Catching Preeya (Paradise South Book 3) (20 page)

CHAPTER 24

“
T
his is Preeya
Patel. I just missed a call from—”

“Yes, hold the line, please.”

“But is everything all right with Prana? Prana Patel, my sister.”

“Yes, Prana Patel is…fine, but, oh goodness, hold a moment, please…”

Hold?
What the hell?
Was Prana fine or was she now
not
fine
?

“Preeya Patel. How selfish can one person be? You miss your father’s wedding and don’t bother to call? Aside from all that I have done for you, young lady, you should really know what your father, my brother, has done for you. It’s about damn time.”

“Aunt Champa? What’s going on? Is Prana okay? Tell me”—
you horrid witch!
—“is everything all right with my sister?”

“Oh, so you care about Prana? But you abandon her at this family function. The nerve…really, the nerve of you!”

Like their father’s wedding had a damn thing to do with either of his precious daughters. He’d abandoned her and her sister. And Champa had the nerve to put it on Preeya?

Wait, had they brought Prana to the stupid wedding as bait? Or as the ultimate guilt trip? Or so her father could save face and look like he’s father of the fucking year? Have at least one daughter present. And bonus points for having the disabled one there.
Fucking prick.
Hell, it was probably all of the above.

Focus, Pree. On what
matters.

“Is she all right, Champa? Please, just tell me that. Is Prana okay?”

“Yes. But your father’s not. He’s devastated. And humiliated.”

“Like I give a shit if he’s embarrassed. Don’t you see that?
I…we
were
left
by my parents—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—”

“No. You let me finish. I was stuck with you, my aunt, treated like an outcast, always put down just to bring your own daughter up. I thought family was…was unconditional. I had no goddamn mother, for Christ’s sake. And you had to go and remind me that I wasn’t
your
damn kid every fucking day I lived in your house. I never even felt like your niece…” She paused, out of breath and suddenly
light-headed
. “I hardly felt like a damn stranger!”

“Are you done, Cinderella?”

Silence. Preeya had no more words, just fumes, her chest heaving.

“First off, your father
did not
abandon you. Your mother, on the other hand,
did
.”

“My mother left us for a cause; my father left us for fear and greed. Left us to the wolves, Prana and I—left to the fucking wolves.”

“I am no wolf, my dear, and I hope to God you never go to India to know what preying animals
really
look like. But, no, you are wrong—
dead-wrong
about my brother. He saved your sister’s life. And yours. And you’re wrong about your mother, too.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Then Ben came up behind her and asked with his eyes if he should stay there with her—worried compassion in his face. She nodded.
Because please, for the love of God, someone stay with me through this
insanity.

“Your mother left…because of your sister. A month after giving birth—
she left
. Not for some charitable mission in India, Preeya. Not for anyone but herself. She didn’t want the
burden
of raising Prana. And so the coward left. She left Prana and you
and
my brother. She abandoned all three of you because of her selfish heart, her lazy,
love-lacking
heart.”

“I don’t believe you. I don’t! Why would my father lie to me?” Her head swam, heart shook. “You just want to demonize her, is all. Because you got stuck with me. She sacrificed raising her own children to go and help hundreds. Thousands by now. You wish you had a molecule of that selflessness in you.”

“Oh, you think raising your sister, with all her issues, wouldn’t have scared her off? Her entire life would have been
on duty
. Prana is seventeen years old now and she can’t even use the restroom on her own. That child would’ve cut into your mother’s perfect life. No more ‘
everything-to
-
the-wind
’! That
free-spirit
got off
scot-free
, that’s for sure.”

Preeya went silent in her desperate attempt to find oxygen. But nothing. She could only muster a shallow
half-breath
through her shock.

“Preeya, your father lied to you for the same selfless reason he does anything. He didn’t want you to blame Prana. And so you wouldn’t think bad of your mother and then project her ills on yourself. But honestly, I think that’s exactly who you turned out to be, Preeya Patel. Just like your selfish witch of a mother. And nothing like your father. If only…”

Preeya blinked her eyes. She took another attempt at air, but now having been stabbed in the chest by someone who dared call herself flesh and blood—her guardian—she couldn’t for the life of her snag a breath. And if her gasping had pulled any oxygen into her lungs, it all must’ve leaked out those dagger holes in her heart, because the next instant she only saw a blurry version of Ben through hazy eyes. She blinked desperately for clarity, but things only got blurrier. And foggier. Then darkness.

