“Baby,” I said quietly. “What happened?”
She didn’t look over at me but quietly whispered, “Nathan just raped me.”
26
Deon
I was stuck between being so enraged that I could have killed anyone around me and being so sad for how hurt Cherri was that it made me want to cry. For a long time, much longer than I could track, we both just sat there in total silence. I had my hand on Cherri’s, but I didn’t want to move for fear of freaking her out. Someone had hurt her, my girl, the girl I loved more than myself. The one I’d fought so tirelessly to get back to. I let a petty frustration at how entangled she was with Nathan keep me away from her,, and without me there to protect her, Nathan hurt her in a way she’d probably never fully recover from.
I couldn’t wait to get my hands around his neck.
“Cherri,” I said softly. “Can you tell me what happened? I’m sorry to make you relive it.”
Cherri didn’t respond. She stayed staring forward, but her body shook beneath mine. I knew Cherri was no pushover, so I had to imagine she would have put up a fight if she felt like she could. Did he pull a knife on her? A gun? Was there someone else there to keep her from fighting back? My blood boiled, imagining one of the members of The Royal Court letting something happen to her. I’d probably end up fighting my way through all of them. Anyone who had anything to do with Nathan hurting Cherri was going to suffer.
“He…” Cherri started quietly. “He made me.”
“I know,” I replied softly. “Did he… Did he have a weapon?”
Cherri shook as she nodded her head. “A gun.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, half from sadness, half from anger. “I’m so sorry, Cherri. I’m gonna take care of it, okay? He won’t hurt you again.” She went back to being clammed up and not responding. The fear that had gripped her was too much to look at, and in a way, I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t the one she needed. “Where’s your phone?”
Her hand folded out of her lap, and her phone was in it. The screen was shattered but still lit up when I gently pulled it out of her hand. As I pulled it out, I could see her hands were cut and bruised, but I tried not to look too hard at it. Instead, I tapped the screen. Her phone was locked, as to be expected, so I entered her birthday into the passcode bar.
“It’s yours,” she said softly, still not looking at me. “Your birthday.”
That killed me much more than it should have, but I entered my own birthday into Cherri’s phone, and it unlocked immediately. Carefully, avoiding making the screen damage any worse, I tapped the contact book and scrolled until I found Avery’s phone number and hit the button to call her. It only rang once before it answered.
“Cherri! Oh my god, I’m freaking out. Where are you?” Avery yelped.
“Avery,” I said. “It’s Deon. Hang on.” I held the phone out to Cherri, but she wouldn’t take it. “It’s Avery, baby. She can help.” But Cherri wouldn’t move, so I lifted the phone back to my own ear and stood up to walk a few feet away from the car. “Avery.”
“Deon, what the hell is going on? Is Cherri okay?” she asked.
I looked at the shell of Cherri in the passenger’s seat of my car. “No, she’s not.”
“Oh god. What happened?” There was already a shake to Avery’s voice.
“She told me that…” I had to bite my own lip to keep my emotions back. “Nathan raped her.”
Avery gasped, and then I could hear her start crying. “Shit. I should have gone after her. I shouldn’t have let her go alone. I…” She started to sob, and a few tears slipped from my eyes as well. “Hello?” a male voice said.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hey. Deon, right? My name is Alistair. I’m Avery’s boyfriend and Cherri’s friend. Did Nathan…” He growled. “Fuck.”
“She needs to see Avery,” I said. “She’s just frozen right now.”
“Yeah. I can bring her to you. Where are you?” he asked.
“Do you know where Proper Park is?” I asked.
“Yeah, we’ll be there in five minutes,” he said, and the line went dead.
I walked back over to where Cherri was still sitting, frozen in the passenger’s seat. I knelt next to her and set her phone back in her lap. “Avery’s on her way with Alistair. Was that okay that I called them?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah. Thank you.”
It was a relief hearing her talk, even if it was just in spurts. “What do I do, Cherri? How do I make it better?”
She stared forward and didn’t say anything again, and it defeated me. Nathan had broken Cherri beyond what I could do to help. My hands balled into fists at my side. Once Cherri was in Avery’s care, I was probably going to end up doing something that’d land me back in prison for the rest of my life. With no other option, I just sat quietly with Cherri. For the entire time, she didn’t move. She didn’t speak. I wanted to hug her, hold her, comfort her, do anything to take the pain away, but I knew nothing would undo what had already happened, so I just sat in front of her, powerless and angry.
Finally, another car pulled into the parking lot where we were, and it had barely come to a stop before Avery was hopping out of the passenger’s seat. I stood up and backed away, and Avery reached in and wrapped her arms around Cherri. For the first time, I watched Cherri fold. She collapsed against Avery’s grip, and then the sounds of them both sobbing filled the air. I turned and walked a few feet away, and my anger exploded. I lifted a garbage can up off the floor and chucked
