Once again, in spite of the key I had which would get me into the house I was in front of, I knocked regardless. Just like with my parents’ house, I felt like I had to earn the right to come and go as I pleased. We waited a few moments in silence and then eventually, I could hear the door unlock.
It opened and the face I saw on the other side was so much more welcome than I could have possibly imagined.
“Cherri!” Avery yelped. She damn near jumped through the doorway to wrap her arms around me and pull me into a bear hug. I wrapped my arms around her and returned the hug. “I missed you!”
“I missed you,” I replied.
Avery was my best friend. Through circumstances she had very little control over, I blamed her for losing Deon along with the rest of The Royal Court, when my anger should have been directed at people like Connor and anyone who helped him control Postings the way he did. I couldn’t bring myself to entirely regret it—I’d lost so much of myself being in The Royal Court. Not only did stepping away allow me to get back to my more natural self, but it also led to me getting close to Sicily. That said, I ended up taking things to the extreme and hurting someone who’d only ever been like a sister to me.
She didn’t deserve that.
We pulled apart a little, but I placed my hands on her face and looked into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful. I’m so happy to see you.”
She smiled wider and there were tears plucking at the corners of her eyes. “I’m happy to see you too. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too. I’m sorry for everything I did,” I said. “I love you.”
She snickered. “You’ve apologized to me about a thousand times this week and I already told you I forgive you.”
“I know, but I was so mean to you and—”
Avery dragged me back into a hug. “It’s okay, Cherri. We all had a tough time. If something happened to Ali, I can’t say I wouldn’t act the same. It’s fine. Let’s just put it behind us.”
I squeezed onto her, loving the feeling of my best friend in my hands once again. “Okay. I’d like that.”
We finally released, and Avery turned to Sicily with just as bright a smile. “Hi, Sicily.”
“What’s goin’ on, Avery?” Sicily replied. “I forget. Are you one of the single ones?”
I backhanded his arm, frowning. “What is wrong with you?”
Sicily shrugged. “What? Your old pal Sicily’s been working hard lately. It’d be nice to have a pretty face to come home to.”
Avery didn’t seem at all bothered by the question. “Well, as much as I think I’d enjoy being your pretty face, I am not single. I’m with Alistair.”
“None of the girls in The Royal Court are single,” I added on.
Sicily deflated. “Figures.”
He shoved past Avery and walked into the house with his arms limply at his side, and though I knew he was mostly kidding, I also knew Sicily was an undercover romantic. Being in the house with all the couples was going to be hard on him.
I looked at Avery. “I don’t suppose you know anyone we could set him up with?”
Avery shrugged. “No one that he doesn’t already know. He’ll find someone though, I’m sure. Sicily’s awesome.”
“He really is. It’d be nice if he could have someone great,” I said. “Although, truth be told, I don’t think anyone in The Royal Court is actually up to the task. He needs someone a little quirkier than we are.”
“I’ll keep an eye out,” Avery said. “Well, come on in. Everyone’s here.”
“Oh.” I hesitated in the doorway. “Really?”
Avery looped an arm around mine and pulled. “Come on, Cherri. Everyone here loves you and is very happy to see you. It’ll be okay. We want to discuss what to do next about Connor and Deon.”
I took a deep breath in and held it for a few seconds, then I slowly let it out. “Okay. I’m ready.”
I hadn’t seen The Royal Court since the day we defeated Connor’s henchmen. I sat in Nahtan’s living room and sobbed until my eyes were sore, and then embarrassingly dragged myself out with Sicily and hadn’t been back since. Apart from a few texts back and forth with Nathan to make my new living arrangements and several apologetic calls to Avery, I hadn’t even spoken to them in the week since it all had happened. Why I was so nervous, I didn’t know. They’d all been my friends before—maybe it was because they’d all changed so much, just like me.
Avery pulled, and I relented to her as she led us inside, shutting the door behind us. I could hear the quiet murmur of voices from the living room that got louder as we approached. Eventually, we rounded the corner to see that Sicily had already made himself comfortable on one of the plush couches and was chatting happily with Kyle. Nathan, Nikita, Jaxon, Colette and Alistair were also scattered around. As soon as we walked in, everyone looked up and smiled at me, and each gave me their own cheery greetings.
Colette, Alistair, Nathan and Kyle each stood up to hug me, while Jaxon nodded and smiled at me. Nikita just watched me. She and I still weren’t on great terms, I imagined. If it wasn’t the fact that I dated the man she was in love with for close to four years, then it was the fact that we’d gotten into a fight wherein she had swiftly kicked my ass. It was a blow to my ego, but it was also the beginning of my realization that I’d gotten so far beyond myself that I needed to re-evaluate what was going on in my life. She was still upset with me for punching Colette until she passed out, so her list of reasons to remain upset with me was long.
“Hey guys,” I said, sitting down next to Sicily on the couch. “It’s good to see you.”
“I put your bag up in your room,” Nathan said. “Sicily said you’ve already had a long day, so we don’t have to do too much today, I was just hoping we could talk about what’s next.”
Right down to business—that was Nathan for you. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.”
“Sicily, how are the phones going?” Nathan asked.
Sicily let out an exhausted sigh. “It’s goin’, that’s about all I can say. The unknown number that called you and the one that called Cherri definitely came from the same phone, but it was meant to be a burner. Now, Deon ain’t some criminal mastermind despite the persona he puts on, so he didn’t have a traditional, untraceable phone. From what I can gather, he was using an app to do it, but the app still scrambled the signal enough that I’m struggling to pinpoint where it came from or where it might be now. It gives me a massive list of possible pinged locations and I have to research them all individually and check them against places Deon could have been most likely. It’s time consuming, but I ain’t givin’ up, I just need more time.”
Nathan nodded. “Okay. Thank you for doing so much work on it. Take all the time you need.”
“You say that,” Nikita cut in, “but that’s our only lead.”
“Not the only one,” Kyle replied. “We do have one other option. Brayden.”
“We haven’t been able to contact him,” Nathan replied.
“You haven’t,” Kyle said, and there was a hint of arrogance in his voice. “He called me yesterday.” I’d seen glimpses of it, but there was a new bond between Kyle and Brayden that I neither expected nor understood. Hopefully being around would give me a little more insight.