Chapter 43
Zeus
Somehow, admitting that he’d saved Yas made the whole meeting-the-parents thing even more awkward.
Thankfully, Claudia came in a few minutes later and was able to pry Maryam off him, and Javad finally let go of Zeus’ hand so he could hold his wife up.
It was as though she’d been holding all her fear and emotions inside her, and now that the dam had broken, the flooding had started.
“The rest of our team is here, and Zeus and I need to get the details on what happened,” Claudia explained soothingly.
“With your permission, I’d like to start sending Yasmine’s friends through, just so they can see for themselves that she’s okay.
One or two at a time, so that you don’t have to leave the room. ”
“That will be fine,” Maryam said, sniffling and lifting her head, cutting off her husband’s denial.
She looked up at him. “Yasmine would want to see them. She’d want them to be able to see her.
” She glanced down at Yas, who seemed to have gone back to sleep now that she’d dropped the bombshell on her parents.
At least she was sleeping peacefully, without pain, for now.
Javad’s shoulders dropped as he sighed. “Very well.” He didn’t look entirely happy about having to share his daughter, and Zeus couldn’t blame him, but he knew Maryam was also correct.
Yas wouldn’t want her friends kept out. Especially because she was the type who wouldn’t appreciate being kept from her friends.
If it was Naomi in the bed instead of her, Yasmine would have wanted in.
Bending down, not caring who was watching, Zeus pressed a soft kiss to Yas’ temple before leaving the room.
Both Maryam and Javad nodded in approval.
So, if nothing else, her parents were in favor of him.
He had no idea whether that would help or hurt him in the future, but Yas seemed close with her parents, so hopefully, it would help.
Since Claudia had said the team was there, Zeus wasn’t surprised that there were more people in the waiting area.
It wasn’t just the team, though. Amara, a dominatrix from The Outlands club, was next to Grace now, talking with her, an anxious-looking blonde woman who was vaguely familiar at her side.
He thought he might have seen her at The Outlands before, too.
Claudia’s brother, Miguel, had shown up and was chatting with Jensen and Jennifer, who had claimed another small row of chairs.
Ashley had also arrived and was standing beside Lincoln, and he assumed Audrey’s bakery must be closed for right now because she had Audrey’s other worker, Alexis, with her.
Mrs. Sussex now had several other shelter workers with her, as well as Deonna Bowen, one of Senator Marlin’s aides.
“Wow,” he murmured. All these people who were part of Yas’ life, and he hadn’t known. He was damn glad he’d found out about her connections before the shooting, or this would have been a hell of a lot harder to deal with.
“Yeah, this is going to take a while.” Claudia sighed, then crooked her finger at Naomi, who was standing cuddled up against Drew. Drew kept his arm around his wife as they came over. “Yasmine’s parents say one or two people at a time can go in to see her. Can you be in charge of the visits?”
“I’ve got it,” Naomi said, nodding. She looked relieved at having something to do. “I’ll go first with Ashley, then I’ll start rotating the others through.” She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Does your brother need a turn?”
Claudia shrugged.
“He might want to say hi, but you can put him at the end. It doesn’t matter if her parents decide it’s been enough and he doesn’t get in.”
“What’s he doing here?” Zeus couldn’t help but ask since it didn’t sound like he was here for Yasmine. Claudia wasn’t hurt. Maybe he’d just heard she was in the hospital and came to check on her?
“Pure coincidence,” Claudia replied with an exasperated sigh. “His idiot best friend got roofied last night, but thankfully his bodyguards kept anything from happening to him. Miguel’s here to pick Ian up and came over to see what was going on when I texted him I was here.”
Someone had roofied Ian Blake? That seemed like it should get more than a footnote, but this was Claudia after all. She was likely the only person on the planet who would refer to one of the wealthiest men, who was on track to be head of one of the largest companies in the state, as an idiot.
That was very Claudia.
“Okay, let’s go. I want the update.” Claudia gestured, as though she expected Zeus and Drew to come trotting after her like obedient submissives. Zeus frowned, and Drew turned to give Naomi a kiss. Not that Claudia looked back to see if they were coming, but it was the principle of the matter.
Drew put his hand on Zeus’ shoulder just as Zeus was about to start walking. Naomi was already headed towards Yas’ room.
