“We’re going home,” Paige whispered against his chest. In her voice he could hear the underlying question.
As her head tipped back to stare at him, he saw the silent question in the emerald depths.
It was a question he wasn’t ready to face.
“You have your life back now,” he promised her as he deliberately moved her to the seat beside him. While he held her, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t feel anything past his need for her.
“Yes,” she announced softly.
“Your job.” He moved in front of her to help remove her harness.
She blinked, her breath hitching as he watched the realization entering her gaze.
She nodded hesitantly. “My job,” she agreed, though that wasn’t true, he remembered. She had no job, because of him, Jafar, and Azir. She’d lost that, but maybe she could be rehired or else she could find another, he told himself. Another job, another apartment if she had to, and at the worst, she could find more friends. But she could only die once.
“Please don’t.” Her fingers lay against his lips as they parted again, her fear of what he might say almost as bad as the fear for her life had been. “If you’re going to walk out of my life then just do it, okay? I don’t want to know.”
Her lips trembled and it broke his heart. But as he nodded slowly and said nothing more, it broke her heart worse. He watched the pain move into her eyes, watched it drain the color from her fhere were simply no promises to give her.
She clasped her hands tightly in her lap and stared dismissively over his shoulder. As though she were done with him.
And God help him, he couldn’t blame her.
She was sleeping. Soft lips were parted, innocently belying the dark shadows beneath her eyes and the smudge of tearstains on her soft, pale cheeks.
Tariq simply could not believe his cousin’s stupidity. As if he and every man in the army helicopter hadn’t seen Abram’s gentle though destructive rejection of her.
Sitting in the netted area that posed as the passenger seat, he watched her sleep and wondered what Abram was thinking by walking away from her.
“I have to say, you’re a dumber bastard than I thought you were,” he commented quietly, his voice just loud enough to assure that Abram heard him.
He glanced at his cousin, catching the look that Abram shot the sleeping beauty as well.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that Abram wasn’t regretting any thought of walking away from her.
“I have enough ghosts haunting me.” Abram sighed. “I can’t add to them, Tariq. I don’t have the promises she needs.”
“She’s a woman, not a ghost,” Tariq objected with an edge of disgust. “And I didn’t hear her asking for any damned thing.”
Hell, talking to Abram was like talking to a wall, with the exception that the wall was probably more receptive on occasion.
“Let’s keep it that way,” Abram suggested, his tone caustic as he leaned closer to be heard over the sounds of the plane’s engines.
Tariq sat silently for long moments. He needed to figure this one out, quickly, before his cousin made the dumbest mistake of his life.
“Well, if you’re walking away then you can’t have a problem with me trying a hand at her heart, right?”
The look Abram turned on him promised violence. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
Tariq stared back at him, their gazes locked in a battle of wills that neither were used to.eight="0em">
“Tell me, Abram, do you think every man you give that order to is going to obey? Do you think Jafar considers this battle done in any way? That it’s over?” His brow lifted as he leaned back into the heavy interlocking straps of the cargo seat. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh yeah, here’s a better one,” he suggested. “When you’ve completely fucked up, figured out where you fucked up, and convinced yourself you can fix it, do you really believe she’s going to be sitting home alone, just waiting on you?”
Tariq had no doubt that was exactly what Abram thought. His arrogance could only be bested by Khalid’s or Jafar’s.
“Stay the hell away from her,” Abram repeated. “It’s my fault she was placed in danger this time. If it’s your fault the next time, then I’ll have someone’s ass to kick to make me feel better. I can ensure that ass kicking is yours.”
If nothing else, his cousin could be predictable when it came to Paige. He was incredibly stubborn sometimes, and Paige was one of the things that he could be incredibly stubborn about, but he was predictable.
Tariq nodded slowly before sliding his gaze to the side to catch Abram’s look, heated and filled with longing as he stared at her.
“Don’t make the mistake of asking me to be your third again,” Tariq warned him, aware of the look of surprise Abram shot him.
“Blackmail?” Abram’s brow arched as he turned a glare on him.
“Whatever you want to call it, cousin.” Tariq shrugged. “I think I’m rather like Paige. I’m just sick and fucking tired of you teasing the hell out of both of us. And be careful, I might just decide to take that ass whooping to get the girl. It didn’t look that damn bad when you were pounding on Jafar.”
If Abram’s look had been a bullet, it would have pierced his heart, shattered it, then probably found other important parts of his body to deal with.
“I’d make Jafar’s ass whipping look like a mother’s loving pat,” Abram retorted, his tone turning dark, furious. “Don’t push me on this, Tariq.”
Before Tariq could argue or throw the punch Abram was daring him to throw, his cousin surged to his feet. He moved quickly to the front of the plane where he could sit alone.
And Paige slept on. Maybe.
Tariq’s gaze narrowed on her lashes. He could have sworn he’d seen a glimmer of her gaze beneath them. Hell, if he had known she was awake he would have made certain to make it a little more entertaining for her.
There were times the life of a third could be a definite pain in the ass.
Abram stared at the woman that should be his lover, his gaze hooded, hunger pounding at him. The adrenaline produced by the fight with Jafar still thundered inside him, the need still raged and pulsed through his body.
The ending of that fight had left him questioning his cousin in ways he hadn’t before. He had never known Jafar to break his word on a deal. What had caused it this time? And why had he been so intent on keeping not just Abram, but also Paige?
The fight had been as much about possession of Paige as it had been about the possession of Mustafa lands, Abram decided. A possession the Mustafa family would now lose forever. Just as any small amount of control over Paige had been taken as well.
The emissary would arrive any day and find Abram no longer in attendance to take over guardianship of the fortress. An agreement that had existed for more than three hundred years would now come to an end, and for that Abram knew the monarchy would be more than thankful. It was an agreement he knew they had regretted nearly from the inception. From the day they had dealt with the first treacherous Mustafa.
There had been a few over the years who had dreamed of peace rather than war, but they hadn’t been in the majority.
He closed his eyes, unable to stare at Paige knowing that when the transport landed he would have to let her go. That or risk his sanity when he had to face the guilt of losing her.
Until Khalid, no son of Mustafa had ever found happiness in love. And Khalid’s happiness wasn’t yet assured. As long as Azir lived, there could be no assurances, there could be no security. And he was learning Khalid was a far braver man than he.