“They’re happy together, I think,” Sandra said softly.
He didn’t want to hear this. He had packing to do and a flight to catch. Once in Baton Rouge, he’d bide his time, hanging in the shadows until the moment Edy would want or welcome him. He’d prove how far he’d walk for her, how much he’d give, and how willingly he’d sacrifice if it meant having her. Hell, he’d already been shot.
And sacrifice was his trump card, wasn’t it? How many guys could give away an actual fortune to prove his love to one woman? Better still, how many would?
Top that, Hassan fucking Pradhan.
Chapter Six
Edy snuggled into the unforgiving mold of Hassan’s body and felt his arm pull her tighter even in sleep. Harsh rays of sunlight bore down through curtains they’d forgotten to close, mingling with that godforsaken river to create blindingly stark white rays.
“Ugh,” she meant to say, but it garbled in her morning mouth and came out as gibberish.
“You okay?” Hassan murmured, voice thick in his half-roused state. He ran a careless hand up and down her arm, shooting sparks through her soul as he half-dozed.
“The sun’s harassing me.” Edy shifted from her back to her side… not that there was any getting away from the glare.
“How about I harass you,” Hassan murmured. His touch grazed from the base of her spine up, up from beneath the sheets, until his fingers slipped through her thick hair and gripped it.
“Hassan…”
He pressed kisses along the back of her neck, melting whatever protests she’d been about to make.
“I—we…” She trailed off into nothingness. A hand slipped across her breast now.
“‘We’ what?” he said with no little amount of mocking.
“Have a long day—both of us.”
He rose to his knees and rolled her onto her back before pulling the sheets away. He tossed them off the bed, leaving them stark naked under sunrise. When she reached for them, he stopped her.
“It’s just me,” he said softly. “Me.” A hand touched her cheek. “And you. The way it was meant to be.”
Her heart thrummed something horrible to that and she gulped to ignore it. Seeing him still naked from their nighttime escapades sent a shiver through Edy. Hassan, never one to miss a thing, bent quick to pin her down for a kiss, then another.
She hadn’t meant to moan like that. But when she did, his hand slid low, then grinned at what he found.
“The lady doth protest too much,” he said. And she made to shove him away.
Not really though.
When his fingers brushed over her body a second time, Edy arched with a whimper that she buried in his shoulder. He wouldn’t allow her to hide there. He nudged her to him with a semi-smile, before his mouth came down on hers firmly.
Hassan’s tongue swept inside in a claiming expedition, even as his fingers glided deftly between her thighs, punishing and pleasing her in the same turn, leaving her wholly at his mercy. She had little to do but look up at those darkening green eyes and hang on, breath coming in little bursts.
Edy made a sound—a new one to her ears—and already began to tremble, to shatter beneath him. Hassan slipped into her then, easy, sure of himself. She bit her bottom lip and whimpered.
“God, that’s beautiful,” he whispered in her ear. He ran a hand down the side of her thigh. “You’re so beautiful.”
She smiled shyly before curling up to kiss him.
He grinned and kissed her back. A moment of adjustment followed, a silent few seconds of words without speech. Then he began to move, pushing into her with long, deepening strides that made her gasp and fist the pillows.
He groaned. “You’re incredible, Cake. You—I—can’t even… Oh, God.”
He slowed, then laughed a little. Edy gripped him by the hair and yanked him down to meet her. That was the beauty of them. They understood each other intrinsically. They could simply be and it would always be enough. Always.
“Edy, I—I can’t—” He squeezed his eyes shut, shoulders hunching as he gathered up on one arm. The whole of his body shuddered atop her.
“You don’t have to hold back for me,” she said. Truth told, his hovering on the edge of control had her hovering near completion. She lifted both legs and wrapped them around him, drawing him deeper, speeding his tempo.
He gasped, strokes turning desperate, but it was Edy who gripped him first and cried out when lava-like waves rippled through her body. She buried her face in the sweep of his hair and caught a hint of wonderful citrus. His moan came deep, guttural. He followed it with a stabbing thrust, then another, burrowing before he shuddered and snatched away.
