by Van,P. G.
“Say it!!”
“I’ll be yours forever.” It was a cry and a plea, unable to handle the build up.
“Hold tight, angel. You will remember this one for life.”
His soft sweet voice was full of promise and ignited a lust she’d never experienced. She wanted what he promised and when he delivered on his word, she felt the surge of sensations as the earth exploded under her feet. She lost control of her hands that had her clinging to the sink for support and slid her back down to go on the wet floor next to Kris.
He smiled holding her in his arms. “You are the drug I need to make me go hard and when you moan like that and lose yourself to me, it wakes the beast in me that wants to destroy you while I blow your mind.”
“Holy shit!! That was fucking awesome!!” she gasped fighting for air.
“Whatever happened to my non-swearing girlfriend?” He chuckled taking a bite of her shoulder.
“She is right here, get ready to clean up the mess.” She rasped enjoying the after effects of a spontaneous romantic rendezvous.
“You look so hot when you are wet, just the reason why I got you into that dunk tank.” He nipped on her earlobe.
Chapter Sixteen
“What’s bugging you?” Kris planted a kiss on her forehead and tightened his arm around her.
“What did Varun tell you?” she asked suspecting her brother-in-law might have said something to Kris when Meena pulled her into a room with a ‘We need to talk’ look on her face earlier that day.
Varsha spent a good two hours talking to her sister about why she should ignore the calls from her ex and that she would deal with him going forward. It made her skin crawl just at the thought of hearing his voice again. She had ignored his calls, deleted his emails, deleted his voice mails without listening to them, but she knew she had to face him and make it very clear to him that she was not interested in getting back together.
“Nothing!!” He shook his head.
“Then…why do you think something is bugging me?”
“I just know…I can see it in your eyes.”
“You don’t want to know…this is the crap I warned you about the day…you moved in.” She chuckled pushing her body closer to his.
“I do want to know unless you don’t want to tell me.”
“It’s my ex. He’s been sending me torrents of emails and messages about how he was an ass and that we should get back together.”
“And…” He prompted trying to keep his voice as steady as possible when a deep ache started in his core.
“I am going to talk to him tomorrow about how I never want to hear from him, and that I have no intention of getting back with him.”
Kris let out a huge sigh of relief even though he knew she wasn’t going to go back to him and even if she had not said the magical words, she wanted and cared about him as much as he did about her.
“How can I help?”
“You can help if you are willing to travel to India and punch him for me,” she smiled kissing him on his chin.
“Too much travel, why don’t I have him fly here so I can punch him in front of you?”
“He was deported remember? He can’t come back.”
“Huh!!”
“Yes, that’s my saving grace. If not, he would have camped outside my door,” she grumbled.
“I know you can handle it. Just let me know when you need me to go punch him.”
“If only my parents weren’t the way they are, I could have had my dad deal with him.”
“Why wouldn’t your dad do that?”
“Because he is a suck-up businessman who values his business relationship more than his daughter.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My ex’s dad is a pretty influential man, and my dad’s business requires his support and the more I think about it, my marriage was a business deal for him. When I filed for a divorce, he chose to take my ex’s side to keep good with that family.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be…I am not, but my only regret is Myra has no grandparents, and I know she is going to ask me one day why she doesn’t have a father and grandparents.”
“Don’t think about all that…deal with your ex and put an end to his nonsense.”
“I am pretty sure it won’t be a simple conversation.”
“What does he do?” he asked casually.
“He is an engineer and I have no idea what he is doing in India, but I know he got married the day after our divorce was finalized and Meena told me that his technically new wife has left him…more like dumped him for someone else.”
“He is a top-rated ass,” he declared.
“I lost all my friends because of him.”
“What happened?”
“When I moved here from India, I had Meena and a few other girls that were my ex’s friends. When I went to grad school, I met Kevin and when he and I joined the startup, it was as if we were the missing pieces of a puzzle for the group there. We were a total of five girls and six guys and oh my gawd, the fun we had as we worked endless hours on this product. Best years of my career, and if it weren’t for my ex, I would have been with that company till this day and still have all of them in my life.”
“Why did your ex have a problem with your friends?”
“He knew I told the girls everything, and he would get such acidic looks from them when he came by to pick me up from work, he started telling me they were a bad influence and I shouldn’t hang out with them. He tried to control every single aspect of my life, and I was too blind to see that.” She took a deep breath fighting back tears.
“You need to sleep, love. We can talk tomorrow, it’s only going to make you sad.”
She couldn’t stop. She was upset, but she wanted to keep talking. “I should have listened to my friends and divorced him years ago…I would have celebrated my thirtieth birthday with my friends as we had planned.”
“I need you to stop talking now.” It was half a command, half plea.
“Okay…are you okay with all of this?”
He nuzzled her ear. “Sweetheart, you made it very clear this afternoon that you are mine, nothing else matters to me.”
