Girl Gone Viral (Modern Love #2) - Alisha Rai Page 0,43
feet away and slid off his horse. In the nonharvesting months, the farm kept afloat with non-peach-related things, like boarding horses and stud fees. Their grandpa had always dreamed of having a stable.
Bikram’s dappled horse was gorgeous. It had never met Jas, but that didn’t matter. All horses reacted the same to him.
Jas looked at the creature, and the mare snorted at him.
Standard.
Bikram reached into his pocket and pulled out a white cord. Jas had only brought one phone charger, and he really preferred to keep two on him, in case one went kaput. He’d texted Bikram earlier with a request, since he knew his grandfather. The man had drawers full of cords and cables and chargers.
“Here’s the charger you requested.” Bikram stomped over and handed it to him. “Are the rest of your lodgings to your satisfaction?”
Jas raised an eyebrow at Bikram’s testy tone. It was hard to look at this full-grown man and not see the toddler he’d been when Gurjit had married his mother. Especially when Bikram was pouting like he was now. “What is your problem?”
“What problem? I don’t have a problem.”
“You most definitely do have a problem.” Jas crossed his arms over his chest and gave his brother his sternest look. If Bikram wanted to act like a child, he’d act like a parent. “Why are you mad? Is it Katrina?”
Bikram’s chin jutted out. Ah yes. There was the stubborn kid he’d half raised. “I’m not mad at her.”
“You were very short-tempered when you met her.”
“She screamed at me.”
“It wasn’t at you. Anyway, you screamed, too.” If he’d known Katrina was awake, he wouldn’t have told Bikram to leave the bags around back.
“Hmph.” Bikram rocked back on his heels. “Why did the princess leave her tower anyway?”
Jas automatically glanced in the direction of the house and tugged his brother away, until they were closer to the barn. He switched to Punjabi to be extra careful. “Don’t call her that. Like I said, she needed to get away. Did you tell anyone she’s here?”
Bikram didn’t switch languages, since he wasn’t as fluent. He could understand their parents and Jas in Punjabi, but tended to respond in English. “No. Only Mom.”
Jas groaned. He should have been more specific. “That’s someone, Bikram.” A meddling someone. How had he not gotten ten calls from his mother during the day?
“Why did you need to get away?”
“It’s a long story.”
“It’s October. No peaches to pick. I got time.”
He debated how much to tell Bikram. His brother deserved to know some of what was going on on his farm. “She went viral, and we feared someone might figure out her identity.”
“Viral? Like on the internet?”
“Yeah.”
“For what? She doesn’t seem like the type to, like, have a pet lobster that can play the piano or something.”
“Not important.”
Bikram shrugged. “I’m not really plugged in like that anyway. Does she have assassins after her? Did you bring a killer to our peach farm, Jas? Are we all gonna be on Dateline?”
No, this wasn’t one of those suspense novels Katrina liked to read. “She’s had some tough breaks. She wanted to go someplace where no one would know her, where she could feel safe. Think of it as a vacation.” Not to mention, I wanted to run away, too. He leaned against the barn. The wood was rough, the paint peeling, and he’d leaned against this exact spot a million times growing up.
Home.
Twin bolts of pleasure and pain shot through him again at the thought. They’d been sparking all day, every time he came across something that he remembered or something that had changed—in effect, everything. He was kind of getting used to ignoring the pain, that happiness was so seductive.
Bikram studied his feet, then looked up at him. “Wouldn’t think you consider this place safe.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Guilt coursed through him. He knew what it meant. It meant he’d stayed distant, had abandoned the property he loved and owned.
“Nothing. She must be pretty special, to bring you back here for an extended stay.”
He reacted to the part of Bikram’s sentence that ratcheted up Jas’s defensiveness. “She’s a client. This is my job.”
Bikram snorted. “You sure are devoted to her, for being her hired help. Are you certain your feelings aren’t all tangled up in Hardeep’s widow?”
“It’s a job,” Jas repeated through gritted teeth. “I have no interest in Katrina beyond that.”
“Sure.” Bikram glared, which made his next question highly unwelcoming. “How long are you staying?”