Chapter Six
Chapter
Six
Naina’s Anti-Honeymoon Checklist
Eat way too much seafood in one sitting.
When they returned to the hostel, Tejas was eager to hang out with Naina in their room and perhaps discuss some more of the list, but Naina dragged him over to the kitchen to introduce him to the friends she’d made.
The kitchen and dining area was cramped, with a stovetop, microwave oven, fridge, and six chairs around a rickety table, two of which were currently occupied.
“Everyone, this is Tejas. That’s Jonah,” Naina said, nodding at the bald white man with a goatee; then she smiled at the tall, well-built blond man stroking Jonah’s arm. “And that’s Aleksy.”
Tejas shook hands with them both. “Aleksy and I met years ago on one of my backpacking trips to Poland,” Jonah said in a strong California accent, smiling. “He’s a chef there. This summer, I finally managed to drag him out of his kitchen.”
“Speaking of which, Raziya, let me know if you need any help.” Aleksy stood, walking to the sink, where an Indian woman was stirring a large bubbling pot of what looked like stew.
“Relax, this recipe isn’t that complicated!
” she said, laughing. Tejas recognized her—she was the one who’d helped him find his room earlier.
“Nice to see you again,” she said to him pleasantly.
“I’m currently working on a spy thriller set in Goa, but until writing pays my bills, I’m helping out at the hostel part-time and doing some research on the side. ”
“So, where are you from?” Jonah asked Tejas, gesturing for him and Naina to sit.
Before Tejas could tell them, Naina spoke. “Actually, Tejas and I came up with a fun ‘wrong answers only’ rule between the two of us, so you’ll have to ask him personal questions on your own time.”
Her friends exchanged curious glances but said nothing. Tejas sat down at the table and tried not to let his confusion show. So she only had this rule with him, not her friends here. What was that about?
Across from him, Aleksy said, his Polish accent as thick as his arms, “Did you have dinner already? Raziya’s attempting to make my special hunter’s stew.”
Naina leaned against Tejas’s chair, her long hair tickling the side of his neck. “We ate at a seafood buffet, but thanks.”
Jonah rubbed his goatee. “Great, another item checked off the list.”
“How do you guys feel about a rave tonight?” Naina asked.
“Finally! I’ve been dying to go out,” Jonah said. “My friend told me about one happening right now, if you’re down. Besides, I already scored us the good stuff from my friend’s dealer.”
Tejas frowned. “Uh, good stuff meaning what?”
“LSD, of course,” Jonah said nonchalantly.
“Wait, what?” Tejas exclaimed, feeling Naina stiffen behind him.
Aleksy gave him a funny look. “What did you think we’d be doing at a rave? Smoking pot?”
“You don’t have to unless you want to,” Raziya said.
She handed Jonah and Aleksy two steaming bowls of hunter’s stew, and they accepted them gratefully.
The smell of smoky meat was heavenly to Tejas’s senses, but his mouth had gone dry at the mention of the psychedelic.
He had never tried drugs, except for the rare moments he’d smoked pot in college. He’d definitely opt out of this one.
“Guess you’ll check two things off your list in one go,” Tejas said, turning in place to look up at Naina. “At this rate, we’ll run out of things to do by the end of the week.”
Naina tilted her head like she was considering something. “Maybe we’ll find other ways to stay occupied,” she said quietly so only Tejas could hear her.
Tejas tried not to blush. Was she implying…
No. They barely knew each other, and she’d set her boundaries already by saying she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.
But her list made it seem like a fling was more than on the table.
In any case, Tejas wouldn’t overstep or make the first move, despite the way Naina was looking at him right now, like she was revisiting the almost-moment they’d shared during the fireworks.
While Naina went to take a shower before the rave, Tejas changed into a dressier shirt and sat down at the desk to go through his work emails on his laptop.
He had taken the full two weeks off, handing over his caseload to a trusted co-worker, but he wanted to check on their progress anyway.
His clients had been through hell: a small-business owner who’d been sued by a big corporation and was at risk of bankruptcy, a young woman whose landlord evicted her after discovering she was from a lower caste, and a Bollywood makeup artist dealing with sexual harassment from her boss.
Being a lawyer was often depressing, but seeing his clients get justice was worth all the hard work and the blood, sweat, and tears he shed.
As he responded to an email from earlier that day, Naina’s iPad chimed from the far end of the desk: an Outlook notification.
Tejas frowned, his eyes on the lit-up screen.
What did she do for work? Given her firm handshakes and her no-nonsense attitude, she was probably a big-shot corporate hustler.
A consultant, perhaps, or CEO of a startup. Or—
The door opened, and Naina walked in, bringing the soapy scent of lavender with her. Tejas shook off his curiosity and shot her a grin. “That was quick.”
She rolled her eyes and flung her towel over the drying rack in the balcony. “I can never spend longer than ten minutes in the shower,” she said as she reappeared in the room. “It gets so boring in there.”
“But hot water feels so good!”
“Oh, I only take cold showers,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s better for your health.”
Tejas laughed. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“Thank you,” Naina said, beaming at him, then checked her phone. “Come on, it’s past ten. Let’s get going.
Tejas joined his newfound friends in the parking lot, and they squeezed into Raziya’s tiny rental car, which groaned under their combined weight.
Raziya didn’t drink or do recreational drugs, so she had volunteered to be the designated driver tonight.
