Chapter Sixteen
It was a long sixteen hour flight. After we landed, I desired sleep. I had smuggled in an hour or two of rest but I was worn out from travelling and needed another few hours to recharge my batteries.
By the time we reached the hotel—a charming European inspired Villa on beachfront property—it was roughly 5 A.M. Cambodian time. I collapsed onto my bed, not bothering to change, and closed my eyes. Just as I began to fall asleep, there was a knock on my door.
“You’re kidding me,” I muttered. I trudged towards the door slowly as if I were wading through molasses.
When I opened it, a young Cambodian man greeted me. He looked to be in his late teens and was full of enthusiasm as he spoke.
“Tut-tut driver,” he beamed.
“What?”
“I’m tut-tut driver,” he repeated. “Mr. Shadow sent me to pick you up.”
“You’re kidding right? Do you know what time it is?”
He looked at his watched before replying. “Five fifteen.”
“That was a figurative question. Anyways, I’ll go after I get seven hours of sleep,” I replied. “Can you come back around noon?”
“Noooo,” he replied, his gentle voice full of concern. “Mr. Shadow made me promise to take you to Angkor Wat before 6:00 A .M. I can’t break promise to him. He very good to me. Give me and wife a job.”
“You’re married?” I was shocked. He looked as if he hit puberty two minutes ago. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-Seven.”
“Must be the Asian gene,” I surmised. “Look, I know you made a promise to Mr. Shadow but I made a promise to my pillow to spend some quality time with it. I hope you understand.”
The tut-tut driver shook his head. “Please, it’s very beautiful.”
“What, Mr. Shadow? Yeah, he’s definitely not hard on the eyes.”
“No, Angkor Wat is very beautiful. We go see now, yes?”
“I’m sure it is very beautiful, but we can go later in the afternoon, yes?”
“No.”
I let out a huge sigh. “You’re not going to let me sleep, are you?”
He nodded. “I let you sleep later. For now, we go to Angkor Wat. Shadow waiting for you there.”
“Fine,” I gave in. “But next time you see Mr. Shadow, you tell him that Aria said he was a dick for dragging her ass out of bed so early in the morning.”
“Okay,” he nodded.
“On second thought, don’t say that. Just wait for me while I get ready.”
“Temperature today will be very warm. Dress with more skin. I’ll wait for Ms. Aria at front of hotel,” he said before taking his leave.
I closed the door and stared at my bed, tempted to dive into its sweet embrace. However if I did fall asleep again, the tut-tut driver would only be pounding away at my door again ten minutes later.
For a moment, I considered scaling the window ledges from the outside and breaking into a different room so I could have an affair with another bed. It probably wasn’t worth the effort.
I sighed.
When I finished changing and wandered into the lobby, sauntering like a tired creature out of a zombie flick, the tut-tut guy was waiting for me by the entranceway, still smiling.
“Tut-tut ready,” he said as he gestured for me to follow him. I had to admit, I was curious to know what a tut-tut was.
“You wait here and I bring it over,” he said as I waited in the hotel veranda. It wasn’t long before he pulled up in a vehicle that looked like the combination of a rickshaw and a Vespa scooter.
“That’s a tut-tut?” I asked.
He nodded. “That’s my tut-tut,” he said with a sense of pride. The vehicle clearly meant a lot to this guy, despite it looking like an unregulated death trap. “Please enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll try,” I mumbled as I sat in the vehicle.
Soon we were speeding away on the winding roads of the Cambodian streets, the darkness of the night melting away into a pale morning gray. I was amazed at all the beauty of Cambodia but saddened by the poverty as well. For every temple that we passed, I saw whole families sleeping on the streets.
It didn’t take long for my fears of sitting in the tut-tut to fade away. It was actually quite fun. In fact, there were quite a few of these tut-tuts on the road, which made me feel a bit better.
Eventually we reached our destination. I was completely blown away by the wondrous sight of Angkor Wat.
