Chapter 43 Rage Dance

Chapter 43 Rage Dance
Zayd

The video call caught me off guard. I hadn't even checked who it was before I answered thinking it was Jim calling to check if I got my phone back. 

I had somehow lost my phone four days ago on a mini hiking with Ian and the rest of the kids. Then her face filled the screen and I forgot I was supposed to care about anything else.

"Amrah," I said, and I heard how my own voice sounded, dripping with softness.

I fucking want her here immediately.

I watched her cheeks go red and her throat move when she swallowed, and something in my chest loosened like I had been holding my breath for four days without noticing.

"Where have you been?" she demanded glaring at me, but the anger in her voice was thin, stretched over something else.

"I'm sorry I didn't call —"

"Don't bother." She cut me off lifting her chin defiantly.

"I was just checking if you were dead and you are not which is great. I'm having a blast here actually, so don't worry about me."

"Amrah —"

But she was already moving, phone tilting wildly as she walked back into the crowd where the music grew louder, drowning whatever I was about to say. 

"Hold this, Daphy. Point it at me."

“Huh? Why?” She peered into the phone and saw me. 

“Oh. Okay,” Daphy took the phone from Amrah and angled the camera obediently. 

And then I watched Amrah walk straight up to a pole in the middle of the deck, hips already moving before her hand even touched it.

I sat up so fast the towel nearly gave out.

"Amrah. Amrah, what are you doing —"

She didn't answer or she probably didn't hear me over the music. She didn't even look at the phone. Her head tipped back as her body moved with sensuality.

That dress, God, that dress, the way it was clinging to her curves and every guy within ten feet had turned to watch her made my fingers tighten around the phone hard enough that the case creaked.

I have never in my life wanted to break something as badly as I wanted to break whatever was in front of her.

It wasn't just jealousy. 

I know jealousy, I have felt it plenty, watching other men look at things that weren't mine to claim. This was worse, it was closer to panic, watching her spin further and further from my reach with every second, surrounded by hands that had no right to be near her, eyes that had no right to look at her like that.

"Get that phone out of her face," I said to Daphy who couldn't hear me over the bass. I was already reaching for my clothes.

“I mean get out of there, fuck”



Forty minutes was all it took me to go from watching her give some bloody fuckers a show over video call to standing on the same yacht watching her hunch over the bar, another glass in her hand with mascara smudged at the corner of one eye.

"He doesn't care," she was saying, to Daphne or to the drink in her hand. 

“I'm so unlucky. Stupid me."

"You are not stupid," Daphne said, and she sounded steadier than Amrah, sober enough to catch my eye the second I stepped closer.

"I'm taking her with me," I said.

I didn't wait for permission as I crossed the space and got my arm under her before she even registered I was there, lifting her carefully off the stool she had been sitting on.

"You!" She twisted in my arms, wine sloshing dangerously close to spilling. 

“What are yo— put me down!"

"No. You need rest. That's enough drinking, Amrah."I gently took the glass from her right grip and dropped it on the counter. 

"Leave me!" Her voice pitched high enough that a few heads turned our way, curious, entertained probably.

“Uh? Zayd, you are here” That honeyed voice was no one but Sally.

She moved closer her eyes darting between the protesting Amrah in my arms and me. 

“I didn't know you were so close to Amy” she commented after a pause.

“I'm.” I gave a curt and short reply making it obvious that I didn't want to talk to her.

“Oh, I see. I was about to come help Daphy take her to her room. She has been making a mess during dinner. Even if she is going through…”

“Get out of my way” I cut off whatever nonsense she was spouting. 

Everyone stopped, you could hardly hear anyone’s breath, they were definitely anticipating a good show from me. But I wanted nothing more than to get Amrah out of here to my own yacht and give her all to myself.

“Let go of me as well” Amrah spoke up breaking the awkward silence.

“No, you're coming with me” 

“Why should I? You abandoned me for four days” she mumbled the last part staring into my eyes with glossy eyes. 

It seems she was not aware that we had an audience. 

“I'm sorry”

"She said you should leave her."

I went still.

Chris.

I hadn't clocked him in the crowd until his voice cut through, laced with the kind of confidence that told me he had been waiting for exactly this kind of opening. 

I set my jaw and didn't loosen my hold on her.

"This doesn't concern you," I said.

But I couldn't help but wonder when his father decided to let him off. Jim is dead for missing such an important detail.

"Doesn't it?" Chris pushed off the bar, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world and wanted me to know it. 

“She's mine. And she just told you to put her down”

Amrah had gone quiet in my arms, tense, her fingers curling slightly into my shirt — whether to push me away or hold on, I honestly couldn't tell anymore.

"Amrah," I said, low, only for her. "Do you want me to leave?"