“Hey.”
I whipped around, and a tall man with a goatee and long, light brown hair that fell well past his shoulders was standing there. I’d seen him around the school and in different gatherings of The Royal Court. Alistair, one of Nathan’s princes.
“He fucking…” I gritted my teeth. “He raped her.”
“Yeah,” Alistair responded. “Please, please tell me you’re gonna kill him?”
My eyes widened. “Kill your king? You’d be okay with that?”
Alistair looked almost as angry as I felt. “I’ll fucking drive you.” He looked back at Cherri and Avery, and I noticed that they were no longer crying. Avery had managed to coax Cherri to turn around, at least, and they appeared to be talking. He looked back at me. “Cherri’s the best one of us. She means a lot to Avery and me. I’ll…” He sniffed in. “I’ll never forgive myself for letting him hurt her.” He shook his head. “Nathan’s a fucking brat, but he’s not a rapist. Well, he wasn’t. Whatever snapped in him snapped hard.”
“Well, I’ll snap his neck for consistency,” I said.
“Ali!” Alistair turned, and Avery had gotten Cherri out of the car. “We need to take her home.”
Alistair and I walked over to where Avery and Cherri were standing, and I was at least marginally relieved when Cherri reached out for me. I opened my arms, and she walked into a hug, and I held her tight. “They’re gonna take you?” I asked, and Cherri nodded her head against my chest. I looked up at Alistair. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
Alistair shook his head. “I won’t, trust me.”
I unwrapped Cherri and rubbed the side of her cheek. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
Cherri nodded. Alistair wrapped an arm around her and walked her over to his car. Avery stepped up to me, her eyes red and swollen. “What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, “but it won’t be good.”
Avery nodded. “Just…bear in mind that I don’t think Cherri could handle losing you again.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Good,” Avery said. “Then you should know I told him you were here and looking for him.”
Anger fled back into my body. “Good.”
“Don’t kill him, but…” She looked directly into my eyes. “If he couldn’t walk, that wouldn’t be so bad.”
The fury of a best friend, it was almost enough to frighten me. “Consider it done.”
27
Cherri
My eyes stayed locked into Deon’s until I couldn’t hold his gaze anymore as Alistair backed out of the parking lot. Avery was next to me with her arm wrapped around me, and I hated that I couldn’t get my bearings enough to talk to Deon more. In truth, I didn’t really want to leave his side. Avery just wanted to help, and it probably was a good idea for me to go home, but the further I got from Deon’s side, the more uncomfortable I felt. It wasn’t a matter of protection. I just wanted to be with him. I wanted him to hold me and take away all of the feelings of Nathan on my skin I had left.
My mind kept flying back to that bathroom and what happened. Thankfully I mustered up the courage to fight after I finished the blowjob. He definitely wanted to take things further, but when he came, he was distracted enough that I was able to punch him in his groin, grab my phone, and get out. The more I thought about the fact that he’d forced himself on me, the less tethered to reality I felt. I didn’t recognize the woman who just took his abuse back in that bathroom. Gun or not, I should have fought more.
“Cherri?” Avery said quietly. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “No. I let him—”
“Hey!” Alistair barked, and I jumped.
“Alistair,” Avery hissed. “Don’t do that!”
“Sorry, but I’m not about to let you blame yourself for what he did to you,” he growled. “He hurt you, Cherri. You did what you had to do to protect yourself and took an opportunity to get out when you could. Don’t you ever, ever blame yourself for that. It’s not your fault.”
“Don’t yell at her, Ali,” Avery said, but she said it weakly.
“No, it’s okay, he’s right,” I said. “I’m blaming myself. I just feel like there was more I could have done.”
Avery petted my head. “Babe, you survived. That’s what counts. I should have been there with you.”
“The reality is, none of us expected that he would do that to you. I think even Nikita was upset,” Alistair said.
“Wait… What do you mean? Who all knows?” I asked.
Avery looked at me sadly. “The entire court. After it happened, Nathan came walking back with a gun in his hand, fuming, saying that you punched him and bolted. When Kyle figured out what happened, he flipped out. Nathan pointed the gun at him. It was crazy. If Nikita and Jaxon hadn’t shown up to calm Nathan down, I’m afraid of what might have happened. Ali’s right. When Kyle told Nikita what he did, it was the first time I’d ever seen her look sad.”
“What happened to Nathan after that?” I asked. “Where is he now?” Avery opened her mouth to reply, but I stopped her. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t care.”
Avery smiled at me. “Good.”
“Actually, there’s only one guy I really care about, and that’s Deon.” I leaned forward and touched Alistair’s shoulder. “Can we go back to the park. I’ll call and see if he’s still there and ask him to come back if he isn’t? I really just want to be with him right now.”
“Sure,” Alistair said, immediately putting on his blinker to turn his car around.
“No,” Avery
