Chapter 35
Yasmine
“I’m so sorry I didn’t call you when everything first went down,” Yasmine said sincerely, pacing back and forth in Zeus’ living room.
He’d gone to take Tiger for his walk, and she’d hung back to be able to call Naomi privately.
She wasn’t sure yet if she was going to tell Naomi about Zeus, but she at least needed to hear everything about Pete James.
It made her feel weird not to tell Naomi, who she’d been friends with for longer than Audrey or Cassidy, and they knew, but things were already a little weird between Naomi and Drew.
If he found out she’d known and hadn’t told him…
Yasmine didn’t want to be responsible for making their situation worse.
They’d been having such a difficult time conceiving, and she knew that Drew hadn’t been home much lately. Naomi had been working a lot, too.
“Girl, stop. I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I should have.” Naomi sighed. “I’m just… there’s so much going on right now. My focus was on informing the shelter residents, former shelter residents, and the regular workers…”
“As it should be,” Yasmine said firmly. “I don’t blame you at all. I should have been the one to reach out to you. I just…” This was the perfect time to bring up Zeus and explain why she hadn’t reached out, but still she hesitated.
“No, seriously, it’s fine. Even if you had called to tell me, he found my house the very next night, and we haven’t had half the amount of trouble you have. I just want to make sure you’re okay and protected.”
“I am. Promise.” Perfect time to mention by whom…
“Good. It’s not just that that’s had me running around like a crazy person, though. Did I tell you that Senator Marlin is coming to visit the shelter tomorrow?”
“She is? Oh, my goodness, that’s amazing!”
“Yeah, it’s not being publicized ahead of time, for obvious reasons, but she’ll talk about it afterward. The work we do and how to get in touch with us.” Naomi sounded incredibly proud. “She wants to get involved now, but if she becomes governor, she can do even more.”
“You know I’m a big fan of hers,” Yasmine said enthusiastically. “Um, any chance I can get an invite?”
“Probably. Everyone who is going to be here has to be thoroughly vetted, but you have an in since you were engaged to Mason and are friends with Claudia and me,” Naomi said teasingly. “Black Fox is helping with security tomorrow.”
“Oh, really?” Perfect time, perfect time… Yasmine spun in place and flopped down on the couch.
“Yeah, they’ve been providing extra security for her because of all the threats she’s gotten since she announced her run.”
Yasmine scowled and leaned her head back against the couch. “I hate people sometimes.”
“Preach, sister. Are you going to be okay today? Are you going home?”
“Um, I haven’t decided yet.” Tell her. Just tell her.
“Valid. Okay, I’ve gotta go. I have a million things to do to prep before the senator’s visit tomorrow, and I’ll get back to you on whether you can drop by for it as well.”
“Okay, great. Thank you.”
“No problem, hun. Stay safe. Bye!”
“You, too. Bye.” Yasmine tried not to feel too guilty as Naomi hung up. It just hadn’t been the right time. She’d tell Naomi after the senator’s visit. Now was not the time to bog Naomi down with personal drama stuff.
Just as she was sitting down on the couch, phone at her side, Zeus and Tiger returned. As soon as Zeus got him off the leash, Tiger bounded over to say hello, as if he hadn’t seen her twenty minutes ago. Yasmine couldn’t help but smile, bending forward to cover him with pets.
“Everything go okay with Naomi?” Zeus hung up Tiger’s leash, glancing at Yasmine, but not keeping eye contact. He turned his head, pulling away from it.
“Yeah. I didn’t tell her about us.” It felt like a confession, even though she wasn’t sure she’d done anything wrong. Claudia had advised against it after all. And she was doing it in part for him. “I don’t want to mess things up with the team for you more than they already are.”
“There’s not much worse you could do than cheating on me with Devlin and the team finding out about it,” he said dryly. “As secrets go, I think the fact that we were fucking doesn’t rate quite as highly. Even if you were Mason’s ex.”
But Zeus still saw it as a betrayal of him, that she’d kept a secret from him, Yasmine realized.
Something she might regret now, but at the time it had felt like the better choice…
at least, the better choice to getting what she’d wanted at the time.
She’d told herself it wasn’t a real relationship, but the truth was, somehow, she felt closer to Zeus than she had to any of her ex-boyfriends. Or Mason.
