Game on, Love (Pitch and Pits #1)

3

Raina

MY HEAD WAS SPINNING.

There was so much happening with me—around me that I had a hard time keeping my attention straight.

It also didn’t help that no matter what, I kept circling back to him .

I should’ve been focused on the hurt I felt by what Axel had done, or the discomfort of being in the same room as my brothers or the pure horror I had felt creep up my spine after I noticed Dad was just across the room from where I stood.

But he had this effortless allure to him, like a tide pulled by the moon. No matter if I tried to resist it, it was inevitable that my attention would return to him. There was a quiet intensity in him, something simmering beneath the surface, and every time our eyes connected, even if it was for a snap of a second, it felt like a drop in still water.

His dark, unruly hair framed a sun-kissed face that was both striking and soft.

This can’t be happening.

The more I noticed his features and his movements . The more I was aware of the effect of him.

“Raina?” I briefly closed my eyes. I couldn’t even find the energy to pray for strength, the day was catching up to me.

I opened my eyes, and my discomfort only increased now that all of their attention was on me. Pulling my shoulders back, I cleared my throat as I looked at Rihaan.

I went to say something but faltered.

What could I have said?

He was the only one of my brothers I hadn’t spoken to since that day, and truthfully, with the way he had acted, I wasn’t interested in any conversation with him whatsoever.

Vedant was existing in my life. He wasn’t the brother I had known, but he wasn’t a stranger to me either. We both made minimal effort, though I always felt like it was because of me always keeping him at arm’s length, but he never pushed.

I think he knew I needed my own time, but no matter how awkward our regular brunches were, I always felt that if I needed him, he would be there, no questions asked.

Dev, on the other hand, I had no say in that matter because, truthfully, Vedant and Dev came like a package. I mostly blamed their twin bond for it, and technically, even though it was just by an hour, Dev was still considered the oldest in our family. Mix that with the need to overcompensate for the lack of, well, anything, by Dad; and his appearance on the track during race weekends almost as regular as me… he was hard to ignore.

From the last conversation I had with Vedant about Rihaan and his whereabouts, he was still living at home with Dad, and well, I visited him as often as it rained in the desert.

I think the last real conversation I had with Rihaan was probably ten years ago, give or take.

The realisation made me frown.

That can’t be right.

“Oh boy, you lot are all as hopeless as each other. No wonder you needed extra help for this,” Axel’s voice broke the tension, but while I found comfort in his playfulness, he got three pointed glares from the Patel men. “Ooo-kay, then.”

I wanted to go home, but a small part of me also wanted some answers. After debating for two seconds, I decided to go with the latter.

“Who did you make a promise with?” I asked again.

“Me. I asked Axel to bring you.” It was Vedant who spoke, and even if I wanted to hold my shock in, I didn’t.

Eyes wide, I turned to Rihaan. “You’re not dying, are you?”

In my head, that seemed like the only explanation as to why Vedant and Axel would have a conversation off-track and without their PR teams forcing them to do so.

“No,” Rihaan grumbled, and I flinched.

“Good to know. Why exactly am I here then?” When he didn’t say anything, I turned to Vedant, who was already glaring at Rihaan.

“Can you behave for like five minutes?” He spoke to Rihaan with such venom in his voice that it took me aback. I had never seen him like this before.

“ No,” Rihaan matched his icy cold voice before he took a step towards Vedant. “You pull this, and you ask me to behave? It’s supposed to be a celebration and honestly, do you even know how angry Dad is?”

“I did this because YOU begged me to. I barely have a relationship with her, and you think I would’ve risked it had I known if your sorry ass can’t find it in him to behave? Because your ego is that fragile?” My breath was stuck in my throat, and with the way the rest of us were standing, we all knew that one wrong movement would set them both off completely.

But Vedant’s next words made me forget how to breathe altogether.

