Page 80 of Shâhzâdeh

“Then it’s like that. Until boss says so, it’s a no. Besides, there are always flavorful ways to season your words without cussin’.” Quentin winked playfully and it made me smile for the first time in hours. Navi wasn’t here having stayed behind at the office to handle the cleanup for me. I was glad that I wasn’t alone in this waiting room area anymore.

“Flavor your words. I think you’ve been hanging around Xerxes too long.”

“Probably right, but you’ll see. Pretty soon you’ll be sounding just like him.” He put a hand at the top of my back to lead me to the room where Xerxes was. The noise in the room got louder the closer we got to where he was.

When we walked in, the faces of his friends were like stone. I wasn’t sure how far they’d had to come, but they’d all converged on this building in the middle of Uptown like it was a second home. I knew I probably shouldn’t be here, but neither Shoaib nor Quentin would let me leave. I wasn’t worried about being in this room, I’d met these men at least once before, but this situation felt far different.

Xerxes sat in the bed that was at the back of the room. It was a large hospital style suite that looked large enough to be an operating room as well. His arm was bleeding as he fussed at whoever the doctor was. The doctor was handsome, fussing right back at him in his native tongue. I thought he might be Persian but when he turned to raise his voice again; I saw his profile was Black. But who the hell would ever know with these men? Jada called them theUnited Nations of Niggas.

Xerxes glanced up poised to shout back but he saw me and his entire body relaxed. “Vanya, I vas vorried you’d gone.”

I took another step in the room battling the urge to run to him and check him over. The floor was the same weird tile you found in hospitals and it squeaked when I stepped. “You need to trust your men and your security a lot more. They told me I couldn’t.”

He looked behind me at Quentin and then over to Shoaib who was near the end of the bed. “Vhile I do not revel in the idea of you feeling like a prisoner here, I am grateful I have zhe chance to bask upon your beauty in my time of pain.”

“It wouldn’t be painful if you would just let me give you a shot.”

“Dast Bardaar (Leave it alone!)! I have no need for pain medicines when the person who can cure all that ails me has walked into the room.” He looked at me lovingly causing the doctor to do the same.

“This man is about to break out into song if he keeps it up. Vanya, go dap that man up or give him a hug or something. He looks like he’s about to sprout wings and fly to you if you don’t.” Yacouba was smiling at me, a break from the mug he’d been wearing when I walked in. It was wild to see how they’d all dressed in black. I knew it was their funeral attire. Not because they were worried Xerxes was dead. No, they dressed in all black because they were more than ready to send someone to hell.

I took a step toward, tentatively nodding at everyone in the room. Their faces softened as they nodded back and Liam’s face broke out into a grin.

“’Tis good to see yoo, lass. ‘Appy ‘at my friend took care of yoo and yoo of ‘im.” He reached over and gave me a swift hug before gently moving me back on my original path.

Xerxes looked much different than he had any other time I’d seen him before. Gone were the suits and even the shirt that normally covered his body. Instead, his entire chest was bare, something I hadn’t seen until he fully sat up and the sheet had fallen off of him. There were tattoos that covered him from just beneath his collar bones to the waistband of his pants. His arms followed in a similar fashion where his ink stopped just above where his watch and shirt sleeves would start. I couldn’t help but stare because this type of artwork was something I had never seen in person before besides on Liam. But I would never think to stare at him so openly. Now? I couldn’t help myself. The work was just like him: a blend of cultures and colors that fit together masterfully to create a tapestry on his skin. I wanted to get closer to it and took a step forward, which didn’t seem to be the right thing to do.

Xerxes twisted around, looking for something, his actions almost apologetic. “Forgive me,ziba. I forgot. Dr. Davis vill you pass me—”

“We being formal now?” The doctor looked amused, which had Xerxes snarling at him like he wanted to leap off the bed.

He pointed to me like my presence should’ve been self-explanatory. “Wallah, a lady is present and I’m unclothed. Can you hand me—”

“No, it’s fine. I know you’re hurt. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.” And I liked the view so there was that.

He still looked bothered and I worried I was breaking some type of cultural rule seeing him like this. “More than anyting, I do not vant you to be uncomfortable vith how I am dressed. Or the lack thereof.”

“You’re fine. I mean, it’s fine. It, they, everything is fine.” The heat was back in my cheeks and I tried to put my eyes elsewhere but it was pointless. Like magnets, they were focused unyieldingly on him.

“Dieu m’a béni.” His voice had a lighter, reverent sound to it and I wondered what he was saying.

“Not him pulling out the French…” Yacouba was snickering and I was glad that the atmosphere wasn’t so heavy. It meant that he was going to be fine.

“What does that mean?” I didn’t want to hear it from anyone but him.

His dreamy eyes stared at me with the same combination of adoration and lust before he answered. “It meansGod has blessed me.”

“Miss…”

I snapped out of the trance that Xerxes’ eyes had me in and turned to the doctor. “Vanya. I’m sorry. I’m being rude.”

The doctor’s smile widened and he held his hand out for me to shake. “No apologies necessary, gorgeous—”

“Je te couperai la langue et te la ferai manger.” By the way Xerxes spat out the words and the men in the room, including the one that was the object of the sentence laughed, it had to be something crazy.

“That didn’t sound friendly.” I looked at them all and none of them seemed concerned by whatever Xerxes said. He was on the bed glaring at the doctor like he was going to swing.

“It wasn’t. It seems Mr. Cannon here has taken offense to my harmless compliment. He said he would cut out my tongue and make me eat it.” The doctor folded his arms as the grin never left his face.

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