He’d gotten to know her better. Seen more of her.
And none of that had chased him away. He hadn’t thought she was too much or overdramatic.
Neither of them had followed any of the ‘rules’ she had in her head for what dating should look like.
The thing that had made him pull back was a lie of omission. Which she couldn’t even blame him for. She just wasn’t sure how to make up for it… although she was quickly realizing she did want to make up for it.
Because she wanted Zeus.
As a fuck buddy. As a boyfriend. As whatever.
But she wanted him. She wasn’t trying to plan for the future because she wasn’t sure they had one.
She had no idea what that would look like.
If he would ever even want to get married, have kids, or any of the things she’d wanted.
Yes, she did still want those things, and she would want to have that conversation with him…
This was normally the point where she would just let the relationship fizzle because she couldn’t see a way forward for them. She wasn’t sure what she should, or could, do to fix things. Yet she wanted to try. She didn’t want to give up.
She didn’t want to surrender him to some other woman, some other happily-ever-after.
Could the two of them have a happily-ever-after?
There were never any guarantees, but she wanted the chance to find out.
Maybe if she’d known that from the beginning, she would have made different choices along the way, but she never could have predicted she’d end up feeling this way.
Especially not after such a short period of time.
They hadn’t known each other that long, yet in some ways, she felt like she knew him better—and he knew her better—than anyone ever had.
“We should go back and get your car, so you can do what you need to for the day.”
“Actually… I was thinking I might stay here, if that’s okay?
We’re going to go pick up Hope today anyway, right?
I could go visit with Sarah, if you don’t want me in your house, and if she’s up to it…
” Yasmine didn’t think she could go to work today.
In fact, she needed to contact Veronica and Amara and tell them it might be best for them to stay out of the office until the police caught Pete James, just in case he showed up there looking for her.
Or maybe he was too worried about cameras on a commercial building, whereas he hadn’t been with a house, but regardless, they needed to be updated.
“No, you can stay here. Though Sarah probably would appreciate the company.” Zeus still wasn’t looking at her. “I can come get you before we go get Hope.”
“Okay, great. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Except it was a problem.
On one hand, Yasmine didn’t want to overstay her welcome… on the other hand, if she was here, Zeus couldn’t ignore her entirely. Maybe he’d be more ready to talk after work today. She could only hope.
“I’m off.” Their gazes caught again, and he gave her a brisk nod. “Since you’re here, would you mind taking Tiger for a midday walk? I can tell my dog walker that she can have a break today.”
“Sure.” Yasmine scratched Tiger’s ears. The dog was sitting firmly planted next to her feet, panting happily.
“Thank you. I ah, I’ll let you know when I’m on the way back.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Yasmine watched him go, feeling more than a little wistful as he closed the door behind him.
She looked down at the dog sitting at her feet.
“Okay, Tiger. I need to call Amara and Veronica, then see if Sarah wants a visitor… and then somehow figure out how to make things up to Zeus before we’re really not dating. ”
Zeus
The office was abuzz with energy when he arrived.
David and Mason were in the lobby. Both looked up and raised their hands in greeting when Zeus stepped off the elevator, then immediately returned to their conversation.
Their voices were low when Zeus stepped through the glass door into the lobby area, low enough he couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Behind the front desk, Jennifer was seated in her chair like normal, but she seemed tenser. As though she was sitting straighter or something.
“Everything okay?” he asked, pausing at her desk, just to see what she would say.
She smiled, but it was strained, not the wide, open smile she normally had.
“Yeah, a friend of mine is just having some issues. David and Mason are helping out.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Thank you. If something comes up, I will.” Jennifer’s smile was a little more sincere now.
Zeus wondered if it would stay that way if she knew that Yasmine was at his house right now.
Moving past the front desk and away from Mason and David’s low tones, Zeus made his way down the hall to Lincoln’s office. Harris, Lincoln’s brother and the other partner in the firm, was just coming out, and he nodded a greeting to Zeus, who nodded back.
Leaning through the doorway, Zeus rapped his knuckles against the door to get Lincoln’s attention.
The older man was behind his desk, head bent over some papers.
Probably whatever he’d been discussing with Harris.
At the sound of Zeus’ knock, his head came up, expression concerned, then clearing when he saw who it was.
“Morning, Zeus.”
“Good morning. Do you have a minute?”