Sejal saw him before her mark did, and her eyes widened.
Driven by an emotion he couldn’t quite place, Krish adopted a faux hurt expression and cleared his throat. “Leena. What is this? What are you doing?”
Tim straightened away from her and turned to face him with a glower. The glower subsided a little when he caught sight of Krish’s face and size.
That was normal. Krish occasionally forgot that he wasn’t a cuddly-looking man, but he wasn’t allowed to forget for long. The scar alone made most people give him a wide berth.
It used to hurt him, the snap judgments and stares, when he was young. But like the scar, with age his fucks had faded. He didn’t much care what anyone assumed about him, or about subverting those assumptions.
Sejal hadn’t minded the way you looked, in that bar. She called you hot.
He was glad the lack of bright lights in the bar hid his flush. Funny how Sejal finding him attractive discombobulated him more than anyone else finding him intimidating.
Tim rallied quickly. “Who’s Leena? I thought your name’s Mara?”
Krish snapped back into his role. Avi had always been the one with a flair for the dramatic. But Krishhadgrown up going to small schools in a nothing town where he’d had to bury his accent and assimilate, then went on to a privileged college and grad program where he’d had to pretend like he belonged, like his childhood hadn’t been shaped by trauma and upheaval. Then, as a grown-up, he’d had to work in an elitist city where life was all politics, even in his otherwise uneventful profession.
He could play a part, and knowing that he’d fooled multiple people so far, especially Sejal, was giving him confidence.
Is it good to be getting more confident in your lying ability?
He’d examine that later. It was serving him for now.
Krish shook his head at Sejal. “Are you giving fake names again, sweetheart? Mara’s the name she uses when she’s stepping out on me.”
Sejal’s words came from between set teeth. “So sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else.”
Oh. What was that? She was annoyed with him?
He didn’t know why that didn’t bother him. He’d never deliberately tried to goad women before. In this case, though, she got plenty of rises out of him. His long-buried sense of mischief didn’t mind turning the tables for once.
“Mistaken for someone else! How could you say that? I could never mistake the woman who bore me six children with anyone else. I told her,” he said to Tim, “that the sixth child would be the end of it, the most I could manage, but she’s addicted to the high of pregnancy. Every night now I find her trolling the bars for the father of her seventh. Now, come on, my love. Little Tommy’s got that surgery in the morning.”
Sejal bared her teeth at him in a facsimile of a smile. She tilted her head in an obvious gesture to leave. “Again, I have no idea who you are.”
“Wait, are you married, or aren’t you?” Tim grumbled.
Krish gave him a look of entreaty. “Sir, don’t we look married?”
The guy looked between the two of them, brow furrowed. “I mean, I guess.”
“You just think that because we’re the same color, Tim,” Sejal snapped.
His expression grew confused. “Do I? Oh wow. No, I don’t. I’m not racist.”
“Well, figuring this out will probably take you a while,” Krish said, holding out his hand for Sejal. “Milady?”
Sejal came to her feet and grabbed the cash stuffed into her cup. Krish handed Sejal his sweatshirt, wrapped his hand around her arm, and tugged her away. Her skin was smooth and warm under his palm, but he did his best to ignore how it made him feel, or the fact that he’d noticed at all. “Come along, dear.”
Her eyes sparkled up at him, but not like they’d sparkled when she first sauntered up to him and kissed the stuffing out of him. He found he didn’t mind this sparkle, either, though. It was as honest as her lustful sparkle.
She pulled away from him as soon as they were outside and glared up at him. “What the hell was that?”
He gestured with his chin. “That was me making sure we’re up bright and early for Little Patty’s surgery.”
“I thought it was Tommy.”
“I can never keep our little rascals straight.”
