Page 65 of Reckless Dare

“Let her go, you bastard!” Neeraj said angrily.

That’s when in her shocked daze, she realized she was still molded against her tormentor. She pulled away, but he didn’t let her go right away. When she glared at him, he slowly released her.

“How dare you make me dance with you!” she said angrily.

Her tormentor seemed unmoved. “I didn’t make you dance with me. You saw me and told me you were looking for me. I held out my hand and you accepted it. Willingly.”

Her face burned with embarrassment. She knew he was right.

“You know very well I thought you were Neeraj!”

His eyes flashed intensely and his mouth twisted into a dark smile. “If you wanted to be with him, why are you wearing my colors?”

She was stunned. She hadn’t even thought about the color scheme of her dress. The dress was so stunningly beautiful and elegant, she didn’t notice it matched exactly with the Vipers team colors.

She sucked in a shocked, angry breath. “I would never want to be with you!” she snapped. “I hate you.”

He didn’t say anything, just continued to watch her intensely with a knowing look.

Angry and embarrassed and her body continuing to buzz with awareness, she stormed away from him.

I hate him!

Even as she chanted that phrase repeatedly, she knew what she hated even more was how he made her feel about him.

Ignoring him wasn’t working. So she was determined to avoid him again.

CHAPTER 19

Ignoring the devil was easier said than done. In fact, it was impossible. Even when she physically managed to avoid her tormentor, people around her didn’t let her forget.

“I agree with the student vote,” Nitya teased, waving a magazine at her. “This picture is by far the hottest and the most popular one.”

Ava’s cheeks heated as she looked at the student newsletter magazine featuring the masquerade dance. Right on top of it was a picture of her and Abhiram Simha. She was smiling sweetly into the camera while he held her possessively and stared intensely at her. And the way she had placed her palm on his tuxedo with their bodies more or less molded close, made it seem like they were a couple. The matching colored clothes made it even harder to deny.

Ugh!

“Are you still going to insist there is nothing between you and Abhi?” Nitya teased.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Ava murmured. “I thought he was Neeraj.”

Nitya grinned. “I bet half of the female students would want such a misunderstanding to happen with Abhi.”

Ava already knew that from the glares and envious looks thrown her way. She felt angry and helpless that her tormentor was encouraging everyone from thinking that way.

“He hates me.”

At Ava’s abrupt statement, Nitya frowned. “What?”

Ava took a deep breath. She hid what happened during the initial weeks at Simha. But now, she felt she had to tell someone. Nitya was the only one she trusted.

“Abhiram Simha hates me.”

Nitya shook her head. “He is literally declaring to the world that he likes you, Ava. How can you mistake it for hate?”

Ava clenched her jaw as anger coursed through her at his stunts.

“He asked me to leave the university on the night of the welcome party. And he threatened me several times with consequences for not leaving. On the night of Neeraj’s birthday, he left me alone on a deserted beach. If it hadn’t been for a first year student passing by, I might have fallen sick or worse.”

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