CHAPTER 25

H
e slid his
hand from her cheek to her neck and checked her carotid pulse. It was racing, but not in the red zone, and her breathing, shallow but even. He’d thankfully caught her when her knees gave out—God, a head injury would’ve meant half a night in a Mexican ER if you were lucky.

Her phone, though, he hadn’t caught. It now lay at his feet. He shifted Preeya’s weight in his arms so he could hold her and open the car door without her falling. Ben slid her into the front seat, situated her legs and head, then bent down to grab her phone from the ground.

It wasn’t shattered, just dinged on a corner. The call minutes still ticked away—he heard a shrill voice coming through the tiny speaker. He put the phone to his ear, but the call ended. He hit End a few times to clear it before slipping the device into his pocket and refocused on Preeya.

He kneeled at her side, took her wrist to feel her pulse again, and to feel her warmth. He waited twenty seconds then multiplied—her pulse felt fast still, but nothing to be concerned about. He brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. So drained, so calm, so damn gorgeous and sweet and smart.

He sighed. God, what had upset her so badly?

She moaned, as if in a dream.

“I’m right here, Preeya. You’re okay and I’m right—”

A buzz sounded from his pants pocket. Just in case it was whomever she’d been speaking to—her sister’s doctor maybe?—he glanced at the screen.

Thnx Pree, and FYI, I can’t stop thinking about you. Always, Ev.

From Evan Chambers, date, time, et cetera.

Evan? Can’t stop thinking about
her?

Hey.
None of your business, Ben.

Right.

He shoved the phone back in his pocket and the lingering thoughts—
Evan?
—down deeper in his mind.

“Preeya. Hey, Preeya…it’s me, Ben,” he whispered in her ear. Her eyelids fluttered, then stuttered open.

“Hey, back,” she murmured, looking around slowly in an obvious daze.

“You’re sitting in my car. You just passed out.”

“Huh. Right. Yeah, I…I remember…things going fuzzy.”

He wouldn’t dare ask what had upset her unless she wanted to tell him, but…“You’re staying with us tonight.”

“No, no. Just take me to the hotel. I’ll be okay.”

“You’re staying. And I’ll postpone my departure. So I can be here for you.”

But her head just kept shaking from side to side. As if she was against something more than what he was saying. “No. No, no. I want to go with you, Ben. On your excursion. I want to go with you, to help.”

Had he heard her right? Yes, but she was delirious. “I would love that, but you are not in any shape to make that call right now.” And what of her job? Where was this coming from?

Her eyes widened and darted at him with a sternness he hadn’t seen from her in the short—yet extremely intense—time he’d known her. “I am in fine shape. Perfectly sound. Never more
clear-headed
. Really. I want to come. I want to help. With you.”

He smiled at her, though still taken aback. “We have another day and a half to think, talk, plan. Until then, let’s get you home, comfortable, rested.”

“I need
Wi-Fi
. Gotta
video-call
Prana, my sister. See that she’s okay.”

“Stacy has
Wi-Fi
.”

“Your sister’s house is fine, then. Let’s go.”

Ben moved to stand, but her hand took his arm. “Wait. I…I want to stay with you tonight.
With you
, with you. That wouldn’t be…appropriate, though. At your sister’s, with the kids there…”

His pulse ratcheted up a few hundred RPMs—her intensity, her insistence, her focused need, it was like a shot to his heart. “Your hotel has
Wi-Fi
, right?”

She gave him a frantic nod. God, that call had shaken her up and made her downright impulsive. “Yes. The hotel. To the hotel.”

He swept a few more loose wisps of her
black-as
-night hair from her
panic-stricken
face and shook his head, unsure if this was happening in real life, real time. “Okay, so…I’ll stay with you tonight.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll call Stacy and let her know.”

“Yes.”

“You really should have a doctor close by in case, you know, you faint again.” He sighed then winked—this was happening.

