Chapter 1: The Morning After
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the soft thump-thump of her bare feet on the linoleum. Priya stood in the doorway, backlit by the harsh hallway light, the sheer black nightgown leaving nothing to the imagination. The curves of her breasts, the dark shadow between her thighs, it was all there, painted in silhouette and then confirmed as she glided into the room’s smoky gloom.
Arjun’s grin froze, then widened into something entirely different. Vikram looked down at his hands, his face pale. Kavya’s breath hitched, her eyes wide with a kind of horrified fascination.
“What’s the game, beta?” Priya’s voice was a low, whiskey-rough melody. She moved like smoke, settling onto the floor between Rohan and Arjun, her knee brushing Rohan’s thigh. He flinched. The scent of her—jasmine perfume and stale alcohol—wrapped around him, suffocating.
“It’s nothing, Ma,” Rohan mumbled, his voice thick. “Just a stupid game.”
“Spin the bottle,” Arjun said, his bravado returning, tinged now with a dark, eager curiosity. “The bottle just picked Kavya.”
Priya’s eyes, dark and gleaming, never left Rohan’s face. Her fingers, tipped with chipped red polish, reached out and spun the bottle on the table. It whirled, a green blur.