Page 40 of Blossoms of the Heart
“This is Phoebe, Phoebe these are my guys, Dante,” Tai motioned at the guy he’d been talking to, “Xiao, Lee, Honto and H.”
I noticed the way Tai spoke, as if commanding respect.
“Hi.” I gave them a little wave and smiled. They smiled at me.
“Cough it up, Xiao.” Tai put out his free hand.
Xiao frowned and pulled a wad of money from his back pocket. There was a whole handful of yen.
“How do you always know who won?” Xiao asked.
“I just do.” Tai took the money and smiled. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
He moved to go but stopped when something caught his eye. It was a bottle of red wine. The good stuff. Not because it was aged like the one Mitsuke and I ordered back at the club, but because it tasted nice.
“Give me that.” Tai crooked his finger.
“What? No, that’s for later,” Dante complained.
“Fuck off, give me the wine,`” Tai said with more persistence.
“You’re such a prick.” Dante handed it to him.
I cast a sideways glance at Tai that he noted but didn’t acknowledge.
I gave the guys another little smile as Tai pulled me away.
“Where to now?”
“The beach.”
“We’re not watching the racing?” I was almost gearing myself up for it.
“It’ll get too violent this time of night. I’ll take you to watch some other time, earlier.”
I liked that he’d already planned that. He shifted his hand to the small of my back.
“Won’t it be dark this time of night on the beach?”
“Pitch black, baby.” He smiled down at me. “You scared?”
“No,” I said quickly.
“Don’t worry—I’ll protect you from the yokai.”
Again with the yokai. I rolled my eyes at him.
We walked past the people in cars getting ready to race and past the parked cars. That was where the sand began and the air seemed to get cooler. The lights also grew fainter with a few lights here and there but not bright enough to really see.
We walked until the darkness enveloped us and Tai pulled me closer.
There was a pit area that looked like people used it for bonfires. It was close to the shoreline that I could just make out in the moonlight. The waves pulled in and out like a gentle breath. It was peaceful.
Tai released me and walked over to the pit. He pulled a lighter from his pocket, arranged a few fire coals that were already inside then got a fire started. As it got going I could see him clearer.
He handed me the bottle of wine.
“You want me to drink?”
