Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Walk the Line - Chapter 28

Warning: This Chapter contains Mature Subject Matter and has a PG18+ rating! Please leave if you are not at least 18 years of age.


The only sounds in the sound proofed workout room were the soft whooshes of breathing, grunts and thumps of bare feet hitting the wooden floor. Sweat glistened on his brow. The corded muscles of his back and arms and chest bunched as he swung from one move to another, easily and gracefully going through the stances. His long leg kicked out and a harsh cry erupted from his throat. One more, and another harsh cry accompanied it. For an hour he practiced, almost covered in sweat. His inner qi coiling, releasing like the strike of a snake or a tiger. His hands turning into claws or fists and slashing like blades. Each muscle moving in perfect unison with the next. Jeet Kune Do was hard to practice on one’s own, so he usually kept his solo practices for Kung-fu. He’s started learning Kung-Fu as an outlet for his pent-up energy and to keep fit. He’d ended up with Jeet Kune Do because he understood the concept of reality and fluidity. Finally, he was done, breathing deeply through his nose as his pulses calmed down.

He picked up a towel from the bench it lay on, and wiped the sweat from his face. He only wore the bottom part of the gi, the uniform, a black loose pair of pants held in place by a cloth belt. His torso was smooth and right now, very sweaty.

The gym was at the back of Raizada House and Arnav used it when he could. One wall was completely mirrored with a cushioned wooden floor in front, where he practiced his martial arts. At the far wall stood a fully equipped Bowflex, a recent addition that he tried to use every now and then. The glider stood next to it, as well as a rowing machine. A TV hung on the wall facing the equipment. There wasn’t too much equipment in the room, but then it was compact and served the needs of the owner. Staying fit was important to him given his diabetic condition. With the monsoon season it wasn’t always easy to go out jogging. Although the monsoons hadn’t started yet, today was one of those days. The heavens seemed to have opened up and rain poured unrelentingly down in torrents. Delhi traffic was going to be a big mess.

The gym was also a little private haven for him. Few people entered this room. Akash sometimes used it, and he knew that Mami had tried the treadmill once, but given up as too strenuous. So he was surprised to hear the door opening behind him. It must be Hari, he thought, and said, ‘take the towel and put it in the laundry.’ There was no sound behind him. He turned around to see Khushi standing there in warm ups, a bottle of water in hand, and a towel on her shoulder. She was staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. He wondered why and then realized she’d never seen him half-naked and this close, had she?.. the imp made himself comfortable and picked up a bag of popcorn. This was going to be good!

‘Hi’ he said, his pleasure at her presence clearly visible on the smile on his face.

‘Hi’, she replied trying hard not to stare at those smooth muscles. ‘Is it okay if I use the glider?’ she managed in a throat gone suddenly very very dry.

‘You don’t have to ask. Just use it. It gets precious little work these days,’ he answered.

He came really close to her now, and she could smell the musky fragrance of his cologne mixed with sweat - a heady concoction that was making her light-headed.

‘You know martial arts?’ she asked the first question that popped into her head.

‘Kung-fu and Jeet Kune do. Do you?’ he asked her.

‘No. No. I don’t.’ God, she’d have to stop stammering, she thought.

‘Pity. I would’ve liked sparring with you,’ he said. Then he stepped back, giving her some space. ‘Go on,’ he waved his hand at the equipment. ‘I’ve completed my workout. It’s all yours.’ With that, he turned around and headed to the small attached washroom.

She quickly wriggled out of her sweats, put on a head band and headed to the elliptical. Warm-up over, she hit the controls on the glider, raising the difficulty level. The movements were now faster, straining her thighs, calves and butt, the sweat beginning to bead on her brow and neck, trickling down between her breasts. The pounding of power classics in her ears from her iPod kept her rhythm going. She also didn’t hear him come back into the room, this time covered up in light warmups.

He watched her, his eyes wandering from the tight butt in the clinging navy tights to the toned abs and muscles in her arms. Thin as she was, she was whip-cord tight. His lips parted as he remembered last night. With a smirk he turned around and walked out the gym.

