Page 81 of Moros

“Us.”

Khadri slurped some juice through the straw while staring at me then laughed. He laughed and shook his head before returning his gaze toward where we’d walked from.

“It’s not funny.” I grunted.

“Of course, it is.” He told me. “There is no us, Ryanne. There is a you. There is a Todd. There is a you and Todd. What we were, I’m assuming was a distraction. It was—I don’t know—an experiment, something to pass the time.”

“Why are you being like this with me?”

Khadri finished his coconut and used the husk for a three point shot to a nearby garbage bin.

“Because you’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel about me.” He told me. “I’m the man with the face only a mother could love, right? The face that time forgot?”

“I never said that.”

“But you didn’t speak up for me either.”

The shame burned through me.

Even if I had very few experiences with men, I knew they wanted to be claimed. They wanted their women to think they were sexy, to speak up for them. And while I thought he was very sexy, I’d sat there and listen to the horrible things Todd had said about him.

I hadn’t defended him.

With my entire soul, I wished he hadn’t heard any of that. And I could try explaining until I was blue in the face, I knew there were no words to fix this.

“I just didn’t know what to say.” I replied.

“How about don’t say that?” Khadri asked. “That would be the perfect place to start. Even though we weren’t dating and we hadn’t discussed what we were I would have never let anyone talk about you like that—whether you were in the room or behind your back. Damn—I sound like such an asshole—shit!”

He grabbed his phone, still staring off into the distance.

“I found Paul.” He spoke into the receiver. “He’s on the island, and I’m looking at him right now.”

“What?” I tried turning to look but he caught my arm.

“Sit, still.” He barked. “Tex, send Zero my way. Where are the others? Okay. I’ll stay here.”

He hung up the phone.

My heart was racing for an entirely different reason now.

“Khadri, I don’t want Todd.”

“That’s not important right now.” He replied. “As soon as zero is in eyesight, we’re going to get up and make our way toward where I parked. Don’t run. Don’t look back. Understand?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat but nodded.

When Khadri made the move, I knew Zero was there. But it was confirmed when we were halfway to the SUV and all hell broke loose. Khadri used his body to block anyone’s sight to me and at the SUV he helped me in and closed the door.

I looked to see Zero was in a hand-to-hand battle with a couple of men as the door clicked to lock me inside and Khadri tossed himself into the fray.

His body was bigger than the men he fought, but none of them seemed afraid of him. That was their mistake as he took them out with his large fists and powerful kicks.

Someone was trying to get into the vehicle, shocking me, making me scream. I dug into my purse for something to use as a weapon before remembering the gun Khadi had in the dash. Quickly, I reached down for it as the person rushed around to the driver side and tried the door.

When he realized it was lock, he began banging on the window.

“Go away!” I aimed.

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