Page 5 of Someone I Chose

“That’s just the question. Was I?” Jay said softly.

“Kevin told me.” Clive shifted from one leg to the other uncomfortably. “Did he lie?”

“No, he didn’t. My brother has a very relaxed relationship with literary embellishments, but that doesn’t mean he’d never say the truth.”

“You are married?” Drake asked in stunned disbelief. He stared at Jay with wide eyes.

“Not really. I did marry, but I am not married.” Jay sighed again. “It was a woman I had met just that same day. We agreed to get married to get our parents off our backs. But whereas I had thought it might be a marriage of convenience and we’d make it work, she wanted a wedding certificate only. As soon as she had it, she took off.”

“You’re not on call today, are you? Let’s have dinner together. And then I can tell you all the ways this marriage of yours is a bad, bad idea.”

Jay yawned while he nodded. “I need to get some sleep. Meet you at the Black Crow tonight.” He didn’t even put up a fight about the dressing down Drake promised.

* * *

The doorbell rang. And there was someone knocking at his door. Banging their fist at it. Jay blindly fumbled for his alarm clock to check the time but pushed it off his nightstand. It trundled somewhere under his bed. He had no idea what time of day it was, but he was not done with sleeping, that was for sure.

Mrs. Brennerman would never understand he worked odd hours. His neighbor meticulously made sure that she would ring only at what she called “appropriate times.” But she had never known anything but a nine-to-five life and could not comprehend that a doctor working shifts at the hospital would mind being woken in broad daylight. Instead of ringing his doorbell just once, like any normal person would, she rang and rang again. His car was in the driveway, so he was at home and had to open his door for her.

They had had that discussion many times, and Jay was fed up. After the night he had, he clearly deserved an uninterrupted rest. He decided to answer the door as he was, morning wood and all. Walking down the stairs, he even pushed his PJ pants a little lower—the pants that were his only clothing at that moment. He mussed his chest hair as it was flattened from sleep. It was not a nice thing to do, making sure his neighbor would regret having disturbed him. But showing up this indecent would scare her off for good.

He opened the door with a yawn. “Mrs. Brennerman?”

Only the person opposite was not his old neighbor. It was Neha. Her dark eyes widened at his sight, and she gave a little gasp, looking him up and down. For a minute, she just stood there, biting her lower lip. Jay was frozen in place. He couldn’t think of anything to do. He assumed that was the tiredness. But was it?

Neha cleared her throat. “May I come in?”

She looked beautiful. And tired. Against better judgment, Jay opened the door wider to let her pass. To force his dick down, he thought about how he made the incision on Mrs. Carter’s calf to retrieve a leg vein, but to no avail.

CHAPTER FOUR

This might not have been her brightest idea, showing up unannounced. Trish had made her ditch her phone before they left Atlanta. Neha grinned, remembering how they tossed the SIM card onto a truck with a Massachusetts plate. Trish had insisted and Neha still didn’t know whether they overdid that safety thing. But now she wished she had called. Although, then she might have missed the show. That boner was something to behold. The man was delectable.

Jay pointed at a narrow passage and went there. In passing, he grabbed a hoodie from the coat rack and put it on. Neha followed him into the kitchen, where he pointed at the table and busied himself preparing chai. Neha sat, watching him.

She licked her lips. So her husband wasn’t chunky like she had thought. He was all muscle and incredibly hot. She always had liked manly men with body hair, and now she was married to one. She huffed.

“Huh?” Jay turned to her.

“Oh, nothing.” She would not talk about this sudden outburst of lust, not to her fake husband.

“Sorry about the show earlier. I wasn’t expecting you.” Jay slid a cup of chai toward her.

“It’s okay, no harm done.” Whom had he expected? Neha felt a pang of hurt and internally scolded herself. She had no right to mind whether he had a lover. To hide her embarrassment, she held the cup under her nose and inhaled. “That’s just how my dadi used to make it.”

Jay did not reply. He stood at the far side of the kitchen, leaning against the counter, gingerly sipping the hot drink. “Tell me again—why are you here?” He sounded reserved, bordering on cold.

“My parents don’t like this marriage much. My father has terminated my job in my name and did his best to railroad me into going to Delhi to find a fiancé there.”

Jay’s eyebrow went even higher. “Isn’t he aware you already are married?”

“He is. I can’t follow his train of thought myself. I just knew I had to avoid contact with my parents for a while to sort myself out.”

“You’re a lawyer. You should be able to do something about this.”

“Yup.” Neha looked at the milky liquid in her cup. “Being in family law, I know that it’s not a good idea to act without second thoughts. And I couldn’t think in Atlanta, as my parents never would have given me space.” She looked at him. He did not show any emotional reaction to her tale. “Anyhow, by chance, I met Trish. She is a truck driver doing long-distance hauls, and she helps women to get away from people who might want to hurt them. I still don’t know whether I fit that description, but here I am. She passed Denver on her way to Oregon, and I decided to come here.”

Jay nodded pensively. “So you want to stay awhile, hiding from your parents?”