Page 7 of Game on, Love

So when I had nodded, indicating Ididhave an eye on someone.

That’s all it took.

My drink was out of my hand, and I was being pushed away.

“What exactly are you doing?” I grumbled, and even though I was taller and even if he never admitted it,stronger,than him, I was unable to resist.

Maybe I wanted to go.

I shook the feeling off. I didn’t have time for this.

“Oliver, you know you are a great friend, butIam abrilliantfriend. You have only three things in your life right now: Cricket, your Dad and your cookbooks,” I stopped in my place, giving him a sharp look that made him chuckle. “Look, take this as asign from the lord you don’t believe in, or just take it as you being a lucky bastard, and go find your lucky number 4.”

Rihaan winked, and for a moment, it felt like he was onto something before I watched his face drain of all playfulness. “Dad, what’s up?”

My own body stiffened. I didn’t even need to turn around to feel the disapproval radiating from the man behind me.

Vikram Patel was an intimidating man. Growing up I had known him for his ruthless plays against my Dad, someone who was among the best and who would go down in history as a legend. There was a time I had looked up to him, the stories my Dad had told me about his calculated plays still fresh in my mind. But the more I had learned about him, the less I saw him as the cricketing genius everyone believed him to be and more as the man who held Rihaan under his thumb—controlled him like a chess piece, and right now, that control was written all over Rihaan’s face.

“Did you know what your brothers were planning?” Vikram’s voice was low, a chill seeping into his words as I turned.

Rihaan’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Vikram’s jaw clenched, and his glare could’ve turned a weaker man to stone. “They brought her here.”

There it was—barely a few words, and just like that, it was enough to get in his head. Rihaan’s body went rigid next to me. He was caught off guard, blindsided by the whole situation.

As though reviling in the fact that his son was as ambushed as him, he shook his head and, without another word, turned and walked away, leaving Rihaan stiff as a statue.

I scanned the room, hoping to find either of his brothers who could explain what in the world was going on, but instead, I found the pair of eyes I had been wanting to see already waiting for me.

I recognised the guy next to her, but before I could connect the dots, Dev appeared next to me.

Dev was only two years older than Rihaan, but having seen their Dad moments ago, it was jarring how similar they looked. I mentally checked myself, knowing if I ever said it out loud, no matter how close I was to these guys, I would be sending myself to an early grave.

“What theactualfuck?” My eyes widened in surprise. I could count the number of times Rihaan cursed on a single hand, and all of those times, he was close to being black-out drunk. Rihaan and hard liquor were enemies who pretended to be lovers, and once he reached that high, he was a broken-hearted puppy, which was exactly how I’d learned about his complicated relationship with his dad and his siblings.

Dev, on the other hand, wasn’t phased at all. He rolled his eyes as he finished his drink in one gulp.

“Don’t look at me, this was all Vedant.” Twin brother or not, he sounded like he wanted to sendVedantto an early grave.

“What was all me?” We all could hear the smile in his voice as he joined our conversation.

“Raina,” Rihaan’s voice was sharp, his eyes pointed in a narrow glare.

It was subtle, the falter in his expressions and truthfully, with the stare-off they all were in, I wasn’t quite sure they noticed it.

Vedant just shrugged, his eyes slowly darting off to scan the room. “Just keeping my promise.”

His gaze was fixed on someone, and he must’ve found her. I followed his line of sight, which was drawn toher.

Her nervousness had disappeared as she stared at our group with narrowed eyes.

It couldn’t be.

She lifted her chin as the guy next to her grabbed her hand and pulled her in ourdirection.

I felt the wind being knocked out of me as I tried to focus on the conversation happening in front of me.