CHAPTER 9
The room was pitch dark when Narmada opened her eyes upon hearing a noise. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and she remembered going to sleep after coming back from the village fair. She wasn’t sure how long she had slept because she was wide awake.
She reached for the light to the side and turned it on. The light blinded her for a second, and she heard the weird creaking sound again. She looked in the direction of the sound and almost gasped.
Neil sat in a rocking chair, his face turned away from her and was fast asleep. She dimmed the light and got off the bed gingerly and tiptoed closer to him.
She stopped a foot away from him taking in his chiseled profile. His features looked softer when he slept. His jaw was relaxed, his eyes were shut with his thick lashes lining his eyelids, and his lips, they looked soft. She took in a slow, hissed breath and inadvertently brought her fingers to her lips. Her body demanded to know the feel of those soft lips on hers.
She turned away from him not wanting to disturb him but stopped when she heard him mumble. She smiled turning to look at him when she realized she had woken up to his voice.
Narmada had no reason to step closer to him, but she did, and as if he sensed her presence, he mumbled again, “Narmada.”
She gasped, and her heart skipped multiple beats when she heard her name play on his lips. Tears, for reasons she couldn’t comprehend, welled in her eyes, but her lips would not stop curving up. Happiness and sadness enveloped her at the same time when she realized she still had feelings for him.
Feelings so strong, they told her to fight for him and take away his pain. She felt the knot in the pit of her stomach when he told her about how he was treated as a child. She didn’t care that he killed or why he killed, she wanted him back in her life. She reached out slowly and let her hand go to his face to cup her palm on his cheek ever so gently.
The moment did not last long for her as she watched in horror as his eyes flashed open, and the next thing she knew, she was on his lap, her back to his chest and a knife on her throat.
“Neil,” she screamed into his ears.
“Fuck! What the hell were you doing?” he growled into her ear putting the knife away.
“I… I couldn’t sleep, and I…” her voice was still shaky from the experience. She thought she had a moment of peace with him only to be scared out of her skin.
“Never do whatever you were trying to do. It’s a good thing I didn’t reach for my gun… what were you doing anyway?”
“I… I couldn’t sleep, and I was trying to check on your wound,” she managed to say.
“You just have to say my name to wake me up. Don’t ever touch me like that… my body is trained for different things, and my instincts can get you injured,” he warned.
“Okay.”
“If you are done treating me like a couch, you can get off now?” he barked.
She took a deep breath and tried to stand up only to fall back on him when her knees gave away.
“Narmada, are you okay?” He held her to him with one arm while the rocking chair shook from the impact.
She managed to gain some composure by then. “No, you scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to… I won’t do that again.” He slid his arm under her legs, and before she realized what he was doing, he stood up holding her in his arms. He carried her to the bed like she weighed nothing.
“Put me down,” she demanded.
“Fine.” He hauled her onto the mattress laughing.
Narmada yelped, holding her head as soon as her body hit the mattress.
“Oh shit… did you hit your head? I’m sorry.” He was by her side pushing her hands away to inspect her head.
She fought with strength without taking her hands off, and when he finally managed to get her hands away, he pushed her hair around looking for a wound.
He pulled back when he heard her laugh. “Got ya, that’s what you get for scaring me.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “Not funny, go back to bed.”
She took his hand in hers before he could move away. “Neil, don’t go.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I am going back to my corner to sleep.” He tried to take his hand away from her, but she didn’t let go.
“This is a big bed. You can pick your corner and sleep here,” she managed in a steady tone.
He pulled his hand away from hers and turned off the light. “Good night.”
She didn’t respond but just watched his silhouette move away from her. He settled into the rocking chair, but she knew he wasn’t asleep. She knew he had some feelings for her, too, and she wasn’t sure what those feelings meant for him.
“Neil…”
When he didn’t respond, she waited a few seconds before she spoke. “Neil, I know you’re awake.”
“What do you want, Narmada?”
“After that night, the night we kissed… did you leave because the kiss was sloppy?” She but her lip to stop herself from laughing at her own words.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Narmada?”
She was smiling and was glad he couldn’t see her face. “You were the first guy I kissed, and I wondered if you left because you didn’t like it.”
“Shut up and sleep.”
“Neil, don’t do this to me. I need to know if I am a bad kisser, so I can get some practice in before I see Raj.” She could not believe the words that fell from her mouth, but she was having the time of her life.
A thrill ran through her veins when she heard his breath hiss. She knew she had an effect on him but wasn’t sure what he felt for her. She sensed his frustration by the way he got up from the chair.
“Please don’t leave me and go.”
He stopped and looked in her direction for a long moment. “Shut up and sleep.”
“Okay,” she grumbled.
Neil turned back, and she couldn’t help but keep talking. “What is the time?”
“Narmada.” He was pissed, and she knew it.
“I’m just trying to figure out if I should sleep or wake up.”
He threw his hands up in frustration. “It’s three in the morning, can you stop your questions?”
“Yes… I’ll go back to sleep. I know we have to drive to a city tomorrow because you have to take me dancing,” she purred.
“What?”
“You promised, remember?”
She heard him curse under his breath before slumping his body back on the rocking chair. She lay on the bed staring at the rocking chair, a million thoughts floating through her mind, the strongest thought was whether what she felt for him was real.
