She scoffed. “I’m not saying anything you haven’t said or thought. Why the sudden exception to these words?”
It took effort for him to control the surge of resentment that grew at her continued assumptions of him.
“You’re making it seem like we had some sort of illicit . . .”
“Affair?” she interrupted, her smile no different than a sneer. “No. What it was, was a mistake. Unplanned and unfortunate. And it certainly was illicit. You are my boss—it should never have happened.”
Was it just to be contrary that he wanted to argue against that statement? Maybe it should never have happened, but it did. How was she able to reduce that to such a clinical discussion?
“Are you clear?” she questioned him. “I get myself tested every few months. Do I need to get checked sooner?”
“I’m clear. I can have a copy of my recent results sent to you if you’d like confirmation.”
“That’d be appreciated. I have an IUD, and I took a plan B just in case. You don’t have to worry about any unintended consequences,” she informed him, clearly expecting him to heave a sigh of relief.
He should have. These were precisely the kinds of questions he should’ve been asking. Instead, she was steering the conversation logically while he was drowning in unrecognisable feelings. The idea that she was cleanly severing every memory of their interlude, as if it was a minor blip in the graph of her life experiences, didn’t sit well with him. Maybe he’d wanted to hear something else, or maybe Vera had simply gotten too good at hiding her emotions, but her impassiveness made him want to shake her silly, just to garner a reaction he could understand.
“You have it all figured out, don’t you?” he muttered, unable to understand why he felt so cheapened by her eagerness to move on.
“It wasn’t a big deal. We don’t have to keep discussing it.”
“Is that so?” His face hardened to mask the struggle within his mind.
“I don’t know about you,” Vera replied with a blasé wave of her hand, “but I will have no problem replacing one cock with another. I’d apologise for not speaking professionally but given the nature of this conversation, I figure you’d be understanding.”
Before he could think of anything else to say, Vihaan saw Vera’s attention get diverted by a man raising his hand in a hello as he passed by.Damnit, should’ve remembered to close the blinds, he thought, detesting the immediate relaxing of her frown when she nodded at Jay.
It was barely a half a second of interaction. Jay tapped his watch, Vera’s lips tipped up in response, the barest semblance of a smile, and Vihaan lost his fight to remain civil.
“You get around, don’t you?” he jeered, unable to contain his jealousy. “Doesn’t speak well for Jay if he can’t keep you satisfied.”
As expected, Vera’s gaze whipped to his, colour rising from her neck all the way up to her ears. Her eyes narrowed to slits, and he could almost imagine steam rising off the top of her head. Instead of the angry outburst he’d prepared for, her features smoothened into that carefully cultivated expression she normally wore. The one that looked to the world like she was bored and unaffected. He hated it.
“Oh,” she exclaimed softly. “Are we rating performances now? I’d give you a pass, don’t worry. Not the best I’ve had but satisfactory.”
At his stunned look, she laughed, a joyless sound full of scorn. “You seem surprised. Did you think you were the only man I’ve ever slept with? Get over yourself, it’s been thirteen years.”
“Fourteen,” he whispered, the word out before he knew it. His pulse quickened, panicking at the realisation that he was fighting a losing battle with something within him that refused to remain hidden in front of Vera.
“What?”
Fourteen years, seven months, and eleven days.
The pressure built behind his eyes, knowing that admitting this meant effectively throwing his pride out the window because Vera wouldn’t care. It would simply be proof of what a massive fool he was that he was still so affected by her. He pinched the bridge of his nose and wiggled it, trying to find relief from the heaviness that had swept over him.
“Does Jay know?” he asked, the tiny flare of her nostrils being the only indication that she was irritated with him.
“Jay again. What are you really asking? If his dick is bigger than yours or if he’s better in bed than you? If you’re that curious, I’ll try him out tonight and let you know.”
She threw him a careless salute—a wordlessfuck you—before heading to the door.
The idea of Vera writhing in bed with another man had him seeing red. It was an irrational feeling. Logically, he knew that she could be with whoever she chose. She could sleep with the entire population of South Mumbai, and he would have zero right to stop her.
That didn’t mean he liked thinking about it any more than he liked to wade in crocodile-infested waters.
“Were you like this even when we were together? Did I just not know?” he snarked, watching her pause just as her hand landed on the doorknob. He was unable to fathom the change in the woman he saw versus the girl he knew. The girl hethoughthe knew, his cautious mind corrected him. Bitterness, anger, annoyance and frustration swirled through him, worsening his already terrible mood.
Vera glanced back at him, her mouth twisted in a mirthless smirk. “Do I sense judgement from you? The playboy who proudly fucks anyone in a skirt and has a revolving door of women he is seen with, any given day of the week? I would laugh at your hypocrisy, but it’d be a waste of my energy.”