“Yes, Ben. I need you…close by.” But her expression wasn’t suggestive or seductive. It was still
fear-stricken
and stunned. His hand moved to her cheek, brushing it with his thumb. “I’ll stay with you, Preeya,” he whispered. “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

*

Just as he inserted the key into the ignition she took his hand and nuzzled her cheek into his palm. How drained she seemed. How vitally spent.

“Thank you. And, Ben, I’m sorry…for earlier. At the table. When you were trying to talk about your wife. And then
us
…I was—”

His finger at her lips halted her words. “You’re fine, Preeya Patel. You owe me no apology. If anything, I owe you an—”

“No.”

“Yes. It’s hard to know…what to say around me. I still don’t control…my emotions, my reactions.” He shook his head then took her hand. “And honestly, since, you know Jamie’s passing, I haven’t felt like myself…the real me, until now, until
you.
So for that, I should thank—”

A loud ringing interruption came from his pants pocket.

“It could be SafeHaven…”

He shifted to grab then hand the phone to Preeya. “Just…keep it short,” he suggested, not wanting her upset again. And not wanting it to be that Evan again.

“It’s Amy…from her honeymoon cruise? There’s gotta be something wrong. Hello?”

*

Amy’s frantic ramble overwhelmed Preeya, so she put it on speakerphone so Ben could grasp anything she missed.

“They just got
Wi-Fi
restored on the ship, and we saw the missed calls from Darren’s mother. It apparently happened Sunday morning. The doctors say it’s a miracle his brother’s even alive.” Amy spoke through her sobs. “If he’ll ever function again, they can’t say. They can’t even say if or when he’ll come out of the coma. Darren is sick over it. His brother all but raised him, Pree. And there’s no way for us to get there—no port stop for another day and a half…”

“God, Ame, I’m so sorry. What can I do?” She hated that tragedy hit her friend at all, but especially during her honeymoon.
Jesus
.

“My sister and mother are the only ones there from my side, and, well, they’re fucking crazy. And Darren’s mom is, of course, a wreck. I want to know how he is through trusted eyes, to put Darren at ease, if that’s remotely possible. Can you just go to the hospital, check, give us the real deal? And give Elaine a little company, too.”

“Of course.” She motioned to Ben for a pen and paper. “Which hospital?”

“Santa Maria Hospital, ICU, room 515.”

“I’ll go now,” she said while Ben nodded to her. “The friend I’m with, he’s a doctor. He’ll take me and we’ll get the facts. Watch your phone and email, okay?”

“Right, okay. Thank you, Pree. Really, thank you.” And the call disconnected with the last remnants of a whimper from Amy Rine, or rather, Amy James.

CHAPTER 26

T
hey headed back
into the restaurant to pay, to pee, and to check for
Wi-Fi
so they could skip her hotel for now and get to the hospital for Amy. But she needed to reach out to her sister before anything or anyone else.

“Watch your step here,” Ben said, his hand at her lower back. His delicate touch sent warm waves over her skin.

“Thank you.”

“God, when it rains, it pours, huh?” he went on, holding the door open for her.

“You aren’t kidding.” Her phone call with Aunt Champa flashed to mind, and the brash awakening to an opposite reality replaced the warmth of Ben’s touch with a rush of icy chills up her spine. “I think I need water…”

“Of course. Sit here. I’ll get a bottle and the
Wi-Fi
code…if they have a hotspot.”

She plopped down on the long, cushioned bench in the restaurant’s lobby and watched Ben’s long strides to the hostess stand.

What if Ben hadn’t been there? What if she’d been alone to hear her aunt’s rant? Alone and completely off guard. And in contrast to last night, when she’d found a new piece of herself, a version of
her
where she could be on her own, and be okay. More than okay. Not lonely, but strong and alone, by choice. Like she was a
worthy-enough
person to be alone
with
.

But if she had been alone to hear what her asshole aunt had told her, she would have broken. Cracked in half.

To hear about her mother, a complete coward? Abandoning her and her little sister? And her father is, what now, a savior? And God, the possibility, the potential within her, according to Aunt Champa, to be just like her mother, a goddamn escape artist of the most pathetic, unnatural sort. Leaving her babies? Not for selflessness. God, what insanity! Not for the poor children of the world? And she had been so proud of the woman, the
whole-hearted
seeker of truth, love, spiritual fucking liberation. It had justified the sacrifice, the lovelessness, the loneliness. But now the veil had lifted and left Preeya blind in the glaring, raw and
fucked-up
truth of it all.

