by Rebel Hart
“Connor used them, right? To get to you?” Deon took another couple of steps forward. “Threatened to release scandalous photos and videos?”
“Do not listen to him,” Connor demanded. “If you know what's good for you.”
Next to me, Nathan shifted and started trying to get to his feet. My one attempt to hold him down failed, so I braced an arm under him and got him to his feet instead.
“I have all those videos,” Nathan said. “Each one of you who has been blackmailed into working for my father, I hold the key to deleting any sensitive information for good.”
“He's lying,” Connor said. “I’ll prove it to you.”
He grabbed a remote from his desk and turned on the television hanging on the wall behind it. He pressed a few buttons, navigating to a folder on the smart TV, and pressed it, but the second he did, an alarm started to blare from the TV.
I smiled as Sicily's face appeared on the screen. “Oh, hey. If you’re seein’ this, you been Sis-hacked.” He started to snicker. “Sis-hacked. That’s good stuff.”
“No!” Connor yelped. He backed out and pressed the folder button again.
“Oh, hey. If you’re seein’ this—”
He tried over and over, each time getting Sicily’s dumb grin.
“My dad doesn’t have any power over you anymore,” Nathan said.
Deon glared at Connor. “Just like he doesn't have any power over us.”
“You see, Dad,” Nathan said, stepping away from my hold. “You taught me my most important lesson. You’re only as powerful as what you have to offer.” The three men stepped away from Connor and turned to face him instead. “And you have nothing.”
Nikita came running back into the room via the back door with Jaxon behind her, but stopped short when she saw that the tables had turned.
“Tell me, Connor, did you know that you can legally be reported missing, if you’re absent for six or more months?” Deon asked, and any smugness Connor had left evaporated from his face. “In order to protect any abandoned family members, assets are adjourned to the next of kin. Crazy, right?”
I smiled at Deon’s arrogance. So that was where he got the money.
“Your company, assets, estate, and even your offshore accounts are now held in our names,” Nathan said. “You don't even have the money to pay these men.” He pulled some cash from his pocket and held it up. “But I do.”
The men pulled their guns instantly, but this time trained them on Connor. Nathan and Deon stepped forward, so Nikita and I followed as well. Nikita snatched Connor’s gun from his hands, and I clocked him in the face, sending him down to the ground. After years of his torment, it felt good.
“Now here's what we're gonna do, dad,” Nathan hissed. “You’re going to prepare a few directives. One will keep all of your assets in our names. One will inform Garrett Williams’ legal counsel that you were fraudulent in violating his parole. The last will inform a judge that you framed Deon for murder… Twice. You will call for his record to be totally expunged and then you will willingly hand yourself over to law enforcement, by which I mean, you’ll surrender when we bring you there.”
“You can just kill me if that’s your plan,” Connor said. “I would never.”
“Very well, then we’ll draft some directives of our own,” Nathan said. “First, we will liquidate L.C.E., second, we will sell your estate, and third, we will donate any money to a charity.”
“And I'll burn your fucking business degree out of spite,” Deon snipped.
“Everything you worked for will go up in smoke, and we’ll keep you alive just long enough to watch it all happen.”
“Then we’ll auction off putting a bullet in your brain to the highest bidder and live off of that,” Deon said.
“Whoa!” Nathan said. “You are most certainly the brawn to my brain. That’s sick. I love it.”
“Seems like your boys do take after you, Connor,” Nikita said. “If you don’t want a very nasty taste of your own medicine, I suggest you comply.”
The look on Connor’s face was so satisfying, it required a picture, so I took one. When Deon and Nathan realized what I was doing, they jumped behind him and posed like they were taking a silly photo with a buddy from Spring Break.
It was glorious.
After that, Connor was shoved down into his desk and furiously scribbled out the directives Nathan had demanded. Eventually, the rest of The Royal Court entered the office. We watched as the man who had tormented us for years was finally punished for what he had done. Once he was done with the orders, Anisa and Cobalt dragged him off, and it was a delight to see Cobalt accidentally smack his head against several walls as he pulled him out.
