EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,79

had to be in The Royal Court.”

Alistair raised his hand. “I did.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Okay, none of us other than Alistair had to be in The Royal Court. Then you gave us all a free pass to go, but we stayed. We’re all here. We’re part of this. We know what it means, and we’re part of it anyway.”

“Yeah, Nathan. You disappeared last semester,” Colette said. “The second we heard that you disappeared and that your mom died, we panicked, and then when Nikki tracked you down, we got together with Cherri and Deon and came to find you. Even the two people who liked you the least at that time broke their backs to get to you. You think that we were all tied to you for the perks or out of obligation, but maybe, just maybe we like you a little.”

That was true. When my dad took me and drove me up to our cabin, the entire Royal Court plus Deon showed up to save me. They rushed in and fought with my dad, risking their lives to fight for me. People who hated you didn’t do that kind of thing.

“I’m so dumb,” I said. “Friendship has never really been like this for me. Well, I never really had friends. I made a bunch when Deon lived with my family, but when he left, all of them left except for Kyle, and of course, Nikki has always been by my side.”

“Wait,” Colette said. “You’ve been comparing us to those shitty friends this entire time? Kyle! Hit him for me!”

Kyle didn’t hesitate. He reached over and whacked me across the arm. Though he put some force behind it, and though it hurt a little bit, all I could do was smile. “I love you guys,” I said.

“I am not telling you I love you back,” Alistair replied, and the table laughed. I could feel it in the unspoken. I was loved by my friends. It made me think of what Nicole said to me about forgiveness. I could give as much as I wanted, but it would only be when they truly wanted to forgive me that it made any difference.

“Do you guys wanna get out of here?” I asked. “We can all crash at my place if we want to stick together, or I can call us a limo to get us home.”

“No offense, but I kind of want to be in my own bed tonight,” Kyle said.

“Me too,” Alistair said, and Avery nodded with him.

“Besides,” Nikita said, side-eyeing me. “It’s better if we have no visitors.”

My entire lower half tingled at the look in her eyes, and I turned to face everyone else. “Oh, never mind. Invitation rescinded. Go home or wherever you want. I don’t care. You just can’t come to my house.”

“Perverts,” Kyle huffed.

“Where is Cherri?” Colette suddenly asked.

“Huh?” I replied. “I mean, feel free to invite her if you want, but talking to her hasn’t gone well for us as a group.”

“Went fine for me,” Nikita huffed under her breath, and I glared at her before snickering. I may have stuck up for her, but Cherri lost that fight.

“No!” Colette yelped, pointing across the room. “There’s Sicily, but where is Cherri?”

I looked over, and Sicily was looking down at his phone. Cherri was nowhere in the vicinity. He seemed unaware that she wasn’t there. He looked up in the direction of where the men stood against the wall, but when he did, he looked slightly panicked. I looked over and realized that they weren’t there anymore. Sicily jumped up and looked over in our direction. Our eyes locked, and we realized that we’d gotten too distracted and made a terrible mistake.

“Shit!” I yelled, jumping up. “Outside!” No one asked why, and we rushed away from our table, rattling it as we moved. “What happened?” I barked at Sicily as he ran up beside us.

“I think she gave me the slip on purpose. She knew that I was keeping her close, but I wouldn’t tell her why,” Sicily snapped back. “I was just talking to her, though. She couldn’t have been gone longer than thirty seconds.”

That was all it took. We rushed out through the front doors and didn’t see anything. I was terrified that we were too late and terrified that I was going to have to tell Deon that I let Cherri slip through my fingers, but then we heard screaming. It sounded like it was coming from the back of the