They The Pretty Stars (Court High 1)

He rolled his eyes again, waving me over with two fingers. Looking around, I noticed a few eyes in our direction. People were probably watching me going to meet my maker.

Not messing with me my ass.

Braving the hell up, I approached the car, the inside smelling heavily of new car and fierce masculinity. Whoever Knight was, he had an esteemed smell about him and a ride that proclaimed expensive taste. This seemed to be the norm around here, so I wasn’t surprised.

I placed my arms on the open window, and he reached over, clicking the door open.

I stepped back. “What’s going on?”

“I’m here to pick you up.”

“What?” I really stepped back now. “Why?”

Clearly over all this, Knight dampened thick lips. “Royal said you’d know what I was talking about. How you owed him one?”

Fuck.

He really was here to help me meet my maker, and where was Hubert when I needed the guy? This really was the wrong day for him to be late, and I folded my arms, shaking my head, and Knight tilted his.

“No,” I said, just no. No, I wouldn’t be going with him, virtually a stranger, and no, I wouldn’t be giving in to whatever Royal planned for me. He thought he could just have his henchman take me someplace? The answer to that was N friggin’ O.

Knight’s dark eyes narrowed and didn’t even say anything before shrugging a shoulder and starting the car. Hand on the gearshift, he planned to pull away without another thought.

“Wait,” I said, his hand hesitating. Without another thought of my own, I opened the door and got inside.

“So that’s a yes, then?” he asked, and I nodded, confirming. I had no choice but to do this. I might lose Hershey if I didn’t.

Nodding to himself, Knight put the car into gear, pulling away from both the curb and prying eyes. I noticed two of those had been Birdie, and I studied her through the side-view mirror, her eyebrows knitted as a member of the high and prestigious Court pulled me away in his fancy ride.

Knight and I traveled for a long time in silence. In fact, the only words were exchanged by me when Hubert finally called me back. He told me his scheduled oil change had taken longer than expected. He apologized and said he was on his way to pick me up now, but I told him he didn’t have to. I explained I

found a ride home, hanging up, and after, Knight faced me.

“I’m getting you to work too, by the way,” he said. “What we’re doing won’t take long.”

“What exactly are we doing?” I asked him, putting my phone away. Though, I had texted one other person before doing so. I sent Aunt Celeste a message, mostly checking in but also alluded she should hear from me soon. If she didn’t, I knew she’d go poking around. Call it my fail-safe since I had no idea what this with Knight and Royal was about.

Knight merely moved a hand over his leather steering wheel. I’d never been near the guy this close, and he was a colossal giant, his biceps the size of most guys’ thighs. He turned. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you to work on time. LJ will fry my ass if we don’t. He takes all the shit at the community center seriously since he works there.”

“Wait. LJ is in on this?” I asked, and Knight nodded in response. I frowned. “Will he be wherever we’re going?”

“Probably. Just sit back. This won’t take long.”

More questions most assuredly wouldn’t get me any more answers, but “sitting back” and relaxing definitely wasn’t happening either. I played on my phone for a bit but studied my environment too. I wanted to remember everything… just in case.

Birdie: Everything all right? I saw Knight take you away. What’s up with that?

Like he knew, Knight’s eyes were in the direction of my phone for a sec before returning to the road.

Me: Nothing. I work with LJ at the community center. Knight’s just taking me to meet him and get something for work later tonight.

A lie, obviously, but as I didn’t know what this was. I didn’t want to alarm her more than I already was. In any case, we’d arrived at our destination…

And it was massive.

A castle straight out of Hogwarts wrapped around at least three city blocks and was completely made out of old brick like from an ancient story. It was surrounded by iron fencing, and when Knight passed through an open gate, people were outside of it, Court boys playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee in the yard. I knew they were Court by the rings. They waved a hand in the direction of Knight’s SUV as he passed.

He gave a wave in return, flashing his own gorilla ring with bared teeth, and they couldn’t have picked a better mascot for their posse. They definitely were “kings” around here and Knight’s hands returned to the wheel as he continued up the walk and to a gate he had to type a key code into. The gate opened, and he pulled inside down a rock path, more boys socializing in what appeared to be a garden now, but there were some girls too.