Dude, what a wasted opportunity, the imp said. The bowflex, dude, the bowflex. Arnav looked pityingly at the imp. There’s time, he said.

*** 

‘Traffic is a mess,’ said Mamaji, as he pulled out a chair and sat himself at the breakfast table.

‘Then its decided,’ said Nani. ‘Khushi, you can’t go the hotel today, and its just not worth it going shopping. You’ll be sitting in traffic all day if you do.’

‘Besides, its your vacation, right?’ Anjali piped in. She placed food on the plate in front of her husband Dilip who had arrived the previous day and would be staying till the wedding.

Khushi just nodded.

‘Then I suggest we just hang out today, and whatever work we can complete on the phone, let’s do that,’ Anjali said with a note of finality in her voice.

Khushi nodded agreeably. Anjali was quite a force, she thought. She is all sweetness and light, but she does get her own way most of the time.

‘Khushi, I’ve arranged a video conference with Sergio today, and you should be present for it,’ Arnav cut in. Looks like today Anjali was not going to get her way, Khushi thought with a small smile.

‘But Chotey, she is on vacation, how can she be working?’ asked Nani.

‘Nani,’ said Arnav, ‘she is Sergio’s eyes on the ground here. She needs to be there for this.’

‘Besides, Chotey,’ Anjali was determined not to be thwarted. ‘I need her to work with me on some of the menus. There are so many rituals coming up.’

‘Di, you’re quite capable of doing it by yourself. In any case, Jiju is here too. He’ll help you. I need Khushi.’ The last sentence was in English as Arnav Singh Raizada was wont to be truly bilingual mixing Hindi and English equally easily with never a thought to grammar and syntax.

There was pin drop silence around the table as everyone turned to look at him, no one had missed the double entendre. Khushi could feel her cheeks burning!

‘You need Khushi, Chotey?’ Anjali emphasized the word in a sugar coated voice.

He looked at them all puzzled - not really understanding why they were all looking at him so funnily, and said, ‘What?! She needs to be there for the conference. That’s it.’

Mami raised her brows, Nani raised her brows, Mama raised his brows and everyone went back to eating.

He shook his head, finished his meal and said, ‘Khushi, Akash, the call is at 10 am, come up to my study. We’ll take it there, okay?’ The minions dutifully nodded.

Khushi grabbed her laptop and headed to the study. Akash was already there along with Arnav. She sat down on the nearest couch and turned the laptop on. ‘No wireless,’ she muttered.

‘What?’ Arnav had heard her and came and sat down next to her. ‘Let me see,’ he said. He leaned in and pulled the laptop in front of him. She could still smell that musky smell of his, but he was completely focused on getting her wireless up and running. ‘Why are you using the guest network?’ he asked, ‘it’s not secure. Use this one instead.’ His fingers flew over the keyboard quickly typing in the password. The network connected. ‘There.’ He moved the laptop over to her, got up and walked over to his desk. 

D&G today again? asked the imp. He glared at him.

Akash and Khushi joined him as he started the call.

*** 

Shashi and Anna sat in their suite drinking hot tea. They were still worried about their little one, but there was also the older one to worry about. The Sangeet was the day after tomorrow. One of their little birds would soon fly out of the coop. Their hearts were heavy at the thought. At the same time, they really like their new son-in-law. He was more than they could have asked for her. He cared about her. This was important to them. He cared about her very much, and he would look after her happiness, they were sure.

‘What about Khushi?’ Shashi voiced the unspoken thought in both their minds.

‘Do you really think her and Arnav..?’ asked Anna.

‘I don’t know, Anna. He seems to genuinely worry about her safety. They seem to have formed a bond, yet I can’t tell anything from where I am standing. Is he doing it because he automatically take on responsibilities or is it because its her? He is such a closed book!’

Anna smiled. When Shashi had told her about why Khushi was staying at Raizada House, she had panicked at first. But then she’d seen how Arnav was around Khushi these past few days. ‘Perhaps I am reading too much into it, Shashi,’ she said. ‘But there seems to be some sort of a ..tension between them.’

‘Tension?’ Shashi sat up.