******
Narmada was going nuts with the silence between them since that morning. He woke her up to give her the phone because the idiot, Raj, wanted to talk to her. She stared into Neil’s eyes as she sweet talked to Raj about her plans for shopping and then partying.
They left the hut in the car he had driven her in from the hotel two days ago. An hour into the drive, he hadn’t uttered a single word, and she couldn’t handle it anymore.
“I don’t care for the name of the city, but how much longer before we get there?” She lowered the backrest and set her feet up on the dashboard after adjusting her anklets—the only jewelry she refused to part with as they were a family heirloom.
She caught him look at her exposed skin when her loose linen pants rode up to her knees. She lowered her backrest further, flattening it completely and stretched out her legs.
Neil had his sunglasses on, but she was at an angle where she could see the corner of his eye from the gap between the lens and his face.
“I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when we get closer,” she purred and pretended to sleep, her eyes ever so tiny slits as they watched him.
She watched him for over thirty minutes, but he didn’t take his eyes off the road. She didn’t know what she wanted him to do. She was mad he wasn’t checking her out, but a part of her said she would be pissed if he was gawking at her legs.
The car moved at a steady speed, and after another half an hour, the car slowed, and Neil reached for the dashboard, and the back of his hand brushed over her calf.
She moaned inadvertently in response, and that was the first time he turned to look at her for a brief moment. The car moved inch by inch and finally came to a halt.
“What’s the toll?” Neil snarled making her wonder if that’s how he talked to everyone, everyone except her. She remembered how he barely talked to anyone else in college.
“You look one more time, and I will dig your eyes out,” he barked, and she couldn’t figure out what aggravated him.
He cursed under his breath as he rolled the window up. He reached for the dash to put his wallet back, and this time his hand stopped for a second. She watched, holding her breath, as he ran the tip of his finger on her anklet before tugging on the hem of her pants, to pull the fabric lower.
“Bunch of vultures,” he spat making the engine roar.
She lay on the passenger seat without moving a muscle, her eyes riveted on his profile. The clench in his jaw and the anger that showed up when someone had checked her out, gave her a new high.
Narmada could not understand her thoughts. Her practical mind said she should not get attached to him as there was no future with him, and her heart, it told her it didn’t matter who he was or what he did or why he did it, if he cared for her, he would take care of her forever.
“Neil,” she called out, her voice groggy.
He grunted in response.
“Are we there yet?” She set her seat back up and drew her knees into her chest.
“Two more hours.”
“I want to shop first. Stop at the best mall around here,” she ordered.
“It’s not a good idea.”
“I don’t care, Raj said I could go shopping and then dancing. I’m your responsibility,” she pouted.
He gently shook his head but did not say anything.
“I’m sick of wearing these oversized clothes. I look pathetic.” She tugged on the t-shirt she had on.
“No, you don’t.” His words surprised her.
“Nice try, you are still taking me shopping,” she teased.
“Not making excuses.”
“Wait, did you just give me a compliment?” She laughed.
“I just stated my opinion.”
“Good, I will need a lot of your opinion when I pick out my clothes and shoes later.”
“What the heck did I get into,” he grumbled.
“Not the usual kind of task, eh… Hunter?” she rasped.
“You don’t get to call me Hunter.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t get to.” His voice was firm.
“What are you going to do… Hunter?” she teased looking at his furious face.
“It’s not funny,” he growled gripping the wheel.
“I’m not laughing. I like the name… Hunter.” She gently ran her fist into his arm.
“Stop.” His voice resonated in the car.
She shrieked when the car suddenly pulled off the single-lane highway onto the loose gravel. If it weren’t for the seatbelt, her face would have smashed into the dashboard.
Fuming, Neil unclicked his seat belt and got out of the car. She watched in shock as he stomped away from the car. It took her a few minutes to compose herself before opening the door to get out.
She cautiously walked toward him. He stood still with his back to her, his hands in his pockets.
“Neil, what’s wrong?”
He didn’t respond even when she placed her hand on his shoulder.
“I… I…” Her voice trailed off when he turned around to look at her, his eyes blazing with anger.
He pulled her to him, his face inches from hers. “Never call me by that name.”
She took in the anger on the surface but saw past the external heat to see something else—sadness. She slowly moved her hands to cup his cheeks with her palms. “I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again.”
She went up on her toes to brush her lips over his jawline. “Do you want to tell me why?”
He held her to him with no response.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk now, but I want to know,” she whispered.
“You are the only one… you are the only one who makes me feel human. I don’t know why… everything about you makes me want to question everything… everything I did, everything I want to do.” He pulled her to him holding her like he was worried she would disappear.
She wrapped her hands around him and gently stroked his back. “You scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to.” He held her to him.
“Why do people call you by that name?” Her voice was soft yet steady.
He tightened his hold on her. “It’s because of what I do.”
“Can you stop?”
“I can’t.”
“What will it take for you to stop?” She pulled back to look into his eyes.
“I don’t know.” He looked away from her.
She placed her hand on his chin and turned his face to make him look into her eyes, smiling. “Will all this stop if you and I elope?”
“Sounds scarier,” he managed to smile.
“Oh yeah, let’s see how you’ll do as my date tonight.” She smiled, planting a butterfly kiss on his cheek.