Hassan collapsed next to her on the bed. For several minutes, there was nothing but the roar of her own breathing and her heartbeat to be heard. Eventually, they tapered off to normal.
Beyond their silence, she heard shouting. A woman’s voice permeated, a sharp slice of venom slashing in.
“Are you serious? You want to talk to me about responsibility? You’ve been in your own world for twenty years! Books, lectures, tours? Where do you think that left me and your daughter!”
“I guess your mom’s arrived,” Hassan said.
Edy sat up and rubbed her arm self-consciously.
“Rebecca, I’m warning you.” Her dad came through, muffled but menacing. “I’m no fool. You will not hoist the blame off on me. Do you think anyone believes this relationship with Cam just appeared? You’ve been in and out of this man’s bed since college!”
Holy shit. These were not her parents. Not the affectionate father, squinting at some treatise, pausing long enough to give her an affectionate tug of the ponytail. Or her mom, cool, aloof, demanding, and melding every crumb of their high ideals together. Daddy hardly spoke to Edy now, opting for his office at Harvard or at home. Mom kept a very public life in D.C. and let her new home in Quincy echo in emptiness. Same thing for the old one.
Edy slumped down, reaching for the discarded covers. Maybe she could burrow deep enough to find the hotel basement. Absolutely everything in her life had changed. And God, had her mom always been a cheater? She swallowed a lump of something sour and shoved back angry tears.
“Edy?” He pulled what little covers she’d managed to find off and she realized he was wearing his boxers. “Have you heard a word I said?” Her blank stare must’ve answered, because he shook his head. “I told you to get dressed. Don’t just sit there listening to this. It’s shit.”
Dressed. Right. That made sense. Edy fumbled around for last night’s dress with a blind hand, found it, and pulled it on with Hassan’s help for faster work. Then she slipped into a pair of black flats, grabbed her room key, and gave him time enough to finish getting himself together. They left hand in hand.
“My room isn’t far enough away,” Hassan said. “And I don’t think you’re in for eating breakfast just yet, though I could maybe do with something.”
“We haven’t had sex in years!” Edy’s mother hollered. “What surer sign do you need that a marriage is over? Death?”
Hassan cringed. “On second thought, I’m not that hungry.”
“Certainly, you could have found the nerve to tell me,” Edy’s father said. “For a woman who prides herself on being the toughest in Boston, you sure couldn’t face an old professor. Or did you think we were only playing house?”
Edy’s stomach knotted like lattice work for pie. She didn’t need to see Hassan flinch, she felt it in the way he gripped her hand. Neither of them moved, rooted to the spot like two peeping Toms.
“I was with you for my daughter,” her mom said, earning a faint gasp from Edy. “You know that a two-parent home is much more stable.”
“Yes, Rebecca. A two-parent home, not three.”
“You should have told that to the Pradhans. We’ve been co-parenting with them the whole time. All because you were roommates with the guy in college! And now, now you let them treat our daughter like she’s second tier. I’ve
told you before to let me set that Rani straight once and for all.”
Hassan glanced at Edy. “Let’s take a walk.” Without waiting for her reply, he started down the hall, practically dragging her with him. Edy smiled grimly. She had to hustle to keep pace. They made their way down the hall, not looking at anything in particular, stride steady, fast, faster.
Finally, Hassan drew to a halt. “You know everything will be okay, right? Our parents, us?”
She didn’t, but she wouldn’t say so. Edy nodded, noting her uncertainty mirrored in his eyes. They stared at each other, neither willing to state the thousand worries chipping away at their expressions.
Hassan looked away pointedly. “Okay, so I spy with my little eye…”
“I’m not playing that game with you, because you cheat,” Edy said. She yanked her hand away.
Hassan burst out laughing. “What? Come on. Learn to be a gracious loser.”
“I said ‘no’, Hassan. You cheat. The stuff you hint at is never really there and it’s all outlandish or whatever.”
“Give me one example.”
“Once when we were kids, the answer was ‘ghost’.”
