by Rebel Hart
I shook my head. “Keep them here for when I visit.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
We embraced once more, that time for much longer. When I pulled away I smiled down at her. “I love you, mom.”
She laughed. “I love you too. Be safe in Postings. You’re still wanted, remember that.”
“I’ve already made certain arrangements,” Nathan said.
Felicity exchanged glances between Nathan and Cherri. “You two take care of my boy.”
Cherri nodded. “We will. We promise.”
25
Deon
Most of the ride back to Postings, I slept in the backseat. Every few minutes, I’d come to and hear Cherri and Nathan talking as if they had always been best friends and nothing had come between them. Nathan was less snotty than he was when I spoke to him last, and Cherri was much more of a spitfire. There were times in the drive that I felt like I wanted to ‘wake up’ and join in, but it was actually nice to see the woman I loved and my brother getting along so well, especially considering all of the reasons they had to not. From what they talked about, it sounded as if The Royal Court had quite the journey of introspection and had changed dramatically for the experience.
Glad I wasn’t the only one.
Eventually, we made it back to Postings, and Nathan drove us back to his family’s estate. The last time I’d been there, I was brazenly flirting with Cherri in the back gazebo despite knowing she was dating Nathan at the time. Something about the energy of the place simply felt different. There were several cars parked out front, and when we walked in, all the members of the Royal Court were hanging around, Sicily included.
“Hey!” Colette said when we walked in. “Welcome home!” She fanned her arms out and stood in the entryway where we couldn’t walk past her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Cherri asked.
“Oh nothing,” Colette responded. “Just welcoming you back.”
“We’re done!” Avery’s voice called from the living room.
Colette dropped her act. “Oh, thank god. Come on!”
She turned around and led towards the living room. I saw colorful balloons and a welcome home banner. There was a cake sitting on the table that also said “Happy Birthday,” and I tilted my head. “Whose birthday is it?”
Brayden scoffed and dropped onto the couch. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
“Deon,” Nathan said. “It’s your birthday.”
I stood in silence for a moment, trying to wrap my head around that information. The last time I celebrated my birthday, I was still locked up, days away from getting out. Venom got cupcakes from the commissary and pretended the wrappers were candles because we couldn’t have real ones. He even forced me to blow out the fake flames.
Had it already been a year since that happened?
“Today’s the fifteenth?” I said.
“Uh huh,” Avery said, then she fanned out towards the table with the cake on it and a single present. “Happy birthday, and welcome home.”
“Wow,” Cherri said. “I didn’t realize at all.” She looked at me. “Happy birthday.”
I leaned down and kissed her, thinking that being reunited was about the best gift she could give me. “Thank you.”
“Actually, none of us really realized it was already that late in the summer. Sicily still thought it was June,” Nathan said.
“For like three minutes,” Sicily grumbled.
“I opened my phone when Nikki called me to tell me where you guys were and I saw the reminder on my calendar. So we threw this together. It’s not much, but I hope you like it,” he explained.
I set a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “It’s awesome. Thank you.”
Like them, the day of the year had been totally lost on me up that point. Part of me felt bad for denying Felicity the joy of celebrating with me, but maybe her not knowing made it at least slightly easier to let me leave.
I approached the table and a smile slowly came to my face. The present was a very small box, and I picked it up and turned around to face the group. Nathan nodded his head at me and said, “Open it,” and I lifted the top off. Inside was a key ring with several different keys on it. I pulled it out and Nathan walked over. “This key,” he said as he grabbed a brand new silver one, “is for the front door here.” He grabbed the next one. “For Nikki and my house in the back.” The next key was a wider, brass key. “This is the key to your office at L.C.E.” Then he grabbed the last key. “And this is the key to your new Tesla. It’s still registered in my name until your name is cleared, then I’ll transfer the title.”
“Wow,” I said. “I… wow. Thanks.”
“Hey, uh, Avery, Ali. Would you guys be willing to bring me to visit with my parents?” Cherri asked suddenly. “I’d like to let them know we found Deon. Nikki, Brayden, will you guys come too? I want them to meet you.”
Alistair nodded. “Of course.”
Brayden and Nikita both smiled at me and gave their own nods of affirmation. Cherri walked over to me, gave me a quick kiss, and then the four of them left without another word.
“I’m exhausted, so I’m gonna go nap for a bit,” Kyle said, leaving the room shortly thereafter.
“Sicily, we probably should clean up our mess,” Colette said. “Jax can help.”
Jaxon let out a frustrated sigh. “I guess.”
“Yeah. Let’s do it!” Sicily led the way out of the room, tapping me on my shoulder as I passed, and then I was left with just Nathan.
“That wasn’t subtle,” Nathan said.
“No, but whatever,” I responded.
Nathan pointed outside. “Wanna go talk?”
“I think that’d be good.”
Nathan led me over to the sliding glass doors in the back of his house, then we walked down the winding path to the very same gazebo where Nathan had caught Cherri and me before. It was one of the nicer gifts he’d ever given her, knowing that she loved a quiet, natural place to sit sometimes, so it didn’t surprise me that he’d kept it.
