13. Christian
THIRTEEN
CHRISTIAN
Adelaide was distracted. She wouldn’t look up from her phone while we went through the plan.
Despite not wanting to, I kept looking at her every now and then. She kept staring at a text.
My nostrils flared. Who the fuck had her attention?
As I looked away, Hasan’s gaze clashed with mine. What? I looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders, his focus shifting to Osama.
“Excuse me,” Adelaide stood. Watching her walk away, my fingers bit into the wooden chairs.
I crushed the empty plastic cup in my hand.
“Now that she’s gone,” I glanced up to find Umaima staring at me with an expression that screamed she wanted to kill me. “Christian? I can call you Christian, right?” I hid my smile when she didn’t care to wait for an answer. “Why are you really marrying Adelaide?”
“Umaima,” Hasan warned but I merely shook my head, letting him know I was okay with it. A measly question coming from her best friend wasn’t going to scare me.
“Does there have to be a reason? Maybe I just want to win her back.”
Every important detail on her face extended to the ceiling before she bursts out into the most horrendous laugh I’ve ever heard. “Be so for real, Christian.”
“We’ve known her for the same amount of time, but don’t forget that I know her better than you and the chances of her taking you back are slim to none.”
Umaima carried on, oblivious to the narrowing of my eyes.
She was the fuel I needed.
A reminder.
That was it.
Even if seeing her again made me feel uncomfortable.
“It’s good to know she has someone looking out for her,” I replied with ease. “But mine and Adelaide’s history goes beyond your friendship. Her love for me went beyond the circumference of your heart, so Umaima,” I paused for dramatic effect. “I don’t answer to you.” From the corner of my eyes, Osama indicated with incessant blinking. What the fuck was he doing?
“Who said you can talk to my best friend that way?”
My heart stopped before skipping erratically.
Avoiding the situation, Hasan turned his head.
And Osama nodded in disappointment.
Umaima looked like she didn’t want this to happen. “It’s fine, Addie.”
“No, it’s not.” She snapped.
The chair erupted with a nasty squeak when she pulled it back. Bending down from the waist so we were eye-level.
Lazily, I turned to look at her.
She was breathing hard from the anger in her body. I seemed to be the only one who could truly ignite that spark.
Ever so easily, I could wrap my hand around her luxurious hair and pull her in for a kiss, silencing her and her fucking audacity. She’d be so pliable in my arms, so addictive.
She licked her bottom lip. It glistened under the sun rays, and I couldn’t look away from it. Shuffling on the chair, my throat bobbed like I licked her lip.
Her pupil flicked to the left, catching onto the strangers in line, then to the right, where Umaima openly gawked. Our moment broke.
She stood, looking down at me as if I were kneeling. As if I were the one who should be begging for forgiveness from her. Maybe if I were another man, who actually fucking cared about the stone wall surrounding my heart, I’d break it down for her. But when you lived in a life like mine—full of wrath and patience—none of it fucking mattered.
“If I ever hear you talking to Umaima or Hasan that way ever again, I don’t care if I have to beg Harry for my spot back, I don’t care if I have to eradicate all remaining pieces of my dignity by sleeping with the board members, because doing all of that would be better than marrying an ill-mannered and disrespectful man like you.”
My face tightened with the insult. Jaw clenched. Throat strained. Teeth gritted. She didn’t wait for me to think, to open my mouth, to say another fucking word.
When she walked away, my body itched to follow her. I fisted my hand on my thigh, controlling their impulses like they were fucking children who couldn’t sit still for one fucking second.
Osama, who posted himself against the window, worked hard to prevent any kind of physical connection between him and Umaima as she manoeuvred around the table.
Stopping midway with hands on her hips, she turned to face me. “Instead of insulting the people Adelaide loves most in the world, maybe find a way to learn about her instead of relearning the version you loved.”
With my tongue pushed up against my cheek, I rubbed the back of my neck without ever facing her.
Umaima exaggerated a sigh before her heels clacked against the floor.
Then she faded out, leaving the three men in the space speechless and staring at each other like the bunch of fucking idiots we were.