Gina Takes Bangkok (The Femme Vendettas) (21 page)

Gina could understand Kannon’s caution about being followed, even if it was by the four-legged. “Beats me. They always follow me around. When I was a kid, I thought they trailed after everyone. Turns out I was special.”

“You certainly are.” That hung out there and then he added, “My father would’ve used your talents.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a bit of a story.”

“It’s a bit of a walk.”

Kannon adjusted his grip on his bag, and took her hand, so they were strolling along like a normal couple, and not a hit-man and a mafia princess killing time until they could hunt down a rival. When he spoke, it was soft and easy, as if they’d all the time in the world. “My mixed heritage didn’t make it easy to fit in with the other kids. When I was six I got beaten bad enough by some of the older kids for my mother to pull me out of school.”

“Wanted to make things easier on you?”

“They only got harder.”

Gina stroked her thumb along his poor beaten knuckles. “How so?”

“My father, he was an animal trainer for the Yakuza. Handled the Tosa breed of fighting dogs. Since I was at home, he started training me right beside them.”

“Your dad trained you like an animal?”

“It’s not that strange. To win at tōken, which is Japanese dog fighting, an animal can’t bark, yelp or lose its will to fight, no matter how hurt it might get. The same applies for someone in my line of work.”

“So what did he have you do?” Gina asked, at once shocked and fascinated by Kannon’s revelation.

“For hours each day my father would force the dogs to swim back and forth in a deep pool, and naturally I shared the same regime. Puppies that weren’t strong enough to make it drowned, and I wasn’t allowed to save them no matter how much I begged. A couple of times I disobeyed my father and did it anyway, but all I got for my trouble was a lashing and the puppy kicked back into the pool.”

“That’s horrible,” said Gina.

“That’s life,” he said. “When I wasn’t strong enough to stay afloat, he let me sink before fishing me out. It taught me to keep struggling to my limits. Gave me the kind of strength not many people have.”

“That sounds psychotic.”

“My father was trying to prepare me for life, Gina. The kind of life I wound up leading. He schooled me in judo. Taught me to punch, kick, grapple and throw till my form was perfect. He showed me how to fight with knives and sticks and broken bottles. How to ambush and trip. To blind and cripple. By the time I turned twelve I even looked as muscled as a Tosa. Then came the real training.

“My father had kept a list of every kid that had picked on me, and one by one he sent me out to pay them back. To break teeth or arms. Or torture them.”

Gina didn’t even know what to say. The kind of training she’d received was unicorns and rainbows compared to Kannon’s upbringing.

“Of course I did as he ordered, and when I started high school I can tell you there was no more teasing. Everyone, even the seniors, gave me a wide berth. Made the Yakuza accept me as well, despite the color of my skin.”

“Made you into the man you are today.”

“Like I said before, it’s all I know how to do.”

She bumped against his side. “You’re pretty good at kissing, too.”

“Not much of a demand for kissers in the Yakuza.”

“You’re applying at the wrong places. I know lots of places where good kissers are in high demand.”

“I should become a male prostitute?”

Gina shrugged. “It’s a different way of using your body. For pleasure, instead.”

They walked a few steps in silence. “How would that make you feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“Would you feel jealous if I was with other women?”

“You jealous I was with Pensri?”

“Were you trying to make me jealous?”

Gina squinted up at him. “Are we avoiding answering the question by asking other questions? Lwin Kinjo talked about this.”

“I don’t know. Are we?” He was grinning. She stopped, forcing him to do the same if he was going to still hold her hand, which he seemed intent on doing. She flipped up his sunglasses to see his eyes. There they were, warm and dark…and on her. Back to feeling mildly electrocuted.

She let the glasses drop back and clucked. “You really think you’re something, don’t you?”

“With you beside me, I am.”

For the second time on their walk, Gina didn’t know what to say. Was this the way guys talked on dates? If so, she’d really missed out. Well, no, she hadn’t. She was pretty certain she wouldn’t be feeling this breathless, if anybody other than Kannon was with her.