“I’m honestly a little shocked to see you still living here,” I said. “After your mom and Connor, I’d have thought you would have left a you-shaped hole in the wall.”
“I thought about it,” Nathan said. “But I don’t hate it here. I completely renovated the inside and it’s sort of the official house of The Royal Court now.”
“You’re like one of the social media groups that all lives together and films crazy videos,” I said.
Nathan nodded. “I never realized that, but it’s pretty on brand for us, honestly.”
I snickered. “Maybe y’all. Not me.”
“Well, there’s a room for you up there too, so get used to it. You’re one of us now, whether you like it or not,” Nathan said.
I sighed. “Is it weird that I sort of like it?”
“To be fair, I did offer you a position in The Royal Court before,” Nathan said.
“Oh, you mean when you cleared out an entire classroom, sat on top of a desk like some sort of shitty dictator, and threatened me?” I said. “Can’t imagine why I turned that offer down.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fair.”
“I’ve learned a lot about our father,” I said. “Venom, our meeting behind bars wasn’t just random. He used him to frame me for the death of some random guy. Apparently Felicity is one of the many women he’d manipulated and he was able to use her to get to him.”
Nathan’s nostrils flared with anger. “I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ll do you one better. He handpicked Cherri years before you met her. He moved her family here, intentionally near you. It’s still uncertain if his original plan was for her to be with you, or if he always intended to have me snatch her from you, but regardless, he’d been in control over her family from even before she moved here.”
“God,” I barked. “This guy is a fucking piece of shit.”
“No disagreements there, but I do have to say, sometimes I find myself being a little, I don’t know, grateful. I mean,
if it weren’t for him, Cherri wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t know any of my friends. Hell, who knows if you and I would have ever met. For all his fucking around with us, he did leave a little bit of good in his wake.”
“I suppose,” I said. “I’m not acknowledging that to him though.”
“No, never,” Nathan replied. “No, next time I see him, I’ll be taking him down, and that’ll be it.”
“We have to keep him alive,” I said, and Nathan’s eyes widened at me. “I know, but he’s the reason Venom is locked up. The only way he’ll be able to get out is if we can prove that Connor was on bullshit when he was working with Venom. If we kill him, there will be no way to do that.”
“I really want him dead, Deon,” Nathan said. “He killed my mom.”
“I’m not saying anything specific, I’m just saying, once he’s locked up, Venom’s men will have access to him and it probably won’t be pretty. I want him six feet under too, but if we jump the gun, we’ll never be able to clean up all the messes he’s made.”
Nathan sighed. “I guess I’d better get started on trying to come up with a new way to entice him to do what we want, if it’s not going to be a barrel down his throat.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Wanna hear something else insane?” Nathan asked. “You are an officer of our company.”
“What?” I said.
“Oh yeah. Your name is on an office there. That key I gave you is no joke. Deon Keane, you are the Chief Executive Officer of Loche Corporation Enterprises.”
That dream I had with Nathan and Cherri came blasting back into my mind. Was it just a freaky premonition? “I’m the C.E.O.?”
“Seems dear old dad had some plans up his sleeve that even I didn’t know about. From the day the company was incorporated, I’ve been listed as Vice President and you’ve been listed as C.E.O.” Nathan kicked the dirt on the gazebo floor. “It’s been a pain in the ass getting them to function without us, but I told them they need to just toe the line until we can figure all this shit with Connor out.”
“So, what? After all this is done, you’re gonna go and be an 18-year-old Vice President of a Fortune 500 company?” I asked.
“Pretty much, although I’ll technically be President now,” Nathan said. “I plan to go to business school and eventually get my MBA, but Connor had me studying that shit when I was ten, so I know how things go.” He looked over at me. “What about you? Will you join me? Vice-president?”
“I never considered myself much of an office guy,” I replied.
“I’ll let you keep the Grizzly Adams beard,” he joked.
I ran my hand along the scruff. “It’s something, isn’t it? Do you think I should cut it?”
“At the risk of sounding so creepy, no. Cherri likes facial hair,” Nathan replied, then he held up a hand before I could quip back. “No, don’t comment on it. Let that be the first and last time that ever happens.”
“Deal,” I said. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll join you. Currently, I’m still a wanted man, so I have to get all that sorted out first.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “I’ve been in contact with your P.O. I never let on for a second that we were looking for you or anything, only asked what we would have to do if it turned out all of this had been manipulated by Connor. Turns out, he’d been threatened by our old man a time or two, and would be willing to look the other way—in exchange for money, of course. He’s pulled your warrant back and is currently reporting visits to keep you in good standing. You can’t run around robbing gas stations or anything, but at least for the time being you aren’t actively being hunted by the cops.”
“Wow. Thanks, Nathan,” I said.
“Yeah.”
I thought about what the coming days were going to hold for us and imagined getting to just settle down and be some office guy with my brother and go home to the love of my life every day. It felt like too boring and normal a life for me to deserve. I’d fight for it if I could have it, though.
“Well, if it’s okay with you, I really want to go and see my mom. I can’t imagine how much she’s gone through these past eight months,” I said.
