Chapter 45
Yasmine
“Hello?”
The voice was familiar, and Yasmine’s eyes flew open. She’d been resting, waiting for her parents to get back from her house, where they’d gone to pack up a bag for her. She couldn’t wait to get out of this hospital gown and into some real clothing.
Payam stood uncertainly in the doorway, a sheepish smile on his face. Yasmine blinked just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. But no, he was still there, smiling like he wasn’t certain of his presence, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
“Um, hi?”
Clearing his throat, Payam took a couple of steps in.
“My mother told me you were here. And you’d been shot?” The bewilderment in his voice matched what Yasmine felt whenever she thought about it.
“Wild, huh?” She managed to laugh. “Not how I thought my week was going to go.”
Walking to the side of the room where there was a small table covered in flowers, Payam added his to the pile.
He looked wildly uncomfortable, and Yasmine’s heart went out to him.
Regardless of his mother’s expectations, and possibly Yasmine’s own mother’s expectations, despite what she’d said about Zeus, it was nice of him to come by and see her.
It was the polite thing to do, which was probably why he’d done it. She got the feeling that Payam always did the right, proper thing. A lot like Mason. A lot like a lot of the men she’d dated.
Zeus was different. Not that he didn’t do the right thing, but he didn’t do it because it was the proper thing to do.
He did it because he felt it was the right thing to do.
If the proper, mannerly thing to do didn’t feel like the right thing, she had no doubt that he’d do what he felt was right without a moment’s thought.
Payam would have to think about it and would hesitate over whether being ill-mannered was actually the right thing to do.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad trait, but she’d found she preferred Zeus’ more direct way of looking at things. Especially when it came to her.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing here,” Payam admitted, casting his gaze over the pile of flowers before turning to face Yasmine. “I hate hospitals. But it didn’t feel right just sitting at home once I’d heard where you were and how you got here. I thought I should at least stop by.”
“I appreciate that. It’s very kind of you.”
Coming over to the bed, Payam’s expression was blanker than normal. As though he was suppressing some kind of emotion.
“I hate hospitals.” His tone was flat. Given what he’d been through, she could only imagine that being here was bringing back a lot of bad memories for him.
“Then it was even kinder of you to come. You don’t have to stay on my account, though.” She smiled gently, hesitating, and then decided to just rip the bandaid off. He deserved to know. “My parents are on their way back and my boyfriend should be on his way soon. I’m being released this afternoon.”
“Boyfriend, huh?” The smile that curved Payam’s lips was sincere.
His shoulders even relaxed a little. Another indication that they weren’t meant to be together, even if he was more her usual type.
He was clearly committed to doing the right thing, but he wasn’t heartbroken or even hurt to hear that she had someone.
“Yeah. Sorry.” She couldn’t quite fight the urge to apologize, even though she knew it wasn’t necessary.
“You’re not worried about the curse?” There was nothing antagonistic in his question, just pure curiosity.
“Maybe a little, but I’m trying to do things differently. And he’s… different.” Zeus was different. She felt differently about him than any of her previous relationships, even though she hadn’t known him long.
She’d felt that way even before being shot, although she felt like ending up in the hospital had changed her mindset from where it had been before. Wasn’t there some quote about how being sentenced to a hanging focused a person’s mind? She’d have to look it up.
The one thing she did know was that she didn’t want to force feelings where there weren’t any, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to deny ones that were there. Life was too short and too precious. Something she now realized Payam already knew.
“Well, that’s good.” Despite the sadness in his eyes, which never seemed to go away, Payam did seem genuinely pleased for her. “I wish you nothing but the best.”
“Thank you. I wish the same for you.”
He chuckled, though there was no humor to the sound.
“Unfortunately, I believe I’ve already had that. I don’t know that fate would be kind enough to send such a blessing twice.” There was still grief tinging his voice, but mostly resigned acceptance. He truly had no expectations or hope of finding more in the future.
God, he made her heart hurt. But he also made her determined to grab onto what she had now rather than trying to deny the fact that she had fallen in love with Zeus. Where that might lead, she didn’t know. It was enough for right now, though.
