First Comes Like (Modern Love #3) - Alisha Rai Page 0,90

and put him in a headlock before he could get another word out. Arjun flailed as Dev dragged him over to the open window and shoved him out of it. “What are you doing?” Arjun yelled.

“Did you catfish that poor girl with my account and then release those texts?” Dev demanded. “I want a clear yes or no.” This wasn’t what he’d intended by making sure his cousin was guilty, but it was effective. At least this room didn’t face the beach, so Luna wasn’t likely to see one of her uncles about to throw the other one out the window.

“I don’t know what you’re— Ah! Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes to the catfishing, but no to the texts! My phone really was hacked, along with a bazillion other celebrities! Didn’t you see the nudes of me?”

Dev evaluated the words, paying attention to the nuances of his cousin’s voice. It sounded like he was uttering the truth. “If I saw nudes of you, I’d be blind.” He yanked Arjun back inside.

Arjun straightened his shirt while glaring at Dev. “You rude son of— Oof.” He flinched when Dev punched him in the stomach. “Why,” he gasped. “I already told you.”

“Because you did a tremendously hideous thing,” Dev said calmly. “And you will apologize to me, and if she wishes to see your ugly face, Jia as well. Both for the catfishing and the texts.”

Arjun came to his full height, with some difficulty. “I told you, it was a hack.”

“It wouldn’t have been hacked if you hadn’t had the messages in the first place.”

Arjun licked his lips. “I know. Trust me, I know.”

Dev flung his arms wide. “What the fuck were you thinking, doing something like this?”

Arjun rubbed his arms and pouted. “It was Rohan’s idea,” he muttered.

Dev pointed at the bed. “Sit down.” He was already taller than his cousin, but he’d like to really intimidate him.

Arjun sat.

“I require a better explanation than that.”

“Rohan wanted to prank you, so he sent a few messages to random women.”

Dev slapped his forehead, his hurt at his brother’s perpetual dislike of him subsumed by panic. “There are more women?”

“No! No. The others didn’t answer.”

“And you were in on this joke. Using my old scripts for lines to feed her.”

“I helped him splice them up,” Arjun confessed. “Rohan said you wrote most of them. You’re not a bad writer, by the way.”

Oh, that one hurt. Arjun liking anything wasn’t a good endorsement as far as he was concerned right now. “And after he died?”

Arjun hung his head. “I don’t know. Rohan was my buddy. I missed him, and Luna, too. I wasn’t thinking straight, so when Jia started texting again a couple months ago . . .”

“You thought you’d prank boring old me as well.”

“No! I thought to help you.”

“Help me!”

“Yeah, because of the will. You need to find a wife, so I thought maybe . . .” He trailed off. “I didn’t think far enough about her meeting you or anything. But it seems like you did fall in love with her! So it worked.”

Dear Lord. Adil Uncle hadn’t been that far off base with his matchmaking theory. “It . . . worked?” Dev growled. “It has turned my life upside down.”

“In a bad way?”

“Could there be a good way?”

“Sure.” Arjun squinted at him. “You’re right, you were boring. Got up, went to work, always on time, hit all your marks, went home, slept. No way you would have even talked to a girl like that without someone forcing you into it.”

“What do you mean a girl like that?”

“I mean a talented, popular, outgoing one. And look! According to Aji, you’re marrying her soon.”

Dev opened his mouth and closed it, wishing he could dispute anything his cousin was saying. “What you did was horrible, despite the result.”

Arjun sobered. “I know. I realized as soon as Jia started pushing to meet me. I mean, you. I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Dev leaned away. He hadn’t expected a sincere apology from his selfish, foolish cousin. “I don’t know either.”

“Have you told Aji?”

“No.”

Arjun looked up at him from under his lashes. “Are you going to?”

“Worried about your own inheritance now?” Dev’s lip curled. “No, I’m not going to.”

His cousin released a giant sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“I literally can’t, not without exposing what happened. I won’t do that to Jia. She feels embarrassed, though I’ve assured her the embarrassment belongs to you and you only.” He narrowed his eyes at Arjun. “And you