Standing against the backdrop of the early morning dawn was a majestic stone palace, hand crafted by the gods themselves. Five tall towers, the heads shaped like lotus blossoms, stood erect behind smooth stone walls, like mountaintops peeking through an ancient fortress.
A moat surrounded Angkor Wat, reminiscent of an old medieval castle, the dark waters deterring unwanted visitors from its surreal realm.
I felt as if I were standing at the nexus of the universe and behind Angkor Wat’s sacred walls were all the mysteries of the world, woven into one harmonious tapestry.
“Beautiful isn’t it?”
I spun around to see Shadow standing behind me, looking like a bronze Adonis, his smooth skin tanned from the Cambodian sun. His muscular frame was practically bursting out of his black, ribbed tank top. His bulging shoulders reminded me of boulders while his six-pack protruded through his tank top. He wore cargo shorts that hit his knees, his muscular thighs on full display. My mind diverted to my naughty dream of him on the plane and immediately I felt myself blushing.
Shadow took a step closer to me, his dark eyes tracing the curves of my body as he placed his strong hands on my bare shoulders. I felt the heat radiating off his body and I instantly felt wetness in between my legs. My stomach was fluttering and my heart was pounding like a jackhammer. I was breathing hard and struggled to maintain my composure.
He leaned closer to me as his breath glazed the side of my cheek. I was entranced by everything about him: his heart-stopping good looks, his hard sculpted body, the mystery behind his haunting past, and the excitement of his unpredictable future.
“You’re missing the sunrise,” he said in a soft, yet commanding voice, just before he turned me to the direction of Angkor Wat. I was captivated by the miracle before me.
Emerging through the five towers of the temple was the orange sun which casted its warm glow over its majestic kingdom. The sky was a canvas of ambient yellow light, which grew brighter as the sun made its ascension into the heavens.
Perhaps the most brilliant thing about this breathtaking scene was the reflection of the temple cast against the still waters of the moat. I was staring at an endless world where the sky and the earth met in a seamless union.
“See pretty lady,” the tut-tut driver said, “I knew you would like.”
I nodded, my eyes still transfixed on Angkor Wat. I was afraid that the second I looked away, it would vanish forever, like a forgotten dream.
“The City of Temples,” Shadow said, unveiling his knowledge of the holy place. “It was built to look like Mount Meru, home of the Hindu Gods.”
“Mister Shadow remembers the history I tell him yesterday,” the tut-tut driver said with excitement.
“I was trying to impress the lady,” Shadow sighed.
I turned to him and grinned. “Failure on your part for taking credit for someone else’s knowledge, though you do get full points for bringing me here. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s stunning.”
I felt myself tearing up at the thoughtfulness of Shadow’s gift. I couldn’t help but wonder what dad would have thought of Shadow if I had brought him home to dinner one night.
“You’re going to love it here. It’s your idea of a perfect vacation,” Shadow said. “There are ruins to explore, hot sunny weather, and friendly locals.”
The tut-tut driver tilted his head towards me politely.
“What’s your name anyways mister driver?” I asked.
“Narendrapong,” he replied, “But you can call me Johnny.”
“Huh?”
“He’s a fan of Johnny Depp movies,” Shadow explained. “Most tourists have trouble pronouncing his Cambodian name so he decided to take on something more American.”
“Pirates my favorite,” he said, flashing me two enthusiastic thumbs up. “I also like his Scissor Hands.”
“Well Johnny,” I said. “I’m really happy you dragged my whiny ass out of bed so I could experience this. I’ll always remember this sunrise. Thank you.”
“We’re not done with Angkor Wat yet,” Shadow said as he took my hand. A warm sensation from his touch radiated through my entire body like the burning sun.
“Come on, let’s check this place out,” he said.
“What?” I was surprised. “You’re telling me we can go inside?”
“Of course, it’s one of Cambodia’s main tourist attractions,” Shadow said before turning his attention towards Johnny. “We’ll probably be inside for a couple of hours.”