“Um…we’re nearly there. It’s just up against this wall. I mean, on the other side of the wall…” she flustered, and all but dragged him down a street with a high wall that led to an iron gate. Passing under its arch, they entered a sprawling garden, acres in size, following a tended path between tropical trees and orchids. It was as if they’d been teleported from the heart of the city to a remote sanctuary. While most of the dogs had dropped off, three shadowed them: a brown one, a black one, and a black-and-brown puppy.

They finally arrived at their destination. It was little more than an open cobblestoned space sheltered by the boughs of the surrounding trees. All about them were penises. They ranged in size from the realistic to ten feet in length, some carved from wood or stone, some cast from iron or bronze. Little ones sprouted like mushrooms from the green ground cover. A couple of huge ones had legs, the penis angled to look like a torso bent into the doggy position. They were painted in all colors, decorated with everything from bright silk scarves to rhinestones. Lots more had been added in the decade Gina had been gone, and right now she and Kannon had the place all to themselves. A lucky occurrence that needed to be taken advantage of.

Kannon set down the bag and did a slow three-sixty. “What is this place?”

“Two years here and you’ve not paid a visit?” she teased.

“Oddly, no.”

“Well, now for the ‘show-and-tell’ part of our first date.”

Kannon settled himself on the low stone wall that enclosed the shrine. “I can’t wait.”

Gina and the dogs strolled around, checking out the ornaments. “My mom really, really wanted a kid, only after she married my dad it turned out that she was infertile. They went to every doctor in Miami—nothing worked. Then she read about this place in a magazine.”

“And what exactly is this?” Kannon asked.

“It’s a shrine of Chao Mae Tuptim—a female tree spirit,” Gina explained and pointed to an old gray-barked tree, penises ten deep nestled at its base. “It’s said that if a woman is having trouble conceiving she can pray to the spirit and she’ll be granted a successful pregnancy.”

“So what’s with all the…?” He waved his hand about.

Gina noticed a bunch of large phalluses crowded on a short pedestal. They’d been vibrators in another life and she leaned in to examine one Pensri might like. She must’ve breathed too hard because one jiggled loose and fell to the ground, the jolt causing activation, and it whirred and jerked around the cobblestones, making all three dogs bark and growl at this strange creature. She rescued it and set it back. Kannon was rubbing his temples. Gina hurried on. “If the woman has a baby, it’s traditional that she leaves a statue like this at the shrine in thanks to the spirit.”

“A lot to be grateful for, I see.”

She pointed to a carved stone penis. “See this one? My mother had it carved from Sicilian marble. Dad thought it was all nonsense, of course, but she believed in it completely. Convinced him to fly them here to hand-deliver her offering, a kind of thanks in advance. She took it one step further. She snuck here in the middle of the night with my dad to make love. Twice for luck.”

Kannon looked suspicious. “How do you know this? I can’t see it something parents tell their kids as a bedtime story.”

“Darae, actually.”

“Darae?”

“My mom told her. They were BFFs, despite their age difference. Daddy was so pissed when he found out. ‘Is nothing sacred with you women?’ Funny thing, Darae told me because it was sacred. She thought it was a beautiful story. I’d texted her before you showed up to tell her where I was and she reminded me that this place was close by. She suggested I go visit it.”

Gina knew what Darae was up to. Her stepmother wanted Gina to see how much she was still connected to Bangkok, to this warm, colorful, quirky corner of the world. The problem was, she already knew that. It was the dark, unforgiving side that she’d run from. Except in leaving one side, she’d lost both. She slid a finger down the marble phallus and kissed the tip.

Kannon made a noise deep in his throat. “Not what a gentleman on the first date should see, Gina. Messes him up.”

Gina was ready for distraction. “You know, this would be a good time to kiss me.”

“Then what are you doing way over there?”

