Chapter 14

Lock

12:45 PM SATURDAY

“Look, mate, I’m really sorry about this. I am.” I hang up on Sams. “But the wife called. You know how it is.”

He yells me some more about being naked.

Now, why am I still naked, you ask? And where did I get this phone?

Well, buckle the fuck up for this shit show.

I get out of my shower at the hotel. Let me tell you, it felt good to get that stink and sweat off me.

Thing is, I go to put on some clothes, and my fucking suitcase is gone. Fucking straight up gone. Like it grew legs and caught a flight out of the city.

I call downstairs to the front desk. I’m thinking, surely there will be some camera footage or something.

Fat fucking chance of that. But what do I get from the hotel management for all this bullshit?

“Sorry, sir, nothing we can do.”

What kind of fucked up shit is that?

But I’m Lachlan Williams. I always an emergency plan for this kind of shit.

Plan B time, mate.

Now, whoever showed up in my room may have taken my suitcase, but they didn’t touch the stash of spare money I kept in my travel bag.

Why didn’t they, you ask?

Simple. My travel bag was in the bathroom with me.

The downside to all of this is that I’m back on the stinky, humid streets of Bangkok in nothing but a towel.

It’s a step up from being completely fucking naked. Now my cock isn’t flapping in the wind like some elephant trunk, and old Thai ladies can’t grab my arse out of nowhere.

I mean, they are still grabbing and pinching my arse, but at least the towel stops them from breaking skin.

First thing I grab is a replacement phone.

Smart, right?

That’s me. Lachlan Williams. Always thinking.

Of course, I’m pretty sure the only reason I was able to get one is because the Thai girl behind the counter wanted to ride me like rodeo bull.

I’ll take a win whenever I can.

That then leads me to where I am now. Which is getting yelled at in Thai by a street vendor about me being in a towel at his shop.

Truthfully, I’m just fucking happy he isn’t some durian vendor trying to throw spiky fruit at my arse again.

I still have little indents from earlier on my right cheek.

Let me be honest here. The clothes I’m buying are not my style. At all. Hell, I don’t think they’ve been anyone’s style since the 80’s or 90’s.

But clothes are clothes—and they sure beat a towel.

I’m putting on these baggy black and grey harem pants—which are way more comfortable than I thought—and a neon purple button up shirt with gold trim and strips going down the front.

I look like a cross between a MC Hammer backup dancer from the 90’s and some idiot who honestly thinks that this is the latest in Thai fashion.

Did I mention I’m in the middle of the street getting gawked at while I dress? No? Well, there’s a fun mental picture for you.

The small Thai man throws the black flats I asked for at me and is yelling at me to pay up and get away from his stall. I can’t say I blame him. Giant, naked white man showing up and getting dressed in the middle of the street can’t be good for business.

Then again, I can see the crowd I have amassed around me.

My feet are thanking me for some coverage, and my phone is ringing again.

“What do you want from me now, Sams?”

I’m expecting to get some wise ass remark from the goddess of the seven seas. Only it isn’t Sam’s voice that yells at me.

“About time you fucking answered, Lock. I’ve been trying to reach you all fucking morning.”

It’s Eggsy.

And yeah, mate is righteously pissed.

“What the fuck did you do with my Sammi-poo last night?”

More like, what didn’t I do?

I want to say it, but I don’t.

I want to tell him that she isn’t his ‘Sammi-poo’ anymore, either. I want to tell him that she’s mine. That’s she’s my wife.

As much as it would put him in his fucking place, I just don’t have the heart to do it.

“Look, Eggs. Last night was pretty fucked up mate. But you need to seriously calm down.”

“Calm down? You want me to calm down? Who the fuck do you think you are, Lock?”

“I know exactly who I’m talking to, Eggsy. And if you don’t calm the fuck down, I’m going to remind you of who it is you’re talking to.”

“Oh, I know who I’m talking to. I’m talking so some punk who thinks he can up and steal my girl. You better not have fucking touched her last night. I swear to God, Lock.”

The other problem with Eggsy is that he likes to get overly ballsy when he knows that he can’t get clocked in the face for his words. He has this telephone tough guy act that makes him think he’s bigger than he is.

Normally, I’m chill and can brush this shit off my shoulder like it’s nothing. It’s Eggsy. He’s harmless. All bark and no bite.

But today is just a really bad fucking day—and it’s not even noon yet—so I really do not have the patience right now to be dealing with his bullshit.

“Eggsy, you had best watch your tone before it gets you into trouble.”

“Oh, yeah, Lock? And what the fuck are you gonna do, huh?”

“I’m gonna bust your teeth down you fucking throat when I see you is what.”

I would like to say that I’m just bluffing. I’m not.

And Eggsy fucking knows it.

“Alright. Let’s just chill out. No need for things to get violent between us. We go too far back for that.” Classic Eggsy right there. “Look, Lock. I just need to know where Sammi is. I need to see her and talk to her. Things are getting more than a bit crazy around here.”

The way his voice changes has me a bit concerned. Eggsy isn’t talking like a dog with his tail between his legs. He’s talking with genuine concern.

“What the fuck is going on, Eggsy?”

I’m really hoping that it’s just him being melodramatic right now.

“Look, whatever the fuck happened last night has got the city talking.”

“Well, it was a wild time, mate.”

“Yeah, but your wild time has the Thai mafia asking around for her, too. I’m not the only one who’s trying to track her down right now, Lock.”

Oh, fuck me sideways.

Up until now, I was pretty sure that I would be able to salvage the day.

I got clothes.

I got a replacement phone.

I’m married to the woman of my dreams, even if she doesn’t remember.

All I really needed to do was help her remember everything and then we could set sail to the calm open waters of matrimony and incredible fucking sex.

Now I have to save her perfectly shaped ass from the fucking mafia.

I won’t lie. We—or rather she—had it coming after last night. But I thought for sure that we’d be able to get out of the city long before any of this would come up.

“Don’t worry, Eggsy. I got this covered.”

“What do you mean you—”

I hang up on Eggsy.

There is no fucking way that Sammi and her friends would be that stupid to go all the way back to that gambling den.

There’s a sharp pain in my ass.

I nearly jump out of my flats, and I turn around to see what the fuck happened.

This tiny lady with a wooden cane is looking at me like she wants to eat me with curry and rice noodles. She’s smiling like she just witnessed the rising of Jesus.

“Can I help you?”

The woman pulls a twenty baht sheet from her purse and sticks it into the waist of my MC Hammer pants.

“You have an ass like that cute Thor actor.”

She’s giggling and walking away; leaving me standing here with a dumbfounded look on my face.

I pull the green slip of paper from my waistband and put it in my pocket.

I look over my shoulder and twist my body so that I can see my ass in these pants.

Pffft. I’m totally hotter than Chris Hemsworth.

And my ass is definitely better.

But I don’t really have time to stand around and admire my figure.

As much as I want to believe that Sammi and her people aren’t that stupid—and I really want to believe it—I know that they are. There is no way that they aren’t going back there.

I hand over what I owe for the clothes.

He smiles and tells me to get lost.

A true salesman if I’ve ever met one.

I need to find the nearest tuk tuk so I can get back to that gambling den before Sammi and her people do. There’s no telling what the mafia will fucking do to her if I don’t get there first.