Chapter 42
Zeus
They were all still in the waiting area when an older couple came in, looking haggard.
Mason jumped to his feet from where he was sitting, his hand still in Audrey’s, just as Zeus did.
He only needed a glance at the woman to know these were Yasmine’s parents.
Yasmine was the spitting image of her mother, whose anguished expression made his chest tighten.
Fuck.
This was not how he would have wanted to meet Yasmine’s parents.
“Mr. Jafari. Mrs. Jafari.” Mason took several steps towards them, Audrey just behind him, her hand still firmly gripped in his, though she kind of looked like she wanted to run.
“Mason.” Yasmine’s mother greeted him, her voice tight.
Zeus didn’t miss the way her gaze flicked to Audrey, who shifted to be even farther behind him. Yasmine’s father just glared.
It was nice to have someone glaring at Mason for once, instead of the other way around.
Claudia stepped into the breach, coming up to greet Yasmine’s parents as Mason returned to his seat.
He took Audrey’s hand again but kept his gaze firmly away from Yasmine’s parents, while Audrey kept peeking at them as Claudia gave them the rundown on exactly what had happened.
They listened. Nodded. Both of them looked as if they were on the verge of collapse.
Not really knowing what his place was in this situation, Zeus remained in his seat.
Sarah and Grace were on either side of him, like elderly bodyguards.
Brenda was across from them with her friends, Mary and Karen, and they’d been getting to know Sarah and Grace, which was at least an entertaining conversation to listen to while they all waited for some kind of update on Yasmine’s condition.
Now that Yasmine’s parents were here, they’d probably be able to get a more in-depth update once one was available.
Zeus might have considered lying to the doctors and saying he was Yasmine’s fiancé, but he hadn’t wanted to risk that all falling apart in the face of his team’s reactions once they showed up. Or Yasmine’s friends.
The secrecy was now backfiring on him.
He just had to hope that Yasmine’s parents would share… that, or he’d need to go and hack the hospital’s system, but he’d have to leave the hospital to do that, and he didn’t want to take that step unless he absolutely had to.
Which meant it was just a long, long wait.
Naomi, Ashley, and Cassidy were huddled together, whispering. More than once, one of them would glance over at him, which he did his best to ignore. They’d paused in conversation to watch Mason greet Yasmine’s parents but had gone right back to it afterward.
More than once, he saw Naomi rolling her head around her shoulders, and a little pang of guilt struck him.
He’d taken her and Yasmine down hard, but it was better than being shot.
He knew she’d been checked over by the EMTs and pronounced fine because she’d said so when she’d first arrived in the waiting room, but he still felt bad.
Whatever scrapes and bruises she now had were due to him.
Better than being in the OR.
Sarah’s hand patted his.
“She’s going to be okay,” she whispered. “Our girl is strong.”
Something inside his chest eased. Not because he could be sure that Sarah was right, but because she was so firmly on his side. At least someone was.
Yasmine
Everything hurt.
“Baby? Sweetheart?”
Yasmine’s brow furrowed into a frown. Mom? No, that didn’t make sense. Her mom wouldn’t be at the women’s shelter.
Why were her eyes closed?
“Sweetie, are you awake?” Someone’s hand slid into Yasmine’s. Her mother’s hand. Why did her mother sound so tearful?
Yes. Yasmine tried to say. Tried to, but the word didn’t come all the way out, though her lips moved.
“Her mouth moved!” Maman was excited. Excited about Yasmine’s mouth moving.
What was going on?
Yasmine managed to force her eyes open and found herself face to face with her parents hovering over her.
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears as she smiled, a beaming, happy smile, despite the fact she was obviously about to cry.
Papa met her gaze, then turned his head away, rolling his shoulders back and exhaling.
What was going on?
She tried to squeeze her mom’s hand, but it was like her muscles weren’t working correctly.
What was that beeping noise?
Why was everything so white?
Yasmine tried to turn her head. The last thing she remembered was Zeus… Zeus looking down at her just like this. Because she’d been in an ambulance. Because she’d been shot.
She tried to jerk upright, but she barely twitched in response.
