Lost

Chapter 53: Mental Turmoil

Charlayne and Lena started laughing. She was funny, but the uneasy feeling sinking in Salma's gut did not let her appreciate her humor. Salma forced a smile just to be polite. Zayn, however, was not bothered to put up a mock display of amusement.

"Come on!" Lena rolled her eyes. "He's lovely. You don't admit it but you'd miss him the most if he were gone any longer."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Charlayne gave her an incredulous look. Salma chuckled earning a wink from Charlayne and a glare from Lena.

"I'm sorry for slipping up on the opportunity of doing you a favor, Charlayne." Salma smiled.

"Oh yeah? So you'd rather he be dead?" Lena snapped.

"God, Lena!" Charlayne gasped.

"Lee," Zayn muttered in a bored tone, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"To be honest, to me, it's still a mystery how Zayn survived a filthy crow like you!" She spat.

"Damn it, Lee! She was only kidding!" Charlayne protested.

Salma gritted her teeth but decided to hold her tongue and ignored her. There was no point in replying back. To be fair, Lena's blatant hatred of her really caught her off guard. Salma searched her face trying to figure her out. As if to mark her territory, Lena backed into Zayn who was rubbing her arm to calm her down.

Salma rolled her eyes. Seriously, going on a date with an untamed wolf would be more exciting.

"Not that I'm not enjoying myself, but can we leave, Lee?" Zayn groaned.

Not waiting for her reply, Zayn led her away and walked past Salma. Drawing her close, he started whispering into her ear.

"I'm so, so sorry," Charlayne apologized, recovering from her state of shock. "They were alright just a minute ago."

"It's not your fault." Salma smiled at her.

"Hey Char!" Lena turned around a few steps away. "You coming or what?"

"Coming!" she replied before turning to Salma. "See you around, then."

Just then Salma and Zayn's gaze met for a fraction of a second. A strange sense of restlessness washed over her. Her chest constricted making it hard to breathe. In that moment, Salma knew, the sooner she dealt with this mess, the better.

He looked away. Bracing herself Salma forced the heavy words out.

"Zayn!" she called, making him pause. "We need to talk."

For a heartbeat, the air around them seemed to have frozen to a still. Charlayne paled and Lena latched to Zayn looking scared. You would think Salma had uttered some sort of an incantation to turn the two of them into monkeys.

After a moment that seemed like an eternity, Zayn returned his cold glare to her. His filthy response hit her in the face with the force of a sledgehammer. Charlayne gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, shocked by his brutality. Lena smirked in content and Salma's blood boiled over, making her ball her fists.

Had it not been for the fact that she had instinctively turned over her heels to create distance between them, Salma would have definitely ripped his head off.

***

"I hope you're happy now!" Salma seethed.

"But what happened?!" Sarah attempted to coerce the answer out of her.

"Nothing happened!" Salma snapped. "Leave me alone!"