And, most likely, for the rest of their vacation.
Tejas doubted anyone else in the group could go a night without drinking in Goa, of all places.
Aleksy, who sat in the front, tinkered with the music controls until an EDM song began to play. “Might as well get the party started,” he said, and Naina cheered, fist-bumping Jonah, who started to groove in his seat.
Tejas’s eyes were fixed out the window as he stared at passing cars and blurring streetlights.
None of his friends back home, or even in college, had experimented with hard drugs.
Neither, it seemed, had Naina. He might have only met her hours ago, but he’d agreed to help her with the list, and that meant being there for her if things went south.
Would he be able to take care of her if she had a bad trip, or if cops showed up to the rave?
“Hey,” came Naina’s whisper, and he turned to her. “If you’re feeling too anxious, we could go back to the hostel.”
Tejas shook his head. “But your list…”
She placed her hand on his knee and squeezed reassuringly. “You don’t have to try it with us unless you want to. Honestly, I’m scared too.”
“Doesn’t seem like it,” he said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
She chuckled. “Fake it till you make it, right? Besides, I’ve played it safe for twenty-nine years. I don’t want to turn thirty and still live in my comfort zone.”
She’s twenty-nine just like me, Tejas thought. He hesitated, then asked, “When’s your birthday?”
Naina laughed, then said teasingly, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
His heart deflated—she didn’t even want to reveal her birthday?—but he played along, forcing out a laugh. “Right, right, the ground rules.”
Pounding electronic beats greeted them as they walked in, so loud that Tejas couldn’t hear the movement of the frothy waves, or even his own thoughts.
The beach was swarming with hundreds of people, ready to party in sexy dresses, bikini tops, shorts, and floral shirts—and they all wore neon accessories, from beads around their necks to light-up bracelets; many even sported glow-in-the-dark spray paint.
The place smelled like sweat and salty seaside air…
and Tejas loved every passing second more and more.
“We have to try the neon spray paint!” Aleksy yelled over the music, urging them to the many stalls flanking the periphery of the beach.
Tejas paid for a can of pink paint that he sprayed all over Naina, laughing when she retaliated with a lime-green can.
Raziya declined to “taint her body,” as she put it, opting for a neon bracelet instead, while Jonah and Aleksy went a little too overboard, ending up with more color on their bodies than clothing.
Jonah gestured for them to wait while he went into the back of one stall. A minute later, he surfaced with a small packet, then led them to a quieter spot. He discreetly handed out tiny strips of paper to them, shrugging when Raziya and Tejas turned him down.
Next to him, Naina went still, staring at the tiny white strip. Tejas nudged her. You okay? he mouthed.
She hesitated, then politely stepped away from Jonah. When Tejas gave her a questioning look, she stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, “You were right. LSD is a little out of my wheelhouse too.”
He gave her a thumbs-up as she wound her fingers around his arm, sending shivers down his spine.
Instead, they got themselves a tray of shots.
With the vodka slowly absorbing into his system, easing his nerves, Tejas joined the crowd of drunk, high, horny strangers gyrating to the music and grinding against each other.
Jonah, Aleksy, and Raziya remained at the bar, ordering beers and mocktails, leaving Tejas alone with Naina on the dance floor.
Naina stepped closer and gripped his shirt with her fists, pulling herself flush against his body.
Tejas swallowed, his feet lurching to a stop.
She smelled incredible, like lavender and sweat, and God, she looked stunning with her hair in a half-up, half-down style, her eyelids in shimmering gold, and a tight, low-cut black dress hugging her muscular body.
You look beautiful, he wanted to say, but no way would she hear him over the music.
So, instead of saying it with words, he said it with his touch.
He cradled her face in his hand, their lips barely an inch apart.
Naina exhaled, her breath mingling with his.
She looked up at him expectantly, like she wanted him to close the distance between them, but Tejas wouldn’t, couldn’t, unless he knew she wanted this like he did.
“Hey, Prince Charming,” Naina said in his ear as her lips parted, “care to help me check another item off the list?”
He chuckled, moving his other hand to the back of her head, fisting it in her hair. “Which one?” he said.
Naina laughed; the sound vibrated in his chest, touching hers. Then she pressed her mouth to his. Tejas threaded his fingers through her hair and cupped her jaw with the other hand, deepening the kiss.
Her taste on his tongue was more than intoxicating; it was addictive.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers tugging at his curls until all Tejas could feel, hear, and taste was her.
Her skin against his, soft and hot. The moans from the back of her throat, her purrs as he pressed up against her.
The sweet, sticky cherry-red gloss coating her mouth.
Shit, Tejas had never felt this…alive before.
Naina pulled apart and said, grinning, “Where did you come from, Prince Charming?”
“Maybe it’s fate,” he replied before kissing her again.
She melted into Tejas, a giggle bubbling out of her lips, then let him twirl her around as the music swelled in his ears.
Tejas’s head spun, and his heart thudded beneath his rib cage when she planted a kiss on his wrist, leaving a maroon impression in its wake.
Had his wrist ever looked better? He brought her closer, and as they danced, their limbs and lips intertwined, he didn’t have a goddamn clue what the others were up to, and he didn’t care.
All that mattered was this ethereal, neon-lit, supercharged moment when nothing existed but him and Naina.