I was stone-faced and unphased by Nathan trying to size me up. “You father invited me.”
“He wouldn’t,” Nathan growled back.
“I saw it.” Cherri stood up and wedged herself between Nathan and me before shoving Nathan back a few feet. “He personally gave him an invitation.”
Nathan looked down at Cherri. “What are you doing with him here alone?”
“You’re one to talk,” Cherri hissed.
Nathan ignored her and looked back up at me. “You need to leave. Now. You’re not welcome here.”
“What is wrong with you?” Cherri asked. “You were fine with him yesterday.”
Both Nathan and I looked down at Cherri. Given that Cherri didn’t already know that Nathan was actually my brother, he must have had his own reasons for keeping the truth hidden from her. He looked up at me and shook his head. “I just don’t like someone stealing my girlfriend on my birthday.”
Cherri crossed her arms. “I’m not someone that can be owned.”
I saw the look of frustration on her face and knew I was about to make her life much more difficult than I wanted to. We’d taken a giant step forward, so I needed to cut my losses and get out before things got any worse. “I’ll go. It’s not as if there’s much here for me, anyway.”
Cherri gave me an apologetic expression, so I tossed her a quick wink to let her know everything was okay, and then I made my way off the gazebo. The shouts of Cherri and Nathan arguing bubbled up as I was leaving. Cherri was no slouch, though, and I’d learned a long time ago not to treat her like she couldn’t take care of herself. She could handle Nathan, probably better than I could. I re-entered the house and found Sicily sitting on the sunken couch in the living room to the right of the backdoor. He was eating and had a beer in his hand. It was surprising that Connor had supplied three hundred teenagers with alcohol, but was definitely an additional reason to leave sooner rather than later. He wasn’t participating in any specific conversation but was throwing thoughts into several here and there.
I tapped his shoulder. “Sicily.”
He looked up at me and then jumped up and climbed out of the couch. “Hey. Where the hell have you been? I went to grab food, and you fucking ghosted.”
“I was talking to Cherri.”
Sicily recoiled. “The queen? Really?”
“Yeah, but the king found us, so long story short, I need to leave. Sorry. I’ll call an Uber.”
“Nah, nah. I’m full, anyway.”
I laughed. “All about the food, huh?”
“A guy’s gotta eat.” He set his plate down on the floor and raised an eyebrow at me, then stepped over it. We left the house, headed back up the path, got in his car, and left the Loches’ estate behind.
Sicily tried to get more info out of me about Cherri, but I remained tight-lipped. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to share the story with Sicily. Actually, as I considered it, I felt like I probably could be honest with Sicily and be just fine, but I had so few memories of Cherri that I wanted to keep them to myself. Her watching me with that starved look in her eyes and with the night sky and lights behind her was one I hoped to remember for many years to come.
I waved goodbye to Sicily and walked up the path and into my house. I planned to stop by the living room and talk to my mom, but my phone buzzed in my hand. I could see Cherri’s name on the notification, so I gave my mom a quick hello, promised to talk about the party in the morning, and made my way back to my room. I smiled as I checked the text, feeling far more awful about the fact that Cherri felt bad than about how I got kicked out. The only thing I regretted was that my time with Cherri got cut short.
Omg, Deon. I’m so sorry about him.
Don’t worry about it. I’m not worried about him.
I’m bummed our conversation got cut short.
Me too. Though, truth be told, it didn’t really seem like we were headed for any more talking.
Oh, is that what you think?
That’s not where I was headed.
Since we got cut short, I guess we’ll have to use the tech way to “not talk.”
The tech way?
Hehe. Ever heard of sexting, prison boy?
Just the mention of the word had excitement rushing all over my body. Ordinarily, I would never mess with someone that I knew was already in a relationship, but knowing Cherri wasn’t emotionally invested in her relationship with Nathan made me slightly less strict. I wouldn’t date her until she was uninvolved with Nathan, but why couldn’t we have a little tech-fun in the meantime.
Oh, it was a long four years. Educate me.
Fine then. I walk in your room, and I look like this. What would you do?
Look like what?
The next thing I got was a series of pictures of Cherri with the top of her dress pulled down to reveal her breasts. Her head was tilted teasingly to the side, and her bottom lip was held between her teeth. A few of the images showed her from the front, while a couple of others were shot over her shoulder, giving me a nice view of her full backside. My temperature doubled, and my groin was already straining in my pants.
Good god, Cherri. What wouldn’t I do?
Tell me.
13
Cherri
I was relieved that Maine pulled out one last relatively warm Saturday so that Avery and I could go shopping without needing to be too bundled up. My top of choice was still a thin orange hoodie and a pair of warm sweatpants with my knee-high converses. Avery had gone for a long-sleeved purple t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. Postings Proper had an outlet mall that served as the main shopping district in