“Jesus, you’re more pale than when I left you.” Ben unscrewed the water bottle and handed it to her, scrutinizing her with his narrowed stare. The doctor, the lover, the friend—his look of concern made her chest swell and her cheeks heat, easing the angst in her throat formed from her family bullshit.

She sipped the water, and again, then handed it back to him. “Thank you.”

“Better?” Still staring at her like she was a dandelion at risk of losing her wisps with one quick breath of a wishful child. And it seemed that not even her tornado of a family could destroy her so…

“Yeah, I’m fine. Or I’ll
be
fine…” She sighed then pulled out her phone. “Here, sit with me.” She laced her arm through his, then opened her video chat. “I’ll introduce you to Prana. She’ll like meeting you.”

“Take another drink first.” Like she did to him at the bar the other night. She smiled and took a pull of water per the doctor’s orders.

*

She called the main number first, which she had to do anyway so they could help Prana set up at the computer. But this time she wanted to know what the hell Champa was pulling.

“Maicey Anton, please?”

The unit director. She’d been caring for Prana since the start. The woman answered warmly and began explaining the situation. It turned out Champa had been bluffing. They didn’t take Prana to the wedding. But when Preeya wouldn’t call her aunt or father back, Champa apparently drove the hour to SafeHaven under the guise of a visit—after not seeing Preeya’s sister for how many years?—and insisted on making an outgoing call from their internal phone system. Aunt Champa knew Preeya would never ignore a call from SafeHaven. Irony of ironies, her phone had been in Ben’s trunk all day. Hey, at least the witch had to wait a bunch of hours to get her
rant-on
.

“Is Prana okay, though? Did my aunt upset her at all?”

“No, hun, Prana’s fine. Your aunt gave her a coloring book…stayed with her in her room for less than five minutes. Then, like I said, she fumed in the lobby for the rest of the time.”

Preeya sighed with relief and calm. “Thank God. Well, even though I’ll be up in a few weeks, is it too close to bedtime for me to video chat with her?”

“Not at all. I’ll connect you. And Preeya, no worries. We wouldn’t let any family friction or chaos touch your sister.”

“Of course, Maicey. Thanks. Really, thank you.”

While she waited, her thoughts ran rampant.
Aunt Champa.
That heartless, egocentric bitch. Playing Preeya like that. “But at least,” she said to Ben, “Prana’s okay.” Even though she hadn’t filled Ben in at all—about her family drama—and he didn’t ask, didn’t push. He just sat beside her, his hand stroking her back. Not hovering, just a strong pillar for her to lean on.

The
picture-in
-picture came up black on her screen, then her sister’s face appeared. “Prana, sweetie. Hey, there. How ya doin’, little sister?”

Her sister blinked and looked up to the right. That was a
meh
—just okay.

Damn it, Champa
. “Me, too. But now that I see your sweet face, I’m doing way better. Hey, you’re getting my
chat-messages
from the airplane?”

Prana replied with an excited nod and a wide smile.

“There’s my girl.”

With a crimped index finger, Prana pointed at the screen.

“Oh, this? This is my new friend, Dr. Ben.”

Prana’s smile got wider.

“Nice to meet you, Prana Patel,” Ben said on cue with his deep and tender voice. “You have a pretty cool room there. I can see the poster of Shel Silverstein behind you. He’s my favorite.”

Prana’s head began nodding rapidly, her gasping breath echoing in the mic.

“Oh, does
she
like
you
…” Preeya said to Ben, then squeezed his hand. “So, Prana, sweetheart, did you have a visit from Aunt Champa today?”

A nod and a scowl. Then a moan with furrowed eyebrows.

“Maicey said it was short, though, yes?”

A nod.

“And Champa brought you something? A coloring book?”

Prana glared, then cradled her arms and rocked them back and forth.

“Too babyish?” Preeya laughed. “Well, it’s the thought that counts, right? Maybe you can give it to a little kid in the children’s wing. Either way, Champa won’t be back for a while, I’m sure. So, tell me what else is doing?”