“Yes sir,” Johnny said. “I’ll be right here when you are done.”
Shadow looked at me with warm affectionate eyes. “Well, if you’re ready, let’s begin our second date.”
“Let’s,” I agreed.
#
The insides of Angkor Wat were just as beautiful as the outside. Shadow guided me through the different galleries, scaling across flat sandstone tiles and pointing out the intricate stone carvings that lined some of the walls.
“What are these?” I asked, gesturing towards a pair of naked women sculpted into the walls.
“They’re called Aspara,” Shadow replied, “Otherwise known as nymphs or dancing girls.”
“Strange things to have on holy temple walls,” I commented.
“They apparently help ward off evil spirits and demons from this place.”
“By giving them a lap dance?”
Shadow shrugged. “They actually seduced them into having sex, believe it or not.”
“Interesting.”
Shadow gestured towards another wall where a mean son-of-a-bitch was carved into the stone. “And here are the Dvarpala. They’re demonic temple guardians used to fight off other demons.”
“Was this all part of the same history lesson Johnny gave you yesterday?” I teased.
“Perhaps.”
We continued our exploration through the rest of the temple. I felt like an overstimulated kid, climbing over rocks and balancing on stone walls, while forgetting about all the stresses in the world.
Shadow seemed to enjoy watching me navigate through broken stone piles that littered the ground.
“You look really nice,” he said, the first compliment he gave me today.
My gaze danced across his large, sweaty body—admiring the raw strength that he exuberated—before finally settling on his eyes.
It was one of those romantic stares that you read about in books and saw on television, where everything around us faded from existence and we were the only two people left in the universe.
Shadow broke our staring contest; his eyes working slowly down my body, and then up again before settling on my lips. I practically whimpered when he licked his lips, and I imagined how soft and hard they’d be all at once--how they would feel on me.
Damn, I was so turned on.
“Hey look where we are,” Shadow said, pointing to the large, magnificent tower that stood over us like a silent giant. He was diving right into another little history lesson instead of diving into me, and I did my best to hide my disappointment.
“It’s lovely,” I said. It really was.
“It’s the main tower of Ankor Wat,” he said. “The temple of Vishnu.”
“How many times have you been here, to Cambodia?” I asked.
“A few; Cambodia is one of those places that has both captivated and broken my heart.”
“I noticed the poverty.”
It was sad.
“Have you set up business’s here, like Lincoln and Abraham?”
Shadow shook his head. “Between those two, they can create a sound business infrastructure that can last this country a lifetime. I don’t have the expertise like they do. Instead, I just contribute money wherever I can.”
I nodded.
We spent another hour exploring the temple ruins before hunger and thirst finally settled in. I was also a sweaty mess and was beginning to feel self-conscious of my appearance.
“I must look disgusting,” I said as I tugged on my shirt collar in a hopeless effort to cool myself down.”
“I’m not any better,” he said. Beads of sweat glistened across his bare shoulders and traces of it soaked the collar of his tank top. There was something about a sweaty, physical man that did it for me.
I prayed that I wasn’t blushing right now.
“Besides, I like a girl who doesn’t mind getting wet,” he said with mischief in his eyes.
Shit. If I wasn’t blushing before, I most certainly was now and damn it if I wasn’t picturing every way of getting wet with him.
“I need some water,” Shadow said. “If we’re ready to leave this place, we can head back to the tut-tut.”
“Water would be amazing.”
Johnny was where we had left him. In addition he had brought us a cooler filled with water, juice, and a few snacks.
Shadow grabbed a bottle of water and handed it over to me. He took one for himself and drained it in a matter of seconds.
After we were both rehydrated, Johnny handed me what looked to be a bamboo stick.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Tasty treat,” he replied as he showed me how to peel back the layers of bark, revealing sticky rice and black beans inside.
“I’ve never eaten anything out of a stick before,” I laughed as I took a cautious bite. It was delicious. I began to devour the bamboo sticky rice like a starved animal.
