CHAPTER 3

Barcelona

            The carriage rattled as it began to drive on the wooden boards of the shipyard. The carriage pulled to a sudden stop as yelling erupted in different languages. Zayn sighed quietly and launched himself out of the car of the carriage. Liam heard Zayn beginning to speak, in another language, switching between many different ones, and soon everyone quieted themselves as Zayn continued to talk to them. Liam smiled to himself, Zayn really did have a sliver tongue for a man that was usually very quiet man.
            Liam relaxed back into his seat when the loud yelling ceased and everyone seemed to go back to work. The door to the car slowly opened again, revealing Zayn, a smug smirk firmly planted on his very attractive face.
            “Look who it is, the man with the sliver tongue,” Liam said staring at Zayn, who was not shamed in the fact that he was staring Liam up and down, before resting on his eyes.
            “The one and only, now come on we have a lot of errands to run in a short time because it’d be better if we left today rather than tomorrow,” Zayn said, sticking out his hand to help Liam out of the car. Liam obliged, taking the boy’s hand and slowly stepped out.
            On their journey to Barcelona, Zayn had stopped midway to get Liam a new set of clothes that weren’t caked in dirt and sweat. He was wearing new sandals made out of real leather to last Liam a long while, even if he ran in them. Liam’s outfit was the same style as his previous, but they were beige this time. The pants had a type of elastic in the waist and at the ends, so they stayed in place with out the help of a sash or belt. His shirt had also been slightly modified, it came in two different pieces, a long sleeved vest that came together at his navel, showing his chiseled chest (because Zayn liked being able to stare at Liam’s muscular chest), and another cloth vest with out sleeves over it, just in case it got hot, he could take the long sleeved off, and Zayn could stare at his muscular arms. In order to make Liam’s look, look more like a commoner than a courtesan’s, a red sash was added around his waist to hide the elastic top of his pants and the end of his shirts.
            On the journey he was also able to acquire real showers, not only taking off the dirt and sweat off of him, he was able to smell pleasing to everyone. Zayn hadn’t been fazed by Liam’s odor, but he liked him much more after the first shower. The other showers making him smell sweeter each time. Liam’s light brown curly locks were also brought back to the spectacular bounce they had before he had been kidnapped.
            Liam pulled his hand away from Zayn’s once he was firmly on the ground. He bent down slightly brushing off the invisible dirt from his pants. He watched the sailors curiously. Some were not hiding the fact that they were staring at all the tanned skin that Liam’s outfit was exposing, and drooling over it. While others were trying to hide the fact that they were doing the same exact thing.
            “I told you I’d look more like a whore if I continued to wear clothes like these,” Liam said as he began to stand straight, smacking Zayn’s hand, which had been attempting to grab his bum.
            “Well, I think you look sexy, and anyway, it’s only temporary. We’re going to buy you a good set of clothes before we go to Turkey, where we can get you better clothes if you are still dissatisfied with the ensemble,” Zayn said as he took Liam’s hand leading him in the direction towards the town.
            “Why do they keep staring?” Liam asked staring back at the sailors. He pulled his hand away from Zayn’s when he began to follow.
            “When they look at me, they’re looking at me because my people used to be in control of this land, and are wondering what I’m doing back here if we don’t control this part of Spain anymore.  When they’re looking at you, they’re staring because they are sexually frustrated, and you being so attractive and clean doesn’t help them get over their frustration. Now please Liam, hold my hand while we are here, I don’t want you getting kidnapped again,” Zayn explained, sticking his hand out towards Liam. Liam didn’t argue and took the other boy’s hand, trying to ignore the flashbacks of being beaten and being drugged.
            “Liam… Don’t worry, they won’t get you, you are mine. I’ll protect you with my life, if it’s the last thing I do,” Zayn assured as he led Liam down the street, away from the boardwalk, and squeezed Liam’s hand reassuringly.
            Liam looked at Zayn, furrowing his large brows slightly as he smiled at the prince thankfully. “What kind of errands are we running?” Liam asked, turning his head away from Zayn, looking in the opposite direction.
            “Well, first I have to pick up some herbs and things, then we must gather clothe and go to the tailor to get you more clothes, and then a shoe maker. And finally I have to go pick up a pain in my ass,” Zayn replied thoughtfully.
            “Why would you want to pick up a pain in your arse?” Liam responded with a chuckle.
            “Because if I don’t my father and mother would be very displeased with me, and probably take away my new toy,” Zayn replied in a baby voice, chuckling and squeezed Liam’s hand.
