“Agreed,” Avery said, and everyone else nodded along as well.
“Deon’s stuff is up in your room, and I think he’s planning on coming back tonight, so I think it’s just a matter of waiting now,” Nathan said.
We sat and chatted for a little while, some of us eating, others not, and eventually, Deon came back home. He walked into the kitchen and straight over to me, putting his hands on either side of my face and kissing me. “Hey, my love.”
I smiled at him. “Hi. I’m glad you’re home.”
“I’m glad to be home,” he said. He sat down on the stool next to me and started putting together a sandwich. “So, what are we doing next? You said you’ve been working nonstop right?”
“Well, right before we came to find you, we sort of hit a wall. I think the next thing we’re waiting on is—” Nathan’s phone rang at that exact moment. He picked it up and held it out. “Is this.”
“That’s not the first time that we’ve gotten perfect moments down to the second like that,” Colette said. “I swear our lives are so weird.”
“Hello?” Nathan answered. “Yeah, hey Felicity, what’s going on?” He went silent for a minute and then said, “Oh sure, hang on.” He pulled the phone away from his ear, pressed a button, and set it flat on the counter. “Go ahead.”
“Deon?” Felicity said.
“Hey, mama,” Deon said with a smile. “Miss you already.”
“Same here. I’m not even going to send you this video of Concrete walking in and out of your bedroom looking for you. It’d break your heart,” she said.
Deon frowned. “Yeah, please do not send me that video.”
“What’s going on?” Nathan asked.
“I heard back from Nico,” she said. “With that info about the warehouse you found and the lead we already gave him from the road show, he was able to track down someone quickly. There’s a guy there in Postings, who only goes by ‘T.C.’ and operates out of a night club there called the Black Star Night Club. It’s 21 plus from what I could see online, so I don’t know how you guys will get in, but Nico set up a meeting with him tomorrow night at 9:00 pm.”
“That sounds like a job for…” Sicily stood up off of his stool and put his hands on his hips like a superhero. “Super Sicily!”
“Oh yeah, Sis?” Felicity asked. “Fake IDs fall under your purview, huh?”
“Fake IDs were, like, freshman year,” Sicily replied. “I’ll have ‘em done by morning.”
Felicity laughed. “Nothing like having a shady agent on your side.”
“That’s right,” Sicily said.
Deon chuckled at Sicily. “I missed you, man.”
That seemed to double Sicily’s excitement. “Thanks, man. I missed you too.”
“Well, I’ll text you all the info so you have it in writing, Nathan. Please be careful. You have no idea what you’re walking into. Be smart,” Felicity said. “Deon, don’t tell your dad.”
“I won’t if you won’t,” Deon replied.
“I love you, kid,” Felicity said.
Deon smiled. “Love you too.”
“Bye guys,” Felicity said.
“Bye,” The Royal Court echoed.
Nathan pressed the button to end the phone call and pulled his phone back. “Okay. Well, now we know what’s next. The Black Star Night Club.”
“I’ve heard of that place,” Jaxon said, and it didn’t surprise me at all that he was the one who knew it. “Apparently the security guards there are all cops who are paid to look the other way for the dirty dealings.”
“Have you ever been, Jax?” Colette asked.
“Nah. It’s a little too on the nose for me. A real pop music and tight clothes kind of place,” Jaxon said.
Avery smiled. “Sounds amazing to me.”
“Well, we’ve got a long night ahead of us tomorrow, and Felicity is right, we don’t know what we’re walking into. Some of us have had crazy sleep patterns,” Nathan said, looking at Brayden, Nikita and me specifically. “Some of us have had crazy eating patterns, and we don’t have room for any of that. Eat up, get some rest, and I’ll make sure tomorrow’s meals are protein-packed.”
“Given that it’s a shadier place, do you think we can get our guns in, Jaxon?” Kyle asked.
Deon’s jaw dropped. “Guns?”
I looked sideways at him. “Yeah. You find once you’ve been attacked by grown-ass men you gotta keep yourself armed. We’re all licensed carriers.”
Nathan pointed at Deon. “You will be carrying no guns. You’re in a good spot right now, but you can’t carry on parole. Just let us do the heavy lifting.”
I could see Deon shifting uncomfortably at the concept, but I put my hand on his back. “Please?”
Deon looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He picked a chip up off his plate and popped it in his mouth. “Damn, if someone had told me that I’d be holding back and letting The Royal Court of all people carry instead of me, I’d have punched that person in the face.”
“We’re sort of The Dark Royal Court now,” Alistair said.
Nathan smiled. “I like that. The Dark Royal Court.”
27
Deon
The Black Star Night Club was situated in Downtown Postings, ironically not far from where Loche Corporation Enterprises was located. I couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t chance placement, and I imagined that Connor Loche had done more than one shifty dealing in the bowels of the place. The outside was painted black brick with gold stars painted all over it, so it stuck out like a sore thumb from the modern, sleek buildings that were situated on either side of it. Postings was a manufacturing city, so most of the downtown buildings were offices to support all the commerce coming into Maine from the coast. There were a few night clubs and bars, as any city had, but it seemed Black Star Night Club was the club of choice. When we got there, there was a line of people around the block.
“Wow,” Cherri said. “Packed to hell.”
“I mean,” Colette said from the back seat. “We’re not normal people. We should be able to throw our names around and get in, right? We’ll be standing in that line long past nine.”
Cherri was driving a car with her, me, Sicily, Colette, and Jaxon in it, and Kyle was driving in front of us with Brayden, Nathan, Nikita, Alistair and Avery.
“That’s going to be up to Nathan, I think,” Cherri said. “He’s the one with all the clout at the end of the day.”
“Excuse me, Colette has clout,” Jaxon said.
I turned around and looked backwards at him, and saw that his face was stone serious. I laughed and looked at Cherri. “It’s unexpectedly adorable.”
“Oh I know. I can’t get over it,” she replied.
I took a moment while we were stuck in traffic to look Cherri’s outfit over once again. She was wearing a high-waisted, black leather skirt and a black, ruffled crop top. Her hair was down, and she’d applied a layer of dark makeup with black lipstick and a deep purple eyeshadow. She looked good enough to eat.