Page 56 of Wayward

“You’re not wrong.”

“No, I’m never wrong.”

I nod and watch the elite beach hotels fade into the real heart of the city where the locals live. The buildings get shorter and brighter. Pops of color glisten in the moonlight. Maybe it’s having been away from the city?from people?for so long, but my heart’s opening up like a world of possibility is outthere again. There are fireworks exploding in my head. I don’t remember every part of the way exactly, but it’s coming back. Not that I spent many hours anywhere but in the bastard’s kitchen.

“Here.” He stops.

And I look at the other side of the street. A flood of late nights rushes back at me. It was hell and heaven at the same time. I learned a lot and slept not at all. I thought I was going to leave with a big roll of cash, but other than the money I had already sent to my mother, everything was gone. Because, well, Yai’s an asshole. But right now, he’s the only thing we have.

I hop out of the car and go around to the open driver’s window. “Thanks for the ride.” I fucking wish I had something to give the guy. If I’d thought this through better, I would have taken some of the cash from Sassy.

“It’s a full moon. Bad time to die.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He peels off.

The fucking building looks worse than it did when I left it. There’s a crowd of people stumbling out the doors. Locals, mostly. A few tourists in the know.

I muscle my way through the crowd and inside. Fluorescent lights accost my eyes, but damn, the smells. My stomach growls, almost loud enough to be heard over the roar of the patrons in the place. Every booth is full. The bar is three deep. I make my way to the front counter. There’s no one I know working there. Not that I thought there would be. A perfectionist jerk like Anan has a hard time keeping staff from turning over. I lean to the side where the counter lifts. I can almost see into the kitchen.

“Is Yai Anan here?” I ask in Thai.

“Yeah, who wants to know? He’s busy,” the counter girl says.

“The old fart’s always busy. I’m an old friend.” I bite my tongue on the word friend because, while he knows the whole city, I’m not sure he has a damn friend.

“Friend?” She humphs, and her raven black braid down her back sways. She tugs on her white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her eyes flick over me. “You a cook?”

“Yeah.” I’m not going into the semantics of being a chef with her. When I was here, I was just barely a cook. The ass flipped my switch to being a chef.

I can hear him screaming in the kitchen. It’s part Thai, a little French, and some English mixed in for good measure. There’s a slam of a pot and a cloud of flames and vapor over the stove. He yells again?basically saying, “Get your shit together.”

She lets the swinging door hit her, and I hear her telling him in rapid-fire Thai, “Some white guy says you’re his friend. He can’t talk worth shit.”

The door flies open. “Dante!” he says with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Get back here and show this useless lump of flesh how to make Pad Kra Pao before I have to hurt him.” He flips back the counter, making two of his customers grab their drinks before they are crushed. Somehow, he’s not surprised I’ve shown up. But that’s Anan.

I wink at the front-of-house bartender-server and follow Anan.

Chapter 25

Tango

Easton

Haley’s lying in the bed, her leg resting on a pile of pillows. Her blue eyes follow me as I cross the room. “You need to get some sleep. I’ll wake you when he gets back.” I pull the blanket up over her body and tuck it under her chin. Just like I remember my mom doing when I was little.

“Don’t you think someone should go after him?” She pushes up on her elbows.

Zane sits on the side of the bed. “No. He’s worked here before, Little Bird. He’s gone to get help. Or something.”

“He could have told us what he was doing.” She takes Zane’s hand.

“Damn straight he could have,” Sam says, pacing by the closed curtains.

Calvin’s in the other room with the lights out and the curtains cracked so he can see the path between the center of the villas. “He didn’t want you to worry,” he calls back at us.

“Yeah, well, he failed at that.” Haley tries to get up. And both Zane and I are there to help her. “I’m going to the bathroom. I can do it, but thank you.”