by Kat Mizera
17
Xander
Ace had spotted him a few minutes before, downstairs in the lobby of the hotel where the event was being held and I’d been glad that she wrapped up her talk with the queen relatively quickly.
“Oh, god.” Elen’s face got a little pale and she looked from me to Ace.
“We need to get out of here.” Ace looked uncomfortable.
“What do we do? I can pretend I’m sick and give my regrets to the king.”
“I think that would be best,” Ace said.
“All right, let me do that.” She turned and approached Queen Celine, talking quietly with her.
“I don’t like this at all,” I told Ace.
“Me either. I want to get out of here.”
“We were planning to spend the night here at the hotel.”
“Yeah, I know, but Omar probably is too and I’d like to get Elen as far away from him as possible.”
“Did you call for the jet?”
“I did.”
Our eyes met. This was serious and we had to move quickly but without making a big deal out of it. We also had to warn Samaria and pack our things.
“I’m ready.” Elen joined us and we walked to the elevator.
“I think you two should take a cab and I’ll go back in the car we rented,” Ace said. “Just in case.”
“Shannon will kill me if anything happens to you,” Elen said, a faint smile playing on her lips.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I don’t doubt it, but I’ll be careful. Okay, let’s—” He stopped talking as we stepped out of the elevator. “Fuck.”
Elen froze, inhaling sharply as Omar approached us.
“Don’t worry,” I said in her ear, one hand gently resting on her forearm. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know.”
I immediately pushed her behind me, hand at my hip reaching for my weapon as Omar kept coming toward us.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Omar stopped in front of us, a big smile on his face.
Thank god Ace had brought me my gun.
The lobby of one of the most expensive hotels in the country was full of people, all wealthy and glamorous, and it would be almost impossible for Omar to do anything here. By the same token, if Elen ignored him and tried to walk away, it might draw a lot of unwanted attention.
Elen stepped around me slowly, a smile plastered on her face even as Ace and I flanked her.
Omar half-raised his hands, still grinning slyly. “Call off the guards,” he said lightly. “I come in peace.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” she told him quietly.
“Probably not, but you may be quite interested in what I have to say to you.”
“The lady said she doesn’t want to talk to you,” I said, my eyes never leaving Omar’s.
“You have your guards,” he said to her, ignoring me. “We’re here in a very busy, public lobby. Come to the bar, bring your henchmen… I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
She shook her head. “If you have something official to say, you can take it up with the king. Or my brother.”
His eyes grew dark for a moment, but then he schooled his features. “I know how you struggle in Parliament, Elen. I still have my fingers in all the little pies of our country. Erik’s days are numbered, and as my wife, I’ll be able to protect both you and your title.”
My initial reaction was to punch him in the face, but Elen didn’t even flinch. “Omar, let’s not play games. Say what’s on your mind. Why would I need protection, even if Erik is ousted as king?”
“There is a faction of the country looking to continue what Anwar started, this time without a royal family. To give power to the people.”
“The people already have power.”
He took a step closer to her and his lip curled up in a snarl. “They’re peasants who need to be shown what they want. Your cousin is nothing but a spoiled monarch with no strength, no true power, and zero respect. When the time is right, he and his pathetic legacy will be eliminated and if you’re not with me, you’ll go down with him.”
“I have no intention of marrying anyone,” she said quietly. “And frankly, it’s hard to take you seriously when you hinted you wanted to marry my niece just a few months ago.”
He sighed. “I was temporarily besotted with someone so young and beautiful, but she isn’t a royal. Not by blood, anyway, so that would have been folly on my part.”
“Well, to be honest, even if I was interested in power, which I’m not, the last person I would marry is a man known for his cruelty to women. So I think we’re done here.” She tried to step around him but he snaked out an arm, closing his fingers on her wrist.
“You’ll do well to reconsider,” he said in a steely tone.
“Thanks for the warning.” She pried her wrist free, turned her back, and Ace and I followed her outside.
I didn’t relax until we’d gotten back to the bungalows, and even then, Ace immediately did a quick search of our rooms and kept watch while we packed.
“Do you have any bleach?” Elen asked in a bleary tone. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m covered with asshole cooties.”
I snickered, but got her suitcase down from the shelf in the closet. “No bleach, but here’s your suitcase. You should change and get packed.”
“Thanks.” She went to the chest of drawers and started removing things. “Jesus, he creeps me the fuck out.”
“I’m calling Erik now. I want you to tell him what Omar said.”
She repeated our brief but extremely unsettling conversation to both Erik and Sandor and then excused herself to the bathroom to shower and change into travel clothes. They agreed we should head back to Limaj, so I left Ace with her while I went to change and pack.
I’d never seen Elen so unnerved, and the idea of that motherfucker touching her—being fucking married to her—made me want to hurt him. She’d played it cool, which was impressive as hell considering how badly she was shaking when we got into the taxi. She was a tough cookie, that was for sure, and while I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and tell her it was going to be okay, I didn’t think I should let Ace see the intimacy between us until we’d had a chance to talk.
