Chapter 2
Two
RAASHI
She wanted to go home. Raashi glanced around the room, the bright, happy faces, the chattering hordes, and she wished desperately to be anywhere but here. Well maybe ‘hordes’ was an exaggeration. This was a group at best. A flock of chattering magpies. Why were they so noisy? Hadn’t they said what they needed to already? This dinner had already lasted three hours.
Her head was starting to ache and her single glass of wine was starting to make her feel more than a little giddy and not in a good way. She’d always avoided alcohol for this reason. She was a lightweight and even a tiny amount went straight to her head.
“Akka,” she whispered to her sister who sat beside her. “I’m going to step out for a bit of fresh air.”
Veda glanced at her, concern shadowing her big eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Raashi tried to smile reassuringly but it felt like more of a grimace. “Just stepping out on to the verandah for a bit. I’ll be back.”
She slipped out before anyone could stop her. She smiled at the guards who lined the hallways waiting for the VIPs they guarded to finish for the night so they could head home to their own families. Honestly, Raashi found the whole thing vacuous and nothing but posturing. Maybe Suryakanth uncle and Agastya needed protection but the rest of them, especially him, surely didn’t? She bet he loved the boost it gave his image though.
She was still thinking dark, nasty thoughts about him, the wine adding an extra filter to the whole thing when she stepped out on to the large wraparound verandah. She could look down the driveway from here, all the way to the gate. She glanced longingly toward it, her way out of this night, her escape route.
As she watched, the gates opened and a yellow Lamborghini drove in, followed by a black Innova. It roared to a stop at the front of the house and Satan got out of it. She groaned. Her timing was shit. She should have stayed inside with the magpies.
He hadn’t seen her as yet. She saw him hug his security who got out of the Innova, a total bro hug that involved backslapping and loud, unintelligible bellows. To his credit, and she really didn’t want to give him any credit, they seemed to genuinely like him. But then didn’t everyone?
Except her.
She supposed she just had a stronger bullshit factor and was less distracted by a pretty face. It was a very pretty face, she accepted grudgingly.
Harsh was done with his bromance and now turned towards the house. She saw the exact moment he spotted her on the verandah. She saw the instinctive hitch in his step before he covered it up with his usual swagger.
“Well. Well. If it isn’t Anti Rapunzel up there…Or is it Anti Juliet?”
“You’re certainly no one’s Prince Charming or Romeo,” she replied acidly, more than happy to rise to the challenge of trading insults with him.
He wagged an admonishing finger at her. She wondered if she could break it.
“Ah, but I never claimed to be,” he announced, strolling up the steps and towards her. “You on the other hand…”
He stopped in front of her, just a shade too close, an attempt to get her to step back, to give ground. Instead, Raashi held her ground and leaned forward, lessening even the infinitesimal distance between them. She would be damned if she’d let this man win even one round in this endless war they waged.
“Me on the other hand?” she asked, forcing a sneer to her lips.
His gaze roved her face making her flush, a fact that she detested. Stupid pretty face.
“You on the other hand look like a delicate rose but hide the personality of a Black Widow spider.”
She laughed, more complimented than insulted by that. Where he saw poison, she saw strength. And if there was one thing Raashi Gadde would never again be, it was weak.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise at her loud laughter. It obviously wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.
“Why are you still here?” He dropped the taunts and went straight for the kill.
“Where else would I be? It’s family dinner night, didn’t you know?” If he could go straight for the kill, Raashi had spent a lifetime sharpening her dagger for the same. “And I am family now, am I not?”
His smile disappeared, wiped off his face like it had never existed. “Of course,” he said, his head dipping in a mocking bow. “You are family. My brother has never been happier,” he added cryptically.
Raashi felt strangely disconcerted by the conversation, feeling like there were several undercurrents she didn’t understand or even realise at play here. Before she could say anything more, her sister stepped out on to the verandah.
“Raash, are you okay? You were gone so long.”
Veda walked towards them, her sharp eyes taking in the close proximity between the two of them and the adversarial body language.
“Harsh!” she exclaimed now. “I didn’t know you were back. Why didn’t you come in?”
He turned towards her, stepping away from Raashi. She could feel the breath rushing back into her body as he moved out of her personal space. Honestly, the man just exuded pheromones, kept scattering them willy nilly all over the place like confetti. It was completely irresponsible. She shoved her glasses up her nose with a finger and turned towards her sister.
Veda’s eyes darted between the two of them clocking the tension and the pure dislike that throbbed through the very air.
“Is everything okay?” she asked now, since neither of them had answered her yet.
“Yes,” they said simultaneously.
“We missed you tonight,” Veda told Harsh.
“Did you?” he grinned, the smile bright and dazzling. “I told you, you married the wrong brother.”
There it was again, the undercurrent Raashi couldn’t put her finger on. Her analytical brain picked away at the mystery as Veda and Harsh conversed.
“Did you have a PR thing to go to?” Veda asked, laughing at something Harsh had said.
“No, I was just out with my friends.”
Her sister’s smile dimmed a little, bringing Raashi’s protective instincts to the fore. But before she could bare her claws, Veda spoke again.
“Your premiere is tomorrow. Are you excited?”
Harsh shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
Oh right. Raashi rolled her eyes. Big superstar was so blasé about another one of his movies releasing.
“I’m really looking forward to it!” Veda enthused.
Something flashed in Harsh’s eyes, gone before Raashi could label it.
“It would be great to have you all there,” he said with a forced smile. “But I understand if you’re too busy to come, if you have something else to do.”
Veda frowned. “What are you talking about? What could be more important than your premiere?”
Oh, this was just painful to watch. Clearly Satan didn’t want his family at his premiere.
“Some people have different priorities, Akka,” Raashi drawled, intervening. “Like how they go out partying with friends instead of spending time with family.”
Harsh’s face tightened, his eyes flashing towards her, promising grim retribution. Raashi smiled sweetly at him.
Bring it on, Kodela. Whatever he had to dish out, she’d serve back with interest.