‘Mmm..hmmm,’ she smiled. ‘A good kind of tension,’ she qualified. He smiled fondly back at her wondering if her momma instincts were working overtime or not. ‘And NO, my momma instincts are not working overtime, Shashi’, she laughed almost echoing his thoughts. ‘And speaking of mommies and babies, why don’t you call Payal in here? She must be getting bored out of her wits in her room.’

Shashi nodded and went to call his older daughter in.

*** 

Payal sat morosely looking out of the window. Wet, wet day, she thought. They couldn’t even go out of the hotel, the traffic looked horrible from up here. Besides Akash had not called all morning. She wondered what he was up to. She looked at the ring on her finger. A ring he’d put there not twenty-four hours ago. She smiled at it. It sparkled up at her almost telling her to shine like it did. Akash was such a soothing person. She’d had qualms about this marriage thing. Marrying a man you barely knew, although it felt like you knew him really well. It’s not like they had spent a lot of time together, and he’d been making up for it in spades. Every day brought either a phone call or a visit from him. They’d been out to lunch, to dinner, sometimes by themselves and sometimes in a group. He’d introduced some of his friends to her. Lavanya was a big help when it came to shopping. And Anjali was so nice to her! She was glad that she was going to get such a great family as in-laws. She didn’t regret that she’d had to leave her job in Oakland to make this transitions. One of them had to move, it couldn’t be Akash, so it had to be her. He’d agreed to let her work after marriage if she still wanted to. But lately, she was coming to realize that the Raizada name carried a lot of weight in society. How would they accept a working daughter-in-law?

Payal Gupta had a lot to think about on this rainy day.

*** 

Rani Sahiba sat in her office, her eyes narrowed in thought, leaning back in her chair. A cigarette lay smoldering in an ashtray despite the no-smoking rules of the office. She couldn’t care less. Outside the rain poured relentlessly, and it helped that the only distance she had to travel from her loft penthouse to her office was in an elevator!

It had been over a week now since she’d seen Khushi drive away with Raizada. And it was only today that she’d found out that she was no longer at the hotel! She’d tried to find out where Khushi had been moved to. It had proved very difficult, the staff had obviously been instructed to keep mum - they were either very well trained about confidentiality or they were scared to death of Mr.Arnav Singh Raizada. All they knew was that Ms.Khushi Kumari Gupta was no longer a guest at the hotel.

Strange. Where else could Raizada have put her up? Or was she still at the hotel but under another name? It was obvious that something had happened to make him take such a step. But what? What exactly did Raizada know about Khushi? This was the question to which she needed an answer and it was going to be hard to figure this one out.

The engagement had been over yesterday, so Khushi was very much in town. She would definitely be in town for the wedding. But she seemed to be in Arnav’s protection.

Arnav Singh Raizada was an enigma. On the surface he had had plenty of girlfriends. But you never heard anything personal about him, from him. He was closed to the press, and only used them when he needed to put something out there - and it was always to do with business. There was never anything personal about him or his family that was leaked to the press. He really kept a tight lid on these matters. He wasn’t gay, was he? She thought irrelevantly, but set the thought aside. Even in business he didn’t give out more than what he wanted the press to know. Arnav Singh Raizada was a master at manipulating the media.

There was a knock on the door interrupting her thoughts, and it opened before she could say ‘come in.’ Shyam walked in. He carried a fat file in his hands and lay it on her desk, before seating himself.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, eyebrows raised questioningly at the file he laid on her desk.

He looked at her trying to read her thoughts. There was a tension inside her that he sensed. ‘Rani Sahiba,’ he said.‘What’s the matter? You look tense.’

She pursed her lips. ‘Did you know that Khushi is no longer at the hotel?’ her voice was like acid.

He sat back, surprised. ‘Not at the hotel? Then where is she?’

‘I don’t know, Shyam,’ exasperatedly. ‘Find out,’ she ordered. ‘And what is this?’ she indicated the file with the cigarette that she’d picked up from the ashtray.

He jumped. ‘It’s the information you wanted. The merchandise,’ he said.

‘Leave it here, let me look at them.’ He nodded.

‘Rani Sahiba,’ he began, but she cut him off.

