Chapter 15

Sammi

1:04 PM SATURDAY

Picture the absolute craziest and most dangerous city on Earth. Got it? Okay, now picture the craziest and most dangerous neighborhood in that city. Fucked up right?

That’s where this burger joint looks like it belongs.

If a fast food building could be addicted to meth, this would be that building.

I really don’t want to be here.

But I really need to know what really happened.

I really need to know if I married Lock.

You know, since he is being a complete jackass and not telling me.

We’ve decided to let Liam take the lead for this. For whatever reason, he seems to be an expert on the Thai mafia and the underground gambling scene of Bangkok.

Part of me is afraid of how and why he knows all this. Because—let’s be real here—this is some heavy shit.

Yet, it certainly has earned Liam a newfound measure of respect. That wasn’t to say I didn’t respect him before, of course—he is one of the gang, after all—but like I said, this is some heavy shit.

I’m holding onto Percy’s hand, and I’m relieved that she is squeezing mine just as tightly as I’m squeezing hers.

Mysti is too far off into her own world over being cursed.

And Becky is just too damn relaxed and calm for my liking.

Liam is making an order at the counter that doesn’t sound like anything on the menu behind the cashier at all.

Hell, the cashier doesn’t even look like he works here. Instead of wearing some kind of uniform, the short Thai man is dressed in skinny jeans, a half tucked in t-shirt, and a couple gold chains. Mix that in with his greasy-looking, combed-back hair and patches of facial hair, and he looks more like he should be an extra in a Lil Wayne video.

“For all of us.” Now, Liam is speaking in words I can understand.

The gangster cashier is giving us all a once-over. His eyes zero in on my tits, and he’s licking his lips like I’m a KFC bucket of original recipe.

My pussy dries up faster than the fucking Sahara Desert, and I resist the urge to vomit.

He gives Liam a thumbs-up and waves his hands for us to follow him behind the counter.

“Is this where they chop us up and sell our parts on the black market?”

I want to think Percy’s question is more of a rhetorical one, but it’s not.

“We’ll be okay, Percy. Liam knows these people and how they work. He wouldn’t have brought us here to get killed.”

“I don’t know what you two are worried about. I’m the one who’s cursed for fuck sakes.” Mysti huffs and puffs like a wolf trying to blow down the house of a pig.

Our host opens up a large freezer door that turns out to be a flight of stairs rather than a walk-in freezer.

“Hey, baby.” The cashier leers at me as we pass him by. “Want to play a game of strip poker later? One-on-one? I promise you a good time.” He sounds like he’s watched Shaft one too many times.

I throw up a little in my mouth. It’s disgusting, and I really want to just let it out all over his face.

I force myself to swallow it back down instead.

“Uh, no, thank you. I mean, I’d love to, but my friends and I are…busy, and we just don’t have the time. But next time I come by, I’m totally all yours.”

He buys it. How or why, I have no fucking clue. Nor do I care.

But he finally stops looking at my tits and walks away. That’s good enough for me.

At this point, I’d like to say that this is all Lock’s fault. All of it.

Couldn’t just answer my questions could you Lock? No, you had to be a smartass. ‘Oh, you’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out.’

Fucking asshole.

So here I am, walking down these stairs behind Liam, Becky, and Mysti, expecting to see this smoky, seedy, smelly, and outright trashy den filled with old Thai men missing teeth.

Boy, was I fucking wrong.

This underground gambling den is swanky and ritzy like a five-star resort.

I almost feel as though I stepped through some magic portal that took me straight from Bangkok to Vegas.

There are slot machines with little golden cat statues on top of them. Blackjack tables with dealers who look like they have actually worked in Vegas or in Atlantic City. There’s a handful of poker tables that seem really familiar.

And I mean really familiar.

They’ve got craps tables. Roulette tables.

They have everything to rival any hotel casino I’ve ever seen.

There are even waitresses walking around in tiny, sexy outfits that leave nothing to the imagination, the girls looking like they came from the Thailand version of Playboy.

And the bar?

It looks like the fucking Pearly Gates right now.

Now I’m getting flashbacks from the Vegas adventure.

“Ooohhhh, babe. Let’s go play slots.” Becky’s eyes look as though they are going to pop out of her head. That is, if her smile doesn’t completely consume her face first.

And Liam is looking just as excited as she is. “You know I’m good for some slots.”

The two of them don’t even wave goodbye or turn around to tell me that they’re going. They just run off like two kids in a candy store.

So much for them of being of any further use.

“Look how amazing this place is. And can I take advantage of any of this? No, because I’m fucking cursed.”

And here we go.

“I bet I could go sit down at that poker table right now and get the best hand ever and still lose,” Mysti whines. “Why? Because I’m cursed. I’d likely have to fork over my kidney or liver just to cover how big my loss would be.”

I’ll admit. I’m really wishing murder wasn’t a crime in Bangkok right now.

“Well, what if you watch Liam and Becky play? Maybe your curse will rub off on them and then they’ll be stuck with it?”

“That’s not how curses work, Sammi.” She stomps her foot and is crossing her arms over her chest like she’s twelve. “But I’m gonna go try anyway.”

Well, that officially makes Mysti a problem for Liam and Becky now.

“Alright, Sammi, time to use that giant, beautiful brain of yours, girl.” Percy has gone into pep talk mode now.

I swear, she’s a better hype man than Flava Flav.

“You remembered everything back at the cabaret, and you can remember everything here. You got this. You are a beast. A savage. A take-no-prisoners woman.”

I nod. I want to remember.

But I fucking can’t.

“I’m drawing a blank.” I grimace.

“Well, lets get a drink at the bar. Maybe some booze will jump start that brain of yours.”

I consider. I doubt that booze is going to solve the problem, but a drink does sound pretty fucking amazing right now.

As long as it isn’t tequila.

“Can we get two beers please for my friend and I?” Percy is quick to take a seat at the bar. “But for reals, Sammi. What kind of kinky fuckery did you guys get into here last night?”

“I really have no fucking idea, Percy. I don’t.”

I wish I did. God, do I wish I did.

“Hey! You! You’ve got some massive balls to show up here again after last night,” echoes an angry voice from behind me.

Two things right now:

One, I have no sweet clue who it is that’s yelling.

Two: I’m really wishing that whoever this person is yelling at isn’t me.

I’ll tell you, I’ve had a lot of moments happen in my life that would make you shit yourself.

I’ve had a thirteen-foot great white shark break through my steel diving cage and nearly take my arm.

I’ve been in the middle of a bull shark feeding frenzy in just a diving suit.

Hell, I’ve been in an inflatable raft while it was getting attacked by a tiger shark.

None of those compare to the feeling of a cold steel barrel at the back of your head.

I hear the hammer click when the person behind me pulls it down.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Percy frozen in fear.

We are both seriously out of our fucking depth here.

“How dare you fucking return after your insults?”

Insults? What the fuck is he talking about?

Of all the fucking times to remember what happened, now is not that time.

My brain apparently has other plans.

But at least now I remember.

Shit! Now I remember!

And I was right.

All of this bullshit and insane fuckery is Lock’s fault.

If I ever get out of this situation, I’m going to kick his ass.