Nothing hurt. But she remembered everything hurting. But now it didn’t. Like magic.
Drugs. I’m probably on lots of the good stuff. Cuz I got shot. Getting shot gets you the good stuff, I bet.
Yasmine giggled.
“Baby?” Maman bent over Yasmine, exhaling as she squeezed Yasmine’s hand, putting her forehead against Yasmine’s. Her eyes closed, and she shuddered, several tears sliding from beneath her lashes to her cheek.
“I’m okay.” This time Yasmine’s mouth and tongue moved, and actual sounds were emitted, but they didn’t sound quite right. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth. And fuzzy. Like a sock. Sock tongue.
She giggled again.
Maman lifted her head and smoothed Yasmine’s hair back as Papa returned to his position. When he looked down at Yasmine, his eyes were suspiciously glassy.
“You have quite a crowd waiting to see you,” Maman said, still stroking Yasmine’s hair.
“There’s even a senator waiting to find out when she can visit you.
One of her aides is in the waiting room with everyone else.
” Her lips curved upward in the semblance of a smile, though it wasn’t quite her usual expression.
“You don’t have to see anyone until you’re feeling up to it, though,” Papa said, patting her other hand.
“We can send them all home.” Maman sounded almost hopeful. “Papa and I aren’t going anywhere, of course.”
“Zeus.” His name didn’t come out sounding quite right, although it was at least audible. Just slurred, and she was having trouble with the Z and the S.
Papa and Maman exchanged a confused glance, and Yasmine redoubled her efforts to make her request clear.
“Zeus.” Ending on a hiss was at least clearer than a ‘th’.
Both her parents looked at each other again, worry clear in their expressions.
“The Greek God?” Papa’s frown deepened. “Maybe we need to call the doctor back in. Did they say if she hit her head?”
If she didn’t want to see Zeus so badly, she would have cackled.
“Claw-dee-ah,” she said, enunciating as clearly as she could. Claudia would know who Zeus was and why Yasmine wanted him. She could do introductions.
The relief on her mom’s expression made Yasmine giggle again.
“Claudia! I’ll get her.” Maman turned and went to the door while Papa curved his fingers around Yasmine’s. He gave her hand a squeeze, slowly exhaling as he did so. Yasmine watched, fascinated, as he swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“It’s okay, Papa,” she tried to say, reaching to pat his hand, but she was having trouble moving. Her limbs were all floppy. Nothing was working quite right.
A moment later, Claudia was standing over her.
“Thanks for scaring the shi— I mean crap out of all of us. Sorry, Mrs. Jafari.”
“Claudia, I am temporarily in favor of cursing. If there was ever a situation for it, this is it. She scared the shit out of us, too.” Maman smiled weakly. She’d joined Papa on Yasmine’s other side.
Yasmine looked up at Claudia and did her best to enunciate again.
“Zeus.”
“That’s the second time she’s asked for a Greek God,” Papa said, his face falling again.
Both he and Maman appeared shocked when Claudia burst out laughing. Shaking her head, she looked down at Yasmine.
“Oh, so this was a secret secret, huh? It’s a good thing someone knows what’s going on and that I’m here.
Although I see how it is, getting me in here just so you can get to your man.
” She shook her head, still laughing, and looking at Papa and Maman.
“Don’t worry, she knows exactly who she’s asking for. Give me just a second.”
Claudia disappeared from Yasmine’s field of view, and she looked up at her parents and smiled hopefully at them. Somehow, the need to keep Zeus a secret now felt very far away. She wanted him here. With her. And her parents. It was that simple.
Zeus
Watching Claudia get up to go see Yas made his chest tighten. She hadn’t asked for him. She’d asked for her friend.
“Don’t worry,” Sarah whispered, patting his arm. “She’ll want to see you. She might not know you’re here.”
Right.
Or maybe she was still trying to keep him a secret. After all, she’d just gotten out of surgery. She didn’t know that Zeus had ruined their chances of keeping things under the radar. And she’d be loopy.
Leaning back in his chair, Zeus fought off the desire to leave the hospital.
He might get there. He might already be on his way out if not for Sarah.
