“Traveling alone?” he asked. He leaned over her a little.
“No,” Terry said, but she nodded her head, blinking. “I mean yes, I am.”
“You sure?” The man’s smile was mitigated by his gaunt, sunken cheeks, and jutting jowls.
“Yeah,” Terry replied, nodding. She looked away from him, thinking that he definitely had the appearance of a seasoned backpacker. Long shorts that looked like they were once upon a time baggy cargo trousers; they had definitely been through better times. A black t-shirt with a stretched neckline and fraying edges that hung off his sunburned collar bones completed the look. Despite herself, Terry couldn’t help but roll her eyes a little (mentally, of course). She understood the allure of backpacking, in theory anyway, but she’d never get so careless with her appearance. It wasn’t a vanity thing, it was a pride and respect thing. If she was going to be traveling through foreign countries, she was damn sure going to represent herself, and by extension where she had come from, well, rather than leave a trail of onlookers gawking in disbelief.
He also wasn’t getting her signals. “Where are you from?”
“Um, that’s complicated,” Terry said, giving him a ‘sorry’ smile. She wasn’t going to get into that with a stranger. “But if it matters, I started off in London.”
“Ah, London. Love London. Miss London.” He looked away, as though lost in reverie. “Was there last month.”
“Is that right?”
“Sure is. Went to a sick party.”
“Sounds fun.”
“You have no idea,” he blurted through a laugh.
“How about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. Where are you from?”
“Oh, I’m from everywhere. A citizen of the world, you could say.”
Terry wanted to groan. “Cool,” she said through a forced smile. A large family at the front of her queue all went through at once, and she was glad to move forward enough to make conversation awkward, and therefore to put an end to it.
“Well, enjoy your travels, citizen,” she said, putting on a serious face.
“Like you know it.” He clicked two fingers together.
She shook her head, and looked up the other side of her line to see where Liam was. He was still nowhere in sight, and she wondered – no she hoped – that he hadn’t just bailed. He didn’t really seem like the type, but it’s not like she knew him.
Oh well, she thought. Another one gets away. It’s not as if she hadn’t watched them come and go as they lost interest before, or as her job kept her schedule packed with work time, and totally devoid of free time.
Her queue began to move quickly, and the radio attached the guard’s hip at the front of her line went haywire with overlapping shouting voices. He rushed out, and the lone officer left at the desk began to let people through with more haste. Terry looked behind her, and saw two guards shutting the doors to the border crossing building, firing off Mandarin at each other that she couldn’t understand, but she could certainly tell from their tone that something wrong was going on.
“This way, please,” she heard, and she turned around to see that the five or so people in front of her had been let through surprisingly quickly. The skinny tall man was already at the neighboring desk. She stepped up and gave the officer her passport. He gestured for her to turn around, to get a look at her backpack, and she turned to her side, beginning to take it off.
“No need,” the officer said. “Okay. Go.” Two quick stamps on her passport, one on the visa, and she was through. She had officially left China, and in a hurry, too.
“Is something going on?” she asked the officer, but with nobody left in his line, he was already getting up off his chair. Ignoring her, he darted outside, speaking frantically into his radio. “Great,” Terry said to herself, following him out of the building and back into the sunlight. She hadn’t noticed that the building was air-conditioned – it certainly hadn’t felt that way on the inside, but now that she was outside again, the heat was close and clammy.
“Over here.”
Terry turned and saw Liam standing with his hands in his pockets. “How did you get through so fast?”
“I was in the line next to you,” he said. “You didn’t see me? I walked right past you when they started letting us through quickly.”
“No.”
“Oh. I saw you.”
“Do you know what’s going on? They’ve closed the crossing. I saw them shutting the doors.”
“Not sure. They’re all over there now,” he said, and he pointed. She turned and followed his finger, and she saw a gap where the crisscrossing mesh didn’t distort her view of the shrubbery behind it. There was a pretty big hole.
“See that?”
“Wow. Somebody cut through?”
“Who knows? Could be. It looks rusty as hell to me. Probably would be pretty easy. You could do it with a pocket knife with enough dedication.”
“Yeah, but why? If they came back out onto this path, they’d just have another border check at the other end in Vietnam.”
“It’s probably the other way around,” Liam said. She noticed that he had stepped beside her. “Someone got through Vietnam’s end, but couldn’t get through this end, and so somehow managed to cut a hole in the fence and sneak in without being seen.”
“In broad daylight?”
“It’s pretty dark over there. Lots of shade from the trees. Plus, the guard tower is over there, right?” He gestured with his head. “I’d bet he can’t really see where the hole is. It’s not high enough that his line of vision can clear the roof of the building.”
“Oh.” Terry looked from the guard tower to where the guards were surrounding the fence, their radios buzzing and hissing with chatter. “Yeah.”
“Anyways, these guards are half-assing it, anyway.”
“You can tell?” Terry asked, smirking at him.
“Don’t they look bored to you?”
“I would be bored”
“Would you half-ass it?”