“Take care, Yasmine.” Payam held out his hand, and Yasmine took it.
A brief warm squeeze of fingers that left her feeling nothing but sympathy and friendship.
She was so glad she’d met Zeus; otherwise, Payam would have been very tempting as a prospect for a comfortable future…
but it would have been a future without passion.
“You too, Payam.”
She settled back against the bed, watching him leave. In some ways, he would have been the safe option, while Zeus was anything but… yet she didn’t regret her decision at all. She wanted Zeus. Ups and downs, cursed or not cursed, marriage-minded or not marriage-minded.
They would talk about it. Eventually.
Zeus
It was like his parents always knew the worst time to call. His phone rang right as he was pulling into the hospital parking lot, and he felt his entire body tense up when he saw the Caller ID.
Just leave me alone.
Fuck. He might need to block them.
On the other hand, he had no doubt they’d go around that somehow if they could. They didn’t want him noncommunicative; they wanted him to come home and keep up the pretense.
He’d never flat-out told them why he’d left. Never acknowledged it. Which wasn’t like him at all in most situations. Maybe it was time to let them know he wouldn’t be playing their games anymore. He didn’t want to start his future with Yas with this black cloud from the past hanging over him.
And he sure as hell didn’t want them to keep calling while he was trying to focus on helping her heal and keeping her safe.
Zeus swiped to accept the call.
“What?”
“Zeus? Zeus, is that you?” The sound of his mother’s surprised voice made his entire body tense.
“It’s me.”
“Zeus! My boy!” If his mother’s voice had made him tense, his father’s made his whole body quiver with rage. His hand fisted at his side. “When are you coming home?”
“I’m not. I’m not coming home because I’m done pretending that the way you treated Mom is okay.
I’m done pretending that you aren’t an abusive husband and father.
You want to write me out of the will, that’s fine.
I don’t want anything from you.” As his father sputtered, Zeus’ tone shifted.
“Mom, if you ever want me to come get you, call me, and I’ll be there to get you away from him in a heartbeat. ”
“What? Zeus, no, of course not. You’re just confused.” His mother’s soothing tones did anything but make him feel better.
“I’m not confused at all, Mom. You want help getting away from him, call me. Otherwise, I want you both to leave me alone. If you call me again about me coming home, I’ll block your numbers.”
“You damn, ungrateful—”
Zeus hung up the phone as his father started shouting furiously, while his mom made shushing noises, obviously trying to calm him down.
He hoped his mother wasn’t going to pay the price for that conversation, but he also knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it if she did.
If she didn’t want to leave, he couldn’t make her. She had to want to go, and she didn’t.
All he could do was hope that his words had gotten through to her. Maybe she’d call sometime in the future. He didn’t hold out much hope, though.
He sat there in the car for several long minutes. Deep breaths. Trying to calm his nervous system, which felt all fizzy and buzzed. Not how he wanted to go into the hospital. They didn’t call back. Which helped.
Hopefully, this was the last time he heard from them unless his mom decided she wanted out.
Just seeing their number on his phone was enough to set him off.
He had no control over his mother’s actions, only his own.
Sometimes, the reassurance his therapist had given him helped; sometimes, it didn’t.
There was nothing he could do for his mom, which meant he had to choose what was best for him.
Unfortunately, since his mom wanted him to join her in pretending his father wasn’t abusive, that meant cutting her off, along with his dad.
Every second that went by that the phone didn’t ring again helped him relax a tiny bit more.
Finally, he gave himself a little shake and got out of the car, shoving his phone in his back pocket.
He did feel a little lighter having gotten that off his chest. Now they knew.
It was out in the open. No more letting them pretend he was just ignoring their calls because he was busy or ungrateful or a bad son.
They would probably convince themselves of that, anyway—at least his father would—but at least Zeus had finally said it. No matter what either of his parents told themselves, they’d had to hear the words. Which might be the most closure he ever got.
He hadn’t thought it would make that much of a difference, but he did actually feel better. Walking into the hospital, even his steps felt lighter. It helped knowing that Yas was being released this afternoon, but that wasn’t the full reason why.