out, huh?” I tilted my head to the side. and he laughed. “Pluralize your name, beautiful. Not quite the exact same pronunciation, but it worked for me.”
“It represents me?”
His hand came up and rubbed along my face. “And my overflowing love for you.”
It was so cheesy and yet the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard. “I love you,” I said with a smile.
I dropped against him and dragged him into a kiss, and we folded back into one another once again.
35
Deon
I set a plate of eggs and bacon down in front of Cherri and couldn’t resist the urge to lean in and take my millionth kiss of the morning. She was just so beautiful, and it didn’t matter if she was completely done up for the day, or just waking up. I loved looking at her.
I was rethinking giving her a pair of my clean boxers to wear in lieu of putting on her jeans because, holy fuck, did she look sexy in those. We’d made it out of the bedroom, at least, so we were on a better path to doing anything productive with our day, if only slightly.
“Okay,” she said, pushing my face away playfully. “Let me eat since you made me stop eating you.”
“Hey,” I responded. “I am one man.”
Cherri giggled and then dug into her food. Thanks to a morning of back to back going at it, I’d also learned that Cherri was legitimately difficult to satiate. She blamed it on the fact that she’d never had satisfying sex before, so now she wanted an endless supply of it. As much as I was more than happy to give it to her, after a while, a man needs to recharge.
Cue eggs and bacon.
“It’s fine,” she said. “We probably need to compare some notes about Nathan and Miss Abrams, anyway. I feel like there’s something we’re missing that links her with Alicia. Two women in the Loches’ lives dying within twenty-four hours of each other doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“No, it for sure isn’t,” I replied. I placed what was left of the eggs and bacon I’d made on a plate of my own and sat down at the table across from Cherri. “It’s Connor. He may not have killed Miss Abrams personally, but he’s the reason she jumped. By all accounts, he killed them both.”
“She brought up Nathan to you, right?” Cherri asked.
“Yeah. She started to flip out, and then she started saying, ‘Did Nathan tell you?’ and then she said stuff like, ‘You want me to get down on my knees? I’m just supposed to open my legs.’ I didn’t get it. Did she not want to be having sex with Nathan? Was he making her?”
Cherri shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like Nathan.” I tilted my head, and she held up her hand. “I know, okay? I know what he did to me, but that wasn’t Nathan. Trust me on this. He’s kind of an ass, but he was not himself when he did that. I mean, fuck, Nathan doesn’t even like getting his hands dirty. That’s why he keeps Nikita and Jaxon around. The fact that he had a gun was insane to me. He’s never had the stomach for shit like that.”
“When I first went to live with them, he called my basketball heavy,” I recounted. “He pointed that gun at me for nearly ten minutes and never pulled the trigger. It didn’t even scare me to see it in his hands because I knew he wasn’t going to do anything.”
“Brayden, the sort of smarmy mini-Nathan in our group, even he asked Nathan what was wrong with him, and he never talks badly about Nathan.” She sighed. “I get it. I know I should just cut my losses and ditch him, but I just can’t. I feel compelled to help him. I don’t know why.”
“It’s because you’re a good person, and even if he’s kind of an ass, you’re insightful enough to know that who he’s been lately is not who he is,” I replied. “Which is good because I still kind of want to shove him into a fucking barrel and roll him into the ocean.”
Cherri laughed. “Oh, man, when Avery told me she sent him to see you, I was certain I was gonna show up to find him dead.”
“Believe me, if he hadn’t pulled that gun, he would have been, or fucking close.” My mind drifted back to that weird interaction with Connor and Nathan. “You know, it’s weird, though. I was certain that Nathan had something to do with Miss Abrams flipping out, but I really don’t think he did. Connor had told me to keep my mouth shut, but I assumed Nathan was in on all of it. When I mentioned it to Nathan with Connor there, Connor looked like he wanted to rip my head off. He knows something that Nathan didn’t.”
“Nathan told me that he didn’t want to be sleeping with Miss Abrams anymore,” Cherri explained. “I thought he was just blowing smoke, but he got so distraught when we talked about it. He said she was blackmailing him.”
“Blackmailing? What would she have over him that she could use to blackmail him?” I asked. “Everyone knew about their affair.”
“I don’t know. I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me. He said it was too bad to even talk about. I swear, Deon, I know you don’t like him, but Nathan’s not that bad of a guy. He’s kind of a douche, but most of us in The Royal Court are kind of douchey. It’s our thing. Kyle, Nikita, even Brayden, they all really care about Nathan, and there have been times where he wasn’t totally miserable with me. Even toward the beginning of the year this year, there were a couple of times where I was like, ‘Where has this guy been?’ It’s in there, but I think Connor was just suffocating it.”
“He had to study, like, four languages and started studying business tactics at eight,” I said, and Cherri’s jaw dropped. “Seriously.”
“He’s always gotten straight A’s, but I assumed he was paying for them.”
“Oh. no, he’s like fucking smart. Like stupid fucking smart. Yesterday, when I was sitting in that cell, I actually caught myself wishing I could talk to Nathan because I know he could help me figure out what Connor’s up to.” I grumbled. “I may not be his number one fan, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset with myself when I realized how my leaving seemed to have affected him. Connor doubled down. I can’t imagine that shit was easy.”