“After you found Ma’s journals, you were crushed. The shit you said that day? It is scared into my brain. I am not saying I am an expert on mending relationships; we all know I’m not. But we are all broken. Bruised by the same damn thing, but you were the one who was used the most, and as your big brother when you came to me begging to help, how was I supposed to say no? And frankly? I couldn’t care less about how dear old Dad is feeling right now.”

Vedant and Rihaan stared at each other with narrowed eyes, their anger bouncing off like a ball.

When his question was returned in his silence, Vedant shook his head in disapproval before his eyes found mine again, but all I could do was stare back at him.

“I was drunk,” Rihaan’s words were like cold water poured over, and my eyes found the floor.

I couldn’t look at either of them, couldn’t make sense of what either of their words meant or why it hurt so much to hear them.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and I knew it was the same amber eyes that made me feel the same comfort and vulnerability as the clouded sky, but I didn’t want his comfort.

I didn’t even know his name.

Yet, every nerve in my body worked together against my brain, which knew better and found his eyes.

His eyes traced my face in a way that made me feel so exposed that it made my skin crawl. When our eyes connected again, for the first time, it felt like my soul found the comfort it had ached for, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

A loud champagne popped nearby, and the moment was gone. All of us remembered where we were, the sound of the chaos once again becoming a background noise to our shared moment.

“I am so sorry.” I wasn’t sure who had said it, wasn’t sure what they were apologising for, or who it was even for.

I just knew that I couldn’t be part of whatever it was any longer.

Without bothering to say anything, I turned around, made my way through the crowd and left.

AXEL FOUND ME before I left the hotel altogether and insisted on taking me back home.

He must’ve expected me to fight him on it because when I gave in without another word, his own shoulders sagged in relief.

The drive back to my place was silent. I had no energy to say anything, but even if I did, I wasn’t sure what I would have said.

I just wanted to go home, curl up with my cats and cry.

So when he parked the car inside the building, I didn’t bother saying anything.

When he got out too and walked with me to my flat, I didn’t tell him that it wasn’t necessary.

And when I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and took in the sight of the disaster, I couldn’t hold it any longer.

The exhaustion, the frustration and the hurt that had been building up to that moment surged to the surface as I saw my flat, my safe space, half submerged in water.

Hot tears fell from my eyes; the relief of not holding them back was evident, but as water pooled on the floor, the smell of dampness hung heavily in the air; I couldn’t help but feel anything but relieved.

One of my cats was perched on the edge of the kitchen counter, while the other was by the windowsill, both staring at me wide-eyed, clearly distraught, their fur damp from their surroundings, but they remained stoic, and I was frozen in my spot.

What was up with this day?

Why was there so much water?

I could easily write this off as a coincidence, but something in my gut kept on screaming at me to notice it.

To notice the signs.

Why today?

No matter how much I tried to connect the dots, the other part of me kept screaming at me not to overthink it.

“What the fuck?”

Axel and I turned to look at Vedant standing a couple of feet from us, both of us still stuck in a state of shock.

I didn’t give him much of a reaction, but his presence was enough to snap me out of my trance.

I walked into my flat, thankful I was still in my boots as they swashed. I didn’t care much for my electronics; most of them would be ruined past any saving, as I internally grumbled at myself for dumping them on the floor post a binge session last night. All I wanted was to get these two out; I had already wasted enough minutes not going straight for them.

My heart broke further when neither jumped up and waited for me to scoop them in my hold.

I heard more swashes behind me, but, in that moment, I didn’t care much for what either of them were doing behind me.

I went to Lilli first; she was a Scottish fold, and her black fur was completely soaked.

She must be cold.

But as her eyes watched me intently, I knew she was more aware of my feelings than anything.

She was my first cat. I got her when she was just a kitten, planning to foster her after my therapist suggested she would help with my anxiety.

Removing my scarf from my neck, I wrapped her in half of it and pulled her to my chest before walking to her brother, Milo, who was chilling by the windowsill.