Any men that had attacked us were given pardons because, if there was anything The Royal Court had learned, it was how Connor’s influence could make you do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. An ambulance arrived to patch up Nathan and anyone else who had gotten injured, then we finally limped ourselves back to the clubhouse.
“I mean, our story sounds WAY cooler,” Colette said. “We fought like fifty guys between us.”
Alistair pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was like eight.”
“No, it was definitely at least fifty,” Avery said, then winked at Colette.
We all collapsed onto different couches, leaning against our significant others, apart from Sicily who leaned against a table leg and said, “Aw, babe. You worried too much. See? I'm fine.”
“So what now?” Brayden said. “We don’t have to save any kidnapped friends or stop any psychotic dads. What do we do with our time?”
Sicily raised a hand. “I say everyone works together to find Sicily his dream girl.”
“Work together? I'd rather compete,” I said.
Nathan pointed across at me. “Now that sounds like fun.”
Epilogue
Deon
Just when I thought I’d finally tired Cherri out, she rolled over and got on top of me. She looked so beautiful in the morning sunlight that I was relatively powerless to do anything to stop her. If a girl that looked like Cherri wanted more, how could I not give her more?
“Good god,” I said. “Someone ate their wheaties this morning.”
She reached down and curled a hand around my length and began stroking it to bring it back to full size. “What can I say? You asked me what I wanted for my birthday. This is what I want.”
“This feels more like a birthday present for me,” I said.
Cherri giggled. “Happy birthday to you then.”
She was just bending over to kiss me when there was a knock on the door. “Enough already! There are more people that want to celebrate you, you know!” Colette screeched.
“Yeah, Cherri, come on out! We've got presents!”
Cherri looked down at me with a frown and I tapped her ass a couple of times. “Don’t make such a frustrated face. They put in a lot of work. Besides, we can pick up from where we left off later,” I said. “Maybe with the handcuffs?”
"Ooh, on you or me?" she asked.
I sat up to kiss her. “However you want it, baby.”
Cherri squeaked with happiness. “Deal.” She finally climbed down off of me, grabbing the blanket to wrap around herself, then she went over to the bedroom door and cracked it. “This better be good. You just interrupted some amazing fucking sex.”
“It will be. Just get dressed and come downstairs,” Avery replied.
I heard a party horn, then a rain of glitter burst through the door and sprinkled down over Cherri. She laughed and closed the door and I couldn’t help but stare at her a little bit.
“Nope, no. Don't look at me that way. You were the one who convinced me to stop, so just avert your eyes.”
“Why did we stop again?” I crossed the room towards her. “I can't remember.”
“It’s because we have a whole fucking party planned!” Nikita screeched, then there was a hard bang on the door. “Knock it off and get down here!”
I pecked Cherri on the cheek and then turned my back to her before I really did lose my resolve and drag her back to bed.
We took separate showers for obvious reasons, and then each got dressed and went downstairs. At the bottom, I clasped my hands over Cherri’s eyes and guided her outside and down the path to the pool. The entire area was decorated with lime, pink, and sky-blue balloons and streamers, and the pool had been adorned with brand new floaties to match the color scheme. I smiled at some of the faces standing around, and the table piled high with presents. It made me feel guilty for monopolizing so much of Cherri’s time that morning.
Finally, I pulled my hands from around her eyes and everyone screamed, “Surprise!”
Cherri’s hands came up to her mouth. “Oh wow!”
Cherri’s mom, dad, and brother were standing near the shallow end of the pool, each with hats on and horns in their mouths which they were blowing excitedly. Back by the bar, Felicity, Anisa, Cobalt, and my mom were standing, with drinks in their hands that they held up to cheers to Cherri. Standing closest to us were all the members of The Royal Court, all dressed in nice clothes, wearing party hats and holding a mix of horns and blowers in their mouths.