Cherri held up her hands. “It feels weird to be sitting here, talking nicely about and sympathizing with a guy who raped me.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s like you said, the spider’s web.” I stabbed my fork out at her. “Speaking of which, do you think it’s at all odd that not one but two bodies have dropped to the ground with me there? Speaking of coincidences, I don’t think that’s one.”
Cherri shook her head. “Definitely not, but would that mean Connor had something to do with that too? Why?”
“I don’t know. Fuck. I feel like we’re so close, like we’re just missing one piece.”
“I mean, shit keeps happening to these women Connor has dealt with. Alicia, your mom, and her kid got caught up in not one but two deaths that he didn’t actually have anything to do with. Miss Abrams must be connected somehow if she killed herself because of him.”
“Holy shit,” I said. One of the pieces knocked into place. “Cherri, that’s it.”
“What is?”
I jumped up from the table and rushed back into my mom’s bedroom. I ripped open her closet door, reached up to the top shelf, and pulled down the box that I know she kept with the evidence she leveraged against Connor. In it was his naked trophy photos of all the women he slept with behind his wife’s back. I carried it back into the kitchen, sat back down, and then started sifting through the pictures.
“What is that?” Cherri asked.
“When Connor tried to take custody of me from my mom, she had an ace in the hole. I guess when she was cleaning his house, she found his box of naked pics of all the women he was fucking around with. It’s how she found out he was sleeping with other women and, eventually, how she learned that he was married and that his wife was pregnant. She stole the box when he fired her after she confronted him and used it to get him to drop the custody dispute.”
“Go Ciara,” Cherri huffed.
“No kidding,” I said with a smile.
Finally, I got to the picture I’d been looking for, and my stomach twisted into a knot. “Fuck.” I dropped the picture on the table, and Cherri and I stared in awe at the naked photo of Jessica Abrams.
“Gross!” Cherri squeaked. “Connor slept with Miss Abrams too.”
“And then blackmailed her into sleeping with Nathan. I wonder if she told him she’d been with his dad and threatened to out them. Shit, it was probably Connor’s idea.”
“Why would he do that?” Cherri asked.
I tossed the picture back in the box and covered it up, disgusted. “I have no idea, but I’m actually starting to feel bad for Nathan.” Cherri’s phone vibrated on the table next to her, and she lifted it. Her eyes widened. “What?” I asked.
“It’s Ali,” she replied. “Nikita found Nathan.”
36
Cherri
The Royal Court was a caravan of cars following Alistair as he led the way to the address Nikita had sent to him. It was a few hours outside of town, and Nikita had at least laid eyes on Nathan and agreed to wait for us to get there as her backup. Given the seediness with Connor and Miss Abrams and Alicia’s death, on top of having Deon with us, we knew we couldn’t call the police. Deon was confident that he could handle Connor if he needed to, so we decided we were going to take care of the matter ourselves. Avery was with Alistair in his car, I had Deon and Colette in mine, and Brayden and Jaxon were in Kyle’s truck, pulling up the rear. My heart pounded as Alistair finally led us off of the highway and down a shady backroad, well into the woods of Maine, and to an isolated cottage.
We parked the cars several feet away so that Connor wouldn’t hear us approaching, and then we quietly stepped up to where Nikita was standing near the cottage window, staring in. She looked terrified and terrifying. It would honestly be a toss-up between Deon and Nikita to see which one of them would have their hands around Connor’s throat first.
“Nikita,” I said as I approached.
“He’s in there,” she said. “Connor’s been screaming at him nonstop. He has a gun.”
“Screaming about what?” I asked.
Carefully and very quietly, Nikita reached up and slid the cottage window up, just a crack. It was quiet enough that it didn’t seem to catch Connor’s nor Nathan’s attention, but his voice came blasting out into the quiet forest afternoon.
“Explain yourself!” he barked at Nathan. “I gave you your revenge. You said you wanted Cherri. I brought you Cherri. You said you wanted an army. I helped you draft one. You said you wanted Deon out of the picture. I had him framed. You tell me exactly why you don’t appear to have the dick to carry out any of the plans I set up for you. These are softballs, Nathan! You were pointing a gun at his face. Why didn’t you shoot? Why isn’t he dead right now?”
“I…” Nathan said. “I don’t…”
“What?” Connor said. “Oh, suddenly you don’t want him dead? What? Let me guess. He’s your brother, and you want to try to make it work? You’ve always been spineless. All I wanted was an heir that I could hand everything to. I’m supposed to give my company to you when you don’t even have the stones to step on a few people to get where you need to go? You couldn’t even make it work with that little slut, Cherri. What’s wrong? Can’t get it up?”
Next to me, Deon’s hands were balled into fists. I reached out and touched his arm, but it didn’t seem to have that much of an effect. Insulting Nathan and me in one fell swoop appeared to be something of a sore spot for him.
“We’re not in love,” Nathan said. “It just didn’t work.”
That crushed me to hear. Not that he wasn’t in love with me, but that he was aware of it too. He put so much effort into trying to keep me around just to appease his dad.
