Captured Hearts Book 1 in the Heart Series - Wattys 2015 Winner

Chapter 49

Muhsin sat on the windowsill, staring out at the street below. It had been a full day since Jamaal had brought them there, and he had yet to appear. The only contact Muhsin had had with anyone, was when Issam had come in with a tray of food for dinner. The two of them hadn't spoken a word, nor had they made eye contact. It was still a bit weird for Muhsin to come to terms with the fact that he was a secret agent. He had been around Jamaal's men for the past few years, and if someone told him to pick who was a good guy, Issam would have been last on his list!

He was mean.

Rough.

Cynical.

Judgmental.   

Slightly menacing.

Muhsin couldn't help but wonder how much of it was an act, and how much was really Issam's personality.

He watched the people on the ground below for a few more seconds, before getting up, and walking towards the bed. He hadn't been able to sleep much the night before. He had been too worried about Jenna. Sure he had been worried about Emma when she was being held captive, but Jenna wasn't like Emma. She was too sensitive and naïve. She needed to be protected and shielded.

As for Emma?

The world needed to be protected and shielded from her!

Especially when she got annoyed!

He hadn't been surprised in the slightest to hear how hard of a time Emma had given Jamaal.

He couldn't help but smile at that. Emma was a tough little cookie, and he was proud of her. He was proud of all of his sisters. No matter how different they were, they were all amazing, wonderful, strong young ladies, and he would work forever to repay them for the misery he had inflicted upon them.

When he had first become friends with Jamaal, if he could even call him that, he had been innocent, trusting of the world and the people in it. He was a good friend, brother, and son. He was involved in his youth group at his Mosque, and coached a soccer team for little kids. He hadn't been a saint of course, but he had been nowhere near the person he had become under Jamaal's influence.

He remembered the day he had met Jamaal as clearly as if it had happened that morning. He had been hanging out with Hudayfah at his apartment, going over the plans for his new invention, when a knock sounded on the door. When Hudayfah answered it, there had been a few moments of shocked silence, after which Muhsin had caught words such as 'anniversary' and 'death', before Hudayfah had reluctantly let him in and introduced the two of them.

It had been an awkward visit, Jamaal had done nothing but sit there and stare at them thoughtfully, only speaking when Hudayfah offered him a glass of water. After Jamaal had left, Hudayfah had said nothing about him or who he was, and Muhsin hadn't asked. A few days later, while walking home from coaching soccer practice, a car had pulled up to the side of the road, and Jamaal had gotten out. He reintroduced himself, asking how Muhsin was, and after they had exchanged numbers and parted ways, Muhsin remembered thinking how much he liked him.

The next couple of weeks he spent a lot of time with Jamaal, and it had seemed just like a regular friendship. They hung out and played video games, went to basketball and baseball games. He met all of his buddies, including Issam and Laith. He had thought that Jamaal really was his friend, and that he was part of their little group. They barely talked about Hudayfah, and without realizing it, Muhsin started to distance himself away from Hudayfah and his other friends.

One day, about three months later, after a long day of playing Xbox and PlayStation and all sorts of other games like that, Jamaal said that he was having some friends over to play some cards, and Muhsin was welcome to join. He had agreed, not anticipating that not only were they playing for money, but for a lot of money. By the end of the first game he had lost four hundred dollars. Jamaal had said that as it was his first time he would cover Muhsin, and he would just do better next time. Soon, the card games became more frequent, and more intense. Eventually they started moving on to games with bigger stakes, and one day, Muhsin lost a thousand dollars.