When Tej entered the ICU with the kids, and Sunny saw her face, he knew the first words he should say were, "I'm sorry, my love."
"You're damn right you're sorry," she growled, then bent over his bed and kissed him hard on the mouth.
"Ew, Mom," Harpreet said. "Come on."
"Let Mom have this moment," she said. "Your Dad acted very stupidly last night, but heroically, and I can be simultaneously furious at him and relieved he's all right."
"Where's your turban, Dad?" Ajit asked.
"It got used as a tourniquet," he replied. "Don't worry. I can stand being a long-haired hippie for a while."
"I'll bring you a fresh one later today," Tej said. "Maybe I'll bring Rachel to see you too; she's dying to know what happened and wants to hear it from you, but she's busy doting on Lauren now that she's home. Once Joe gets some sleep, he'll take over and she'll come here."
"So, Joe's still sleeping at the family home?"
"I think it's a soft launch, now that Lauren needs the help. He may have things he needs to move back, but I don't think that's at the top of his mind right now. Lauren wants to see you too, but you may have to meet up when you're both out of hospital."
"Poor Lauren. I bet she wishes she was there."
"Naira told me everything. She had no choice; if she hadn't, I might have shot her with her own gun if it hadn't been taken into evidence after the shootout."
"Mom!" Harpreet said. "That's not a nice thing to say."
"Well, your mother has a right to be angry at her," Sunny said. "I'd say Naira and I share the blame fifty fifty."
"She slept over at our place, Dad," Ajit said. "She used our shower."
Harpreet made gagging noises at the dreamy look on Ajit's face. "God, am I going to have to put up with you like this from now on?"
"As long as she's staying with us, anyway."
"So, has she supplanted Mrs. Sandhu as your crush?" Sunny asked.
Ajit gasped. "You knew about that?"
"Everybody knew about that!" Harpreet shouted at him. "You're not exactly subtle about it."
"Harpreet," Sunny said, "there are other people resting in this room, try to keep your voice down."
"Sorry," she said, in a more hushed tone.
"I heard Mrs. Sandhu got arrested," Ajit said sadly. "I hope they don't punish her too harshly."
"Well, she did do a couple of not so good things," Sunny said. "I know you like her, but she made some unwise choices and has to pay for them, but I know she's not an evil person."
Suddenly the memory of her kiss came to him, and Tej must have seen something on his face, because she said, "Kids, can you wait outside for a moment?"
"Why?" Harpreet asked.
"Dad and I need to say a few things in private, and maybe do a few other things you won't approve of."
"Ugh. Say no more. Come on, loverboy," Harpreet grabbed Ajit's hand and pulled him to the door.
"Tosh is gay, by the way!" Ajit called to him. "We all support him!"
When the door closed, Sunny turned to Tej and said, "Is that true?"
She nodded and waved that away. "What are you not telling me?" she asked.
"Am I that transparent?"
"You could never keep the truth from me for long. Spill."
He sighed in resignation and said, "Naira, aka Jasminder, kissed me after I took that bullet for her, and I kissed her back."
Her mouth tightened into a thin line, those pillowy lips of hers all but disappeared. She took loud, quick breaths through her nose. Her doe-like eyes filled with tears.
"I'm so sorry, my love," he said, feeling tears in his own eyes. "I have no excuse. It was the heat of the moment, and maybe I felt tender toward her after surviving what we did, and I let my defences down. I don't have romantic feelings for her, but it was infidelity all the same, and for that I'm so sorry."
She stared at him for what seemed a very long time. Then she said, "Okay."
"Okay?"
She nodded. "I can't judge you too harshly, because I have something to confess myself."
He blinked in surprise, and the action made the tears run down his cheeks. "What is it?"
She took a deep, shaky breath and said, "When we were at Harrison Hot Springs, I had sex with Rachel and Lauren while we were up in Lauren's room."
He could have passed out from the shock. From arousal. He put his hand to his rapidly beating heart.
"Sunny?" she asked with little girl hesitancy. "Are you all right?"
"I'm... just... I'm sorry, that was the last thing I expected you to say."
"I'm so sorry. I have no excuse, either. Rachel and Lauren were so welcoming to me after you all reunited, and after that night Lauren kissed me at the party I couldn't stop thinking about it, and then I think Lauren was so angry at Joe that she just wanted to let loose, and one thing led to another, and we were all in the shower together. It's never happened again, it was just an itch I needed to scratch, but I did cheat, and I never wanted to hurt you, and I'm so sorry." Her voice dissolved into blubbering with the last words, and she put her hands to her face and sobbed.