Prana looked down then held up a photo of their father—a man Preeya’d apparently never really known, at least according to Champa. In the picture that her aunt must’ve brought—
eye roll
—he stood hugging a woman Preeya’d never seen before. His new wife, no doubt. Well, the woman had a nice enough smile. She was thin, almost
gaunt-looking
. Not
cheek-and
-
tit-enhanced
like she’d pictured. But Preeya couldn’t really focus on her father or her new
stepmother
right now. It was all too much of a whirlwind to wrap her brain around. Her heart around.

Prana grunted.

“What’s up, sweetie?”

Prana grunted again and lifted her eyebrows—waiting.

Ben laughed. “She’s got your insistence, I think,” he whispered. “What does she want?”

“My sister wants me to read our special book to her…but, Prana, sweetie, I don’t have it with me. It’s back at my hotel room. How ’bout I call you in the morning to read it to you. Okay?”

Her sister shook her head violently.

“That’s a big no,” Ben whispered to Preeya.

She nudged him with her elbow. “I know you want it now, sweetie, but before you know it, morning will be here. I’ll call you at nine a.m., after you come back from breakfast.”

Prana’s breath got short and her eyes got wild. The
on-duty
attendant in the room had to settle her down, and Ben didn’t flinch, like it was no big deal. Preeya liked that she didn’t have to explain the situation to him. She could wait it out, knowing the drill by heart. After the attendant’s soothing words, like clockwork, the deal for the morning reading of
The Giving Tree
was struck.

“So sleep tight, sweetie, and I’ll video call at nine a.m. sharp.”

Prana gave a surrendered nod to Preeya, but a wild wave and a huge, almost flirtatious smile to Ben.

Preeya cracked up, her heart leaping, while Ben waved back to her totally glowing sister. “Nice meeting you Prana Patel.”

“Okay, then. I love you, Pran, and sleep tight.” And she ended the video call.

“Wow,” Ben said, his eyes studying hers. “That was unbelievable. The way you understood each other.” Ben stared a few beats longer, shaking his head.

She smiled back at him, feeling safe and held in his gaze.

Wait…his eyes, were they damp? She leaned in an inch. They were.

The next instant his hand was cradling the nape of her neck, and he was kissing her lips with the sweetest tenderness. Caressing, dragging, dusting. Then he pulled back to meet her eyes.

“Not much shocks me anymore. Not much at all. But here
you
are.” He smiled, then cocked his head, and glared at her. “And you dropped out of medical school? God, I could strangle you right now.”

She got the underlying compliment, but…
no
. She couldn’t touch the med school topic without falling apart. Not with the new perspective of her mother and of her father—of her whole
nurture-and
-nature composition in question. With the world as she’d known it flipped upside down, the last goddamn thing she needed to do was to discuss her fucking career path. So she swallowed, inhaled to capacity, then blew out a slow, calming breath. “Not going there ‘right now’ Ben.”
If
ever.

“Fine, but to be continued—a conversation for another time.” His lifted brow punctuated his sincerity.

She glared back—
fat chance
, without the words.

He took her hand—and she let him—as the deep lines set between his furrowed brows softened. “Come on.” He stood, pulled her up with him and kissed her neck.

Her chest loosened, her heart eased. “Oh, my bag—”

“No, allow me.” He grabbed her purse and slid it up on his shoulder with a wink.

She tilted her head and sighed a light laugh, letting go the rest of her agitation over the med school topic.

“What you need is rest.” He led her out of the restaurant into the thick Vallarta night. “Let’s do the hospital visit already so we can get you to bed that much quicker.”

Mmmm, bed.
With Ben. She looked up at him as a soft then hungry smile took over her mouth. “Whatever you say, Doctor.” Because bed with Ben sounded like pure heaven. She squeezed his hand in hers as they neared his car. “And I’ll be a good patient, I promise.”

He unlocked then opened her door and helped her in. “You should know, Preeya Patel, that I find it near impossible to keep my hands off you right now. And my mind off you. You’re getting your hooks into me, I think. Your big plan, is it?”

She sputtered a giggle as she clicked her seat belt. “I’m not much of a
planner
, but yes, I think…I think I could learn to think ahead a bit.” Because
thinking ahead
with this man in her mind’s eye didn’t sound bad…not bad at all.