Arin

I was still in Bangkok. Still sleeping in Huck’s bed. Still working in his office. Except something had changed since I picked up my passport.

It was Huck.

After my walks, he no longer questioned me about the stops I’d made or why I had gone into a particular store, and he never got angry if I asked the security guard to stay outside.

He was making compromises.

So, slowly, I started testing him more. I wouldn’t just visit stores. I’d go to banks and money order centers and other mailing shops.

He didn’t confront me about any of it.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been told what I had been doing. I was positive the security guard was reporting back to Huck about every move I’d made. He could also track my whereabouts through my cell, which he insisted I always have on me.

The change happened because he was learning to trust me.

We weren’t just fucking and working and living together. We were together in a real sense.

As strong as those feelings were for him, they still came as a shock.

The same was true for every time I looked at him—like now, as he was running his fingers through his beard, talking on the phone in Thai.

He was sensual, even when he wasn’t trying, and charismatic despite that I wasn’t able to understand what he was saying. He just had that face and a tone of voice that struck something inside me.

Maybe it was because today was my three-month anniversary of being in Bangkok or that I’d spoken to Daddy yesterday and I was already emotional, but as soon as Huck got off the phone, I asked him to go on a walk.

“Right now?” he said.

He never left during the day. I had a hard time even pulling him away for dinner. And he was so busy with month-end, he’d gotten up earlier this morning just to get more work time in.

I nodded. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He didn’t tell me to wait a minute. He didn’t even close out what he had been working on. He just grabbed the key from his drawer, pushed out his chair, and linked his hand in mine. We went down the stairs and out the back door, and when we reached the entrance of the alley, I stopped.

“What’s wrong, Arin?”

I closed my eyes, knowing that I appeared upset, and I felt his hand slip around my waist. The feel of his fingers moving to my bare skin caused my lids to snap open.

“I don’t know which way.”

“Where do you want to go, baby?”

That word, it sent shivers down my whole body.

“The pier,” I told him. “I want to go back to where it all started.”

He searched my eyes and pressed his palms against my face. My stare didn’t move from his.

“I need to see it, Huck. I need that closure.”

“What are you going to do with it once you have it?”

Would I take the closure and leave this country, or I would accept that the things that had happened in Mumbai had brought me here, and in some sick and twisted way, I was thankful for that?

“I don’t know,” I told him.

“Take a right.”

When his hands dropped from my cheeks, I clenched my fingers around his, and he led me to the docks.

The last time I had taken this route, it had been dark outside. My body had been hurting so badly, it had been impossible to take a deep breath. My feet had been bare, and I remembered little rocks and pieces of glass sticking to them and how much they had stung. I remembered holding on to the side of a building like the brick would somehow keep me standing. I remembered the scent of the salt air and how different it’d smelled from back at home and how it had grown fainter, the farther I got from the pier.

“We’re here,” Huck said.

I felt him look at me.

My eyes were on the marina that was in front of us. It was horseshoe-shaped, and we stood on the backside. It looked much different in the daylight. The docks seemed smaller than they had that night, and there were less than I’d thought.

A small boat with two fishermen inside was pulling up to one. I never saw the boat that had taken me to Bangkok, but I imagined it was around the same size. Both men in this boat wore hats to block the sun, and they had sacks full of fish that they tossed onto the wooden pier.

I knew what it felt like to be tossed that way.

I knew what it felt like to hit the hard surface.

“There,” I said, pointing to the dock all the way to the right. It was the farthest one away, the one closest to the open water to give them the quickest escape. “That’s where they left me.” I followed the steps I had taken, past the small building where the employees of the marina worked and to the sandy area where it eventually met the gravel and broken up tar. “And that’s the way I went,” I said, using my finger to trace the path in the air. “I don’t know how long it took me to reach you. I just recall holding my stomach and making a run for it. I was in so much pain, Huck.”

He growled in response and then said, “And now?”

I turned toward him, taking in his face and his worry.

That was understandable. He didn’t want me to fear that it would happen again. He certainly took every measure to prevent it.

“I feel nothing.”

That was the truth.

But then I added, “I’m not in any pain. I feel safe with you.”

He pulled me closer to him. “I make you feel that way?”

“Yes, since the moment you carried me out of that alley.” I felt the lightness start to hit my face. “It helps that you’re deliciously hot.”

“Deliciously hot, huh?”

When he smiled, I felt myself start to get wet. The way his lips spread over his teeth was so incredibly sexy.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“I’m not making you.”

I laughed and ran my hand over the side of his beard. “You’ve made that obvious. What I mean is, I’d like to stay if you’ll let me.”

His stare was so intense, I felt it move through me. “I didn’t expect you to pick Bangkok.”

“I didn’t, Huck. I picked you.”

“What about the job back home? And your apartment?”

“I was in touch with my landlord. She’s able to sublease my place until my lease is over. She even offered to move my things into a storage unit, and I’ll pay that bill every month. The job part is easy. I’ll just let them know my plans have changed.”

“You’ve been busy.”

I was sure he was connecting all the stops I’d made during my walks, piecing together which ones had helped me come to this decision.

That thought made me laugh a little.

“You’re giving that all up?” he asked.

As I continued to touch his cheek, my thumb dipped down, and I brushed over his bottom lip. “I don’t look at it that way. I think I’m gaining more than I’m losing.”

He still hadn’t commented on me staying. It was almost like he was trying to talk me out of it.

“If this isn’t what you want, I—”

“Arin,” he growled. His arms quickly circled my waist, and he lifted me in the air. “I wasn’t going to let you go anyway.”

I grinned so hard, it made me giggle. “I want to keep my job in your office. I’ll pay rent and utilities. I refuse to live with you for free. If you’d rather us not work together, that’s fine. I’ll just look for a job somewhere else.”

Since Huck had become so much busier with month-end, he’d given me more responsibility. I was now counting the tips and distributing the cash to each of the girls, and I was coordinating with Lawan to make sure everyone was happy and taken care of.

I enjoyed what I was doing.

“You’ll stay working for me, but I’ll build you an office in our apartment, so you have your own space and the privacy you’ve been wanting.”

“You’re giving me privacy?”

Our apartment.

I hadn’t missed that part either.

“You’ve earned it,” he said.

It felt like that answer went much deeper.

I knew he had learned to trust me.

Now, he’d just confirmed it.

“You’ve given me everything I want,” I told him.

“I’ve been waiting for that tongue of yours all morning. Now, give it to me, Arin.”

As I pressed my lips against his, I took a quick peek at the marina, at the spot where I had been tossed on the wooden dock.

All those bruises had been worth it.

The best part was, none of them had turned into scars.