“Why are you telling me this?” Paige asked her warily. “Wouldn’t Jafar be upset?”
Chalah’s expression sobered. “If he knew, then he would be very upset, and f Azir ever learned I told you anything, then he would most surely have me stoned,” she revealed heavily. “But I don’t think I have to worry about you telling anyone but Abram, do I?”
“Then Azir has known all along that Abram and Khalid weren’t estranged,” she whispered, her stomach pitching sickeningly.
“I don’t know how long he’s known, but Jafar has known for several years. Just as he’s known that Abram and Tariq have had a lover to share each time they’ve been to the U. S. ” Chalah’s gaze was curious now. “Was it you?”
Paige nearly choked on her own mocking laughter. “Khalid had a cow when he caught Abram kissing me. Do you really think I could have gotten away with anything else?”
“Knowing Khalid?” Chalah’s brows lifted. “It is rather doubtful. ”
And Chalah knew Khalid. Not as well as Paige did, and certainly not as a lover, but one of the young women Azir had bought Khalid years ago for a personal harem, attended the same college with Chalah, and the two girls had socialized often.
Chalah was considered a friend, as well as a cousin to Khalid, and he had made it plain more than once that if she ever needed anything then he had no problem helping her out.
Watching Chalah closely now, Paige still had a hard time believing the other girl was here, or that she seemed to be willing to help.
“Why are you telling me this, Chalah?” Paige asked wearily, not bothering to hide her suspicion now. “By your own words, the brother who has spoiled you all your life might allow you to be stoned, or murdered for giving me this information. Why would you risk that?”
“Because you would do it for me,” Chalah said softly, her honey-gold eyes filling with pain. “And Khalid would do it for me. But even more importantly, for Jafar. Because if anything happens to you and Abram, and Jafar ever realizes the mistake he’s made, then it will kill him. Protecting him from himself is the only way I can help him at this point. ”
“Even if you have to face being murdered by your brother? By your uncle?”
Chalah sighed heavily. “It isn’t murder here, Paige, not to these people or to this land. And not to Jafar or Azir. Betrayal isn’t tolerated, especially by a woman, and Jafar and Azir both would see it as an unforgiveable betrayal. ”
“And you would risk that for me, Abram, and Khalid?” Paige asked her again. “I’m having a hard time believing that. ”
Chalah wasn’t lying to her. She knew too many truths, understood the situation too clearly. But was she really trying to help, or in someway lead Abram into a trap?
“Really?” Chalah drawled as she crossed one ankle over the other and tilted her head to the side. “Why else would I return to this sun-baked wasteland but to try to help your stubborn ass? Have you really forgotten how much I hate this place, Paige?”
Paige shook her head as she kept a careful eye on the other woman. “We’ve been friends for a long time, Chalah. ” She sighed. “But Jafar is your brother, and I know you love him. ”
“And I do love him. ” Chalah nodded sharply. “But Jafar is wrong, Paige, and I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you because of him. And I feel guilty,” she whispered miserably. “I knew he was up to something when he called and asked me if I knew why you weren’t at your apartment any longer and if I had heard where you were staying. I should have called you then. I should have warned you he was looking for you. ”
But would it have really changed things? Would she have taken the situation even less seriously than she already had simply because she thought she could trust Jafar?
Paige lifted her hand to rub at her temple again as she watched Chalah thoughtfully. Everything she knew of the other girl told her that Chalah was being honest. That she was simply trying to help.
“I don’t have to agree with my brother to love him, Paige,” she said regretfully. “And loving him doesn’t mean I have to let him get away with what he’s doing to you and Abram. ”
“And how do you think you can help?” Paige sighed as she paced to the table and sat down wearily. “Neither of us have enough power here to protect ourselves, let alone our brothers. And you know that as well as I do. You should go home and be safe. If anything happens to you, you’re only going to make Abram feel as though it were his fault. He has enough on his conscience. ”
“And you think Jafar won’t have enough on his conscience when he realizes the mistake he’s made?” Chalah hissed back at her, her expressive eyes burning with anger. “I came here to help, Paige. To help my brother and yours, as well as Abram. I need to know what to do. ”
Paige’s eyes rounded in surprise. “And you think I’d know what the hell you can do?” she whispered fiercely. “For God’s sake Chalah, I haven’t been out of these rooms since the day I came here. I have no idea what the hell is going on or how to help anyone. I don’t even see Abram until after dark, and when I do see him, he’s exhausted. So why don’t you tell me what I could do. ”
Chalah stared back at her in dismay. Then her jaw tightened and she stomped to the end of the couch before turning back in frustration.
“There has to be something, Paige. ”
Paige gave her head a quick shake as she kept her voice low. “Go home. Go back to school. If Abram has to worry about protecting you as well as me, then it’s only going to fracture his attention further. He can’t afford that right now. ”
And she couldn’t afford it. Losing Abram would kill her, especially if she lost him because of his affection, his connection—whatever the hell it was—to her.
He had come back to Saudi Arabia rather than defecting as he’d planned after the deaths of his brothers.
He’d been forced to return to Saudi Arabia as a personal favor to the Saudi Arabian ambassador to take pictures of suspected terrorists. When he’d managed to get back to the U. S. , he’d had to return again because of the threat to her.