Two hours later, after hurried goodbyes to Samaria and the family, we were on the jet headed back to Limaj. We’d have to stop to refuel in Thailand since it was a long-ass flight, but at least we were comfortable and didn’t have to deal with lines or customs. We wouldn’t even get off the plane to refuel and the copilot was napping now so he would be fresh for the second half of the flight. Elen was in the bedroom sleeping and Ace and I were lounging in comfortable seats, getting ready to do the same. I was restless, though, and had a hard time dropping off.
Since Ace had headphones on and we had Wi-Fi on the plane, I decided to catch up with Parker. We hadn’t talked since his bombshell the other day about possibly getting a girl pregnant, and the conversation had been in the back of my mind since then, but I’d obviously been busy.
I got out my laptop and set up the video chat. It was Saturday afternoon in Detroit, so he didn’t have school and hopefully my mother wouldn’t be hovering around, affording us a little privacy.
He’d been asleep so he yawned as he answered my call.
“Are you on a plane?”
I chuckled. “I am. Heading back to Limaj.”
“Cool.”
I didn’t want to beat around the bush so I got right to the point. “What’s going on with your situation?”
“False alarm.”
“It didn’t occur to you to text me so I could stop worrying?”
“Sorry. It’s been a rough week.”
I wanted to laugh but opted not to. I’d been seventeen once and remembered the things that had seemed like such a big deal back then. “I take it the young lady in question isn’t the Kelly we talked about?”
He shook his head. “No. She was…just a girl I had sex
with.”
“How come?”
“How come what?”
“Why are you just having meaningless, unprotected sex with girls you don’t have feelings for? I understand the allure of sex in general, but you’re already sleeping around?”
“Like you didn’t?”
“I did not.” I gave him a look. “I had a steady girlfriend in high school. Same girl for three years, until I left for the Marines. I only slept with one girl until then.”
“Well, I wanted to do it, and she offered. It was at a party.”
I sighed. I wished I had wisdom that went beyond “don’t do that—it’s not nice.” “Buddy, I want you to enjoy life, but remember that even if she was willing, she’s still a lady with feelings. Even if she hides them. Even if she acts in a way that you might think isn’t…appropriate. Are you familiar with the term slut-shaming?”
“Kinda.”
“It means mocking or shaming a woman who enjoys sex, who has it, willingly and regularly, with men of her choosing. Enjoying sex doesn’t make you a slut, and mocking a woman for it is unacceptable. No one is mocking you for having sex.”
Parker chewed his lip thoughtfully. “I guess I didn’t think about it like that.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. Which is why we’re having this talk. Because it’s not just your words, but your actions. So call her. Ask her if she’s okay. Ask her if she wants to talk, even though it was a false alarm. Be nice. You don’t have to date her or be her best friend, but you took what she offered and the two of you almost made a life-changing mistake—you owe her that much.”
“But if she was willing, why do I owe her anything? I didn’t force her or even initiate.”
“I guess owe isn’t the right word. It’s more about being a gentleman. And if she’s a wild child who sleeps with everything that moves and totally blows you off, that’s fine. Like I said, you don’t have to be with her, but show her respect anyway. Show her you’re not one of those men who will slut-shame. Let her know that even if it wasn’t romantic sex, it was still meaningful to you. It was your first time, right?”
He nodded.
“Imagine if it was her first time and you just blew her off. Don’t do it. Respect women, no matter what the circumstances are.”
“Okay. I will.” Parker hesitated. “I think I’m going to text Bonnie after we hang up.”
“Is that the young lady you slept with?”
He nodded. “Maybe she’ll want to meet for ice cream or something.”
“That’s a nice idea. And again, even if she acts like you’re crazy and she’s fine and what happened is no big deal, you still need to be the bigger person, the man. Be a man that other men aspire to be like. Long-term, it will serve you well.”
“Thanks, Xander. All right, I gotta go.”
“Talk soon, buddy. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I disconnected and turned in time to see Elen standing in the aisle, her cheeks a little red.
18
Elen
Hearing Xander talking to his younger brother about slut-shaming showed me a totally different side of a man that already confused me. So handsome it was intimidating, a badass Marine, college-educated, and also a gentleman. Not to mention amazing in bed, incredibly thoughtful, and apparently fluent in sign language. Who the fuck was this guy and why had I hated him so much before now? I’d never been one of those women who liked to play games or act coy with a man. Either I liked him or I didn’t. With Xander, everything I thought I knew about men went out the window. One minute I was so turned on I could barely contain myself, the next I wanted to punch him in the crotch.
Except I didn’t want to anymore. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to throw myself in his arms and let him hold me. But first I had to apologize for eavesdropping. Again.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I couldn’t sleep and then I didn’t know whether I should interrupt or…”
“It’s okay. I was talking to Parker.”
“I didn’t realize he was deaf.”
“Yes. He can read lips, so I talk and sign at the same time, but he’s too self-conscious to speak vocally unless we’re in person. I guess someone made fun of him in middle school, so now he only talks when we’re in private.”
