The Sultans

Chapter 21

"What are you looking at gimmie the lighter already!" She exclaimed holding out her hand.

Leslie and Brad exchanged surprised looks before Brad took the lighter from Angie and handed it to Nyla. She snatched it from him and used her thumb to light it. She struggled a few times before Brad snorted and took it from her before putting the lighter to her cigar and lighting it. He stowed it away in his pocket and watched her with a concerning amount of eagerness.

Nyla looked at the cigarette, suddenly aware of what she had just gotten herself into. She had never smoked. She was aware of the dangers and knew it was bad for her yet she had still taken the plunge and asked for it. Although she still had a chance to back out, she felt as though there was no going back and slowly brought it to her lips. It had barely touched her lips before Nyla noticed a black SUV that was about to pull into the parking lot.

"Oh no, it's my brother!" Nyla exclaimed, she quickly threw the cigar onto the steps and stuck her foot over it putting it out.

Brad had followed suit, and Nyla looked to Leslie who snorted in disbelief, "If you didn't want to do it, you could have just said so and didn't have to waste one of..oh shit," she threw down her own cigar and stood up.

Nyla quickly rose to her feet and wobbled over to the car, her legs feeling unstable with the amount of pressure she felt. The windows were tinted an opaque black, so Nyla couldn't tell which one of her brothers it was, but she hoped to god that it wouldn't be Zain.

She warily opened the door and peered inside at Zain whose amber eyes burned into her with an unusual intensity.

She quickly covered her mouth her face a deathly pale color as she felt the blood drain from her face. He glared at her, his lips pulled taut into a straight line. Nyla held her breath, not daring to step into the car under such circumstances. 

"Do you ever plan on shutting the door or do I have to wait till summer?" Zain asked, his voice laced with agitation.

"Oh," she said stumbling as she clumsily tried to climb in. Her shoe slipped on the ledge of the car, and her torso ended up halfway on the seat.

She was pulling herself up when she felt the pressure being lifted off of her...literally lifting off of her. She looked up realizing it was Zain, reaching over from the front seat and pulling her up with her backpack. She quickly shrugged it off and finally managed to sit in the car. She reached out, closing the door, thankful that the windows were tinted so that Brad and Leslie couldn't see her.

She looked back at Zain who was still staring at her. Her heart skipped a beat as she wondered for the second time whether or not he had seen her with a cigarette in her hands.

She sat rigid in her seat waiting for him to speak and trying to think of what to say to him about what had just occurred. 

"Why do you look so pale? Is your jacket not warm enough?"

Nyla sighed internally, she felt her shoulders lighten considerably, grateful her hadn't seen anything.

"No, It's warm, I mean, no, umm, yeah, it's warm, very warm, insulated, really nice, made with real goose feathers and stuff, so it had to be warm, I mean, it's really puffy." She laughed nervously, "Wanna feel it." It was probably the most she had talked to him since the last few days.

He frowned for a moment, looking at her with confusion and then a hint of amusement. His gaze softened a bit as he shook off his jacket and handed it to her. "Here," he said.

Nyla looked at him in confusion, but not wanting to make him anymore suspicious, she accepted it with a small thank you.

"No need to thank me, I'm just hot right now and I need you to hold it for me." Zain said.