Arin

My passport was in. It had actually arrived three days ago. I just hadn’t gone to pick it up. I knew I shouldn’t leave it at the post office, but I liked spending time with Huck. I liked not having the identification weigh on me because, the moment I had it in my possession, I knew it would be time to go home.

My God, these feelings were still so unexpected. I never thought I’d want to be here or that I’d want to stay with him any longer than I needed to. I never thought I’d find his body so sexy, that I’d find his beard so yummy. I never thought I’d enjoy tasting his cum.

I certainly never thought my heart would open up for him.

But it had.

I wasn’t just spending every night in his bed and eating all my meals with him, but I was working with him, too. Since those men had grabbed me and tried to take me from the brothel, Huck hadn’t let me resume my position downstairs.

Actually, he barely let me out of his sight.

It was cute that he’d taken charge of the situation, and I found it hot as hell that he was trying to protect me.

Still, I insisted on doing something to earn the money he gave me; otherwise, I’d feel like a whore, like he was paying me to have sex with him. So, now, I worked in his office every day, and I didn’t feel guilty at all. Seeing how things were run behind the scenes taught me so much about his business as well as how successful it was.

I knew Huck had built it from the ground up. I knew he’d had some financial help, but it looked like the hard, everyday labor was done by just him. From what I’d heard, there were brothels all over Bangkok; he’d just made this one different than the others.

It couldn’t have been easy, doing it all alone.

But something told me Huck didn’t like easy.

He wanted to be different.

And he was.

I looked at him from the other side of the desk. My hands rested on the laptop that sat on my thighs, but my fingers weren’t pressing any keys, imputing the inventory I should have finished by now. That was because I couldn’t stop staring at him. His eyes were glued to his computer screen. Periodically, he’d chew the corner of his lip. His fingers would pull it out of his mouth, and then he’d suck it right back in.

I’d miss that.

I’d miss his lips, too. They were so damn arousing.

“I’m going to go for a walk,” I told him.

He finally glanced up from his monitor. “One of the security guards is going with you.”

I tried to take a walk at least every other day, and each time, Huck would say the same thing. I didn’t mind. The guard would stay several paces behind me, and I’d barely even know he was there. However, if something happened, I’d be safe. That was the important part.

“That’s fine,” I said.

Not that it mattered. I’d already learned I had no say when it came to this.

“I’ll have someone meet you by the back door.” He reached inside his desk and handed me the key, the one I no longer had to get from Lawan. “Take this.”

I stuck it in my pocket and moved to the doorway. “I’m going to pick up something for us to eat for dinner while I’m at the market.”

He leaned on his side to remove his wallet, and I watched him pull out some baht. “Here—”

“No, I’ve got it.” I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

“You don’t have to pay for dinner, Arin.”

“I know. I want to.” I gave him a quick smile before I closed the door and went to the stairway.

I moved with almost no pain now. I didn’t even have to hold on to the railing, but I did just in case. And, when I reached the elevator, I didn’t take it. I walked down the other two flights because I wanted the exercise.

Huck had been right about my legs. They had completely healed. Even my bruises had vanished.

For Christ’s sake, those guys hadn’t had to beat me so badly. They could have just kicked me a few times and punched me in the face. I didn’t know why they had taken it to the extreme.

It was a miracle I’d made it to Huck’s because I hadn’t exaggerated that pain one bit.

At least I was healed now.

Once I got downstairs, the security guard was waiting for me in the back. I didn’t know his name, but he’d escorted me in the past. I also knew he spoke broken English, which had come in handy before.

It wouldn’t today though.

I felt him behind me as I made my way down the alley, toward the main street. Fortunately, I was dressed in normal clothes, and my shorts and tank top were much better for the heat. I hadn’t worn the scrubs since the night I was assaulted. I had a feeling Huck preferred me in clothes that were much tighter than the nursing uniform, and that was why Lawan hadn’t ever brought them back.

I reached the entrance to the market, so I knew the post office was on the next block. It wasn’t like the large ones in the city. This was similar to an office supply store that had a small section of boxes you could rent.

When I got to the front of the store, I turned around, so the guard could catch up. “You can wait for me out here,” I said.

He looked past me to gaze into the store. The only person in there was the man behind the counter. “One minute,” he said. “You not out, I come in.”

I nodded, knowing it wouldn’t take me that much time.

I went inside and immediately approached the counter. “Do you speak English?” I asked even though I had come prepared if he didn’t.

“Yes,” he said. “Mailing today?”

I shook my head and took a quick glance behind me. The guard was watching me from outside the doorway.

“You have a key for me. My name’s Arin, and it’s for box six.”

“Oh, yes.” He walked over to his desk and opened the second drawer. He pulled out a key and gave it to me. “Right over there.” He pointed at the short wall of mailboxes.

“Thank you.”

I moved over to the spot he had pointed at and used the key to open box six. Inside was a white envelope with my name and address handwritten on the front. I smiled as I lifted the flap and took out the passport that was inside.

Making sure my back was facing the guard, I held the passport against my face, smelling the leather exterior. My eyes closed for just a second as I searched for a particular smell. Not of paper, but more of a spicy scent.

It wasn’t there.

The envelope had masked it.

I tore the packaging in pieces and said to the man behind the counter, “Do you mind throwing this away for me?”

I dropped each bit of the envelope in his hand, and I observed him putting it in the trash. Once he returned, I gave him the key and thanked him again.

The back pocket of my shorts was wide enough to hold my passport, so I slid it inside and met the guard at the door. “I’m ready,” I said to him. Then, I made my way to the market.

I knew Huck loved fresh fish, and we ate lots of it in his apartment. Most of the ones he’d served, I hadn’t even heard of, and I couldn’t remember any of their names. So, when I got to the seafood section, I checked out the variety to see if any of them looked familiar. They didn’t, and the signs were all in Thai, so those weren’t any help either.

I called the guard over and said, “Can you tell me which one is the best?”

“That,” he said, pointing to the red ones on the end.

They still had their heads and tails and all of their skin. I had no idea how I would cook it, but I was sure I could find some instructions on the Internet.

I held up four fingers, telling the seller that was how many I wanted, and I gave him enough baht to cover it. As I held the bag of fish in my hand, I made my way over to the produce and filled a basket with spring onions, sugar peas, shitake mushrooms, and bok choy. I showed the vegetables to the seller and paid the price she’d requested.

Everything had come to eight dollars.

Had I purchased this in New York, it would have cost six times that amount. It was so inexpensive to live here. And, now that I’d seen Huck’s numbers for the month and I knew what he took in and what he had to pay out, I wondered why he didn’t make a better life for himself. His apartment could have been so much nicer, and his clothes could have been designer. He could have hired someone to manage the things he oversaw in the office.

I wondered why he didn’t.

And I wondered what he did with all his money because he certainly didn’t spend it on himself.

A man who had it and didn’t flaunt it. God, that made him even sexier.

I wished it didn’t.