She immediately rectified the situation. With no-holds barred, she did a full-frontal assault. She palmed his front, his sides, his back, all the while her tongue and lips nipping and hounding his mouth. He set his hands on her waist but she was pressing in so hard, he had to grip the wall to steady them. She was free to grind against him, which produced hard results.

Kannon didn’t fight her, held on and let her have at him. God, he felt good. Wetness leaked into the folds between her legs, and she rocked her pubic bone against his shaft. He gave a low groan she caught in her mouth. The clothes between them were too much and not shifting her mouth or her groin, she tugged at his shirt, successfully baring his dark bruised torso. Now it was her turn to moan at the hard ripple of muscle under her hand. Every part of her swelled against him, her nipples, lips, her pussy.

All their moans and groans were too much for the dogs. They started whining and yipping, bounding through the penises, their wagging tails sideswiping displays, clattering and crashing them to the cobblestone.

Gina broke away and waved after them. “Bad dogs! Look at what you’ve done. Shoo! Get!” She began setting things to rights. “Oh, crap. I hope this doesn’t mess up someone’s chances for getting pregnant or even lucky.”

“I know it messed up one chance,” Kannon said with a sigh. “Just as well. First time’s not going to be in a public place.”

She rewound the ribbons on a blood-red one. “Geez. Can’t be in a massage parlor or a public place. Where, then?”

“At home in my bed.” He hadn’t meant to say that, she could tell. He immediately tensed and his face became a hard neutral mask. Waiting for that put-down. He was once again a boy sinking, not entirely sure if his father would grab hold of him. He was a young adult, steeling himself as he hurt others. And here he stood now, the man who thought a woman wouldn’t want to share his bed.

And the thing was, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. Because now, with his stories and romantic gestures, she understood what he was offering. It wasn’t sex; it was a relationship. A relationship filled with passion and walks, but also of absence and danger. And like Bangkok, she couldn’t have one without the other.

She tore her gaze away from Kannon and continued on with arranging the penises. When she was done, Kannon was standing off at a distance, shirt tucked straight, bag in hand. “We should go,” he said.

“Okay.” She needed to explain, tell him that it wasn’t him, it was her. Only who believed that line, anyway? “Kannon, I—”

He waited, and she couldn’t say what he wanted to hear, deserved to hear. “Thank you for the date.”

He gave her nothing. Not a lip twitch, not a flash of the eyes, nothing. “You’re welcome.”

Their walk back to his vehicle was silent, and after a while, not even the dogs followed.

Bright lights flooded the ring from every direction as Kannon sat amidst the raucous crowd of spectators, scorching beams highlighting every cut of the fighters’ lean, muscled bodies. The two men, one in black trunks, the other in red, were performing Wai Khru, a solemn pre-fight ceremony in which they thanked their masters, their patron gods, and the spirit of the sport itself for the opportunity to beat each other senseless.

The blaring of Thai classical instruments added to the cacophony of the roaring fans, but despite the energy which rippled through the crowd Kannon remained cool. Calm. Detached.

“Woohoo!” Gina yelled beside him, fist pumping the air as the two fighters transitioned from the contemplative ritual directly into Ram Muay, an energetic dance in which each man demonstrated their skill and style, kicking and punching at the air in a frenetic display. The crowd went wild with excitement at the intimidating acrobatics, eager for the bloodshed about to follow.

“I’ve got five thousand baht riding on Somrak,” she shouted into his ear, pointing to the boxer in the black trunks, his forearms adorned with tattoos of twin angry crocodiles. “Lwin told me he’s going to take this fight for sure.”

Her energy was a complete turnabout from their silent trek back to his car hours ago. He’d tried to stay neutral, to keep in mind, once again, that she was his boss, no matter what a joke that was. And she’d seemed content enough with that arrangement, sticking to business as they set up the equipment before entering the arena. Then as they were moving to their seats, she was about to step on a spilled drink and he’d put his hand on her waist and steered her aside. She hadn’t seen why he was doing it, only that he’d touched her, and she blasted him with a brilliant smile, clearly relieved that he wasn’t angry at her.