Page 25 of Obsession

“Agreed,” Mihir said.

“Okay, enough serious talk,” Armaan smirked. “So, your coffee meeting; let’s circle back to that. Who did you meet?”

The seductive image of Anna sucking his finger rushed to Mihir’s mind. Fuck. His body hardened.

Armaan snapped his fingers in front of Mihir’s face. “See, that expression is exactly why I know you met with a woman.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. There was no expression.”

“Don’t forget that we know you, brother,” Armaan said. “Better than you know yourself, and it’s been a rather long time since you had that dreamy, besotted look on your face.”

Dreamy and besotted?!Absolutely not. He absolutely did not feel that way abouther. He didn’t want to feel anything about her. It was for the best that he stayed away from Anna.

Armaan wriggled his eyebrows. “So, who is she?”

“Unimportant and irrelevant to you,” Mihir snapped, annoyed with himself.

Armaan chuckled. “Which means it was a woman. Was it that model, Julia? Or that Russian heiress, Natalia? Or wait, was it Liliana again? Did you finally agree to meet her? Do us all a favor and go out with her. She’s been after you for years now. One night with her could do you some good.”

“She’s sleeping with any rich man who will have her!” Mihir made a face. “I’m not interested in her, or any of the others. No, thank you.”

Armaan’s eyes widened. “So, it’s some other woman who has you in a twist? Who is she, and why you haven’t told us? Have you slept with her?”

“Good God, Armaan, can you get your head out of the gutter for one goddamn minute?” Mihir scowled. “Why does every conversation I have with you always end up around my sex life? Why are you so consumed by that?”

Vedant pushed his spectacles up his nose. “Perhaps you’d be less of a grump if you did have sex. It will probably improve your constant sour disposition, and you’d be kinder to the people who care about you.”

Mihir’s eyebrows shot up at his brother’s caustic words. “What do you mean by that?”

Vedant stayed quiet. Mihir studied him. Vedant looked angry again. “Are you mad at me, brother?”

“Like it matters to you,” Vedant retorted. “You’ll still do what you want always.”

Pin-drop silence fell upon them. Mihir blinked. His youngest brother was the quietest and the calmest one in their trio. For him to be mad at Mihir meant something. He watched his brothers exchange a glance. Vedant sat back, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes now ablaze with fury.

“What is going on?” Mihir asked. He turned to Vedant. “Talk to me, brother. What have I done to hurt you?”

“You went to meet the dangerous Estonians without us,” Vedant said. “You decided for us that we shouldn’t be there, simply becauseyoufelt that your life is less important than ours. Tell me that isn’t true.”

“He has a point there, Mihir,” Armaan said.

Mihir swallowed. “You both are in steady relationships. You needn’t take risks.”

“Sure, so we should simply sit back and twiddle our thumbs while you take all the risks.” Vedant shook his hand angrily. “We both are used to you having your way, but your behavior is now hurting the women we love. You upset Reina when you didn’t show up for her birthday party that night. She begged you so many times to come. Yet, you chose your problem with her sister over her… over us. You?—”

“—Vedant, enough,” Armaan cut in.

Vedant glared at Armaan. “No. Someone needs to call out the elephant in the room, and I’m not afraid to do it. His problem with Ananya is affecting all of us. The way I see it, she’s not the problem here.Heis.”

Mihir’s pulse stumbled.

“Vedant!” Armaan gasped. “We don’t know the details of his history with Ananya.”

“And whose fault is that?” Vedant snapped. “Mihir has chosen to keep us out of that part of his life too. Why? Because in his head, it’s better we don’t know.”

Vedant looked at Armaan. “Have you forgotten that awful night when we thought he was going to die?”

“As if I could ever forget,” Armaan replied, his jaw tightly clenched. “I was right there with you. I lived it.”

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