Page 13 of Reckless Hate

Some of his features remained the same since the last time she had seen him. Dark eyes with a hint of laugh lines and his soft, unruly hair falling over his forehead remained the same. But the rest of him changed dramatically. His high cheekbones looked sharper, his nose and jawline turned angular. He no longer looked like a boy. He was fully grown.

A fully grown guy who looked at her with hatred.

“Why can’t I be at Simha?” she asked.

His eyes flashed. “You don’t belong here.”

She looked at him with the barest of smiles. “Fortunately, I don’t give a damn about your opinion or you.”

His eyes blazed. “Don’t push me, Sam. We are no longer children.”

There was a tug inside her heart when she heard him call her by her childhood name.

Born a few days apart, they had been best friends since birth. They lived in neighboring houses and their fathers had been best friends since college days. Not even a day used to go by when she and Ved Simha hadn’t been together when they were children. A shocking incident one night had changed it all.

And now, her former best friend hated her.

Ved Simha was seething with emotion. “Go back to France and tell your mother you don’t want to study at Simha.”

At the mention of her mother, she was yanked back to reality and not the past when she and Ved Simha had been best friends.

She gave him a careless shrug. “You know quite well that it was my childhood dream to study at Simha. If you don’t like it, then you should leave. Although I don’t really care whether you leave the university or not.”

He glared.

It felt strange that she had to raise her head to look at him. She had always been slightly taller as they grew up together.

Ignoring the awareness she felt towards him, she deliberately removed her headband and also the hair tie to release her hair from the tight ponytail. “I’m tired and about to step into the shower. See yourself out.”

His eyes fell on her hair that cascaded around her shoulders, and his jaw clenched. He didn’t leave right away and instead leaned towards her. Immediately, her senses filled up even more with his citrusy cologne.

His face was barely a few inches away from hers. “Heed my warning, Sam. Leave.”

Growling out those words, his eyes blazed into hers for a long moment before he took a step back and turned to walk away.

She stood still, watching his broad back as he went to her balcony and disappeared into the dark of night. Her heart raced while his words and warning sank further into her. But instead of getting alarmed, she felt quite the opposite. His warning made her more determined.

She was not going to allow Ved Simha to intimidate her into leaving. She had hated joining Simha University, and one of the main reasons was him. She hated the thought of facing her former best friend.

But now that she had faced him and saw his hatred from up close, she was determined to meet his challenge. She wasn’t going to let him affect her. She was going to ignore him and let him know he meant nothing to her.

CHAPTER 7

Ved stormed into his apartment and banged the door shut until the entire apartment almost shuddered. He didn’t care that he might have nearly broken the damn door or that it might have the security system going crazy.

Vivid brown eyes on a familiar face continued to flash in his mind.

He was once again filled with suppressed rage and emotions he hated to acknowledge. Anger. Hatred. Lust. And longing.

He understood and acknowledged anger and hatred. But it was the lust and longing that made him go into a further rage.

How the hell can I long for her?

Samantha Roy represented the darkest of times he went through in his life. He shouldn’t be longing for her. Far from it. The very sight of her should make him nauseous.

But instead of being disgusted, he was panting with lust and suppressed desire towards her.

The primal reaction he had when he was in close proximity to her was so powerful, he was still vibrating with the suppressed lust. Her sweaty body with a hint of French perfume and the moment when she deliberately released her hair and watched him with an I-don’t-give-a-damn look, almost drove him to the edge.

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