“I could have seen a ghost!” His laughter rang deeper than even months ago, as if he’d matured even more. It shot through Edy like a tremble.
“Another time the answer was ‘moon’, but it was the middle of the day,” she said, deciding to ignore the flush of warmth he’d given her.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen a moon before,” Hassan answered sullenly. He crossed his arms and eyed her.
“It needs to be seen at that moment, jerk.” She shoved him a little. Of course, his body didn’t move.
They strolled for a while up and down the halls, down to the lobby and into the street, all with him attempting to lure her into the game. When that failed, he resorted to tickling her, then chasing her right out the hotel and down the street. He was ridiculous with this distraction, but Hassan’s charismatic goofiness was better than listening to her parents or thinking about their next days. In a few hours, everything around them would change. They’d check into their dorms and check in with their respective teams. Their entire identities would change in a matter of hours.
After the silliness, the two ventured upstairs for showers and a change of clothes. Edy’s parents, it turned out, were still at it.
“You’re in this constant state of overreaction!” her mother shouted. “To the affair, the divorce, and now this. Where was all this passion years ago?”
Hassan looked at Edy. “I’m gonna lose my shit. What about you?”
“Uh yeah. You’d think a sitting senator and a Harvard professor would know not to screech their business at the top of their lungs, but hey.”
Hassan sighed.
“Overreaction?” Edy’s father said. “What kind of insanity are you courting? I’ve been the very rock, the—the foundation of our family, while you’ve cultivated your lovemaking skills!”
“Okay,” Edy said. “Let’s intervene.”
Hassan’s brows disappeared into the fringe of his hair. “Let’s not!” he cried, even as she strode for out. With him on her heels, she powered next door, tried the knob, then banged.
The door unlatched audibly and swung open.
“What?” her dad blurted. He sported shadows under his eyes, graying whiskers, and a severely rumpled button up and pants.
“Can I come in?” She swallowed the urge to flee.
Her father looked from her to Hassan. Seconds of staggering silence lapsed. He wouldn’t deny her entry, would he?
Before Edy could open her mouth and regrettably step over the boundaries of their relationship, he opened the door wide and let them in. Her mother stood on the opposite side of the room, back against the sill of a massive, curtained window, arms folded. At the sight of Edy, she smirked.
“Well, good morning, Cinderella,” she sneered.
Edy turned just as her father closed the door behind Hassan.
“Mom. Dad. Everyone has been able to hear you,” she said. She snuck a glance at Hassan. Maybe he could help her get things civil. Or maybe his presence would make things worse. Maybe they both would.
Her mother laughed. “Little girl, you children should go. Really.”
Edy’s father searched the floor with his gaze. A thin semblance of pain marred his features, surfacing from some deep and secret place, transforming him into a man she nearly didn’t recognize.
“Why are you looking at him?” her mother spat. “Is he supposed to be your savior yet again? Even now?” Rebecca’s quick steps had Edy backing up, then flattening against the door when there was nowhere left. “You two idiots don’t even know that I’m the only friend you’ve ever had! That I’ve always known what those looks and touches meant—or what they would mean.” She cast a scowl at Hassan, who had rushed to keep up with the ruckus, only to stand there, arms slack, looking helpless. She turned back to Edy’s dad. “They’ve been curling up to each other for as long as they could. Did you intellectuals really think they’d never figure out which part of their bodies fit together?”
Hassan snickered, then buried it in a horrified, wide-eyed cough behind his fist. Edy gave him her best ‘what the hell’ look.
Edy’s mom looked back long enough to roll her eyes as if she couldn’t be bothered with either of them. “They’ve always been some unstoppable force,” she said. “Why we had to make a big deal about it, I’ll never know.” She shrugged as if she couldn’t be bothered with that either. “Through it all, I had one wish: I wanted them safe, to focus on studies, and to realize how unimportant romance is.”
Edy’s father snorted. The sound made her deeply uncomfortable for some reason.
“Mom, I, uh, only came to make sure everything was all right. I could hear—”
“Could you hear?” her father snarled.
