Page 98 of Enemy of My Enemy

Adam’s gut squeezed hard, like all his organs had been tossed in a blender set to grind. His teeth scraped together as his jaw clenched. Jealousy raced through him, a wave of frantic heat he felt all the way to the tips of his fingers. But why? He’d known it would end this way. Faisal was two steps removed from the Saudi crown. Of course he would marry, would marry multiple women, and father children with them. At best, he could have only ever hoped for being a scandalous side affair, and a forbidden one at that. They had no future, none. He closed his eyes.

“In shaa Allah, he says he is waiting for you,” Prince Abdul said softly. “We have been talking at great length.”

Adam’s eyes snapped to the prince. He stopped breathing.

The prince scowled, and his lips curled back, a silent sneer. “He is myblood,” he snapped. “Myfamily. And I will do anything for my family.” Another glare as he looked Adam up and down, as if he could see into Adam’s soul. “You willneverbring him harm. He will never hurt, ever. Not from the body, and not from the heart.”

“No.” Adam licked his lips, his breaths coming fast, practically a frantic pant. “No, never. Never again,” he said, his mind flashing back to Faisal’s breathless good-bye, his tortured plea for Adam’s love, the sound of flames crackling, and a thunderous crash before the endless silence. “Your Royal Highness…”

“This isnotconcluded. We have much to discuss, Faisal and I. I do not condone this, or you. Especially notyou. What you have done. What you left behind.” He sighed, like his soul was pained. “But… he is my nephew.”

Adam nodded and bowed his head again. “I understand, Your Highness.”

“Your friend.” The prince nodded to Doc, still frozen behind the security guards, but staring fiercely at Adam and the prince. “He is injured.”

“He was attacked at the same time Faisal was. Probably by the same people.”

“My nephew has been helping the Americans with a sensitive operation. Is this connected?”

“That’s me.” Adam ducked his head when the prince’s eyes narrowed. “Faisal has been helping me and my team. This is our medic. He’s a friend of Faisal’s too. Not that kind of friend,” he added quickly.

“No. He speaks only ever of you.Wallah.”

Adam pressed his lips together, trying to stop them from trembling. “Please, Your Highness. Can I see him?”

The prince closed his eyes. “You will find the men that did this to my nephew. You will make them suffer.” He sighed, a single, slow exhale. “Faisal is down the hall. The recovery suite.”

Adam took off, his new shoes racing over the polished marble of the hospital. His eyes flicked to the doors, searching for Faisal’s room. The suites were palatial, grand retreats for royals who needed medical care, private and completely isolated. Priceless artwork and gold-glittering mosaics stretched along the walls. Quotes from the Qur’an, the statement of faith, scrolled in every room.

“You,” Adam heard the prince call to Doc. “Come with me. We will see to your injuries.”

Finally, he skittered to a stop, breathing hard before slipping into the recovery suite. Medical machines crowded within, beeping monitors and IV poles holding too many bags of fluids and antibiotics. Faisal lay still on the single, huge bed, propped up on pillows with a giant bandage wrapped around his abdomen. An IV went into one arm, and stuck on his chest, EKG pads monitored his heart. His arms were wrapped, and the smell of burn cream hung in the air.

Adam stopped at the foot of Faisal’s bed, his hands clenching into shaking fists.

Faisal’s dark eyes slowly opened. He blinked.

“I’m dreaming,” Faisal whispered, his voice faint and rough. “Ahlam beek, Adam.Qalby.”

Adam shook his head. He couldn’t speak, not when Faisal was telling him he dreamed of him and called him his heart.

“I am dreaming,” Faisal repeated. “The one I love wouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t come to me. He’s too afraid of our love.”

Damn it all. Four steps took him to the side of Faisal’s bed. Faisal’s bleary eyes tracked him and went wide when Adam dropped to his knees at Faisal’s bedside and took his hand in both of his own. “I’m here. I’m here, Faisal. This isn’t a dream.”

His breath trembled as he whispered, “When God designed your features and joined your brows/Paved my way, then trapped me with your gestures & bows/United the knots of my doing and of my budding heart/Fate convinced me to be enslaved to thee.”

As he finished reciting lines from Faisal’s favorite Islamic poet, he pressed a kiss to Faisal’s knuckles, letting his lips linger on his warm skin. Long ago, Faisal had breathed those words into his shoulder, into the back of his neck, as he moved deep within Adam.

Faisal’s fingers curled around Adam’s, and his other hand rose, reaching for Adam’s hair. Adam leaned into his touch, sighing, and dropped the faintest kiss to the center of his bandaged belly, and then to his hip, hidden beneath the royal hospital robe he wore.

“Why?” Faisal whispered. “How?”

He answered both questions together, squeezing gently on Faisal’s hand as he smiled. “Ana bahibak,” he breathed, and then repeated in English, kissing Faisal’s knuckles again. “I love you.”

There was still the world to answer to, Prince Abdul, Director Reichenbach, the Marine Corps, and everything else. Their mission, to put Madigan down for good. All the darkness. Their past. All the reasons why they shouldn’t, couldn’t be together. The world was still out there, still ready to tear them apart, but that was for later.

Now, Adam pressed another kiss to Faisal’s hand and lay his cheek to his skin, sighing softly.“Ana bahibak.”