‘Now leave, Shyam. I have a lot of work to catch up on,’ the ice in her tone was dismissive.

‘Rani Sahiba,’ he persisted, ‘what is it about this girl that made it so hard for you to stay away? When did she become an obsession for you?’

She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know.

‘Leave, Shyam,’ she ordered again.

He hated her ordering him around like this. He knew she knew it. His temper rose because he saw that she would use it against him. There was only one way to stay on top.

He got up and came around the desk. She watched him, swiveling in her chair, keeping her eyes on him. He reached out and touched her cheek. She slowly stood up. Her hand came up and slapped him on the cheek. It wasn’t a loud slap, but it stung. His eyes hooded as he looked at her. He grabbed a handful of hair and hauled her close, his lips crushing hers. His other hand grabbed her breast over her blouse, gripping it painfully, kneading it mercilessly. She moaned, her hands moved to his hair, the grip intense and painful, tugging on it. Mouths open, their tong ues fought with each other.

He pushed her back against the desk, her hips resting against it. She slapped him again, this time on the other cheek. He gasped. He turned her around, pushing her down, so she lay on the desk, feet on the ground, her ass in the air, and shoved her skirt up, roughly parting her legs. He pushed her thong aside, shoving his fingers inside her, smirking as he felt her wetness. She gasped at the sudden thrusts, trying to wriggle away. He held her down with one hand and unzipped his pants. Within seconds he had thrust himself inside her. His pulled back and slapped her hard on the bottom, a red welt forming on her cheek. She moaned, pushing back at him to get him inside her again, her hands reaching behind her, nails scoring his arms. He slapped her again, one hand gripping her hips so she couldn’t move. He shoved right back in. They coupled like animals, deep grunts and ragged panting the only sounds in the room. Fighting, biting, tugging, scratching as they furiously tried to get there first. He felt her insides start to spasm as her hoarse moans got quicker. He let himself go, a harsh groan torn from his throat. Panting, he rested on her back as she lay on the desk, her cheek resting on the cool wood.

‘Now leave, Shyam,’ she said.

He pulled himself out, zipped up and left.

*** 

6 comments:

  1. umm.
    i know that was necessary, but.. i was on such a high after the family teasing him about needing khushi.. and RS and her pervy ways are getting on my nerves. (the sign of a good story!)

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  2. Arnav Singh Raizada, with a half naked body slicked with sweat, is definitely drool worthy... Wonder how Khushi could resist such a yummy sight ;)....
    I want to take this imp out... I want him for myself actually... I'm in love with it... Can I borrow him, pretty please???? ;)
    I love ur sense of humor... It gets my day started so brightly...
    The perverts were busy with what they r best at... Being animals... Very well written...

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    Replies
    1. Denaid,

      Thanks for the lovely comments you've been making on the chapters. Am so looking forward to reading them each day and its alway good to find new readers.

      As for the imp - he was a spur of the moment creation. Now Payal (you'll see her comments on other pages) has claimed dibs on him. So you'll have to ask her permission to borrow him - otherwise i swear to you - she would probably do me some major harm .. shhhhh....

      :(

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    2. Girlonfire you had me on fire, oK I didnt know Jeet Kune Do was practiced by bruce lee himself, bring a fan on his one inch punch anyway, you mixed the image of BS and bruce and a seriously hot ASR comes out, oh another image that will never leave my head (swoon). My god how did khushi resist following him into the washroom ;). I wish you hadnt messed it up with Shysm and RS not nice..I realise it was necessary to get the idea of the mentality of tis weird pair.

      Oh yes I loved your sentence re Arnavs innuendo even though he was being serious, he didnt realise what he said LOL, but when everyone raised their eye brows I was expecting the imp to raise his. Im loving this imp on his shoulder. The sentences where they were in the gym had me rofling

      Really great chapter start

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  3. This chapter started of so well, lovely images in my mind of Arnav practicing kung fu...say no more ;)

    It didn't end so well... I mean there doesnt seem to be any love between rs and smj... what they shared was so animalistic :( ...

    To bring out the aahhs and the ewws you are doing a great job.

    ReplyDelete

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