Page 79 of Shâhzâdeh

He was cursing in Persian.

I didn’t know a lick of the language but I could tell it was cussing. I’d never seen anyone shot before. Not in real life. My back had been turned with whoever shot that girl that had been messing with Frankie. And Patrick had been stabbed even though that was gruesome. Of course, I’d watched the movies that were supposed to be bad for me when I wasn’t supposed to. Had rebelled and watched TVs shows that were supposed to be off limits. There were times after I was married that I had pretended to be sick just to stay home and watchStreamMewithout judgment.

But this was different.

This was someone I knew. Not a fictional character that didn’t have any bearing on my real life. This was someone I… I something. And the way I wanted to cry when that shot hit him made me want to set the world on fire. I was angry for him. That anyone would dare try to harm a man who had been so… good. I hadn’t even given thought to protecting him. It came as naturally as it would if I were defending myself. That’s what it felt like. Like I was protecting the best part of me outside of my body.

Xerxes had me waiting outside of the room but his voice was so loud that I could hear him through the walls. I was tense because I didn’t know if he was in that much pain that he was acting like this or that he was that angry.

Maybe both.

“He’s asking for you, Ms. Vanya.”

Quentin had come next to me without me realizing it because I was staring off into space so hard.

I stood up from the chair I’d been sitting in nervously, tapping my leg to abate my anxiety. “Is he okay?”

He thumbed his finger over his shoulder with a grin on his face. “You don’t hear all that fussin’? He’s more than fine.”

Another shout went out causing me to cringe as I looked up at Quentin. “I couldn’t understand him so I wasn’t sure.”

“But you understand tone. Does his tone sound like he’s about to fall off of this earthy plane anytime soon?”

I smiled ruefully at him as I started to follow him. “No. He sounds angry.”

Quentin grinned and I tried to hold back my smile. “That’s more than anger. That man is out for blood and calling for a full investigation of the businesses around your place. He wants to know who thought it was a good idea to take a shot at y’all.”

“Quentin, do you not cuss either?”

“Huh?”

I stared at him because I knew he heard me. “Sorry, I ask questions at inappropriate times. But do you cuss?”

“I do.” He answered so hesitantly like he wasn’t sure where I was going with the question.

“But not around me. Is it because I was a Mormon?”

“What? Nah, I ain’t know no sh-stuff like that.” He caught himself before he did it and now I needed answers.

“Then why?”

“You have to understand to Xerx, cussin’ in front of a lady, asayyidais crass. He’s as American as can be, but he holds the women he loves in really high regard. He tries not to cuss around his friends’ wives, despite them telling him it’s fine. He slips up, but his heart isn’t there. Even his mama tells him he’s too uptight but he can barely do it around her.” Quentin shrugged as though he was used to Xerxes and no one was going to be able to change him.

That made me feel special, but I still didn’t want him to have people treating me differently.

“But around you?”

He huffed like I should’ve known that Xerxes was no angel. “Cussin’ in four languages. English, French, Farsi and Arabic. You can always tell which one is a cuss word by the emphasis he puts on it. Especially the Middle Eastern languages. It’s like every time he says something he has to put all the feeling behind the words.”

I giggled at how he was telling all of Xerxes secrets but I had to let him know I wasn’t a delicate flower. “I don’t mind if you do it around me.”

“Doesn’t work like that. He’s put you in a position of honor. I go against that and that’s being disrespectful. That’s like cussin’ in front of an elder in the Black community, you just don’t do it.”

“All the elders I knew were white so…”

“Would you cuss around Ms. Safi? Or an older Black woman?” He folded his arms like he was reminding me who I was. Which I appreciated.

“No.”

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