Chapter One Hundred and Nine
One Hundred and Nine
Twenty Days Later
Layana Resort & Spa, Thailand
Denise had another sip of her cocktail and watched as the waves broke against the almost snow-white sands at Koh Lanta beach. This was her third resort in just twenty days.
Denise had been just about ready to leave her house in Los Angeles, heading towards LAX to catch a flight to Seattle, where she would’ve met Quaddra, or Thomas, as that was the name that he was using with her, when she got the ‘abort’ message from Mary.
That had been the first-ever time that either of them had to use the ‘abort’ code word, and Mary sounded completely desperate.
Something had definitely gone wrong.
That morning, Denise did go to LAX, but the flight she caught wasn’t heading towards Seattle, it was destined for Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, where she spent seven days at the St. Regis Langkawi resort.
From Malaysia, she flew to Vietnam, where she spent another seven days at the Four Seasons resort.
Six days ago, Denise jumped onto another flight, this time heading towards Thailand, where she took temporary residence at the very luxurious Layana Resort & Spa.
Denise still had no real idea of what had happened – why did Mary have to use the ‘abort’ word? She did call Mary’s burner cellphone once she had landed in Kuala Lumpur, to let her know that she was safe, but she hadn’t heard from Mary yet.
She did try searching the Internet, but she didn’t find anything about Quaddra Buckner, which was very strange, and Denise was now starting to get a bit anxious.
‘Hey, babe, how’s the cocktail?’ Cheryl asked, bending down to give Denise a peck on the lips.
Cheryl had just come out of the pool, her shoulder-length blonde hair dripping water onto Denise’s body, but Denise didn’t mind.
‘Absolutely delicious,’ Denise replied. ‘You should get one.’
‘What is it?’ Cheryl asked.
‘A Champagne Pina Colada.’
Cheryl smiled at Denise. ‘Sounds ideal.’ She used the towel on her lounger to dry herself a little. ‘Would you like a new one?’ She indicated the bar.
‘Fuck it, why not?’
‘I’ll be right back.’ Cheryl kissed Denise again – a little longer this time.
Denise had met Cheryl on her first night in Thailand, at one of the bars inside Layana’s Resort. They had chatted for a while and shared quite a few cocktails, before Cheryl ended up in Denise’s bed.
They had slept together every night since.
Cheryl was also holidaying alone, after having divorced her wife, back in Texas. The settlement had made Cheryl a millionaire, several times over, and she had decided to blow off a little steam – and some of her newfound fortune – on a super extravagant holiday.
She and Denise had gotten on like a house on fire, and Denise would be lying if she didn’t admit that Cheryl was an extremely accomplished lover.
‘Here we go,’ Cheryl said, handing Denise a new Champagne Pina Colada before kissing her again.
‘Thanks, babe,’ Denise said, sitting up on her lounger before moving her shades up to her head and allowing her eyes to feast on Cheryl’s body for the zillionth time.
She really was a gorgeous woman. ‘You know?’ She finished her first cocktail and had a sip of the new one.
‘I love that tattoo so much.’ She nodded at Cheryl’s forearm.
‘It reminds me of my childhood and of my best friend.’
Cheryl twisted her arm to look at her own tattoo.
It showed the two main characters from the classic Christmas animation movie – The Nightmare Before Christmas – Jack Skellington and his girlfriend, Sally.
In the tattoo, Jack and Sally were facing each other.
In their hands, they held each other’s bleeding hearts.
‘It’s a great love story, isn’t it?’ Cheryl said, as she too had a sip of her cocktail.
Denise smiled. ‘That’s what my friend always used to say.’
I know, Cheryl thought, as she smiled back at Denise. She told me plenty of times.