“Probably.”
“Well, then there you go. Anyway, come on, let’s go. This sort of shit happens all the time, I bet.”
“Yeah.” Terry walked up beside him. “So right now we’re not in any country. That’s kind of weird.”
“It’s the same thing as when you’re in an airport.
“No man’s land.”
“Yup.”
“So, technically, we have no rights here.”
“Maybe.”
“And there are no laws here.”
“I don’t think it works like that,” Liam said.
“Is the walk long?” Terry asked, before she remembered that she had her guidebook. “Never mind, I’ll check.”
“It’s about two miles, so not long.”
“Oh, good. Because this backpack is starting to get pretty heavy.”
“Over-pack?”
“How dare you!” Terry cried, grinning at him. “But probably, yes.” She reached to the back of her bag and pulled her water bottle out from its slot. She drank nearly half of it in one go. “It’s really hot.”
“Yeah,” Liam agreed, glancing up at the sky. “I’ve been hotter, though. Was once in the desert in central Australia. That was hot.”
“Yeah, but a desert is dry. I feel like I could drink from this air.” Terry wiped her forehead. “I’ve never sweated this much before in my life.” Looking down at herself, she felt a pang of embarrassment at seeing that she had sweated through her top along her belly, and in between her breasts.
“Yeah, you’re pretty sweaty,” Liam said, his voice completely devoid of any humor. She looked up at him. Was that a joke? Was he finally starting to warm up, unstiffen those socializing skills? She watched as he wiped his brow, saw the glisten on his neck and forearms. He actually had really nice forearms. She’d never really been an arm kind of girl before, but she knew a friend who swore up and down that a guy’s arm could be super sexy. She also thought tha
t a guy’s arms could be a deal-breaker, too, which took away from her credibility.
“You don’t sweat much, do you?” She asked it because it was on the same track of conversation they’d been having: perspiration. But it seemed to be a big day for firsts, because it was the first time she’d ever had a conversation with a guy she’d just met – and kind of fancied – about the differences in the activity levels of their sweat glands.
“Not really,” he said, and he offered her a half smile. “Don’t know why. Genetics, I guess.”
“So it must be difficult for you to lose heat?”
“Why are we talking about this?”
“I don’t know,” Terry admitted. She laughed. It had definitely gotten awkward. “So, did you walk the border the last time you came to Vietnam?”
“Yes,” he said. “But things were different then.” He gestured vaguely at the fences. “All this was much less,” but he trailed off, apparently uninterested in finding the word. “So, you just quit your job,” he said, tacking, “and left your home to go backpacking? That’s a pretty big step. Not many people can just do that, leave everything behind.”
“Yeah,” Terry murmured. “Actually, I’ll tell you, I didn’t realize how much stuff I had until I had to pick through it and decide what to take.”
“I don’t have that problem.”
“No, I imagine you don’t. I had this clarinet – I used to play – and it was all losing its coat, and I’d left the reed in there so it had expanded and gotten stuck, and some of the keys were rusting, and, I mean, I’d never given it any thought before. It was always there, in the corner of my bedroom. And I just didn’t want to not take it with me, you know?”
“Not really,” Liam said.
“Ha. Okay. Well, it was weird choosing what to take and what not to. I figured I was going to be gone for the better part of a year, or perhaps more. What I took would be my everyday things, you know. Necessities only. But now, here, walking in this heat, I’m starting to think I probably took too much.”
“I’d say you did,” Liam said. “If you have more than one sweater or jacket in these parts, even in winter time, you’re doing it wrong.”
“Oops. But, you know, a girl’s got to have a selection. What do you do, wear the same pair of jeans and the same t-shirt all the time?” She grinned at him, but doubted it. The jeans fit too well and didn’t look old at all, and his t-shirt was practically tailored for his admittedly rocking bod.
“No,” he said. He looked at her, waiting for her to respond, but had given her nothing to respond to.
“Like I told you before, I needed to get away. I can get rid of stuff easily, anyway. And, besides, you don’t understand my family. I mean, I’ve lived in the same house for most of my life. I never moved out. Neither did my brothers. I don’t know why, we’re all old enough. Part of it was an underpaid job, and, honestly, the only time I tried housemates, I didn’t like it at all. Yeah, it got bad. It was time to leave, see the world. I’ve got savings, so I thought why not?”
“The way you talked about it on the train, it seemed like it was the job that tipped you over.”
“Yeah. Kind of. It was everything, to be honest. Plus, I wanted to see Asia.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s just different. It seems somehow more vibrant.”
“There’s definitely more people.”
“There are more interesting noises, and smells, everything, you know?”
“Yup. There’s lots of sadness, too.”
“Vietnam’s history?”
“For starters.”
A silence settled between them, and as they walked along the wide concrete road that connected two neighboring countries, Terry used the opportunity to read more about Hanoi in her guidebook. She had foregone her usual meticulous handling of books and folded the spine over so many times that the book flopped open all on its own.