“Hungry?” Shadow laughed peeling back one of his own tasty bamboo treats.
“This is orgasmic,” I said.
“First time I ever heard of a woman getting off from rice.”
I was going to make a witty comeback, but decided to use my mouth for eating instead.
After we were finished with our snack, we sat in the cool shade of the tut-tut while relaxing and sipping water; the two of us alone. Johnny had left to go find some lunch of his own.
“Thanks again for bringing me here,” I said. “This trip has been incredible so far.”
“There’s a lot of Cambodia left,” Shadow said. “This is only one of many temples to explore as well as more foods to taste. There’s deep fried spider if you’re feeling adventurous enough.”
“You’re serious? They eat deep fried spider here?”
“It’s more of a novelty for tourists than anything,” Shadow replied “It’s not considered one of the basic food groups for locals.”
“I think I’ll pass on the deep fried spider. Everything else sounds amazing. For a fake date, you’ve really outdone yourself.”
“Think nothing of it,” Shadow said. “I love this place too. My dad took me here when I was still a little kid. I remember how speechless I was when I saw the temples for the first time—though I was probably too busy complaining about the heat at the time to appreciate the serenity of Angkor Wat.”
“Did your dad take you here for a trip?”
Shadow shook his head. “Business,” he replied, as his thoughts seemed to trail off into the past. “Everywhere he took me was always for business.”
“You never made the coming-of-age trip to Disneyland?” I teased.
Though my words were meant to be a joke, they seemed to have touched Shadow deeply.
“You know my dad never took me to a park, not once? Or played catch with me or read me any bedtime stories?”
“You’re probably exaggerating,” I said. “He must have spent some quality time with you.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, he did spend time with me, but most of that was spent teaching me about numbers, strategy, and business. I remember one afternoon going over to the Constantine house when I was eight and list ening to Abraham read to Julia Where the Wild Things Are . I was captivated both by the story and the fact that Julia got to experience something fun with her father. I got home and my dad started drilling me on Gaussian distribution formulas. Did you know by the time I was seven, I could already do advanced Calculus equations? I was a freak.”
“It sounds like you were quite the brainiac.”
Shadow practically scoffed at what I said.
“With all the neurological enhancement pills and vitamins I was taking at the time, I’m surprised I can’t read your thoughts right now.”
I want you to fuck me until I can’t stand anymore.
I turned away for a moment and faked a cough while breaking eye-contact with him just in case he did have some voodoo ability to read my thoughts.
“Growing up, people always though t I had it easy. After all, I was the future of the Midnight Society; an anointed prince. They believed that anything I wanted came to me at the snap of my fingers. What bullshit,” Shadow’s jaw was clenched. “What they didn’t see was my father pushing me to my limits, both mentally and physically. I was never allowed to cry, since it was a sign of weakness. I was never allowed to complain because endurance was a way to build both strength and character. Even something that should have been fun like soccer matches were a point of stress for me. I always had to be the best player on the field and my team always had to win, otherwise I risked disappointing my father.”
“That’s horrible. Every kid should be allowed to enjoy their childhood. Those memories are so very precious.” I paused. “Did your father push Calisto just as hard?”
Shadow shook his head. “She got off easy, being a girl. While I was reading books about chaos theory and memorizing political platforms, she got to bake cookies, play with dolls, and go to the zoo.”
“What about your mom? Did she agree with what your dad was doing?”
“She worked me just as hard. After all, she bore the Tremaine last name and the prestige associated with it. Every Tremaine male was forced to live up to the family legacy; weakness was never allowed,” he sighed. “There’s a legend about our family. Back in the seventeen hundreds, there was one Tremaine baby boy born with a birth defect—something as trivial as a cleft lip. Because of this, the baby was a symbol of weakness, and because of this small defect, they delivered the baby to an orphanage and stripped all records of his birth from the history books.”
“That’s awful. How can a mother carry a child for nine months in her stomach only to dump it away after first glance?”
