Chapter 28
DAKSH
Daksh settled back in the comfortable armchair, a gentle buzz from the scotch he was drinking making him feel mellow as hell.
“So,” Kabir said, coming to sit across from him with a beer in his hand. “How are things with your family?”
And just that easily, the mellow disappeared. Shit, Daksh thought, letting his head drop back on the backrest.
“That bad huh?” Kabir asked sympathetically, clocking Daksh’s expression accurately.
“Worse,” Daksh grimaced, sitting up. “My brother is pulling a full on victim card. My father seems to be buying a one way ticket to a heart attack. And my mother…” Daksh paused, then shrugged and continued, “she spends most of her time playing cards with her various kitty groups. I guess, she’s fine. ”
“And you?”
“Me?” Daksh asked surprised. “What about me?”
“How are you? Last time I checked, you were part of your family too.”
“Am I?” Daksh laughed humourlessly. “I’m more family adjacent than family.”
Kabir watched him, his perceptive gaze making Daksh feel uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat, looking around the large flat. It was done up tastefully, an understated luxury to it that still yielded centre stage to comfort. “You have a nice place here.”
“Not mine,” Kabir replied, allowing him to change the topic. “My parent’s. They’re out on date night tonight.”
“Date night?” Daksh grinned. “Seriously? Do old people still do that?”
“Call them old to their face, I dare you.” Kabir laughed. “I’ll stand by as my dad whoops your arse.”
A door slammed down the hall and a pretty, angry, teenager stormed into view. She grabbed an iPad from the console table and walked away without acknowledging either of them.
“Zara!” Kabir’s voice rose in warning. “Tani’s sleeping.”
She scowled at him but Daksh noted that when she disappeared into her bedroom, the door shut a lot more quietly.
“There goes trouble,” Daksh laughed under his breath.
Kabir groaned. “Don’t even get me started. Thanks for joining me tonight for a drink. I needed to unwind a bit.”
And he’d needed to be Vedika adjacent, Daksh thought, studying the amber liquid in his glass. Even if there was no chance she’d ever be here, in the same space as him, breathing the same air…it felt like he breathed easier knowing he was somewhere in her orbit.
“How’s your sister?” he asked now, working to keep his voice casual.
“Kimaya?” Kabir asked, taking another small sip of his beer. “She’s fine.”
Daksh looked up from his drink, noted Kabir’s shit stirring grin and glowered. “Fuck you man. You’re ruining our friendship before it even gets started.”
Kabir chuckled. “Just wanted to see if you’d pull your head out of your arse long enough to say it.”
“Say what?” Daksh put his glass down so he didn’t give in to the urge to throw it.
“That there is something between Vedu and you.”
Something. A nameless, faceless something. But it was something.
“Something that shouldn’t be there,” Daksh said quietly, meeting Kabir’s understanding gaze.
“We can’t control how we feel,” Kabir said now.
“But we can control what we do about it,” Daksh returned. Before he could say anything else, Kabir’s phone rang.
“I should get this,” he said, excusing himself from their conversation and stepping to a corner of the room. “Kim, what’s up?”
A second later, his shoulders tensed, his smile slipping away. “I’m on my way,” he said tersely.
“What’s wrong?” Daksh was on his feet in an instant.
“The girls need a pick up.” The worried look on Kabir’s face didn’t go away even as they made their way out of the house.
The girls…Daksh’s stomach did a weird dip. “Vedika is there too?” he asked and Kabir nodded as they stepped into the basement parking and walked towards a Mercedes sedan.
“The last time I had to pick up my siblings,” Kabir said, stalking over to the car, “it was from a police station.”
Fuck, Daksh thought. But out loud, all he said was, “I’ll drive.”
They made it to the bar in record time, Kabir’s security following them in another car. He pulled a ballcap down, low over his forehead, and shrugged his jacket close, keeping his face down as they were ushered into the crowded space.
The minute they entered, Daksh’s gaze scanned the area for her. He found her in less than a second and his heart stopped.
She was heart-stoppingly gorgeous, a fact that most of the men in the room had noticed.
Her hair, her glorious mane of hair, was gone.
But the shorter, edgier look was bloody sexy.
And that was before you took in the tiny, glittery, silver mini dress she wore with six inch heels that could skewer a man through his beating heart.
None of that was as shocking though as the fact that Vedika Thakkar, his Mouse, was dancing on top of a bar counter.
“Kabs.” Kimaya appeared beside a shell shocked Kabir. “I’m trying to get her off the bar but I can’t. She won’t listen and I’m worried some people will take videos of her. Chachu will kill me.”
“I am going to kill you,” Kabir said roughly, starting towards the bar.
“Kabir.” Daksh stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Let me.”
Kabir’s dark gaze met his for a moment, assessing, and then he nodded. “I’m right here, if you need me.”
Daksh left the siblings to argue in angry whispers and walked up to where Vedika was doing a surprisingly sensuous hip twirl. He stopped in front of the bar and wrapped his hand around her slim ankle, his thumb going to caress her shin gently.
“Don’t touch me!” Her eyes flew open and she glared down at him. A second…a second was all it took for those alcohol sozzled eyes to register his presence, to realise who was touching her.
And then she smiled.
Fuck his life. This…This was trouble. Big, big trouble.
“Let’s go, Mouse.” he said, his voice rough with unchecked emotion.
Her smile widened as she knelt on the bar counter, bringing her face to eye level with him.
“With you?” she asked, her voice husky and low.
The sound of it shot straight to his groin.
“With me,” he confirmed, grabbing her and hauling her into his arms.
She laughed, wrapping her legs around her waist and her arms around his neck, those soft, plump lips of hers inches away from his.
“Perfect. ‘Not Vedika’ finally gets what she wants.”
“Who or what the fuck is a ‘Not Vedika’?” He shouldered a drunk guy out of the way as he navigated the crowded space with her clinging to him like a baby monkey.
“Someone who is not boring, not stupid, not a,” she made air quotes with one hand, clinging to him with the other, “waste of space.”
Her soft breasts pressed against his chest as she nuzzled into him, forcing him to swallow a groan.
“Not Vedika is someone you’d like.”
“Is she?”
In response, she leaned over and licked his neck.
Daksh cursed as he stumbled, almost dropping her.
Shock coursed through him as one of her hands slipped down, way down, and gripped him through his pants.
Daksh squirmed, dislodging her hand and almost losing his grip on her.
With great difficulty, he held on to her and didn’t drop her on her butt.
“Behave,” he said, sternly.
“No,” she replied sweetly, before closing the gap between them and kissing him.