Hanoi was the first place anybody went if they walked across the border, it being the most logical stop, as it was not only the capital of Vietnam, but one of the biggest cities as well. It was also very close to the border.
“The book says we’ll be getting into a town called Dong Dang.”
“That’s right,” Liam said. He looked over his shoulder, and she mimicked him. The guards were still standing around the hole in the fence.
She continued speaking. “Anyway, we’ll need to take a taxi from Dong Dang. It says here that we’re probably going to be overcharged.”
“Overcharged? That depends on what you expect to pay.”
“Something reasonable, of course,” she said. “That doesn’t bother you?”
“We need to get from one place to another, and unless you want to wait hours and hours for a bus, taxi is the only way. They charge what they charge. There’s nothing ‘over’ about it. So, no, it doesn’t bother me.”
“What, are you secretly a millionaire or something?”
He laughed, and in that moment his whole face brightened up. He looked cute when he laughed, and she noticed that he had one dimple on his left side, low on his cheek. It made him look younger, more boyish, but only for a split second. Then the smile faded, his face straightened, and he looked grave again. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I’ve got a million Dong in my pocket.”
“Ha! Me too, actually, in my bag.”
“We’re both millionaires.”
Dong was the local Vietnamese currency, and Terry had stared in disbelief at the stack of filthy bills she had gotten in exchange for one hundred US dollars. She’d never thought she’d be carrying around a million in any currency before.
* * *
“Oh my God.” The unmarked taxi drove away after depositing them in what she had read was the center of Hanoi. The wide one-way road beside her was filled with people on mopeds, mostly two or three to a single vehicle. Stacked shoulder to shoulder, handlebar to handlebar, across the entire width of tarmac, there seemed to be little, if any, semblance of order.
“How the hell are we going to cross?” She looked up and down the road, but didn’t see any formal crossing or traffic lights.
“Easy,” Liam said. He grabbed her hand and yanked her out into the road behind him, each of his strides two of hers.
“Wait!” Terry shrieked, pulling back, but his grip was too strong, and he didn’t let her hand go.
“Look,” he said. She did. The mopeds were making their way around the two of them. “You just walk into the street. Everyone does it. Nobody wants to hit you. Come on.”
“Okay,” Terry mumbled, feeling mildly embarrassed about reacting so strongly. She walked with him, and watched as all of the motos made their way around them. It was as though the two of them had a force field or aura that was deflecting all the traffic. They had a little island of road that moved with their feet. Nobody was beeping angrily, or shouting at them. She looked at the sea of heads without helmets and saw that nobody was even really looking at them!
A surge of adrenaline seared her senses, and she laughed without knowing why. When they got to the other side, Liam let go of her hand.
“That was fun.”
He knitted his brow at her. “You must have had a boring life.”
“Well, I’ve never walked out into a stream of traffic before, that’s for sure.”
She stretched her fingers. There was a residual feeling left, no doubt psychological, on her hand. Her heart had not just quickened because she’d bucked her survival instinct, but because he’d taken her hand into his, and it was stirring.
“That was some scream,” he said, grinning at her.
“Shut up!” she replied, swinging at his shoulder. She hit him open-palmed, feeling his hard muscle beneath his t-shirt. The brief touch was again charged; it was like an emotional static shock.
The two stood on street, just outside a small restaurant. “So,” she murmured.
“Where are you staying?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet.”
“I thought about it, but decided not to. Going to wing it instead. Where are you staying?”
“Same guest house I stayed at last time. I’ll show you.”
“No, it’s-” Terry began, before stopping herself. She was planning on going to the tourist center and asking there, but why not stay in the same guest house as Liam? At least, she could check it out. “Actually, you know what? Why not? Show me, and I’ll see if it’s up to scratch.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, like if it’s clean enough. What’s the name of the guest house?” He had set off, and she was following a little way behind, looking at the signs on all the buildings they passed. Most of the signboards contained both English letters and Vietnamese script.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so you’ll just have to read it yourself.”
“Why? What is it called?”
He told her, and Terry blinked. “Lucky Fuck Guest House?” she repeated. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” Liam said, smirking. “I am.”
“It’s really called that.”
“I wouldn’t lie about it.”
“Must be one of those lost in translation things,” she murmured. “You’re not taking me to a sex hotel, are you?”
“Nope. They charge by the night, not the hour. At least, they did when I was last here.”
“You’d better not be taking me to a sex hotel,” Terry said, shaking her head. “Because I’m not having sex with you.” The last bit had just slipped out, and she fought the instinct to put her hand over her mouth.
Shit, she thought.
“That’s alright,” he said, “because it’s not what you think. We’re here.” He walked down an alley, and turned and pointed up at something. Terry followed down, saw a narrow building, six or seven floors high. She followed his finger, saw the name on the sign: Lucky Phuc Guest House.
She laughed. “The Vietnamese word.”
“Yup. It means happiness.”
Fated Mates: The Alpha Shifter Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle) (Insatiable Reads) Page 126