            “Who is this pain in Zayn arse?” Liam asked as they entered the witch doctor’s shop.
            “A woman of course,” Zayn replied, letting Liam’s hand go, “You wait right here,” Zayn murmured as he sauntered over to the chuckling witch doctor. Zayn began to undo his coat, his own shirt created in a v-shape.
            “Hello Mr. Malik, it’s-,”the witch doctor began in another language, Zayn interrupting him.
            “Zayn,” Zayn corrected.
            “Prince Zayn… Welcome back,” the witch doctor chuckled, “Is Rebecca causing your person problems again?”
            “Of course she is, Princesses tend to be that way,” Zayn replied with a snort and a shake of his head.
            The witch doctor noticed Liam’s attire, his muscular body that the clothing showed perfectly, and then his very confuddled face, it was obvious he didn’t speak the native language. The witch doctor chuckled mirthfully, “So what will it be today, Zayn?”
            “I need some opium, tobacco, and grass; and please do not be stingy, your shop is the only place that I can get these things. Oh, I would also like ginseng, cocoa, maca, tongkat ai, and-,” Zayn was cut odd by the loud laughter that erupted from the man. While he had been listening to Zayn he had watched Liam’s face contort as he recognized the words Zayn was saying.
            The witch doctor stood up stopping Zayn. “And you want tribulus terrestris, yes, very understood. Is this for you or that poor chico over there?” The man laughed waving his hand over his shoulder as he went into the back room to gather the aphrodisiacs and moved back to the front to gather the other herbs.
            “Hopeful bastard,” Liam muttered, this caused another holler from the witch doctor. Zayn turned around glaring at Liam, his tanned as flushed as Liam’s.
            “How do yo-.”
            “My father was a witch doctor, and because he wanted me to run it after him, I know what you were trying to buy, and what they do. Which tells me a lot about you; a pervert that likes to escape reality,” Liam growled crossing his arms. The witch doctor laughed boisterously, causing Liam to said humorous glare at Zayn, his lips at a slight upturn.
            Zayn glared back at Liam mirthlessly, turning back to face the witch doctor who was completely elated that the boy in the back had a sense of humor about Zayn’s products. Zayn took the jars, placing them in inner pockets in his coat, paying the man.
            “Don’t hurt that poor boy, all in moderation remember!” the witch doctor cackled.
            “Perverted old man,” Zayn grumbled going to Liam, taking the laughing and blushing boy’s hand, leading him out of the witch doctor’s hut.
            “You’re a very hopeful bastard aren’t you?” Liam asked with a chuckle, squeezing Zayn’s hand as they moved down the street to a cloth store.
            “Better to be optimistic about getting laid, and that these herbs might work on you to help me, then being a pessimist and having no chance at all at getting anything,” Zayn retorted.
            “True, I’d rather give it up to a happy-go-luck fellow, than some poor depressing lad that probably needed the lay more,” Liam confirmed, going into the cloth store with Zayn.
            “Oh… I forgot, you’re more of a virgin than Mary was before she got pregnant with Jesus,” Zayn reminded himself as he began picking up different colored and textured clothes holding them up to Liam, to see if they would look good on him.
            The owner of the store, a very gypsy looking woman, helped pick many fabrics out for them that complimented Liam in many different ways. Zayn bought them and led Liam to the tailor, who was very skilled, and able to make the clothes styled after Liam’s current ones quickly, but artfully enough for them to be out less than an hour later
            They were off again, getting Liam many pairs of premade leather shoes, adding them to the large basket they had picked up to carry everything. They bounded from shop to sight trying to find Zayn’s pain in the ass. The prince became very annoyed when they were unable to find the woman they were suppose to be meeting at some place. She had given Zayn a list of places she could possibly be at .
            Finally Zayn gave up and dragged a very tired out Liam back to the docks where their boat was waiting for them. Zayn watched as a lot of luggage was being loaded onto the boat, and it didn’t take him that long to figure out who’s all it was.
            “Of course she’s at the boat, the witch,” Zayn cursed under his breath. Liam couldn’t hold back a chuckle that bubbled from his mouth, causing a crooked smile to appear on Zayn’s face, flashing his pearly whites at Liam, Liam smiling back shyly.
            “I see you continue to follow the customs of our lands, even in foreign lands,” the woman, Rebecca, said in her foreign Arabic taking hold of Zayn and Liam’s held hands.
            Liam’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, not only did he not understand her language and what she was saying, but he didn’t understand why she had brought attention to their held hands.
            “In our lands it’s a custom for the men, usually in a completely platonic way, hold hands while the women walk behind the man a couple feet back,” Zayn explained to Liam, “This is what she is talking about.”
