Page 54 of Reckless Hate

She sat on the bed. Despite her dizzy spell earlier that morning, she was starving. She took the cup of freshly brewed coffee as her enemy handed it to her. The first sip was perfect, with no sugar and a generous amount of cream. Anita must have noticed her adding cream to her coffee with no sugar.

“I didn’t order croissants since the butter might make you nauseous. Bagels are better.”

She looked at him biting into a bagel. “How many drugged girls did you take care of?”

He smirked. “You are the first one.”

“How lucky of me,” she muttered even as her heart fluttered strangely.

Although she felt aware of her enemy’s presence in her bed, she enjoyed her coffee and bagel. She drank an additional cup and felt much better.

“Who is that kid on the wall?”

The simple question yanked her out of her false sense of security. Once again, she was reminded of why she was at Simha University.

She got up from the bed. “That’s none of your business.”

His eyes flashed at her reply. “It’s just a simple question, Sam. He looks a lot like you, so I’m assuming he must be related to you.”

She glared at him. “He’s not my son.”

He frowned. “I didn’t think he was.”

“He’s my stepbrother!” she snapped. She knew she was overreacting. Sucking in a deep breath, she calmed herself. “I’m feeling fine now and would like to rest. If you are done with your coffee and breakfast, leave.”

He watched her for a moment. And then, he got up and cleared the cups and plates, placed them on the tray.

“I’ll call you later to know more about last night’s events,” he said. “There will be a student council investigation on the drugs used. The students who had them could be using them on someone else.”

She nodded curtly, knowing it was true. “Fine.”

Giving her another long look, he walked out of her bedroom. She expected him to leave through the balcony, but he didn’t return, and she heard the soft click of the main door shutting.

She closed her eyes. She knew she overreacted when he asked her about Sohan.

But the conversation with her stepfather still haunted her.

“You know Sohan looks so much like you and me. Almost as though… we both made sweet love and created him. What do you think?”

Her stomach churned recalling the conversation. Taking a deep breath, she pushed away the thoughts of her stepfather.

She knew she had to do the same with her enemy. Push him out of her mind and ignore the feelings he caused in her.

***

“Why didn’t you pick up your calls?” Rishi demanded.

She was having a late lunch with Rishi at the cafeteria. Her eyes kept scanning to see if her enemy was anywhere around, but she didn’t see him. She attributed the sinking feeling inside her stomach to be from hunger.

But she knew it wasn’t hunger. She barely had an appetite to finish her sandwich. She only ate a couple of bites.

“I was sleeping,” she replied.

Rishi frowned. “But you never sleep late, even during the weekends. You wake up at ungodly hours, even on Sundays!”

Samantha knew Rishi sensed something was off and was determined to draw it out of her. And she still felt off-balance and was having a devil of a time keeping it from him.

She shook her head.How the hell did I end up with yet another friend?

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