Page 54 of Baby Love

“P’Park!” I say. Then, louder, “P’Park, stop!”

Chest heaving, P’Park turns to me, and I back up, he looks so scary. His expression changes, and he wipes his hands over his face, taking a deep breath and letting it out.

Venturing toward him, I say, “P’Daeng was only helping me because I choked on my water.”

“Fucking lunatic,” P’Daeng mutters as he stalks past P’Park and out of the room.

The rest of the guys wander off to get ready for bed, leaving P’Park and me alone with the cameras. A moment later, because some of the guys want to put on their pajamas, the light that indicates the camera is on switches off.

“Why were you up here alone with him?” P’Park asks me, frustration written all over his face. “I told you to be careful around him!”

Not knowing what to say, I stand with my arms wrapped around my waist.

P’Park shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but when I saw him with his arms around you, and you with your hand on his arm like you were going to push him away, I thought he was attacking you.”

“He’s been up here a long time and he didn’t do anything like that. In fact, he fell asleep. I accidentally woke him up when I started choking, and he was pounding me on the back.”

I’m shaking. I spent too much time hiding from my abusive father to be able to take it in stride when someone yells the way P’Park did.

“Nong.” P’Park reaches for me, but I step away.

“I know what you’ve told me about P’Daeng, and I am being careful, but he’s been nice to me. And I don’t like shouting, P’Park.”

“I’m sorry,” he says again, looking miserable.

Purposefully, I lie down on the left side of the bed next to the one P’Daeng shares with Aod and pull the covers over me.

Sighing, P’Park changes into his pajamas. Before he lies down, I turn onto my right side so I’m facing away from him.

“I’m really sorry,” he says as a pillow fight erupts on the bed farthest from us. “I promise I don’t make a habit of yelling like that. It’s just that…” He stops. “Nevermind. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

“Okay,” I say softly, and after a moment, I roll onto my back again. The guys across the room stop playing as the last few come up the stairs and change. I hear the door to P’Prince and P’Gift’s room close, and pretty soon the room fills with soft snoring. P’Daeng is the last to slide into bed, but Aod is between us like every night. I can tell by his breathing that P’Park isn’t asleep.

Despite being upset, I want us to be okay again. Reaching out, I find his hand between us and squeeze it.

I hear his soft sigh as he squeezes back.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Park

I’m an idiot. I acted like a crazy man last night when I saw Daeng with his arms around Spin. But all I could think of was him saying he’d gotten hard on the float with Spin and I just went berserk. I started to tell Spin that—what Daeng said—but I couldn’t. It was just so crass, and somehow saying the words to Spin didn’t seem right.

Fortunately, Spin forgave me, and today everything is back to normal. Just for good measure, I swallow my pride and apologize to Daeng at the breakfast table. Cameras on, he can do nothing but graciously accept. The bright smile Spin directs at me makes the battering to my pride worth it.

The producers were quick to cut the scene where I confronted Daeng in the bedroom from the live feed, but not before people saw it. Social media is full of gossip on the subject, but since I just looked like the jealous idiot I am, fans are mostly eating it up.

We do chores after breakfast. Spin and I go outside to pick up floats, straighten chairs, collect towels, and skim the pool. By the time we’re finished and have the towels in the laundry, Max and Fluke are making lunch. As Spin and I pass one of the bathrooms, the door opens and Prince slips out, closing the door behind him. He walks toward the kitchen, not noticing us.

Spin turns to me. “Was that—“ Before he can finish, Gift appears, asking if we’ve seen Prince.

I point toward the kitchen, and when he disappears around the corner, I lean down to whisper in Spin’s ear so the mics can’t pick it up. “Pretty sure that was Book in there with him.”

“Oh,” Spin says, looking confused. “Okay.”

There aren’t any cameras in the bathrooms, of course. They are the only rooms, other than the master bedroom, which guarantee privacy, as long as no one has his microphone on. It’s the perfect place for a tryst. Spin seems to have worked that out and looks shocked. In a way, so am I. If anyone at SPPT is a real couple, I would have put my money on Prince and Gift, not Prince and Book. Of course, there could be some other explanation for it—some reason Prince might want a private word with Book or vice versa.

Spin’s tapping on his phone. “I asked Bass to keep an eye on Nok while I’m here, and I’m checking in,” he tells me when he’s finished.

“Is she doing okay?”

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