Page 48 of Reckless Hate

“Dammit, Sam. Slow down,” he shouted.

She didn’t care. The bastard deliberately humiliated her. He hated her and made his disgust towards her quite obvious.

“Sam!” he shouted. He seemed right behind her.

“Go to hell!” she shouted back as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

She exited the fort and stopped when someone was in the way. It was Keya Gupta. The other girl’s eyes widened, seeing her followed by Ved.

“Sam, wait,” he said.

Samantha didn’t want to wait or even talk to him. Stepping around the other girl, she quickened her steps and joined the rest of the party crowd.

She hated her enemy.

CHAPTER 23

Ved was frustrated as hell.

“What’s gotten into you?” Abhi asked, handing him a beer bottle.

Rana was watching him as well. “You missed the races and now you are pissy as hell.”

Ved didn’t want to tell his cousins about what happened inside the fort. He sipped on the beer, brooding silently.

“Is it Samantha?” Abhi asked, looking towards her, where she stood at a distance away from the rest of the crowd.

Ved felt his body automatically stiffening when he saw a guy approaching her. He recognized the bastard. The guy was the basketball captain of the Eagles team. The guy must have a death wish because by now, everyone knew bad things happened to guys who approached Samantha. But this bastard was grinning and saying something to her to which she responded with a cool nod. The guy was swaying slightly which indicated he must be drunk.

Ved gritted his teeth, controlling himself from going and knocking the guy off his ass. The urge passed a moment later when Samantha said something, and the guy looked embarrassed and left her.

“Definitely her,” Rana stated, looking amused. “If you weren’t our cousin, we’d report you as a stalker.”

Ved knew his cousins were having fun at his expense. He had deliberately stayed away from Samantha for many weeks after the masquerade party. But although he had stayed away physically, he did check on her often.

“I agree,” Abhi said with a small smile. “Tracking her cell phone, checking on the security feed in textile engineering workshop… that’s quite creepy, bro.”

Ved looked at his cousin. “Oh really? And you think bribing a dude to step away so you could be the drama lead opposite to Avantika Patel isn’t creepy?”

Abhi’s smile grew. “Touché.”

Ved knew both his cousins were falling for the girls, who were also their enemies’ daughters. But Ved didn’t want to go down that path. Samantha wasn’t just his enemy’s daughter. She was his enemy too. He had hated her for the longest time and there was too much history between them to ever think they could be together again. He knew she hated him too.

When he kissed her at the masquerade, he realized how twisted his feelings were getting towards her. He hated her, but he also desired her. He wanted her to feel a similar, uncontrollable burning desire towards him too.

“Just so you know…” Abhi said in a dry tone. “This keeping distance from her is not going to work. Trust me, I tried it like hell too.”

Ved shrugged. He was determined to make staying away from her work. Sipping on the rest of his beer, he continued to silently brood while watching the object of his desire and hatred.

No more guys approached her after she drove away the previous one, but a girl went up to her with a bottled drink. He saw Samantha shaking her head, but the girl said something with a smile after which Samantha took the drink.

The girl spoke to Samantha for a while. A few minutes later, the girl went away to rejoin the party while Samantha stood in her place sipping on the drink.

He frowned when he saw Samantha sway slightly. He knew she didn’t drink alcohol. Was she accidentally having some?

“Earth to Ved. Earth to Ved. Dude, we’ve been speaking to you and you are just frowning away. What’s happening?”

He didn’t respond to his cousins. He kept his eyes on Samantha. He saw her swaying slightly again, and there was a frown on her face. She shook her head slightly, and he could see she was struggling to stay upright. Barely a few moments later, she fell to the ground.

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