But she was right. And now that he was sitting and thinking, instead of reacting, he could practically hear his old therapist in his head, reminding him that not everything was about him.
Yas was the one who had gotten shot. So, this was about her and what she needed. He needed to get his head out of his ass. He was in love with her, he didn’t know exactly how she felt about him, and they hadn’t gotten the chance to discuss it.
So, no running. No retreating.
He needed to wait. And when she was ready to see him, he’d go.
“Zeus.”
His head jerked up at the sound of Claudia calling for him. Sarah elbowed him in the side when he didn’t answer right away.
“Zeus.”
“Yes?”
“She wants to see you,” Claudia smirked at him. “Apparently, her parents misunderstood her request at first and thought she was asking for a literal Greek God, so she called for me.”
He sat there for a moment, his brain slow to process what Claudia was saying, until it suddenly hit him. Yas had asked for him. Before Claudia. Her parents just hadn’t understood who she’d been asking for.
Yas wanted him.
He jumped to his feet, ignoring the reactions of everyone around him as he rushed to the room.
Claudia stayed behind him, and he could hear her reassuring them all that Yas was awake and looking good before he reached her door.
One knock, then he opened it, only pausing for a moment when her parents’ heads lifted. They were on the other side of the bed.
Seeing her lying there, one arm immobilized in a sling, hair undone, face bare of makeup, head lolling, hit him with equal parts concern and relief. Her eyes were open, and she was smiling, but he also knew she was injured. She’d been shot.
Her parents were standing on the side of her bed as her immobilized arm, her dad’s hand in hers, where it was sticking out of the sling.
“Soooooos,” she said, happily drawing out his name, as he approached the bed, her face lighting up.
Her parents were watching him and her very carefully. What feelings they might have about him, he wasn’t sure, because both of their expressions were blank. Which wasn’t all that surprising under the circumstances.
He was now also even more understanding of why her parents didn’t realize she was asking for a real person. Yas was high on painkillers, and she was completely loopy. It did not seem out of the realm of possibility that she might be asking for a mythical character rather than a real person.
Just a couple steps took him to her bedside, and she beamed up at him, eyelashes fluttering as her eyes shut the moment he touched her hand.
Which left him standing across from her parents while she was out of it.
Suddenly, he was very aware that he was dirty, his clothes were torn, and there were still some specks of blood on his arms he hadn’t noticed when he’d gone to the bathroom to wash his hands.
This was not at all how he’d want to meet the parents.
“Uh, hi.” He lifted his gaze to face them. Normally, meeting new people didn’t faze him. But he also didn’t normally care about total strangers’ opinions of him. That was not the case here. “I’m Zeus. I’m ah… Yas and I have been dating.”
“Soos,” Yas repeated happily, beaming up at him as she squeezed his hand.
“Yas?” Her mother asked faintly, then gave herself a little shake before Zeus could respond. “Hello. I’m Maryam, and this is Javad. We um… I wish I could say it’s nice to meet you, but the circumstances…”
“This isn’t how I wanted to meet you, either.” Zeus looked down at Yasmine, his expression softening. He rolled his shoulders back. “I’m not sure when or if she planned for us to meet.”
“The curse,” her mother whispered.
Javad sighed and held his hand out in front of him, over Yas.
“It’s nice to meet you, Zeus.”
“You too, sir.” Zeus reached out, trying to ignore the little flecks of dark red he’d missed on his arms earlier. Hoping her parents wouldn’t realize what they were.
As he shook hands with Yas’ father, her eyes opened again, and she smiled brightly.
“Soos save me.” She looked over at her parents. “Soos save me.”
“You saved her?” Maryam stared at him, dark eyes wide, mouth slightly agape.
Javad’s grip tightened on Zeus’ hand as his expression filled with emotion.
“I, well, I covered her when the shooting started, but…” But he hadn’t prevented her from getting shot.
He didn’t get the chance to say so, though, because Maryam had already run around Yas’ bed to throw herself at him.
With his hand in Javad’s grip, he only had one arm to catch her as she wrapped both of her arms around him and noisily burst into tears.
Zeus held her up as she sobbed into his shoulder, still holding Javad’s hand. What else was he supposed to do?