Page 58 of My Rebel

“I warned you, Tiya. I’m not nice.”

“Thanks for the reminder. It’s etched permanently in my mind now.”

She shut the taxi door with a loud bang and climbed the stairs to her villa, not giving him a second look.

Something cracked in his chest, but he ignored it. His family came first. Keeping them all safe came first, no matter what it cost him in the process. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow himself and his needs to come in between that ever. Meeting someone special, falling for her and then having a happy life was never supposed to be his story. But he could give his siblings that happiness. Even if it cost him his own.

16

“And you’re done,” Tiya said, smiling at the young girl through the mirror. The girl, a mere twelve, checked her reflection.

“I like it. Thanks, Tiya,” she said hopping off the chair.

Satisfaction swirled in her chest as she gazed at the dozen or so kids, all orphans, as they played outside. Her mom supported this orphanage that housed poor, homeless kids, and every six months, Tiya ran a workshop to give them all free haircuts. She gazed outside the window where several kids were playing with a football on the small lawn. She smiled looking at their happy faces. Behind her, a group waited for their turn with her, chattering with one another. She was glad that she had this games room in the orphanage available to her. To her advantage, it had an entire wall covered with mirrors to help her do her work.

She dusted the cape before slipping her scissors inside her stylist’s waist belt. Her phone beeped. But she ignored it. It had been beeping every few hours since the last two days. All texts and calls from Vihaan, which she had deliberately ignored after texting him that the dinner with her family had been cancelled. He’d tried calling and messaging repeatedly but she wasn’t in the mood to engage with him and answer his questions about if she was doing alright. He’d made it clear that they weren’t real so why was he showing all that concern now? It wasn’t needed.

She was bloody pissed at him, and terribly hurt by his casual dismissal of what had occurred between them so many times now. After he’d dropped her home from Club Poseidon, she’d tossed and turned the whole night cursing herself for misreading the situation between them. Vihaan had told her time and again that they weren’t real. They weren’t anusand that he wasn’t nice.

Nice! Aargh! He was awful. And she was mad at him for rejecting her the way he had. But mostly, she was mad at herself for thinking they could’ve become more. How could she have been so wrong about that?

She still remembered the pleasure she’d found only with him.His mouth moving across her throat in the middle of the dance floor, while he held her to him, had been so erotic, so sexy and she hadn’t been able to forget it. In those moments, when they’d been together, she’d assumed that he felt more for her too. But she’d been wrong. He was nothing but a player, hellbent on only enjoying his life with whatever woman caught his eye. And she’d clearly been the latest victim to fall for his charms. This fiasco was on her. It was all her fault.

Her phone buzzed again.

Ignoring it, she spun around and asked the waiting kids. “Who’s next?”

“That would be me.”

Tiya spun around on hearing Myra’s voice. Her lips began to tip up and then she saw who’d entered behind her.

Face scrunched, she addressed her friend, “Why are you here? And withhim?”

Her tone must have come out way sharper than she’d intended because Myra quirked a brow.

“Hi bestie,” Myra came forward and kissed her cheek. “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, did you? Is that why you’re a grump today?”

Tiya pressed her lips together, refusing to look at the man standing behind Myra. But in the next moment her eyes did wander back to him as if drawn by his sheer presence. Dressed in dark blue jeans, another plain white t-shirt and a black leather jacket, he was leaning against the wall, looking hotter than anyone had the right to look. He ran a hand through his long, unruly locks, his eyes taking her in. Her heartrate spiked. Seeing her stare, his brows quirked and a grin spread over his stupidly handsome face.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said coolly as if he hadn’t done anything to upset her. And maybe in his mind, he hadn’t. Perhaps, she was the one making a big deal of him and his rejection.

But she was hurt by him and no matter what pep-talk she gave herself, that pain refused to go away.

“Why the fu…” She sneaked a peek at the children waiting behind her, who were all watching her keenly. She quickly spoke to one of the older students. Soon, all of them dispersed, leaving Tiya alone with Vihaan and Myra.

“Why are you here?” she asked Vihaan. “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“You’ve been ignoring me for two days now,” he said.

“I needed a break from you,” she tossed back. “I’m still on that break.”

“That is not how this works. I believe you made the rule of always answering phone calls and texts from each other.”

“I believe we’ve broken several rules already. What’s one more?”

A corner of his lip tipped up. “You really know how to throw a hissy fit.”

“How dare you?” Molten anger shot through her. “You have no right to judge me after…”

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