“Felicity?” I said. “Williams?”
“Yep,” he replied. “I’m sure she gave them some information and I’m sure she can do the same for you. I’ll give you her address. You shouldn’t attempt to call her. Prying ears, you know.”
“Right,” I said.
He looked over his shoulder at the prison guard standing right behind him and flicked his head, and the guard walked away. He said Felicity’s address into the phone while looking away from me, towards the wall, then he turned back and smiled at me. “You won’t forget it will you?”
“No,” I said. “It’s the most important thing.”
He nodded. “Felicity will get you straight. Don’t you worry.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you so much.”
“No. Thank you. You’re a good woman, just like my woman. I’m glad my kid has you. Take care of him for me.”
“I will, I promise,” I said. “We’ll be back.”
Venom blinked a couple of times and then nodded. “Well now, that makes me incredibly happy.”
He nodded towards those doors. “You don’t have to stay the whole time. Go. Go find out what you need to know.”
“Thank you, Garrett.”
“Nice to meet you, Cherri,” he replied, then he hung up the phone and a prison guard was behind him within seconds to start locking up his wrists again.
I walked over to the door and stood next to it, and the officer on our side looked at me. “You ready? Can’t come back ’til next hours.”
“I’m ready,” I said.
She nodded, then she opened the door, did a scan of the room, nodded at one of the other officers on the visitor’s side, and led the way out. She brought me back down the hallway, back through the metal detector, and returned me to the room where Nikita and Brayden were sitting waiting. They noticed as soon as I walked in the room and stood up to come over to me.
“Well?” Nikita said. “That was fast. Did you talk to him?”
“Yeah. We couldn’t say much because…” Then I looked around. “Let’s actually get out of here first.” We went back outside and climbed into Nikita’s car, me in the front passenger’s seat, and Brayden in the back. “He gave me an address.”
“Whoa!” Nikita said. “To where Deon is?”
I shook my head. “No. He just said it was his wife and she should be able to give me the same information she gave Deon. Hopefully she’ll know where he’s staying though.”
Nikita handed me her phone. “Enter the address. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” I said. “Just… go? What about the others?”
“Do you wanna go back first?” Brayden said.
I really didn’t. This lead could bring me to Deon, potentially within the day still. I wanted to be fair to my friends who’d stuck with me through everything, but I also wanted to get to Deon as soon as possible.
“No. I don’t,” I said.
“Then let’s go find him,” Brayden said. “We’ll ask for forgiveness later.”
I looked at Nikita, who had the same look of determination, and then I smiled. “Thanks guys.” I grabbed Nikita’s phone. “Let’s go.”
The address Venom had given to me was about two hours from the prison, but that didn’t seem to shake Nikita or Brayden’s confidence at all. We swung by a gas station for a horrible lunch of gas station snacks and sodas, then set out on the drive. We listened to music and talked the entire way, and I was surprised how comfortable it felt, like I’d been friends with them forever. Once again, I was struck by how much I missed being so caught up in my own deal both before I left The Royal Court, and during my crazy rebellious phase. I was an incredibly lucky woman for the people fate had intertwined with my life, or at least the ones Connor had. He was a villain in every sense of the word, but I wouldn’t have Deon or my friends if it weren’t for him.
Maybe I’d thank him before punching him in the face.
Eventually, we got to Ushuru, Maine, a Japanese-inspired town near the coast. The address we’d gotten from Venom led us to a large and beautiful home. Nikita parked her car in front of the house and we got out, and not a moment passed before four people jumped out and had guns pointed at our faces.
I held up my hands. “Shit. Was it a trap?”
“Who are you?” One woman demanded.
“We’re here to see Felicity. Garrett sent us,” I said.
The gunmen exchanged nervous glances, then pulled their guns down. The woman stepped forward and motioned us towards the door. She knocked for us, and a dog started barking on the other side. After a few seconds, the door opened, and a gorgeous woman with long, braided brown hair and cocoa skin answered the door.
She looked me up and down and then a bright smile found her face. “Oh my god. You’re Cherri.”
My eyes widened. “Yeah. How do you know that?”
She was damn near exploding with joy. “Come in.” Nikita, Brayden and I shuffled inside, and then the woman grabbed my hand. “I’m Felicity. Come with me. You two, we’ll talk when I get back. Make yourselves comfortable in the living room.” Brayden and Nikita didn’t even get a chance to answer before Felicity dragged me towards the stairs and pulled me up. “This is insane,” she said. “We’ll discuss the details later.”
“Er, no… I’d really like to talk right away. If we could,” I replied.
She didn’t respond, but instead stopped in front of a door. Side-glancing me, she gave me a huge smile and said, “I’ve been waiting for this moment.” She opened the door and my heart dropped straight from my chest, through my stomach, and into the floor.
Passed out in the bed, shaggier than I remembered, was Deon.
Tears filled my eyes as I carefully walked into the room. “I wouldn’t expect him to wake up. I gave him a little scare yesterday and he was up late.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I need the sleep too.”
Felicity put a hand on my back. “Like I said, we’ll talk later. I’ll get details from your friends.” She left me then, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks as I climbed into the bed next to Deon. He was on his back, so I was able to lay on my stomach and snuggle as close to him as I could get. So many questions ran through my brain, but I didn’t care about the answers to any of them for the time being.
For now, I was back in Deon’s arms, and with that emotion overwhelming me, I quickly drifted off to sleep.
23
Deon
The fact that I could see the sun shining in through the window meant that I’d slept straight through the afternoon and into the morning. I could smell breakfast being prepared and knew that Felicity was already working on something delicious to start the day with, but for some reason, I just didn’t want to get out of bed. I was normally pretty warm under the down blanket that Felicity dressed my bed with, but there was something particularly warm and enrapturing about it that morning. If I didn’t get up right away, Felicity would just throw my breakfast in the microwave to warm up when I finally did.