“Thank you,” Drew said with feeling.
Zeus suddenly found himself wrapped in his second unexpected bear hug of the day.
Drew was a lot taller and bigger than Yasmine’s mother, though, his muscles bulging as he squeezed Zeus.
It had been enough of a surprise that Zeus hadn’t been ready.
He tapped Drew’s shoulder to get the other man to release him because he needed some freaking air.
Apparently, Sporty Dom didn’t know his own strength.
Drew released him and gave Zeus a nod, taking another deep breath.
“Thank you.”
“Just doing my job.” Zeus shoved his hands in his pockets. He would have covered Naomi and Yas regardless, but it still felt weird to be hugged for doing exactly what he should have done. What anyone should have done.
“Just take the thanks, man.” Drew gave himself a little shake. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared as I was this morning, and seeing you there… Just, thank you. I’m sorry I’ve been giving you such a hard time.”
“No apology needed.” He waved it off.
Drew shot him a look, but nodded his head.
“Zeus. Drew. Over here.” Lincoln waved his hand. The rest of the team was gathered in the corner of the waiting area, waiting for them. As if everyone else present knew that there was serious business going on, they gave the little group a wide berth.
Zeus and Drew walked over to join them. He inserted himself between Jensen and Lincoln, while Drew went to stand between David and Claudia.
Mason was across from Zeus, and he gave Zeus a long look.
It wasn’t a glare, more curiosity than anything else.
Zeus still ignored it. What he and Yas did wasn’t any of Mason’s business.
“Okay. The senator’s team has her safe back at her headquarters now.
They’re going to hire us for more events in the future.
” Lincoln’s expression was grim. “There were two kinds of shots being fired—only a few from Pete James’ gun, which all went wild, except the bullet that hit Yasmine.
The ones that were recovered from the shelter’s exterior walls and the one that was in Pete James’ back were all from sniper rounds. ”
Lincoln’s voice was low, but the group went utterly silent, all of them exhaling at the same time as the news hit them.
“A sniper?” Zeus’ jaw flexed, along with his fist.
“Yes. Although we’re keeping that news under wraps for now.
” Lincoln glanced around at the rest of them.
“As far as anyone outside this circle knows, Pete James was responsible for everything today. The police are investigating, but the official story is that he was there for the shelter, and it just happened to coincide with the senator’s appearance there. ”
“Because the media would have a fucking field day.” Claudia scowled.
“Exactly. We’re going to be investigating, but we don’t need any panic, especially when we don’t know who the sniper was or what their goal was. Until we have more information, all of this is on lockdown.”
“Plus, you don’t want people to get copycat ideas since we didn’t catch the sniper.” Mason’s normally smooth voice was tight with tension.
“Also, yes. The senator gets enough death threats as it is, which is why we were hired in the first place. We don’t want to embolden anyone.” Lincoln’s expression was grim.
“Do we have any leads on the sniper?” Zeus asked.
“Not yet. The local police are still investigating. It took us longer than I’d like to realize there was a second shooter back in the trees.
By the time someone got back there to search the woods, the sniper was long gone.
Once the cops are done with the scene, we’ll go back and look through it to see if they missed anything.
” Lincoln looked around their little circle. “In the meantime, be on guard.”
Yasmine
Fewer pain meds meant everything hurt a lot more, but she was also a lot less loopy.
Yasmine grimaced as she woke up, her arm and shoulder throbbing, and looked around the room.
Her parents must have gone home, which she was glad about.
Every time she’d woken up before, they’d been there, and they’d looked more and more exhausted each time.
Zeus was there, though, dozing in a chair, his head at an extremely awkward angle. That looked like it was going to hurt when he woke up.
“Zeus,” she whispered, not wanting to wake him if he needed the rest, but also a little concerned about the angle of his neck.
Immediately, his dark eyes opened, and he snapped upright so fast, it was like she blinked and he changed position. The second his gaze met hers, his expression softened.
“Hey there, princess. How are you feeling?”
“Hurt. And not in the fun way.” She pouted at him, but it didn’t make him laugh the way she’d hoped. Instead, he jumped to his feet and was beside her bed, reaching for her arm. She winced before he’d even touched her. “It’s throbbing.”
“Got it.” He pressed the button for the nurse, and Yasmine sighed.