Second Chances: a Coincidences novel

Chapter 24: The Sheikh's Demands

I had no idea why I hadn't gotten arrested. A day had already passed and Sheikh Hamdan had been the one who busted me, so why wait? Why didn't he send the police to arrest me for breaking the law?

Not that I was looking forward to that but why wait this long when I had gotten busted by the very person capable of deciding my fate?

Sitting in my room without having any kind of contact with my cousins, family, and my friends made me feel miserable and sad. I should have thought this through more and should have reached out to my family instead of having had this happen. I likely lost Khaled's friendship, my uncle and aunt were likely thinking about sending me back to LA, and to my surprise, the only support I had was from Louai.

Cielo sent me a text, asking if we could meet up for dinner late tonight and then Hassan texted, asking if I was okay.

I responded to neither. Cielo, because I had a feeling I was not going to have freedom for much longer so why even make plans for a date? Hassan, because it was likely also possible that our friendship was dunso after learning of my apparent drug use with weed.

The door to my room opened and it was my uncle.

"Are you okay?"

"As okay as I'll ever be" I wiped away some tears.

"He'll come around. He's just overprotective of you and I know you didn't smoke weed because you're a junkie or anything. And I know you're not turning into your brother but I wish you would have told us because, at the end of the day, it's not the worst thing in the world."

"But Khaled doesn't view it that way and neither does Sheikh Hamdan."

I began to dread what was coming next just thinking about him.

"Look, the Sheikh wants to see you, and his men have come to pick you up."

"What?" I became scared. "What does he want with me?!" I spoke faster than normal.

"Just get in the car and go see him. It's all I can tell you."

"Oh God" I started to panic. "He's gonna have me arrested, isn't he?!"

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. He wants to see you and if he wanted to have you arrested he would have sent the police, not his men."

"He might have me arrested at his palace."

"Just go. I'm sure it'll all be fine. He's not known for being cruel."

"But I'm sure he's not tolerant of weed or things of that nature."

"Omar, you're overthinking and that's going to make you panic. Try and control your emotions and you'll be fine."

"Can you come with me?"

"I can't. He requested your presence and only, your presence."

"Because I'm done for. He's going to arrest me" I started crying. "Why was I so damn stupid?!"

"Hey, you're not stupid. You're still a young man and we all make mistakes. He sees that and I'm sure he won't harm you."

"You can't guarantee that."

"Just go and we'll talk later. Okay?"

"If I even come back."

"Relax. You're coming back home, don't worry."

"He deserves to be in jail!" Khaled walked in, looking at me with that glare.