“Cherri took pretty good care of her,” Nathan said. “They lived together for about six months.”
“Cherri and my mom did?” I said.
Nathan nodded. “Yeah. Cherri like… flipped her shit at the beginning of our last semester and got kicked out of her house, among other things. She went to stay with your mom until The Royal Court got the band back together and she came to live here.”
I remembered seeing my mom talking about her roommate leaving about a month ago. That was Cherri. “Wow.”
“Your family has missed you quite a bit, Deon. We had to cope by just being there for each other,” Nathan said, and I was slightly surprised he included himself.
“Well, I’m home now,” I said.
“That’s right, you are.” He stood up. “Come on. I’ll show you to your room.”
Nathan and I went back inside the main house and grabbed my bags. We carried them up stairs and down a few doors to one on the left side. He opened it and I was smacked in the face by Cherri’s delightful, inviting smell. Her things were scattered all around the room and I immediately felt like I truly was home.
“My old room?” I said.
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “I remodeled it, made it special for you guys. Cherri’s been staying in here already, as I’m sure you can tell. I’ll give you the rest of the tour later. For now, go and see your mom.”
I set my bags down, then turned around and pulled Nathan into a big hug. He wrapped his arms around me, and with all prying eyes gone for the moment, we shared an extended hug. Brothers reunited after all of Connor’s best attempts to put space between us. I really did love my brother. Hopefully the future held plenty of opportunities for us to get to an even better place.
“Alright,” Nathan said, pulling away and flicking a tear away. “Get out.”
I laughed. “You got it.”
Walking around him, I made my way downstairs to the cars parked in the lot in front of the house. I clicked the button on my keys, and a white Tesla flashed a couple of times. A whistle came out of me as I climbed in and started up the car. I honestly never thought I’d have a car like that of my own. That was what awaited me if I did take my position at the company. I could get my mom into a nicer house, get her a nice car, and make sure she’d only have to work if she wanted to.
Yeah, that was the life I wanted.
The drive from South to North Postings was plenty of time for me to come to the realization that business school and working with my brother seemed like a damn good future. I’d pretty much written off getting to have one, but if fate was suddenly offering, I wasn’t going to say no.
The lights were on, shining against the early evening sky as I pulled up and parked in front of my mom’s house. My heart was beating wildly for some reason as I walked up the walkway and pulled my hand up to knock on the door.
It opened before I even made contact.
“Deon,” my mom said breathlessly, tears gathering in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks. “My baby.”
My throat tightened and tears were in my eyes a moment later. I held my arms out and she ran into my embrace. “Mama,” I said with a smile. “I’m home.”
26
Cherri
“Ugh, Cherri, I love these two new friends,” my mom said. She squeezed Brayden close. “You’re such a pumpkin!”
“They were around before,” my dad said. “But it seemed like you didn’t really like them before.”
“Gee, thanks dad,” I said with a chuckle.
Brayden was excitedly leaning into the snuggle with my mom. “I mean, it isn’t as if we didn’t know that.”
“True,” I said.
Alistair leaned back in his seat and rubbed his belly. “There is nothing like your home-cooked meals, Rebeccah.”
“It’s so true,” Avery said. “I don’t
think I’ve ever seen Nikki this food-happy.”
Nikita was half-asleep in her chair, with a lazy smile on her face. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this food-happy.”
“Thanks for doing it on such short notice, mama,” I said to my mom, who saw four hungry young adults walk through her front door, and took the challenge head on.
“Are you kidding? I live for this,” my mom replied. “I knew that I had a promise to Alistair and Avery, and a few extra mouths only made it that much better.”
“I cannot wait to rub this in everyone else’s faces,” Brayden said.
“Aw,” I said. “Glad to see you getting back to your roots, Brayden.”
He smiled over at me. “What can I say? There’s a jerk streak in me that I’ve been ignoring for far too long. It’s time for my inner ass to re-emerge.” Then he looked at my mom. “Sorry, inner butt.”
My mom waved her hand at Brayden. “It’s okay. We’re a family that staunchly believes in swearing.”
Avery leaned forward and her eyes started to sparkle. “Wait, really? So that’s where Cherri gets it from.”
“Oh no,” my dad said. “Did we raise a potty mouth?”
“Fuck no,” I said, and everyone at the table started to laugh.
Avery’s smile only widened. “This whole time we’ve been seeing this darker side of Cherri and hearing her swear more often, and I’ve wondered where it came from. I don’t think I’ve ever heard either of you swear.”
“Well, we try to do the right thing around you kids, but Cherri has obviously been around us her whole life, so.” My mom shrugged. “What can you do? Sometimes your kid gets your sailor mouth.”
“I cannot imagine having to get up and actually go home,” Alistair said. “We would have to move and walk and stuff and ugh.” He fell back in his chair. “I don’t wanna.”
“Sorry guys, but I’m pretty anxious to get back to Deon,” I admitted.
“I’m still angry you didn’t bring Deon,” my dad grumbled, something he’d been complaining about since I first arrived to tell them that he was alive and well.
