𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

40

Dieson and I sit in the new room appointed to me.

"Will your father let me stay here?" he was asking.

"Maybe. I don't know how my family will feel-

"You're twenty-two," he states, "they shouldn't have an opinion." I fix him with a look, "But this isn't my house, so they do have one. It's different when you're in a Black household, Dieson. I mean...I know that your step mom was Black, but like," my words trail off as I sensed him getting a bit homesick, "Girls have different rules than boys do in my culture. The things girls are labelled fast for don't apply to the boys."

"Sorry," he apologizes. "I know you're just tryna help," I shrug. "Do you think we can share a room?" he asks. I don't know how to describe it. Like I'm much closer to him after we...practically saved one another's lives. I trust Dieson fully, even if I see the way he tenses around my father, even if I still suspect he wants him dead.

"Probably not, but maybe I can convince him to let me stay away from the mansion." I sweep my arm around the room, looking at the tall walls, the fancy decor, the large bed, the old-fashioned wardrobe in place of a walk-in closest. "I'm grateful and still in awe about all this stuff. But...there's no reason for me to stay with my family anymore. My mission is complete."

"Have you mentioned that to him? Have you said anything?"

"No," I sigh, "I'm a lil scared to approach him. I'm bein' fully honest. But it has to be done. I need to get back to school. Back to some sort of-

I stop myself short. "Not normalcy, but rightness that being in this world won't give me."

"If you take over the throne," his voice is feather-light as he leans towards me on the bed, his hair overgrown and longer past his ears, his line-up curled waves against his scalp, "this world will be your world." He reaches over and grabs my hand, finger grazing mine, "But if that's not what you want Courtlynn, then I'm here to protect you."

But Amina dead, and my father out of the way is the only way I'll find peace again in my life. Like they never existed or something. Like how life was before them. "Do you think if I let Amina have the empire, she would leave me alone?" I ask him genuinely.

He closes his eyes, likely reliving his brief encounter with my sister in the hall. "I'm not sure. I worry that your step mother will use her as a puppet. She's the one most like Cerbey. The one likely to cause the most damage because of how much she's been hurt, and how badly she wants to protect her last child."

"I don't want to underestimate Amina like that, but I think you're right," I lay down on the bed, coming up next to him, and feeling his heart thump against my ear.

"I'll protect you, Courtlynn."

"Do you want to know why I named myself Bunnie?"

That was an odd question for me to ask, as abrupt as it wanted to be. "Why?" Dieson asks me. I make sure my eyes are closed as I relive the moment in the club when I saw the bunny masks on that particular performer and the way she worked the pole. I was just a bottle girl then, not knowing what I was getting myself into dealing with Club Chiara.

"Because I saw dreams for that girl I wanted to be. I saw dreams being fulfilled with Bunnie. I don't know if Courtlynn has any dreams. Any future."

"Bunnie did, and that's how I got you," he tells me seriously. He presses his lips to my forehead and lays there with me, his presence calming my body as I take his words into thought. I was okay with this side of Dieson. I didn't need full, physicalness all the time. Even his words could soothe me.

"Do you really love me Dieson?" I ask him.

My eyes peel open and I peek at him. He stares straight ahead, his eyelids low like he was high or tired. "It feels like, Court. It really does."

"I feel like I'm betraying NJ," I whisper, so small, so curled up against him. "I felt something for NJ. But we didn't understand each other. I don't think I would ever have stopped feelin' like me and him were world's apart. Like I had to be someone different for him. He didn't expect that, he didn't tell me to, but I never felt right being me around him. I was so much more immature when me and him talked. But even now, every little thing I do might feel provacative around him."

"He's a little boy, and I'm a man," Dieson tells me, his tone not giving away any ego or hostility. "He's innocent, and I've seen things. That was the difference. That's why you chose me."

Is that why? Or did Dieson and I just share love?

"Mm. Players always get chose, huh?" I half-joke.

"We need to talk strategy," Dieson switches gears, "Somewhere away from the mansion where we can really speak."

"Dad told you not to interfere-"

"You don't think Hadassa isn't givin' Amina tips and tricks on how to knock you off?" he fixes me with a look, voicing my thoughts from earlier. "I'm not interferein', I'm only givin' sound advice," he shrugged.

"I don't want to hurt her. She helped me so much. She's a sweetheart."

"I wasn't thinking about playing at Ali's approach to things, on playing a rough game. You need to play on Amina's field, and do better," he states, "She gives me real innocent, sweet girl vibes, right? So you beat her at her own game."

Of course Dieson would know 'Ali's approach to things' inside out.

"What? Killin' her with kindness? How is that going to get me my father's throne? Amina and Ali grew up in this world. I don't even know the allies and enemies of the Cerbey's. I have no allies, or contacts of my own. Nothing to bring to the throne but myself."

"You'll see," Dieson only smirks. "Sweet girls might not publicly challenge you in gun fights, or yell at you. But they might ask you to lunch, or tea, and slip sumin in your cup when you aren't looking, or smile in your face across the street as you get attacked."

"I need to play her game. But I'm not even sure if she's participatin'. Having the throne was never an option for her before with Ali alive," I insist.

"And that's just the reason why we know that she'll want it."