“The security here is much higher, and you won’t have to drain your money for that shitty motel. Order as much food as you like and I’ll take care of it all for you. It wouldn’t be difficult to hide the funds in business expenses. In two days, I’ll come back and give you all the names you need.”

“Why two days from now?” Xingyu asked. “Can’t we just do it now?”

“No. He doesn’t have any of his equipment with him.” Xiao-Xiao waved away the suggestion. “Besides, I have a meeting in about ten minutes, so we don’t have the time for it now, but I have another meeting in two days and will have the excuse to come here again.”

“A meeting? With Chen Rang’er?”

Xiao-Xiao stared at him. “Rang’er?”

Maybe Xingyu was wrong.

“Why the hell would I meet with Rang’er?”

Okay, Xingyu was definitely wrong.

“In any case.” Xiaokai straightened up and moved toward the door. He looked over his shoulder as his hand made contact with the doorknob. “I left the keycard on the side table. I still have one so I don’t have to waste any time waiting on you to open the door.”

“How long do you think it’ll take me to walk ten feet?”

“I’ll see you in two days,” Xiao-Xiao said.

THE APPOINTMENT WITH Chen Jun went well, considering. Xiaokai definitely had a fever—or fever-like symptoms, at least—but he knew it’s a symptom of withdrawal and not actually contagious, so he didn’t hold back with Chen Jun, and he didn’t tell Chen Jun to hold back either. And of course Chen Jun loved it: he praised Xiaokai for being so hot, so fucking hot and he told Xiaokai that it seemed like he’s glowing.

Glowing—not flushed and sweaty from the fever, but glowing.

He let Chen Jun fuck out all of this week’s frustrations and lasted just long enough for the appointment to end before he was vomiting in a different hotel room’s bathroom.

That wasn’t the original intention of this room—even if he was using it that way now, he didn’t intend for it to be anything other than a room he could get ready in if the client’s room was already occupied. There were usually explicit instructions to arrive on time and not any earlier, but it wasn’t a hard enough rule to enforce, and occasionally Xiaokai would arrive to the check-in counter to be told that the client already arrived. He never got ready in front of clients. Even with people like Chen Jun, who liked to watch him strip—or Xu Runshen, who occasionally wanted to shower with Xiaokai—he would get ready first, and the stripping or showering would largely be performative.