CHAPTER 21
“Neil, stay put,” Narmada ordered removing the plastic wrap she had wrapped around his shoulder. It had been a week since they got back from the hospital. She did not bring up the discussion they had about his potential link to the Singhams or his reaction to the picture in the newspaper.
Neil had woken up after another twenty-four hours after he reacted to the picture of Raj’s farher in the newspaper and didn’t mention anything about the conversation he had with Joe and Narmada. The doctor recommended not to bring up the topic that agitated him if he didn’t ask, and he didn’t. Neil had been held back in the hospital for a few more days, just to be on the safe side.
Narmada got all teary-eyed when Neil hugged the woman who was the only mother he had known the day he came back from the hospital. Joe had introduced her as Neil’s wife because she refused to stay anywhere other than in his room. Neil’s adopted mother wept holding onto the son she thought had run away from home.
She had ambushed him multiple times trying to cut his shoulder cast open. The doctor was coming home that day to remove the cast.
“I can’t wait for the cast to come off,” he grumbled as she rubbed his damp hair with a towel. She stood in front of him as he sat on a chair letting her pamper him.
“You think you’re Superman…you need to let your body recover,” she taunted and the next moment yelped in sweet pain. Neil had managed to inflict pain by sinking his teeth into her breast right over her cotton tunic.
She pulled off the towel and glared. “Stop it.”
He pulled her closer with one hand burying his face into her chest. “I missed you.”
“I was right here with you,” she moaned when he squeezed her breast.
“I can’t get enough of you, baby. What would I do without you?” He held her, his face to her heart. She circled her arms around his head planting a kiss in his damp hair.
“Marry me, Neil,” she blurted.
He pulled back to look into her eyes. “Isn’t that my line and except for Joe, everyone in the house thinks we are married. Do we need to make it official?”
She slowly took her lips to his smiling lips as she let him savor her. “Can I kiss you?”
“What are you doing now?” His tongue tapped on her lips.
“I want to kiss you… I know you are hard, and it can be painful. I want to kiss you here.” She ran her hand lower to cup her palm over his throbbing hardness.
His breath hissed as she pulled away from his lips, her eyes never leaving his as she went on her knees in front of him. She leaned in to lay a trail of kisses starting with the sexy cleft in his chin. He groaned gripping her hair as she went south toward the hardness that longed for her.
She slowly circled his nipples, one after the other sucking in the skin on his chest between her teeth.
“You’re killing me, baby.”
“You like it?” she murmured against the dips and crests on his chest.
“When did you turn into a temptress?” he grunted and tightened his hold in her hair.
She hummed a response, but he was in no state to understand it. Her hands roamed his back as she tugged on the towel with her teeth.
He was sure he would blast and explode with her sensual seduction. She pushed away the towel and took his throbbing shaft in her hands. She slowly took her eyes to his as the tip of her tongue moved toward his pink tip.
Her body trembled with excitement when she saw his eyes turn into pools of lust. She smiled at him, her own body high on desire before circling her lips around his intimidating thickness. She took in the velvety softness enjoying the feel of him on her tongue. She pumped with her hands as she built up a steady rhythm with her mouth.
Neil was sure his heart was going to burst through his rib cage at the rate at which it was beating, and his blood coursed through his veins like it had nowhere to go. She moaned like she was having the best time of her life as she lapped and sucked him, and that did it for him. He came hard, so hard he couldn’t remember the last time he came so hard, and she gulped him down like she owned every drop of him.
Narmada drank in his release like she couldn’t get enough. Her body hummed from the realization that she was the reason for his release, she was the reason for him to hit the peaks. He let her hair go and pulled her onto his lap with one hand.
“That was mind-blowing,” he whispered against her lips.
“I guess my research paid off… I did more than one type of research while you were down with the drugs.”
“You are the drug I need,” he growled as she got off his lap to adjust his towel around his waist.
She laughed. “Put on some clothes before the doctor shows up.”
He looked at the clock on the wall. “We have at least thirty minutes before anyone else shows up. Come here, I want you to come in my mouth.”
The moment the words left his mouth, they heard a knock on the door.
“You got to be kidding me!” He bunched the towel around his waist as he went to open the door.
Joe and the doctor stood outside the door.
“I have to attend to a patient and wanted to check on Neil before I go to the hospital.” The doctor was almost apologetic for showing up early.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Narmada smiled, shaky on the inside.
The doctor opened his case and went about his usual checks, first heart rate and blood pressure. The doctor frowned and restarted the blood pressure machine.
“What’s wrong, doctor?” Joe asked interrupting the heated gaze Narmada and Neil held as she stood behind the doctor and his brother.
“His blood pressure is up, and his heart rate is high. He has been steady since last week, and I am wondering if any of the medications are causing this.”
Narmada turned crimson and was glad the men weren’t looking at her, just the man she loved had his eyes trained on her face.
“Neil, do you feel fine?” The doctor sounded concerned.
“I feel awesome, doctor.”
Narmada bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as the doctor went through his notes, talking to himself about what could be causing the spikes in Neil’s vitals.
“Doctor, I feel fine. Could you get this cast off? I have a lot of things to do.” Neil’s eyes scanned her body like he was stripping her.
“We might need to take you to the hospital for a quick check,” the doctor declared.
She drew in a deep breath and decided to put the doctor out of his misery. “I kissed Neil just before you arrived, doctor.”
