I ended up with a black eye, just before I broke Mok’s nose. All four of us were hauled into jail, though Tony’s brother got us out earlier so I had the chance to flipMok off as I left. The next day, I happened to come across Mok’s woman walking out of a tea shop and ended up sleeping with her. Not sure if Mok ever found out, and I don’t give a shit if he did or didn’t.

“I don’t have a problem with him as long as he stays out of my way,” I say. “By the way, you get your sister a wedding gift yet?”

“I still got time. What did you get her?”

“Cheryl put together a little Hawaiian vacation package.”

“Shit. I got to get someone like Cheryl working for me. It’s not like my sister needs anything from me, though. Her boring-ass husband can buy whatever they need.”

Andrea, JD’s sister, is marrying an entrepreneur who recently sold his start-up to a Fortune 100 company for nine figures.

“How long you plan on staying in Phuket?” JD asks.

“Maybe ten days, though I’m not sure Bridge can stay that long.”

“Will you listen to yourself? What should it matter how long she can stay?”

“She’s got a job and an internship. She wasn’t sure she could go in the first place.”

“What is the matter with her? Doesn’t she know you could have invited a hundred different women to go instead?”

“That wouldn’t matter to her.”

I can hear JD shaking his head. “You picked a doozy. Her pussy must be something special.”

Oh, it is.

As I pass through the toll booth and onto the Bay Bridge, it starts to rain. The forecast for the week is wet and cold, but I’ll be in warm, sunny Thailand soon enough.

Earlier, I had taken a photo of Bridget on my phone and sent it off to Cheryl for the passport. I had expected Bridget to protest that she didn’t look her best, but after she had washed her face and brushed her hair, she was ready to go. Kimberly would have taken at least half an hour to do her makeup and another half an hour to do her hair.

Later that day, I text Bridget to see if she had tried the wand I gave her. She replied that she was working on a paper for her health policy class. I asked if she had gotten anyone to cover her shifts at the library. She hadn’t. I told her she had better try or I would come over and apply the wand to her myself.

An hour later, she texted that she’d found someone to cover at least one of her shifts.

I tell her to call me when she’s ready to use the wand.

After spending some time going over the trip to Thailand with Cheryl, I wander over to the BDSM side of the club. I watch a dominatrix peg her sub while he licks the pussy of another woman. I wonder again if Bridget has ever had anal sex. I don’t have a good sense of her overall experience with all things sex. She had mentioned a boyfriend once. Some football player. Sounded like they had dated a while, but they were younger at the time. Bridget’s still young. She can’t even legally drink yet. I haven’t dated anyone in college since I was in college myself.