Chapter 47 Kiss suspension

Chapter 47 Kiss suspension
Amrah:

The silence after Zayd's statement stretched too long, thick enough that I could hear the faint hum of the jet's engines. I took a moment to pull myself together and not think about how I wanted to kiss him as well.

"I didn't lie... I was just hurt." Zayd adjusted in his seat, waiting for me to continue.

I looked away from him because looking at him would soften my heart and stop me from saying what I wanted to say.

"Do you know what actually hurt?" I said quietly, staring at my hands instead of him.

"What?" The gentleness in his voice calmed me a little bit.

"It wasn't the accusation." My voice wavered, and I hated it, but I kept going anyway. "You disappeared for four days, Zayd. Four days, no calls, no texts, nothing. And the first thing you ask me when you finally show up is whether I only kissed you to make Chris jealous."

I looked up at him then, and something in his face cracked right down the middle.

"Amrah—"

"I get that it was due to everything that happened earlier. But it hurts regardless, not the question itself. Just that, after everything, that's where your mind went first."

He was quiet for a long moment, his jaw working like he was chewing on the right words before letting them out.

"I shouldn't have assumed the worst," he said finally, low and sincere.

I didn't answer right away. Instead, I folded my arms and studied him, letting the silence sit there until he started shifting slightly in his seat, clearly uncomfortable under the weight of it.

"Apology accepted," I said at last. "You have apologized twice."

He visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping an inch.

I smiled sweetly. "But."

His eyebrow shot up. "But?"

"You don't get your payment for the next four days."

He blinked. "...Payment?"

"Our contract," I reminded him. "Two kisses a day, remember? You signed up to be my bodyguard, and that was the deal."

"Amrah—"

"Since you disappeared for four days," I continued, ignoring him completely, "I'm docking your salary."

For a second, he just stared at me. Then he laughed, a real one, the kind that made something in my chest loosen for the first time all night.

"That's fair," he said.

I narrowed my eyes. "You are accepting that too easily."

"I don't negotiate with my employer."

"So you're admitting I'm your employer?"

"I believe we already signed the contract."

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't stop the smile tugging at my mouth. The whole cabin felt lighter suddenly, like someone had cracked a window and let fresh air in.

After a few quiet, comfortable minutes, Zayd glanced toward the back of the jet.

"There are two bedrooms," he said.

"Bedrooms?" I sat up a little straighter.

"You have had a long night."

He gestured toward the corridor at the back of the cabin. "Go rest."

I got up, more tired than I wanted to admit, and made it halfway down the narrow hall before something stopped me cold.

"Wait." I turned around. "Where exactly are we going?"

Zayd looked up from his seat, and for a second, I thought he might dodge the question entirely.

"To meet my brother," he said instead.

I blinked. "Your little brother?"

His whole face softened.

"Yes."

A smile spread slowly across my face. "So... I'm finally meeting him?"

"Yes. You promised to celebrate his birthday with us."

I laughed, surprising myself with how easily it came. "Of course I did."

Something in the air between us eased even further.

"Then get some sleep," he said.

The bedroom exceeded every expectation I could have had. Cream walls, soft golden lighting, dark wood furniture polished to a shine, and a bed so large and plush. The whole room smelled faintly of cedar and something clean, something expensive.

I wandered further in, still trying to wrap my head around how someone who claimed none of this belonged to him had this kind of unrestricted access to it.

Then I saw something sitting neatly in the center of the bed.

"My phone?"

I snatched it up immediately, my heart doing something strange and warm in my chest, then hurried back out into the corridor.

"Zayd?"

He appeared almost instantly, like he had been waiting just outside the door.

"My phone was here," I said, holding it up.

"I know."

"How?"

"I asked Jim to collect it from Daphy before we left."

I stared at him. "You... remembered?"

"You sounded worried about it."

Something warm unfurled in my chest, spreading slowly and unexpectedly. "Thank you."

He just nodded, like it was nothing, like he hadn't just done something that made my stomach flip.

Then another thought hit me. "My bag?"

"You won't need it."

"What do you mean I won't need it?"

"You can wear my clothes."

I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. "I'm sorry—" I looked him up and down, taking in his broad shoulders and the height difference that put the top of my head somewhere around his chin.

"You and I know they wouldn't fit me." My cheeks heated up as I remembered the last time I wore his shirt.

His gaze drifted over me, just a fraction longer than it needed to. "I got your size this time."

Heat rushed straight to my face. "You're impossible."

"Am I?"

I pointed a warning finger at him, trying and failing to keep a straight face. "If every single thing in that wardrobe is black, you are getting fined."

His lips twitched, that almost-smile I was starting to recognize. "Okay, ma. I'm at your beck and call, anytime."

He wasn't lying. He had gotten a perfectly oversized sweater and shorts ready for me in the closet, and there were other clothes neatly folded, but I was too tired to check them.

“The shorts fit perfectly, how did he do that?” I asked myself in surprise, looking down at the shorts hugging my butts just the way I like it.

<<<>>>

It was the intrusive thoughts that hit you when you are about to sleep that pulled me out of my doze. A hard realization hit me about the drama Chris had pulled and how ridiculous it was.

He must have known about my closeness with Zayd. Worse still, he had staged it all and told Jack to come in with the video at the right time.

I should have been bolder. I should have exposed how he was just a wimp who slept with anyone he found attractive, regardless of gender.

But I didn't have any physical evidence like Jack... Jamal would definitely be disappointed in me if he found out that I had let someone overpower me yet again.

"It's not too late," I muttered into the dimly lit room. I could still get back at him and ruin that sparkling reputation of his.

That being said... how did the jet have clothes that matched my preferences in the closet if Zayd had just borrowed it from a friend?

Zayd...

Who are you, really?