“Poor kid.” I sank into the chair next to him.
“He’s a great kid and normally doesn’t let his disability stop him from anything, though dating has been a little tricky since most teenage girls don’t know sign language and he’s too self-conscious to speak.”
“The teenage years are difficult enough without a disability, so I’m sure it’s overwhelming for him sometimes.”
“Definitely. I try to be there for him, but my work schedule keeps me busy and he’s at school all day, so it’s not as often as I’d like.”
“When did you learn sign language?”
“When he was a baby. He was born deaf.”
“That was sweet of you.”
“I had no choice if I wanted to be part of his life, and I definitely do.”
“Would you teach me some words?”
“In sign language?” He frowned. “Sure. But why?”
“Isn’t he coming for a few weeks this summer? I’d like to be able to communicate with him at least minimally. It’ll be awkward for him if you’re the only one who knows how to sign.”
He seemed surprised at my offer and smiled. “I’ll be happy to. You want to learn a few things now, since neither of us can sleep?”
“I’d love that.”
“Okay, we’ll start with the basics. Let’s do the alphabet. This is A.”
I tended to be a quick study and after two hours had memorized most of the alphabet. We were both tired, though, and eventually dozed off in our chairs. The next time I opened my eyes, Ace was having coffee and doing something on his laptop and Xander was still asleep. I glanced out the window and it was daytime so I figured I’d been asleep a while.
“We land in an hour,” Ace said when he noticed I was awake. “We’ll probably be on the ground two hours to refuel and do some basic maintenance. I suggest we stay on the plane.”
“I agree.” I got up and headed to the bathroom.
When I got back, Xander was up and the flight attendant who flew with us had served breakfast. We kept it simple on the plane, even when Erik and Casey flew, but I was starving and a microwaved breakfast sandwich didn’t do much for me.
“There’s also fresh fruit and oatmeal,” Damiana, our flight attendant, said, noting my lack of enthusiasm.
“Some fruit would be great,” I told her.
I glanced at Xander and his eyes met mine curiously. I wasn’t sure what I saw in them, but it was something very much like what I’d seen just before we’d made love. As if he was silently waiting for me to make another move, to fix things between us. I just didn’t know how or if it was a good idea. It probably would have been logical to discuss things with him, but not in front of Ace.
I was also still reeling from my run-in with Omar. That slimy bastard wanted to marry me. Lennox had told Sandor months ago that she thought I was his target, and damn if she hadn’t been right. It was the scariest thing I could imagine and I felt a little sick as I absently sipped my coffee. The idea of the kind of coup he was talking about was horrifying. I’d thought Anwar had been a monster, but compared to Omar, I had a feeling we’d all underestimated him. They’d thought Omar had died when Anwar did, but he’d not only survived, he seemed to be flourishing and somehow managing to stir up yet another potential revolution in Limaj. Why couldn’t this guy disappear already?
He was possibly the smarmiest man I’d ever known. How my cousin Skye had ever married him was beyond me. Even as a younger man, he’d been oily. From the slicked back way he kept his dark hair, to his less-than-respectable reputation. A proclivity for prostitutes who purportedly often disappeared. Bar fights with unsuspecting men who supposedly looked at him wrong. Failing most of his classes in universi
ty and his father paying off the school to give him the degree. Not to mention the stories Skye had told me of what it had been like being married to him. Practically raping her on their wedding night, forcing himself on her whenever he wanted.
So many things that I knew about him made me want to run and douse myself in antiseptic just for merely having been in his presence. I hadn’t been afraid, though. Not with Xander and Ace next to me. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Xander wouldn’t let anything happen to me. All the friction and head-butting aside, I knew deep in my soul this man would die before he let anyone hurt me. It went beyond the fact that my cousin and brothers demanded nothing less of the men dubbed the Royal Protectors. This was about who Xander was as a man. And apparently who we were to each other, despite what was going on between us currently. The effect he had on me was magnetic. There was no other way to describe it. He was so, so sexy and I’d been without someone special in my life for so, so long.
I was in so much trouble.
We got home to Limaj late in the evening and I couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed. I loved being in Tahiti, but the trip had ended on a sour note and the flight had been painfully long. Luckily, we were home now and I could get a good night’s sleep. Except even after a hot bath, chamomile tea and reading for a little while, I wasn’t anywhere near ready to sleep. My brain was going a thousand miles an hour and my gut told me there was more than Omar on it.
I reached for my phone and hesitated before typing out a message.
ELEN: I need to see you. Will you come to my room?
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I waited for a response.
XANDER: Give me ten minutes. Just got done working out and need a shower.
I put the phone down and padded into the bathroom to freshen up. I looked tired, with no makeup and my hair hanging limply around my face, but somehow, I wasn’t worried about how I looked. Xander already knew what I looked like, both at my worst and my best. He’d seen me with pneumonia, at all kinds of royal events, and everything in between. He wasn’t the kind of guy who’d be scared off by a bad hair day or a woman without makeup. Now if only I could find a way not to scare him off with everything else.