He reached out to touch her, and she looked at him through her hands.
"Were soap suds running down Rachel's leg?" he asked.
Tej stopped crying and dropped her hands. "I... yes, I suppose so. Why do you ask?"
"No reason."
She laugh-cried and said, "You have crushes on both of them, don't you. That hug with Lauren on the beach."
He sighed. "Yeah. But I've seen firsthand what happens when our friends give in to their desires."
"Including me?" she asked, and she sounded so miserable that he felt the need to comfort her, even though her infidelity was worse.
"What was it like?" he asked her.
She barked a laugh. "Oh, my love, I don't want to leave you here with your blankets tented." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I'll relive it with you when we're at home."
His breathing quickened. "Too late. Don't bring the kids back yet. They won't want to see me aroused like a teenager."
She looked at the offending patch of blanket and chuckled. "Sorry."
"Will you promise me something?" he asked.
"What?"
"If you ever find yourself invited into a threesome with them again..."
"Yes?" she said with bated breath.
"Will you let me watch?"
She hooted laughter and smacked him on his good arm. "Maybe I'll let them watch while I do it with you, and they can both masturbate to it; they've both asked me what you're like in bed with your hair down."
"Holy shit," he breathed. "I think I'm going to have an accident soon."
She shook her head and said, "I'll give Rachel a treat later, and let her see your hair before I wrap it up."
"Okay. And tell her about your suggestion."
She smacked him again. "You're so bad!" But he could tell she was aroused. "Now, let's calm down before we disgust the kids."
Later, in the afternoon, after they'd gone home, Tori burst into his room, in tears. "Sunny!" she cried. "Tej gave me the news! What happened to you?!"
"Ah, Tori," he said, smiling. "I'm so glad you're here."
"I leave you alone for one day and you go and get yourself shot?" she asked in exasperation.
"Ah, it's not that bad; they say it's a through and through, so no bullet had to be pulled out of me, just a little surgery to patch me up."
"Jesus Christ, Sunny! I was so worried about you! Don't go acting all macho on me now, that isn't you! Admit it was terrible, okay?"
He sighed in resignation. "It was pretty bad. The guys who ran Lauren and Al off the road, I think they were the same guys who kidnapped Birinder. His own wife was involved with them, and she was so angry that he was cheating on her with Naira, his ex, that she was torturing him by electrocution."
Tori shook her head in confusion. "I think you're going to have to start over. From yesterday, after you saw me home. What happened?"
He told her the story, and by the end she understood, and even chuckled a little. "I bet Tej would do that to you if she caught you cheating. So, her real name was Jasminder?"
"Yup. I had to confess to my wife that she kissed me on the lips after I saved her."
She gasped. "Oh, my God, I was just joking! You're serious?"
He nodded. "She took it easier on me than I thought." He didn't explain about Tej's own confession.
"We don't need a scandal marring your campaign just as we're at the home stretch, Sunny."
"She's in police custody right now, so I doubt it will get out."
"But talk about a boon. The rest of it. You getting shot while protecting someone. You diffusing a potentially violent situation, saving lives."
"I don't know how much I can say about that. I haven't been debriefed by the authorities yet; a lot of the details will be confidential."
"Still, when you go out in public with your arm in a sling because you were shot in the shoulder, we'll be able to spin it to our benefit; just let me know what we can and can't say after you have your debrief, and I'll craft the right message."
He sighed in exhaustion. "Honestly, Tori, I don't know how much more energy I have for campaigning. This case has taken a lot out of me. Even when I do go home, we still have Naira staying with us until the story breaks and she's out of danger; I'm still not sure she can go back to being a police officer. Honestly, I'm not even sure how safe I'll be once I'm back out on the street; everyone except Jasminder got away, and there's no guarantee her testimony will help catch them and put them behind bars."
She paled and said, "Jesus, Sunny."
"Still, if they were smart, they'd just go back to their normal lives and keep their heads down. Maybe I'll be all right."
"I hope so." She teared up again and kissed his forehead. "I can't lose you. You're the best boss I've ever had, and you're like a brother to me."
Now he was crying too. "You don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that. You're like a sister to me, too. You remind me of Bishan, you know."