            “That’s a strange custom,” Liam said to himself thoughtfully. Zayn chuckled at the comment nodding his head in slight agreement.
            “It is a way of keeping track of my property Rebecca. You know what kind of brigands run around here. I can’t just let him run loose looking like he does, he’ll get put back into the sex trade,” Zayn replied to the woman, mimicking the frown the woman held on her face.
            Zayn moved around the woman, keeping Liam close to his side, and helped the boy get onto the boat with out falling off. He whispered a few tricks on how to not get sea sick as they stepped onto the boat. Rebecca reluctantly followed behind them.
            “Isn’t it bad luck to have a woman aboard a boat?” Liam asked Zayn, his brows furrowing. Zayn chuckled and patted Liam’s shoulder.
            “Aye,” A sailor had over heard Liam’s question, “A seemingly virtuous one that is, she is what attracts the sailor men the most. But a woman like her, with a heart as black as hers, she is nothing close to a seemingly virtuous woman, nothing close a woman period in my opinion,” the sailor explained.
            Zayn laughed, Liam watching happily as he watched Zayn laugh for real for the first time. A gentle smile graced Liam’s features, causing Zayn to stop his own laughter, to stare at the beauty that was Liam. Their hearts pounded in unison, the same pounding they each had felt the first night they fell asleep together, intertwined in each other.
            Rebecca coughed loudly, interrupting the moment Zayn and Liam were having. They had been moving closer to each other, about to engage in what could have been a kiss. Zayn and Liam’s heads both darted to look at the black-hearted woman in front of them, who was obviously very angry and jealous.
            She gave Zayn a look that told him what he was doing was inappropriate and wrong. “I am your fiancé, not some whore that you picked up while you were in Portugal. Now please, Prince Zayn, be a gentleman and show me to my quarters on the lower decks like you should be doing,” the woman reprimanded, her glare darting between Liam and Zayn.
            Liam saw the glare he was receiving, his face falling down to stare at the deck, flushing darkly. Zayn watched as the emotions on Liam’s face rested between innocence, sheepishness, and embarrassment.

            Zayn came back up to the top deck sighing quietly. He had left his coat in his and Liam’s quarters, his dark clothes exposed. He wore a black short v-neck shirt, his pants meeting his shirt, a black sash around the meeting place. The crotch of his pants sagged way below where Zayn’s crotch actually was, and the pants ended at his ankles. He wore black leather sandals and his chiseled arms and chest showing slightly.
            He looked around and found Liam on starboard, sauntering over to the boy that was leaning over the edge of the railing. Zayn became slightly worried, but saw that Liam was just watching the water, a slight smile planted on his smooth face. Zayn slipped in right next to Liam, leaning on the railing, gingerly placing his hand on the back of Liam’s neck. The boy didn’t jump like Zayn expected him to. Liam turned his head and looked at Zayn, his lips parting slightly as his smile widened slightly.
            “I am warning you, Liam, that Rebecca will give you hell. She is suppose to be my fiancé, but I like you much more than her, and she will soon be out of the picture, she is too old, which is an understandable, and will put off the fact that I need to get married,” Zayn murmured, “But I really like you more than her.”
            Liam stood up slightly, shifting himself so that he was almost in Zayn’s arms, their hearts beginning to pound restlessly again. Zayn, brought Liam closer so that their fore heads were touching, Zayn taking Liam’s hand in his free hand.
            “I’d like me more too if she was my fiancé,” Liam said chuckling, “Although, I do have to say, that I like you more than my own fiancé, and I thought she was my soul mate,” Liam whispered, smiling up at Zayn cheekily.
            Zayn’s breathing hitched slightly, his eyes becoming half lidded, Liam’s mimicking Zayn’s. They moved their faces a bit closer, their noses touching, their breath mingling with each other’s. Zayn had felt the same way with his current fiancé until he’d met Liam, seen Liam. It meant a lot to him that Liam felt the same, and the fact that Liam said it before Zayn was able to him, made his heart pound a bit faster.
            “I’m glad that we both mutually like each other more than our fiancé’s’,” Zayn murmured, staring deeper into Liam’s eyes.
            Their eyes stayed locked for minutes, both contemplating whether they should go in for the kiss. They realized that there were other men on the ship that would not be pleased if someone was getting action while they weren’t getting any kind of action. It might encourage them negatively. As if on cue both turned their heads away from each other, staring at the ocean.
            “I like you more than my fiancé.”
            “I like you more than my fiancé too.”