“Yes, I am…and with you around, the identity, my characteristics that I had lost because of what I had to put up with…I think I am getting the old me back.”
“Good night, sweetheart.”
She took a deep breath against his cheek and let his arms secure her while she drifted into a warm and cozy state of mind and body.
*****
“What do you want?” She snarled as soon she heard the male voice on the other end of the phone.
“Oh…right to the point. The Varsha I’ve always known.” He snickered making her toes curl in disgust. She never thought she could hate someone, but he was capable of getting her there.
“What do you want?” she repeated in a calm tone.
“Varsha, I want us to be a family again. I was a fool to let you go, and that is the biggest regret in my life.”
“I have moved on, and you need to understand that I do not want to get back together.”
“Please do it for the sake of our daughter!!” His voice was soft and pleading.
“She is MY daughter. Let me remind you that you wanted nothing to do with me or the growing fetus when I told you I was pregnant.”
“You are beating a dead horse. I told you I was a different person. I am pretty sure I had some medical condition like depression that made me behave that way.”
“When will you learn to be accountable for your actions?”
“I would personally apologize to you if I could come to where you are but…”
“Nothing is changing!!”
“Why are you being so adamant? I know you are not with anyone else, and I was wrong to think you were…”
“Say it!! It won’t be the first time you will be calling me a slut.” She was angry, her chest heaved heavily as she stood in the family room.
Kris had taken Myra out in the stroller for a run. She wanted the call to be over so badly to go back to the life she has had the past few months.
“I am sorry for everything I said, and I repent every day for what I have done.”
“I am not in a position to accept your apology, and I am not going back to a relationship that never existed.”
“How long will you go on all by yourself?” It took her a second to reflect on what he meant, and she remembered something he had said as part of the conversation about her not being with anyone.
“How do you know I am doing this all by myself?”
“Varsha, I know you have your sister to help out, but you need a man in your life. You can’t be single forever.”
“Are you spying on me? How do you know I am not with someone?”
“I don’t need to spy on you, your sister told me you weren’t seeing anyone. I know we had a rough patch, but you and I are meant to be together.”
“Stop!! Just stop. I don’t care what my sister told you, Myra and I have no place for you in our lives.”
“How can you say that Varsha? I am her father, she needs me and she needs her family.”
“What are you suggesting, Rahul?”
“It’s been such a long time since I heard you say my name.” He was messing with her mind, and she was glad she was snobbish enough to know when someone was bullshitting her.
“What are you suggesting?” she repeated through clenched teeth.
“I want you and Myra to move to India. Myra will have a huge family here, she will be a princess.” He was drifting into his manipulative and devious mode, and she knew it.
“Not happening. Myra is mine and just as you wanted, you will not have anything to do with her. Is that clear?”
“She is mine, and I want her.” His voice switched from being calm and composed to an aggressive one that she recognized very well.
“She is not yours!!” she retorted.
“Oh, I know very well she is mine. I just need one DNA test to prove she is mine, and then I will be part of her life.”
“You bastard!!”
“You will hear from my lawyer very soon. Nice talking to you, Varsha.”
She let the phone out of her hands and let it crash to the floor. Her body was shivering from the shock of his last statement. He went from a person with regrets to a threatening asshole, and she knew that moment was the beginning of a long custody battle for her precious child.
“That was a fun workout, cupcake. I know why mommy likes to run with you in the stroller.” Kris parked Myra’s stroller to one side of the garage and picked her up.
“I’m sure mommy missed both of us,” he said to the babbling baby in his arms.
“We are home,” he announced to a surprisingly empty family room.
“Where do you think mommy is hiding?” he chuckled looking at Myra. He set her in her playpen and went upstairs to change.
“Varsha!!” He called out as he went upstairs. He went into the bedroom hoping she was in the shower and he could surprise her. She wasn’t around and just when he was about to head downstairs, he heard her. He heard her sobs and heard the crackling sound in his chest at the same time.
“Varsha!!” he called out when he couldn’t figure out where she was.
“Kris!!” He heard her muffled voice and knew where she was. He opened the door to the walk-in closet to find her sitting on the floor, her knees drawn into her chest, her eyes swollen red with tears brimming in them.
“Sweetheart…what are you doing here? What happened?” he pulled her up by her shoulders into his strong arms.
She felt the cool dampness on her cheek that instantly comforted her; she took in the beautiful smell of his drenched skin and let it soothe her aching heart.
“Let’s get you out of here.” He walked her out of the closet.
“Kris, I didn’t want you to see me like this. I didn’t want Myra to see me like this.”
“Myra is downstairs playing, and I need to know what happened.” She tightened her hold on him without responding.
“Did you talk to him?”
She nodded.
“What did he say?”
Tears started to form in her eyes just at the thought of the worst-case scenario.