Yes, snarled. Like a bobcat cornered in a cavern. Like something hellish and wounded.
Hassan moved closer to Edy. He looked as wary as she felt. Something was off in this room. Mom’s confessions, Dad’s… everything.
“Daddy—” Edy started and hated the spooked lilt of her voice.
“Go,” her mother said. “Just leave.”
Edy withered, but resolved to hold her ground. She barely registered Hassan’s tug on her arm. “I will. But not until you two promise to quiet down. I could hear you in my room and in the hall and...”
Her father laughed. “Would you like to know what I could hear?”
Hassan’s grip felt firm now. “Edy…” he warned, his tug insistent.
“What I could hear was my daughter and her boyfriend—the boy who I’ve had a hand in raising, mind you—having sex through a hotel wall.” He took a step closer. “Truly, you two sounded as if this place gets rented by the hour.”
“I… What?” God on high, why did she glance at Hassan then? His face flamed scalding red; his Adam’s apple bobbed endlessly. There was nothing to say, nothing to do in this trap of her own design. There was no escaping, either. Physical pain washed over her father’s expression before he shut his eyes and exhaled.
“Daddy—”
“Shut up,” he said softly.
“We should go,” Hassan said, speaking at last.
“I agree,” her mom said. “Nathan’s not himself today.”
Hassan grabbed Edy firmly by the arm and dragged her away, out the door and into the hall. She’d barely stumbled away before her mother followed.
“Edith,” she said. “We have to say our goodbyes now. I won’t be following you up to campus.”
A mild sense of panic bloomed, before Edy’s mother stepped into her vision and cupped her face with both hands. “You’ll be fine. You’ll be better than fine.” Then, in a bizarre turn of events, her mother blinked rapidly, before brushing away a sudden tear. “Look at you, looking like I did at this age.” She grinned. “Try not to break his heart.”
Edy didn’t return the smile. She was busy trying
not to hyperventilate over the lone tear they were pretending hadn’t happened. “Why aren’t you coming?” she said.
The question melted the shine from her mother’s doting smile. Now it looked grim. “I have a meeting. And it’s best that your father and I aren’t together right now.” She hesitated. “He’s upset at the whole world, including you. He won’t admit how deeply he’s hurt by your sneaking around behind his back with Hassan or by your applying to colleges in secret. It’s as if you’ve had a whole life we didn’t know about. And the dreams he—we—had for you are gone.” She inhaled, squared her shoulders as if going to battle, and scowled. “Things will be rougher for you, at least for a little while. Your father’s cancelling your credit cards. Hearing you with Hassan was the last straw. He thinks you’re out of control, as opposed to growing up.”
Edy gave her mother a puzzled look. “But if he’s cancelling the cards, how am I supposed to…live?”
Her mom grimaced. “The American Express you share with both of us should be okay. I don’t think he’d cancel that one. Other than that,” she shrugged. “I was pretty poor in college. It’ll give you character.”
Character. Right. It was such a Rebecca Phelps thing to say.
Then she dug into her bra, fished out a few bills, and pressed them into Edy’s palm. “It’s all I have on me. But you’ll be okay. You’ll flourish, in fact,” she said.
Later, Edy wouldn’t be able to tell who hugged who first or fiercest, but her mother shoved her away in the end. “Oh, go get ready,” she said with a laugh. “Don’t be such a sap.”
The ride to LSU that morning stretched on forever, somber, silent, tense, foreboding, until the four of them—Edy, her father, Hassan, and Ali—were swept up by the lush greens and reaching lake. A sick, ominous menace seized Edy, a certainty of imminent failure. Study something practical, her parents insisted, something applicable to life, and devote your life to that. Dance didn’t qualify. Now, being this far from home felt impractical. Scary. What if something major happened? She could hurt herself dancing. A third or fourth year injury could devastate her life, leaving her with nothing but a nice participation trophy. She wouldn’t even be able to finish her degree because of the physical aspects of her major. She’d be ruined, with no future.
Wrecked (Love Edy Book Three) Page 4