“Happy birthday!” Nathan said.
“Honestly,” Avery said. “I didn’t think you were going to make it out until Ali and I were leaving for New Haven.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. You still have a week,” Cherri replied.
“No. Kyle and I have been in school for a whole semester now,” Colette said.
Cherri put her hands on her hips. “Alright. Enough with the drama. I’m ready for my party!” She looked over towards her parents and Gus. “Hi, Mama! Hi, Daddy! Gus!”
“Happy Birthday, baby!” Rebeccah, Cherri’s mom, said. “In all seriousness though, if you and Deon have so much trouble waking up in the morning, you should set an alarm.”
All the murmurs of voices went silent as all gazes shifted to Rebeccah. “Y-yeah, mom,” Cherri said. “That’s a really good idea. Let’s have cake!”
Nathan led us over to a table that had been set up between the bar and the pool, where there was a tiered cake and platters of food. There was a tiny model of Cherri, with her short brown, fading-to-blond hair, wearing a leather jacket and jean shorts sitting on top of the cake.
“It’s so cute,” Cherri said. “I love this so much.”
“It’s white cake, with raspberry filling and lemon buttercream,” Avery said. “Made from scratch, by your personal baking crew, me, Ali, and Brayden.”
“That’s awesome. Thank you guys so much!”
“Happy birthday to you!” Sicily randomly started singing.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “The candles aren’t even lit ye—”
He held his hands up above his head. “Happy birthday to you!”
All the rest of the guests threw their voices in awkwardly, joining Sicily mid-song and finishing it out with him conducting everyone like they were a choir. When the song was done, Sicily clapped his hands, and Cherri walked over and squeezed him.
“I wouldn’t have had that any other way. I love you, you fucking weirdo,” she said.
“Love you too,” then he skipped over to the present table and pulled a small box off the top. “Open my present first.”
I eyed Sicily. “Why are you like this? We just finished singing ‘happy birthday’ and she didn’t even get to blow out the candles.”
“Shhh,” Sicily hissed at me as he handed the box over to Cherri. “Go ahead.”
Cherri took the box from Sicily, and lifted off the top. She reached her hand inside and pulled out a necklace. It had a pendant hanging at the bottom that was a circle with three teardrop shapes that looked as if someone had dragged a toothpick through them and bled them together.
“Woah,” Cherri said. “This is beautiful.”
“It’s the Greek symbol for strength,” Sicily said. “I saw it a couple weeks ago and I thought of you instantly. You’re the strongest person I know.”
Cherri’s eyes started to sparkle with tears and she reached out and pulled Sicily back into a hug. “Thank you so much. This is beautiful, I love it.”
“Okay. If we wanna light candles and do things the normal way, we can,” Sicily said. “I just had to give it to her. I bought it two weeks ago and I almost blew that I bought it like twelve times.” He tapped Cherri on the shoulder. “Happy birthday, kid.”
“He went from so sweet, back to good old Sicily in no time flat,” Nikita said. “What a national treasure.”
“Well,” Alistair said. “I guess we’re moving onto presents. Come on over here and get ‘em goin’ girl!”
Cherri walked over to the table and Kyle brought a stool for her to sit down at and then she smiled and started to go through her presents. She had several parents from her family, and a whole host from The Royal Court, so she had quite a few to get through. I had a present of my own for Cherri, but I wanted to give it to her in private, so it wasn’t stacked in the pile.
Avery had helmed control of taking all the pictures and videos for social media, so I slid over to where Felicity and my mom were standing and gave them each a big hug.
“So. Mom, what do you think of my other mom?” I asked my mom.
My mom smiled at me. “I think very highly of her. She took such wonderful care of my baby when I couldn’t. I’m forever in her debt.”
“It’s me in yours,” Felicity said. “I got to share your amazing son. He’s truly something special.”
