Page 166 of Tall, Royal Hater
I felt Shehryar stiffen further beside me, but Ablah stepped up before him with a glowing grin. And damn, the girl was stunningly tall. In heels, she was only an inch or so shorter than Shehryar.
“Hi,” she said with a breathless sort of excitement. “Dad mentioned he invited you, but neither of us were sure you were going to come. But I’m glad you did. I’m—I’m Ablah, by the way. Which you already probably know.” She laughed nervously.
Shehryar shuffled the slightest step back as he offered her a pursed lip smile. “Hi—Ablah. I apologise for intruding on your birthday—”
“No,” she immediately said, shaking her head. “I wanted you to come. I asked Dad to invite you. I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve…I’ve known about you since I was little.”
A weird silence fell again before she swung to me. “Mariyah, right?”
I nodded, returning her grin. “Yep. Thank you for inviting us by the way. And happy eighteenth birthday. You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” She blushed so sweetly, and I was very quickly reminded of Esmeralda.
I had a strong feeling Shehryar saw it too, because his body relaxed against mine. Not much, but enough for me to sense it. “Happy birthday,” he muttered and lifted the gift bag. “This is for you.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to, but thank you.” She took the bag, but she wasn’t looking at it. “Really. For just…being here.”
The subtle deer in headlights look Shehryar gave her suggested he wasn’t entirely sure how to react to her excited welcoming, but with him, that was a good sign rather than a bad one.
Andrew Platmon cleared his throat, then rubbed his chin once he caught our attention. “Can I—I mean, may I—would you be comfortable with me introducing you as my…son?”
“No,” Shehryar said. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
His father’s shoulders dropped, but Ablah quickly came to the rescue. “That’s fine. I mean it is my birthday, Dad. You can’t steal my spotlight,” she jokingly said through the corner of her mouth. “We’ll introduce Shehryar and Mariyah as family friends. Is that okay?”
She looked at me, blaring a signal for assistance. “Fine with me,” I said with a smile. “Sheri?”
He nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Great,” she chimed and latched onto Shehryar’s forearm with both hands. “Okay, Dad, I’m going to steal them now so I can introduce them to Ki and Lu, and then we’ll come find you, okay?”
Andrew Platmon smiled. “Of course.”
Ablah kissed him on the cheek, then she was tugging Shehryar forward, who in turn pulled me.
“Sorry about that,” Ablah said sheepishly, releasing his arm. “Dad tends to jump headfirst into things once he’s made up his mind. He wasn’t trying to force you into telling everyone or anything.”
“You don’t have to apologise,” Shehryar assured her. “None of this was your doing.”
“Uh…” She chuckled awkwardly. “Before you say that…unfortunately, you’re a new face around here, so everyone at some point is going to come ask who you are.Butyou don’t have to worry, we’ll stick with the family friend story and brush off any nosey questions.”
She was right. The further we walked into the hall, the more obvious it was that everyone was watching us, whispering behind their hands with judgement and some with open intrigue.
Not even five steps after Ablah had said that, a group of three girls around the same age as her blocked our path. I could smell who they were from their sickly-sweet perfumes a mile away.
They were the mean, popular girls, and the brunette leader in the middle was eyeing Shehryar like he was her favourite pudding, biting her bottom lip and everything.
Firstly, ew. Secondly, fuck no, bitch.
A possessive fire ignited in my chest, filling my mouth with smoke.
“Who’s this, Ablah?” the brunette said, practically purring her words.
Ablah flashed us an apologetic look. “This is Shehryar and Mariyah. They’re my dad’s friends.”
“Oh, really? You never mentioned your dad had such a cute friend.” The brunette had the audacity to place her hand on Shehryar’s chest. “We would’ve come to your house last time if you had.”
The other two girls giggled at some cruel inside joke, and Ablah’s face flushed. I knew the fucking bitch had ignored me on purpose, and the fact she’d hurt Ablah in the process too made the smoke build hotter, fierier, and deadly. I’d only just met the birthday girl, but I liked her.
