Chapter 14
Fourteen
RAASHI
He’s mine? He’s mine?? What the hell was she thinking? Was someone smoking weed nearby? Had she been inhaling it on the side? It was the only explanation for the spurt of jealousy that had led to the even bigger spurt of nonsense spewing out of her mouth.
“Yours?” The Aphrodite lookalike in front of her sneered. “Oh honey, are you delusional?”
Raashi’s spine stiffened and she took an extra-large breath, hoping the second hand weed wafted her way again. “No,” she replied calmly. “Just confident.” What a lie. Confidence was the one attribute she had decided to use the ‘fake it until you make it’ approach with. Sadly, the making it stage had still not made an appearance.
Aphrodite laughed, throwing her head back, her long hair bouncing in shiny waves around her shoulders. Raashi had the bizarre urge to attack it with scissors. “You think that you can claim Harsh Kodela. You? With your-“
“Careful.” Suddenly, Harsh was at her shoulder, one arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her close. His voice was soft, lethally soft.
Aphrodite frowned, confusion darkening her gaze. “You’ve got to be joking. What do you see in her ?”
Raashi flushed, aware that the other woman was loud enough for other people to start looking at them. A familiar embarrassment coursed through her as she heard the snickers and whispers spread in increasingly wider ripples around the room.
“Everything,” Harsh answered, kissing the top of her head and setting it on fire. “I see everything in her.”
Raashi sucked in a breath, her face flaming to match the top of her head. She was a human bonfire. Someone needed to shove her into an ice bath, right about now.
Fake, she reminded herself. It’s all fake. Aphrodite or Kajal, as it were, flounced off in a huff and slowly people looked away from them as they realised the show was over and there was no more gossip to be had.
“You’re good at this,” she mumbled dazedly, aware that he was still holding on to her like he was glued to her side.
“At what?” Harsh asked, still sounding irrationally furious.
“Faking it.”
He stilled, his hand slowly falling away from her waist. She felt the loss of it keenly. She wanted to grab it, slap it back on her hip and glue it back there. Forever.
She stepped away from him instead, trying to find the shattered remnants of her composure and piece it back together.
“Well,” he said now, his voice taking on that familiar taunting sneer. “I am an actor.”
“And a good one at that,” she said quietly.
Harsh frowned, clearly surprised by her lack of snarky repartee but Raashi was feeling anything but snarky in that moment.
“Anna,” she said to Ram who was inexplicably staring at the wall behind Aadhya. “Can we leave?”
His gaze shot to hers and whatever he saw in her eyes had him nodding. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll walk you guys out,” Harsh said, his gaze still caught on Raashi’s downbent head.
“Bye,” Aadhya called, clearly not intending to join Harsh in walking them out. But as Raashi crossed her, Aadhya reached out and pulled her in for a hug.
“Hang in there,” Aadhya whispered, holding Raashi tight. “It’s all going to be over soon.”
Raashi hugged her back, a whiff of desperation leaking into the embrace. “Hopefully very soon.”
She stepped out of Aadhya’s embrace and onto Harsh’s foot. He groaned, a pained sound.
“Sorry,” she muttered, abashed and feeling more than ever like the troll at the fairy tale ball.
“It’s okay,” he murmured, limping along beside her. “Your boots have very pointy heels though.”
They made it all the way to the gate where the valets hovered in a rabid crowd. Ram walked over to hand his slip to them so they could bring their car around leaving Raashi and Harsh alone in a tiny pocket of silence for a few minutes.
Sudden tears stung Raashi’s eyes as she considered the debacle that was this evening. This was always her. Clumsy, awkward, and brash. The family embarrassment.
“Hey.” Harsh’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Raashi blinked furiously, forcing the ridiculous tears back. “Of course, I am.”
A chill breeze blew past them ruffling the torn edges of Harsh’s sweater, the sight of that gaping hole making Raashi want to bawl again.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the chill. How long did it take the damn valet to get their car.
“For?” Harsh asked, shoving his hands into his jeans pocket like they were out for a stroll on a hot, summer day.
“You know for what,” she answered irritably, sniffling back a few stray tears.
Harsh held out one hand and started listing reasons on his fingers. “For tearing my sweater? For breaking my toes? For headbutting my chest in the guise of a hug?”
She swatted his hand, forcing it down. “Just shut up.”
His voice dropped to a dangerously low octave, simmering with undertones of sex and sin. “Or for claiming me as yours?”
Raashi turned bright red. Had she said it was cold? Nope. She was standing in a freaking furnace.
“Isn’t that what we’re here for?” she asked with what she thought was remarkable composure, keeping her voice just as low. Except hers did not sound sinful. She sounded an awful lot like a frog with a cold. “To establish our fake relationship in the eyes of the public?”
“True.” Harsh took a deliberate step closer to her.
Raashi stepped back. “Then, I’d say mission accomplished.”
“I never knew you were such a good actress, Rash,” Harsh crooned.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she shot back, feeling more like herself than before.
A few feet from them, Ram was arguing with one of the valets, his hands gesticulating in the air in frustration.
“Truth,” Harsh murmured, stepping closer again.
This time Raashi held her ground, her gaze rising to meet his challengingly. “And there’s a lot you’ll wish you never find out.”
“Lie,” he whispered, his breath fanning over her cheek as he bent towards her, one arm cradling her to him, his cheek nuzzling her hair.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her face resting on his chest, her fingers curled into the rip on his sweater.
“I want to know everything about you Raashi Gadde,” he murmured, not answering her question.
“Why?” she asked, a thrum of excitement coursing through her blood.
Harsh started to move slowly, guiding their bodies into a dance to music only he heard. The world receded leaving Raashi in a little bubble that encased the two of them. She couldn’t think, couldn’t argue, couldn’t form another coherent thought. All she could do in that moment was feel.
“Why?” Harsh repeated, his voice soft and musing. “Don’t they always say keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”
The words hit her like a slap in the face, the strange feelings coursing through her receding.
“And I’m the enemy?” she asked, bitter scorn in her voice, even as she struggled to pull herself out of his embrace.
“I would have thought so but, now, I’m damned if I know,” Harsh said softly, holding her close and stilling her struggle.
A flash of light rent the air alerting her to the paparazzi who’d clearly gathered.
“And that, darling,” Harsh murmured, letting her go. “Is how you sell a fake relationship to the world.”