My mom put a hand on my face. “He is, isn’t he? I can’t wait to meet this man who he sees as a dad.”
“Well, turns out that may be happening sooner rather than later.” Felicity pulled out a letter and handed it to me. “I know it’s Cherri’s birthday, but here you go.”
I opened it and smiled at all of the information regarding Venom’s granted appeal of his revoked parole. Based on the letter that Connor wrote, the judge agreed to reopen the case, and a date had been set for a couple of months down the road. “This is amazing.”
“Yep, and while he’s still behind bars, he’s making sure that Connor receives a nice, warm welcome for all the harm that he’s caused his kid,” Felicity said with a sly grin.
“Thank god,” my mom said. “I hope whatever happens to him behind bars is painful and permanent for all the pain he’s caused our families.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Ciara. Garrett’s men are bound to create issues for Connor long after Garrett is gone,” Felicity said.
Over near the table, Cherri shrieked as she opened one of her presents. It was a Yale letterman jacket. Cherri wasn’t going to Yale, but Avery would be leaving in a couple of weeks to start her stint there. “I love it!”
“I knew you would!” Avery said. “This way, you have something to keep me in your mind and in your heart until you come visit.”
“Plus it's so cute,” Colette said. “With a pair of leather pants you are going to make that jacket look like it belongs on the runway.”
Cherri finished opening her gifts, enjoying her cake, and eating the delicious food that had been laid out. She took some specific time to talk with her parents, Felicity, my mom, and Anisa and Cobalt, and had made sure to spend a good amount of time playing in the pool with Gus. Though I still wasn’t much of a people person, it made me perfectly happy to sit back and watch her enjoy the party that her friends had put together just for her. She had a smile on her face the entire day, which was all I could ever want for her.
Eventually, the sun started to set over the horizon. Gus was so tired he could barely stand up, so Cherri’s parents left first, taking him home, and Anisa and Cobalt left shortly thereafter. My mom and Felicity hung out a little bit longer, admittedly so that they could spend more time with me, but then they eventually gave Cherri a huge hug each, and left, promising to visit again soon.
F
inally, The Royal Court was left alone once again.
“You guys,” Cherri said, sliding down onto my lap in one of the outdoor chairs that was surrounding the pool. “This was absolutely amazing. I can’t think of any way I would have rather spent my birthday. Everyone I loved was there, and all the gifts were perfect.”
“I’m so glad you liked it,” Nikita said. “We all played our own little part in it. Kyle wanted to do like a creepy escape room thing as a joke because we haven’t had to chase around after Connor for over a month, but he was overruled.”
“No I wasn’t, I just bought tickets to take Cherri some other time,” Kyle said.
Cherri giggled. “And I can’t wait.”
“What’d you get her, Deon?” Avery asked. “I mean, apart from breaking your bed frame this morning?”
I chuckled. “I actually haven’t given it to her yet. I kind of wanted to do it in private.”
“More bed breaking?” Colette said.
“No,” I replied. “Well, yes, but no. It’s just something special to me and I kind of wanted it to be an intimate moment between us, if that’s okay?”
“Oh, sure.” Colette stood up. “Well, let’s go, gang.”
I held out a hand. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean—”
But it didn’t matter. Everyone was already getting up from their respective seats and filing inside, leaving Cherri and I alone in the cool, summer evening air. Cherri just laughed and snuggled against me. “Gotta be careful what you say to these assholes.”
“I guess so,” I said. “But, I’m not going to turn down the moment. Can you get up for a sec?”
“Oh. Sure.”
Cherri stood up out of the chair and I stood up to stand across from her. I grabbed her hands and held them. “Cherri, you are the love of my life. I know we’re only 19, officially today, but there’s not a question in my life that I want to be with you forever.”
Cherri smiled. “Yeah. Me too.”
“I know it would be insane to propose to you, at least at this point. Not just because we’re still so young and have a lot to figure out, but because I know how I want to propose and it doesn’t involve any of this stuff.”