EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,80
building, so we bolted around to the back just in time to see Cherri entangled with the two men as they attempted to drag her off. Cherri was a small girl, but she was putting up quite a fight, and she had a small blade in her hand that she was swinging wildly, keeping the men from getting too much of a hold on her.
“Cherri!” I screeched.
The men saw us running over and tried their best to drag Cherri toward an unmarked black SUV parked a little bit away, but her fighting was enough to give us time to catch up. Nikita had a knife out in five seconds and jumped in swinging, but it seemed like the men were going to try to take the opportunity to snatch her too. One abandoned Cherri and started trying to wrap around Nikita, but it turned out to be a grave mistake. The second he wrapped his arms around her, she sliced him across the arm, cutting straight through his suit. Then she flipped around and clocked him right in his nose. He fell backward, and Nikita turned on the other guy, who Jaxon was already pulling off of Cherri.
Jaxon shoved Cherri away, and Sicily and I took each of her arms to pull her back as she tried to jump back in. She was swearing like crazy and trying to fight her way out of our grip, but we held position. Jaxon headbutted the guy that grabbed Cherri in the face, and the guy, too, fell backward. At that moment, the person who was meant to be driving the car climbed out with a gun brandished. He pointed it at Jaxon and Nikita, who both stopped advancing.
“Get in the car, you fucking idiots. They’re kids,” he huffed.
The two damaged men got to their feet, stumbled over to the car, and climbed in. The driver, who clearly had no intention of fighting us, backed up until he was at the door. He climbed in, keeping his gun on us until the very last second, then pulled away with a loud screech.
I ran over to Nikita to make sure she was okay, as did Colette to Jaxon, but everyone was unharmed. Cherri was jostled but otherwise okay, but it didn’t stop Avery from rushing over to her.
“Are you okay?” She reached out to try and touch her, but Cherri smacked her hand away. “Cherri.”
“What the fuck are you guys doing out here?” she spat.
I rolled my eyes. Maybe it was my recent breakthrough, but I was in no mood to deal with Cherri’s attitude after we just saved her—again.
“Guys, let’s just go. If she’s not gonna be grateful, this is only going to get ugly,” I said.
That seemed to take Cherri back a bit, but she quickly recovered with an evil glare. “Grateful? For what? I had it covered.”
“Sure,” Jaxon said. “That’s what halfway to the kidnap car looks like.”
“What?” Cherri asked, looking as if she was going to advance on Jaxon, but he didn’t even flinch, and neither did anyone else. For the first time, The Royal Court looked down at Cherri with nothing but disappointment and disgust. That is, everyone apart from Avery.
Alistair walked over, wrapped his hands around his girlfriend, and pulled her away. “Have a nice night, Cherri.”
Avery didn’t put up a fight, just sadly looked back at her best friend as she was led off. I waited for everyone else to walk away first, then I looked back at Cherri. I could see the calculation in her face—the realization that we’d all reached our limit with her. Part of me wanted to ask how that made her feel, but the rest of me just wanted to take my beautiful Nikita and leave.
“I feel bad for you, Cherri,” I said. “The Royal Court…” I looked ahead at them, watching them walk away. “We’re going through this amazing transformation, and we really wanted you to be a part of it, both of you,” I said, including Sicily. “I’m so sorry that us giving a damn about you has created such a huge rift, but that consideration won’t be a problem for you anymore. We’re done.”
With that, I wrapped my arm behind Nikita’s back and led her back toward the front of the building where everyone else was waiting. We called a set of Ubers, chatted a little more while we waited, and then it was time for the couples to all go their separate ways, with Kyle heading home alone.
“Come