“This is the world I live in. The Midnight Society only cares about strength and power and they don’t mind deception in order to obtain it,” Shadow said.
“Do you want to leave the Midnight Society?” I asked.
Shadow shook his head. “Tell me about your father,” he said, abruptly changing the focus of topic. “What was he like?”
A wide smile crept across my face as I thought about him. “He was everything to me,” I said. “He was my inspiration to become a classical pianist.”
“Did he push you to have piano lessons when you were young?” Shadow asked. I shook my head.
“No, I asked for them,” I replied. “I have pictures when I was still in diapers and my dad sat me on his lap in front of a piano, my whole fist trying to push down on the keys. I was inspired at a very early age.”
“Did your dad play the piano?”
“Occasionally he played a few rudimentary songs like Fur Else and a couple of Beethoven’s and Bachs,” I replied. “He taught me up to a certain level but when I got into the more complex pieces, we had to hire a piano teacher. The one my dad found was quite the piece of work. He was a Russian psychopath.”
“How so?”
“Well for one thing, he told me to start lifting weights so I could build strength in my puny little arms,” I laughed. “Keep in mind I was fourteen at the time. However he was a good teacher and many of his unconventional techniques got me to the level I’m at today. He didn’t come cheap though. My dad’s teacher’s salary couldn’t cover food, mortgage, and the Russian so he had to take a second job teaching night classes.”
“Your dad sounds like a good man,” Shadow said. “I would have loved to meet him. I always have high regards for a man who takes care of his family.”
“I’m sure your father did the same.”
“My father worked hard to obtain power for our family name. Your father worked hard to make you happy.”
“Do you resent your dad?”
Shadow shook his head. “No, I loved him and respected him very much. But sometimes I wish…” his voice trailed off.
“You wish what?”
“Never mind, it sounds childish,” Shadow said.
“I won’t laugh, I pinky swear,” I said, extending my finger out to him.
“Now that’s childish,” Shadow smiled.
“No it’s not. The pinky swear is the most sacred and holy of promises. One can never violate the sanctity of the pinky swear unless they wish to be cursed for the rest of eternity.”
Shadow shook his head. “You’re pretty weird sometimes.”
“And you’re not?”
Shadow shrugged his shoulders, and then hooked his pinky finger into mine. “While my father was alive, I had to work my ass off and struggle to meet his expectations. And now with him dead, I’m working hard and struggling to fulfill his legacy. However Tristan Tremaine never once tried to make the slightest effort to fulfill the expectations I had for him as a father.”
“And what was that?”
“I would have loved for him to take me to a movie—just once. Or bring me to the park for an ice cream cone. I just wanted a dad I could hang out with,” he said. “Does that sound foolish?”
I shook my head. “It sounds sad.”
“When I was a kid, I kept thinking that once I was old enough and achieved all those goals he set out for me, he’ll finally be proud of me and then we could finally sit down and watch a movie together and have an ice cream cone at the park,” he said. “But that’ll never happen. He’s dead now, murdered by some sick fuck who’s still roaming free out there. The killer stole away from me the only dream I ever had. The only thing I ever wanted.”
“Oh Shadow, I’m so sorry,” I said.
He shook his head. “I should apologize. Nobody wants to hear a grown man whine about his ghosts.”
I wanted to take him in my arms and comfort him, to hold him and give him that safe feeling that my father had given me so many times.
I summoned up the courage to make a move and provide him with a little bit of physical contact. Just as I leaned in closer, Johnny returned from his lunch break.
Damn it.
Johnny hopped onto the Vespa scooter that dragged the tut-tut and then turned to us. “Where to Mr. Shadow?” he asked.
Shadow’s eyes, full of grey sadness, glossed over Angkor Wat. Outside he had the presence and physique of a lion, the ruler of this animal kingdom he called the Midnight Society. However in reality he was a wounded animal, seeking solace and affection.
“Take us somewhere beautiful,” he finally said. “Take us somewhere where we can forget all our worries.
#