“Oh! You’re in love with the dumb one whose been following you around all this time?” he asked with a scoff. “She’s not even pretty! What’s wrong with you?”
Nikita ducked her head next to me, and I reached out and put my hand on her back. Connor was wrong, anyway. Nikita was quite beautiful. She just didn’t go for a bold and out-there look like Avery, Colette, and I did.
“She’s pretty,” Nathan grumbled.
Connor shook his head and then cocked his gun. “It’s time to end your reign of disappointment.”
Unexpectedly, Deon jumped up on the window frame and went crashing through it. He tackled Connor to the ground and started to tussle with him, trying to get the gun out of his hands.
“Go!” I screamed, and Nikita led the way to the door and through it, grabbing Nathan and dragging him out of harm’s way.
“Nikki,” Nathan said.
Nikita seemed to die at the nickname. “It’s been a long time since you’ve called me that.”
“Get him out,” I instructed.
At that moment, Connor elbowed Deon in the face, and Deon fell over to the side. He grabbed the gun and pointed it down at Deon, and Nathan went jumping into the fray, smacking his hand aside. The bullet fired but missed Deon, and soon, all three of them were going at it. It was clear that Nikita wanted to get involved, but it was too messy for her to get a clean shot on Connor, so we all sat and watched in horror as Deon and Nathan struggled with Connor to get the gun away from him.
Finally, Deon managed to hook Connor’s arm, and Nathan reached out and swatted the gun out of his hand. I rushed over and picked it up before pointing it in Connor’s direction and cocking it. Nathan and Deon backed away from Connor as I held the gun on him with adrenaline rushing through my veins.
“You are not going to torment the people I love anymore,” I said.
“Stupid girl,” Connor growled. “You’re the one who’s finished.”
He reached under an end table near where he was and pulled out another gun. He pointed it at me and fired. I froze in place, waiting for the pain of the bullet, but the next thing I felt was Deon crumpling against me. I looked down, and he was gripping his side, blood already darkening his shirt.
“No,” I huffed. “No, Deon.”
“I’m okay,” Deon said, but it didn’t seem like he was being entirely truthful.
“Deon!” Nathan barked.
“I’m fine! Stop Connor,” Deon shouted.
Connor scrambled to his feet, and though initially, The Royal Court tried to stop him, he pointed his gun at them, and they had no choice but to back away as Connor ran out the door.
Deon scrambled to his feet. His bleeding was getting worse, but he didn’t seem to care. He rushed out the door after Connor.
“Deon!” I screeched, and I started out after him. Nathan cut into my path, and I crashed into him. I tried to walk around, but he stayed in my way. “Move.”
“Cherri,” Nathan said. “I can’t let you go. I don’t have time to explain, but if he gets another chance to kill you, he will.” He yanked the gun from my hand and pushed me toward Alistair. “Get Cherri out of here,” he said, and with that, Nathan ran out the door.
I tried to run out after Nathan, but Alistair kept a firm grip on me. “Ali. Let me go!”
“Avery, go start my car.”
Avery looked at me and frowned. “Cherri, I’m sorry.”
“No! I have to go after them. Deon got shot!” I screamed.
The entire Royal Court converged on me as I started to fight back. “Stop it! Let me go!”
No matter how hard I fought, I wasn’t stronger than five people. They dragged me, kicking and scr
eaming, out to Alistair’s car and shoved me into the back seat. Alistair deployed the child locks so I couldn’t get out, and Avery climbed into the front seat. Alistair immediately started his car. All I could think of was Deon out there, injured and getting worse. I’d waited for too long to be with him. I couldn’t just leave him behind.
“Alistair. Let me out of this car.” I tried to punch the window. “I need to get to Deon.”
“Cherri. You’ll thank us later. This is bigger than us,” Avery said. “I’m sorry.”
37
Cherri
I kept my phone sitting in my lap, waiting for Nathan or Deon to call me. We sat in Nathan’s house, watching the time tick by, hoping to hear anything, but the more time that passed, the more worried I became.
Avery walked over to me and held out a bottle of water. “Here, babe, you should drink something.”
I completely ignored her, as I had been ignoring all of The Royal Court since we got back. After everything we’d gone through to save Deon and Nathan, we turned tail and ran when they needed us most. I wanted to fight by Deon’s side, not leave him when he was injured. If something happened to him while he was out there, I would never forgive myself.
And I definitely wouldn’t forgive The Royal Court.
“Come on, Cherri,” Avery whined. “I’m sorry, but we’re just a bunch of rich kids. You’re too reckless, and Nathan was right. It seemed like Connor really wanted you dead. We had to protect you. You could have gotten arrested, or you could have died. Anything could have happened.”
Once again, I didn’t answer. Best friend or not, Avery let me down, and it might just result in Deon’s death.
In my lap, my phone rang. I jumped, and all eyes shifted toward me, but it was just Sicily. I pressed the button to answer it and lifted it up to my ear.
“Hey, Sicily,” I said, and everyone turned away from me, apart from Avery, who stayed looking at me pleadingly. I stood up and walked away from her, into the hallway. “What’s up?”