The doctor turned to look at her and smiled sheepishly. “That explains it.”
She watched as the doctor worked on removing the cast from his chest. She caught him looking at her like he was going to pounce on her the moment the cast came off. The doctor directed Neil to move his arm in different directions before signing him off as normal.
Joe escorted the doctor out of the room, and the first thing Neil did was take her into his arms. He hugged her, his arms holding her to him like he was worried she would disappear.
“I’ll drive you nuts later tonight.” He tugged on her earlobe with his teeth.
She laughed, happiness overflowing her heart as he pulled on a t-shirt and shorts. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” She laughed as he led her out of the room and into the large living room.
“You guys eloping?” Joe teased.
“Totally,” Neil snorted and ignored Joe’s follow-up question about where he was headed.
Narmada laughed as she followed him to the car that was parked outside. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere dangerous.” He laughed starting the engine.
Narmada took in the greenery within the compound and also outside. She had not stepped out of the house since the day they moved Neil from the hospital. Neil’s mother, Joe’s wife and child lived in the huge house. She interacted with them when Neil was napping, but she couldn’t get herself to leave him alone for long, especially after his reaction to looking at Raj’s dad a week ago.
They drove on the narrow village roads, endless greenery on both sides. He talked about the brief time he spent in the area before going on a hunt for the killer and turning him into The Hunter.
Neil pulled into the parking lot of a school.
“Let’s go,” he urged taking her hand and pulling her with him.
“What are we doing at the school?” She looked into classrooms and caught the curious looks from the kids. He led her into an office and barged into the principal’s office.
Neil’s mom looked up at him from behind the desk and smiled at them. He let Narmada’s hand go to take his mom into his arms.
“You deserve a proper hug, Ma. I missed you.”
The older woman teared up as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around. “My silly child.”
“Narmada, come here.” He gestured.
When she got closer to him, he pulled her to him. “Ma, this is Narmada, the woman I love, my best friend, and the only other woman who knows how to care for me.”
Neil’s mom smiled at them. “God bless you two.”
“Ma, we are not married. I have no idea why Joe cooked up that story, but she is the one I want to marry,” he declared planting a kiss on Narmada’s cheek.
Narmada fought back tears of joy as he pulled her and his mother into his arms.
Neil’s mom wiped her eyes and laughed. “You showed up to tell me you are not married?”
“I just wanted to give you a proper hug. Where’s Sarayu?” Neil inquired about Joe’s toddler.
“She is in room eighty-seven. I’ll let them know you are coming.” Neil’s mom laughed almost knowing what he would do.
“See you later, Ma.”
“Neil, what got into you?” She laughed.
He followed the signs to the room Joe’s child was in and led her into it. He looked around for a moment and spotted his niece playing with a ball. He went into the room nodding at the teacher.
“Give your uncle a real hug, sweetheart.” He held the chubby toddler like she was the most fragile doll.
He came back to where Narmada stood smiling at him.
“Narmada, will you marry me? I can’t wait to make our own babies.” He pecked her cheek, holding the baby securely.
“Yes, Neil, I will marry you.” She smiled looking into his loving eyes.
“Can we start working on babies tonight?” he whispered making her blush.
“Let Sarayu get back to her play, and we can talk about babies later.” She laughed.
She watched as Neil gingerly placed his niece back on the playmat after kissing her affectionately. She had never expected him to be so affectionate with everything he had been through.
*****
Neil and Narmada were in the middle of a farm when her phone beeped. He looked at her with a surprised look on his face.
“Don’t look at me like that, Joe helped me find my phone,” she teased.
“I thought you had cut off all ties to civilization to come live with me on a farm.” He nuzzled her neck.
“Dream on… we should go back home,” she urged.
“What’s the hurry?” he crooned nipping her cheek.
“Neil, move that hot ass of yours. We need to go.” She pulled him off the haystack where they spent the past few hours talking about everything.
“Fine… let’s go… wherever we need to go.”
Neil drove through the tall gates of the house and frowned at the half dozen cars in the compound. He looked at the people standing by the cars and noticed Joe’s official vehicle parked next to the cars.
“Is Joe having a party?” Neil wondered.
“Neil, don’t be mad,” she whispered taking his hand in hers.
“For what?” He smiled leading her toward the entrance.
Neil stepped into the large living area and looked at Joe and a few others who were in conversation with him. His eyes fell on the man sitting next to Joe.
They all stood up and looked at Neil and Narmada.
“Dad…” The word rolled off Neil’s lips when he saw the man standing next to Joe. Abhay looked at his youngest brother and smiled at his reaction. He was told by many of his people that he was a spitting image of his father.
“Neil!” Dev called out walking to put his arms around his younger brother.
“Dev…” Neil said inadvertently like he knew who had his arms around him. Memories came crashing down as if the floodgates were lifted.
“We finally found you… thank you, Narmada!” Dev looked over at the woman standing behind his brother.
Neil stood next to Dev looking at Abhay. Everything that didn’t make sense at that point made total sense. He wasn’t convinced even when Narmada pieced it together over two weeks ago, but at that moment, it was too obvious who he was—he was Ranadeep Singham.
Abhay slowly moved closer to him with a small smile on his face.
Neil took a step toward him to put his arms around him, tears of joy filling the brothers’ eyes. “I know who stabbed Mum. I remember everything now.”