“What if he does not want to get married?”
“Then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” Yasmine took a deep breath. “I don’t want to try to rush things this time. I want to do things differently from how I’ve done them in the past.”
Her mother’s voice lowered. “Are you worried about the curse?”
“Yes and no.” Yasmine shook her head. “It has come to my attention that perhaps it’s not so much a curse as me not being willing to settle for someone I don’t actually want. I was so focused on getting married, I was trying to force it with men I didn’t actually want to be married to because marriage was the end goal, not the man. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Maman’s expression softened, and she reached down to put her hand on Yasmine’s thigh. “Of course, you should not settle.”
“I just didn’t want to disappoint you,” Yasmine said quietly, her gaze dropping. It was so difficult to admit the truth to her mother. “I know you wanted me to get married.”
“I want you to be happy.” The words were said so fiercely, there was no doubting their sincerity. “That is all Papa and I want… for you to be happy. I would never want you to marry a man you did not want to… I…” Now it was her mother’s turn to look away, as Yasmine put her hand over her mother’s. “I suppose I thought marriage would make you happy. You loved playing wedding and house when you were a little girl with your dolls. And you were always looking for the right partner once you started dating.”
“I think marriage to the right person could make me happy. But I need to start focusing on the person and not on marriage as an end goal.” Yasmine smiled. “I like being with Zeus a lot. I might even love him, even though it’s too soon for that.”
“Pshaw.” Her mother waved her hand. “There is no timeline for such things. And he is a very good boy. If you ever do decide to marry him, your father and I will be very happy.” Maman met Yasmine’s gaze again, beaming at her.
“Not the point, Maman.” Yasmine put her hands over her eyes, covering them.
“If it makes you happy, then we are happy.” Maman leaned over and gave Yasmine a kiss on the head. “That is all we want. Although it would be fun to plan a wedding…”
“Maman.” Leaning back against her pillows, Yasmine threw her hand in the air. Her mother was beaming at her.
“You are a good girl, Yasmine. A good daughter.” Maman snickered. “Too easy to tease sometimes, though.”
Zeus
“Everyone to the lobby, please, immediately.” Jennifer’s crisp tones over the loudspeaker system had Zeus raising his head and frowning. He was packing up his things to go to the hospital. Yas’ parents were with her this morning. She was supposed to be released this afternoon, then they’d all take her over to his house.
Maybe they shouldn’t be basically living together when they’d just gone public with their relationship, but Yas hadn’t wanted to go back to her own house, and she needed someone there with her regularly. Since all her friends had to work, their houses hadn’t been options, either. He knew her parents wanted her to stay with them, but she’d insisted that wasn’t a good idea.
She wanted to feel semi-independent and not like she was a child again.
Zeus’ house made the most sense. Not only would he be with her when he wasn’t at work, but when he was at work, Sarah and Grace could come over, or she could go over to Sarah’s. Since Grace was already there to fuss over Sarah, it just made sense. Plus, his place was closer to her friends, while her parents lived a little farther away.
He was just happy to have her close by, where he could keep an eye on her. Even though Pete James was out of the picture, there was still the sniper to contend with. A sniper he still hadn’t told Yasmine about. A small news story had run yesterday about the shooting at a women’s shelter, with the perpetrator being killed in self-defense. The press release had been vague but somewhat twisted to make it sound like the shelter’s security guards had done the deed.
At the moment, both Black Fox and the police were operating under the assumption that the sniper had been aiming for the senator. They’d found the tree the sniper had been in, and Pete James’ path through the parking lot would have blocked some of the view—they hadn’t been very high up, possibly because of timing or possibly to ensure their ability to get away quickly.
“Everyone to the lobby, immediately.”
Fuck. Zeus grabbed his bag and headed into the hallway, already behind the rest of the team. He’d leave from whatever this was rather than coming back to his office.
The lobby was already full, and everyone was facing the television when he walked in. Since the office was made up of very large men, it wasn’t exactly easy to get a glimpse of the screen, though he could hear the exclamations and outrage before he’d even arrived.
“What the fuck?”
“That… shit, that’s gotta be fake, right?”
“That or Devlin’s men are completely falling down on the job.”
“What the fuck does he think he’s doing?”
“Fuck!”
“What’s going on?” Zeus asked Drew as he stepped up beside the big man, going up on his toes to try to see the screen.
He caught a glimpse of Macleod, arms flung out to either side, head flung back, with men in suits all around him, from his armpits down. What the fuck?