She sniffed and kissed his cheek, then took his hair in her hands. "I've never seen your hair, you know? It's so... silky."
He chuckled and wiped his eyes with his good hand. "Apparently my hair has been the subject of intense speculation among the women in my life."
"We can't help it! When you keep it wrapped in fabric all the time, we can't help wondering what it looks like."
"Well, this is your one and only shot."
"Will you tell me about your sister? I know it's painful for you, but it would mean a lot to me if you told me."
He sighed and patted an empty space on the bed. "Sit. This is going to take a while. I'll start with the day my parents brought her home, and the promise I made to protect her."
He couldn't have told the whole story to anybody else who wasn't family, not even his friends in the LSDC. But Tori was different. She was like a sister to him, and he couldn't have said the same of Rachel and Lauren. She sat with him, and listened, and her presence was like a balm to his soul, so that by the time he was finished, he felt better than he did when he started, not exhausted but rejuvenated, and it was just in time for Tej to come by with Rachel.
"Hi, Tori!" Rachel said when she came in the room. "Come to see how your candidate is going to finish the race?"
"He'll do it, but he might be dragging himself to the finish line." Tori hugged Tej and said, "You're right, he's a bastard for almost making you a widow, but we couldn't have paid for better publicity."
Rachel suddenly noticed his hair was loose, and gasped, striding over to stroke his face, taking a few strands in her fingers. Her touch made him tingle all over, and Tej didn't fail to notice the look on his face.
"My God," she breathed, running his hair's whole length along her hand. "Why do I feel like I'm doing something illicit?"
"You are," he said. "If you were a stranger I'd charge you with harassment and racial hostility. It's a good thing I like you."
"Huh... yeah..." Her own dreamy look would have made Tej worry if she were looking right at her. Good thing Rachel's back was to her. Sunny felt a wild thrill at that; Tej's admission that Rachel and Lauren were both attracted to him, confirmed by this oddly erotic gesture, made him picture those soap suds running down Rachel's leg again, and he cleared his throat and got a hold of himself before he got another erection. That seemed to snap Rachel out of it too, because she released his hair and said, "Now, tell me everything about last night."
He told the story again while Tej tied his hair into a braid, bunched it on top of his head, tied a patka over it, and then wrapped fresh fabric, pink this time, around the patka to cover it in a simple style. This time, he was exhausted by his tale.
Tej noticed and cleared her throat. "I think that's enough for today. Rachel, if you want I can take you to see Al before you go home."
She nodded. "I'd appreciate that, thank you."
"Did Lauren tell you what Jasminder told me about Al?" Sunny asked.
She nodded absently. "She must have been bullshitting you. What could she have done to help him?"
Sunny shrugged one shoulder. "Look, when Naira was first telling me why she was on the run, she was telling me and Tej about technology that can interact with your body all the way down to the cellular level. She didn't think they were close enough to developing it yet, but Lauren did say she saw Jasminder hiding something behind her back. A needle mark would be hard to find unless you were really looking for it, and if what she did hasn't killed Al yet, maybe she was telling the truth, and maybe this was their way of repaying us for the harm they caused; Jasminder said they never intended to run them off the road."
Rachel stared at him, open-mouthed. "Are you fucking kidding me? If that's true, and she injected something into him that's only in its early stages of development, well... you know what happened when the first iPhone came out, all the glitches it had? You never buy the first generation technology, everybody knows that. She might have thought she was doing something good, but on whose orders? And what if it ends up doing the opposite? Did she think about that?"
"Those are all very good questions, Rachel. I wish I had the answers."
"Do you think the doctors would be able to detect something foreign in his system?"
"Maybe if they took a blood test at some point, but again, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know for sure."
Rachel looked at Tej. "We better go. Now I really need to see him."
"Just don't go telling the doctors your suspicions yet," Sunny told them as they were getting ready to go. "If you don't have proof, they might not feel the need to take any tests, and if your suspicions get back to whoever did order Jasminder to 'help' Al, then that might put him and you in danger again. Let's at least wait until after Naira's story breaks and arrests are made."
"And if there are no arrests?" Rachel asked.
"Then I think we'll have to be careful for the rest of our lives."
Thanks for reading this far! An ominous warning to round out an (almost) happy ending. If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If anything doesn't ring true, leave a comment and let me know; I strive for authenticity.
To return to Lauren and a long overdue visit, click on "Continue reading."