After Dark Tropes

  "We have been friends for nearly forty years. Almost forty long years, good and bad times. I have always been loyal to you. I have covered your tracks and your ass a million times, as you have done mine. But it seems my loyalty almost cost me my zuhūr na'imah (زهور ناعمة - delicate flower). I am your friend but I will choose my family every time."  Zuzu felt weirdly dazed with Branno laying on top of her. She looked up at his face. She saw fear but also something else. She wasn't sure if it was anger or determination or both. Glass shards fell around them. He flinched when they hit him but he didn't move away from her. He held her close to him. She wrestled a little to get her arm out of the sheet wrapped firmly around her.