“He wants Myra!!” She cried clinging to him not trusting her body to stay steady.
“Varsha, relax. Just because he wants Myra, it doesn’t mean he gets her.”
“Kris, that fucking bastard is going all legal on me. He is going to fight for her.”
“We can handle it, he will never get Myra. There is no way he can prove he can take care of a child.”
“You don’t know him. He is as manipulative as anyone can be. He has a plan, and I can’t figure out what it is.”
“Varsha look at me.” She responded to the anger in his voice and looked up into his eyes.
“Tell me what you want, and I will make it happen.”
“I don’t want to lose Myra. I want her to be here and not go back to India just because he is in India.”
“Done!! Give me his phone number, and I will deal with him.”
“No…not yet. He is under the impression that I am not seeing anyone, and I don’t know how he will use our relationship to get Myra. Let me see what he does next. I am really hoping he was bluffing when he said his lawyer will contact me.”
“When the lawyer contacts you, tell him he needs to meet with you, and I will go with you. Okay?”
“Yes,” her voice was weak as she hugged him to regain strength.
“I’m going to talk to my family in India and see what can be done there once we meet the lawyer.”
“Thanks, Kris!!”
“You don’t need to thank me, I need Myra too. I need her to certify all the books I create.” He chuckled.
“Stop kidding.”
“I am serious, you have no idea how much that kid controls my life right now. I need to come home and look at her smiling face and chubby arms, and I get a recharge of abundant energy.”
“How come you never talk about your stuff with me when I’m overloading you with my drama.”
“I got you babe. I have nothing to complain about.”
“You don’t need to deal with this, Kris.”
“I want to. I can’t see you like this. I know a very good family lawyer that can take care of everything for us.”
“What would I do without you?”
“I love you too, honey.” His voice was soft as he rocked her in his arms.
Chapter Seventeen
Varsha: Are you going to the happy hour tonight?
Kris: Not sure…is my girlfriend going?
Varsha: She might.
Kris: I’m not going then.
Varsha: I’m going because Kevin is here and he always complains about me not hanging out with him.
Kris: You should go…I was planning to show up for diplomatic reasons and go home and play with Myra.
Varsha: That works really well for me.
Kris: My pleasure baby!!
Varsha: I don’t want you to talk to me at the event. We have all the gossipmongers in the building at the bar.
Kris: Really?
Varsha: See you there…
“Hey stranger.” Kevin put his arm around her as she sat on the barstool next to him.
“Good to see you dude!!” She leaned into him taking in the bear hug.
“You look great!!”
“Thank you. You are very kind.”
“I’m serious…you are glowing like a bulb.”
“Okay…thank you!!” she laughed.
“So, what’s new?”
She shrugged and lied through her teeth. “Same old stuff. What’s new with you?”
“You can’t copy my questions. How is Myra?”
“She is good. Growing fast.”
“How come you showed up? I was pretty sure it would be like every other time when you text me at the last min
ute that you can’t make it because you have to be home.” He was taunting her with an affectionate smile on his face.
“I know. Proven guilty,” she chuckled and added,” I have help at home.”
“Good, you finally figured out you need time for yourself.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Drink?”
“Yeah, one drink. I need to drive back.”
“C’mon, you have the highest tolerance for alcohol, you’ll be fine.”
“When the bartender is back, order our favorite drinks will you? I’ll be right back. I got to go talk to this dude.”
Her eyes scanned the section of the bar that was reserved for the work event for Kris. He wasn’t in sight and she looked a few more times before looking back at her drink.
Her phone buzzed a notification.
Kris: Looking for me?
Varsha: No.
She looked up from her phone smiling to scan the area one more time but he was nowhere. He was too tall to not be spotted even in a large crowd.
Varsha: Where are you?
Kris: It’s not like you’re going to talk to me.
Varsha: I might.
Kris: I dare you to bring me a drink.
Varsha: I might come say hi.
Kris: I will tell you where I am if you are buying me a drink.
She turned around with her back to the bar and moved her gaze from one table to another smiling and waving at everyone she made eye contact with at the event but no Kris in sight.
Varsha: Fine I will bring you a drink, where are you?
Kris: Your 3’o clock.
Varsha: I don’t see you.
Kris: Walk over to that table and you will see me.
Varsha: You will pay dearly if you cheat.
Kris: Yup!!
“Your drinks, ma’am.” The bartender placed a glass of draft beer and a glass of wine down on the counter.
“Could you please hold on to my drink, I’ll be right back?”
“Sure thing!!”
She grabbed the glass of beer and walked towards the group of people gathered around the table where Kris said he was and got sucked into the conversation. Kris wasn’t at the table but was standing next to it at a lower level watching people play foosball. He stood with his back to her and was completely ignoring her. She knew he could hear her as she conversed with the group at the table.