After a couple of weeks, I knew I couldn’t give up Lilli. She was more than just helpful to my anxiety; she became a part of my life, but every time I left her home, a part of me got crushed, leaving her alone. It was only twice a week when I went to the campus, and on race weekends when I was away for longer, she was with the Kaira, my neighbour, but when I went to make her adoption final, they told me her brother was the only one left from their litter, and it just felt like a no-brainer to adopt him as well.

Milo was seemingly dry compared to Lilli, which relieved me a little, but as I picked him up, he whimpered, making my heart drop.

He must’ve gotten hurt.

Between the two, he’s always had a more sensitive tail, and we’ve had a couple of emergency runs to the vet in the past, but it was never anything too critical.

I gulped, feeling more helpless by the second.

I turned to my sofa and one look, and I knew It was ruined. It was velvet and had no legs, and, by the looks of it, took and absorbed the hit before it reached my bookshelf. I walked over to where their carrier bag was, thankful it was among the things that were miraculously dry and walked out the door.

Giving both of them proper shakes, I tucked them properly in my scarf and their blanket in the bag before setting them down.

Vedant walked out of the flat, his jaw clenched and shoulders stiff. “You need to call your building manager.”

“How bad is it?”

“Your room is a mess, your clothes are not that bad but we need to figure out what the cause of this leak was. Depending on that you can either just give them a wash or get them dry cleaned. Your bed is ruined, and so is your laptop.” He shook his head, clearly frustrated. “Why do you still dump it on the floor?”

My lips pursed in a thin line, stopping myself from both laughing and crying. I couldn’t lose it, not right now.

Axel walked out to us, his posture matching Vedant’s as he shook his head.

“Your bathroom isn’t that bad, but most stuff is ruined; I think the leak was started there, and thankfully, your collateral was in waterproof packaging, so that should be all fine, too.”

Oh, right.

I had honestly forgotten about that, but I nodded anyway before pulling my phone out and calling my building manager.

It took him two minutes before he was standing next to us.

“It’s a cascade water leak,” He grumbled as he stepped inside my flat to take a look. “The pipe in the flat two floors above you had an issue, and well, by the looks of it, I would say you got lucky.”

Vedant opened his mouth, his eyes pointed, but I nudged his shoulder and shook my head.

Yeah, the guy was being a bit insensitive but it wasn’t his problem.

“What pipe was it?” Axel asked, but his tone wasn’t pleasant.

“Ah, just the main supply line, all clean water, your clothes should be fine…” His voice faded as he walked in further to check everything out.

I chewed on my lower lip as I went over all the other things that would require replacing and fixing.

“Right, I can’t give you an exact date, but it would take at least a month to get the water issue fixed; we need to cut the main electric line in this row and then a couple of weeks to get anything else fixed and inspected.” He wasn’t even looking at either of us, just making notes as he spoke. And by judging Vedant and Axel’s posture, neither of them were happy about it. “You got insurance?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. That clearly meant all of it needed replacing, and none of it would be fixable.

“Good, take pictures and pack your dry stuff. Anything that is wet, you can pick up later. Let me know once you’re done, and I can…” I tuned him out. I wondered if moving out would be a better solution; I had considered doing it anyway.

“Yeah, she can stay with me, it’s fine.”

What?

My head jerked up, unsure who suggested this. My eyes were wide as I tried to figure it out.

Living with either of them would be a stupid idea.

“Great, would you mind writing the forwarding address?”

When the building manager handed his phone to Vedant, a part of me felt relief, even though the other part of me had alarm bells ringing loudly.

“Right then, anything else?” The building manager looked up, a small sympathetic smile on his face and listening to the logical side of my brain, I nodded.

If Vedant suggested I stay with him for a while, I wouldn’t mind moving out entirely.

“Uh, I think I’ll take this and give you my notice. This month’s rent has been paid already, and I’m on a rolling contract.” His smile dropped a little, but he nodded regardless. “Thanks. I’ll get my stuff out and send you and the agent a formal notice in the morning.”

A single nod and he was gone.

Two hours later, so were we.