Spice and Smoke by Suleikha Snyder Page B

murmured, rolling away and reaching for the cigarettes Viki knew he kept in his shirt pocket. “Just a good shag for old times’ sake, yeah?”
    Haan. More than good. His body was still crying out for a second round. He was hard again; too soon, because it ached in a way that passed pleasure and met pain. But Sam was wrong about the rest. It meant…everything. It always had.
    “You’re still a son of a bitch, Sam Khanna,” he whispered, casting the words more towards the sofa cushions than the man who was now righting clothing and searching for cloths to clean up with.
    Sam’s smile was humorless, his eyes as black as night. “What you mean is…I’m still an addict. You’re right.”

Chapter Sixteen
    “Whose man are you, Shankar? England’s or India’s?” Varun asks. “This is the question we must all ask ourselves. That is what they have asked in Meerut.”
    Meerut. The heart of the rebellion. Just the mention of it makes the bile rise in his throat, and his hand falls to the butt of his rifle. His bullets are not greased with pig’s fat. How lucky he is to not be forced to turn against his masters. “You should go, Varun. They are looking for you. For Alok. What he and Nishta have done…has only fanned the flames.”
    “What they’ve done? My friend…all they’ve done is fall in love. They love their motherland, and they love each other.”
    Shankar is suddenly struck with the urge to wipe the sad, knowing smile from Varun’s traitorous face. He does. He gives in to the impulse to strike. “Then they should also learn to love their certain death.”
    “You planning to jump or what, yaar ?”
    Vikram looked up to see Avi Kumar leaning companionably against the parapet, just above him. Smoke curled from the tip of the cheap rolled beedi he was drawing on, and Viki wrinkled his nose at the scent. “ Nahin ,” he assured. “Just enjoying the view.” Avi chuckled, the sound a low rumble that probably turned on women the world over. It only raised his hackles. “Are Michael and Harsh on holiday? Did you get nominated to come out here and play psychologist instead? Is that what this is? Dr. Kumar is in session?”
    The chuckle bloomed into a laugh. “Me? I am not qualified to psychoanalyze anyone, yaar . I just came out to smoke somewhere my wife won’t find me. Bahut controlling hai , na ? Is kiliye. ”
    Now it was Vikram’s turn to laugh. Trishna controlling? Sure, she was a bit fearsome at times, but from what he’d seen, Avi could do a cabaret dance in the hotel lounge wearing nothing but a tiny polka dot chuddi , and she wouldn’t blink. It was plainly obvious she’d given up custody of her husband. Or was at least jointly sharing him with Michael. Avinash was either unaware of how unsubtle his motley crew was being, or he simply didn’t give a damn.
    “The fact is, Viki, there is tension on set. Tension we do not need. That is all I would say to you.”
    “How would you suggest we squash this tension? Group hug? Group sex?” He snorted as Avi finished his smoke and tossed it over the ledge.
    “Our group is invite-only. No new members need apply.” This was Avi’s only acknowledgment of whatever kinky doings were happening in his camp. “But sex is a great idea. Take Sam, get your Dostana on, and you’ll both feel much better.”
    It amused Vikram that such a recent movie had come to stand in for being gay and doing gay things. He could barely remember how people had talked about it before…or if they’d talked about it at all. He wasn’t about to tell Avinash that the “great idea” of sex had been tried already…tried and failed spectacularly, given how he and Sam had barely spoken afterwards.
    “That’s where you’re wrong, my friend,” he said instead. “Taking Sam will kill me.”
    The look Avi shot him then was so full of pity and understanding that he could barely stomach it. “ Yaar , from where we are all standing, it is being without each other that’s