Love In The Air

Chapter 6

At 2am any normal person would have been fast asleep in their bed, but on this night, if you visited the main highway running straight through Bangkok, you would have been surprised to see what you had found. There were many cars parked in the middle of the road with the middle lane being used as the entrance for the event. Anyone who tried to attend the event would have to pass through some very strict security protocols before they could enter and seemingly disappear without a trace. Some people were given a pass. Although this made it easier to enter the event, you still had to pass through a rigorous security check. The passes were only given to those who were in regular attendance at the event.

The racetrack which was in the middle of the city seemed like a meeting of a street gang, but only insiders knew how special the event was. You could see luxury cars and bikes parked everywhere. The cost of these cars and bikes would make a normal person’s heart fluster. This event was held for influential people that had a love for speed. A large container which held all of the cars made its way into the event and was parked where a male mechanic stood with his arms crossed watching every move the driver made. His demeanour was so intimidating that no one dare approach him, never mind mess with him. His head was turning with his eyes scanning to ensure that everything went to plan. “What cars are going to be arriving today for us to play with?” Payu turned to face that man that approached him from behind and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Just wait and see,” Payu replied. “Phi Pakin just sent a new lot to check a few days ago.”

“Hmmmm” The gorgeous man replied, looking Payu up and down. “You just keep up with that man’s orders.” The guy tapped Payu on the shoulder jokingly as he went to walk away.

“He commands and I oblige”, Payu laughed.

“Phi Pakin doesn’t trust anyone unless it’s you.” Payu shook his head, smiling.

“But you are his favourite racer,” Payu told his friend. For years, Payu had the hobby of maintaining and upgrading superbikes and cars for the race. Prapai, the guy who approached Payu, was a friend and the organiser’s favourite racer. All of his friends called him Pai. “Are you racing today?” Payu asked.

“Nah” Pai responded. “Ever since Oat stopped racing, I haven’t raced either”, he continued to explain. “Who knows, I might give it a try today.” If you were at the races a couple of years back, Payu’s brother and bestie were regular contestants at the race. Pai & Saifah were classmates of the same engineering faculty. His brother had stopped racing to pursue his partner and eventually gave up racing at their request.

“Then let me show you”, Payu told him with a grin on his face. Payu and Pai climbed up onto the podium to show him everything that he had been working on in the last couple of weeks. The workers were slowly unloading the bikes; as they made their way past Pai he kept an eye on what was being offloaded.

“I don’t like any of them,” Pai commented without a second thought. He only came to watch the event. As the two men were laughing and joking with each other, the competition behind them began to heat up.

“The competition for money, girls, s*x or any other type of gratification you desire,” Payu joked with his friend.

“Anyway,” Pai joked back. “The satisfaction of winning is enough for me. The girls don’t matter.” He smiled at Payu. “I haven’t found the person to steal my heart yet or else I would have challenged the person that they were with.” Pai told him confidently. When bets were made on the race, it was all in fun but it had to be consensual by all parties.

“Is it not easier to find that person in the normal world?” Payu asked. Pai eyed his friend suspiciously.

“Why do you sound like you are speaking from experience?” Pai asked. “Have you found someone?” Payu didn’t reply. He just smiled at Pai with a gleam in his eyes. Pai’s eyes widened with shock. “NO WAY!” he shouted. Payu wanted to call Rain before the race just to hear his voice. If he called now, however, the guy would have lost his mind and bared those sharp teeth he liked to try and bite with. Can I do that to a kid? Payu’s inner monologue asked himself. He giggled that it was too cute to watch happen.

While Payu was daydreaming about Rain, little did he know that Rain was on his way to the race track! “Are you sure he’s here,” Rain asked the nervous best friend sitting next to him. There was a board in the middle of the road which read road in construction. Rain diverted and headed a different way, his friend looking at him in disbelief.

“According to the person I spoke to,” Sky started to explain. “He should be here.”

“Who is your source?” Rain asked, frustration littering his voice. Sky would not tell him who he had asked for this precious information because he hated that he had even spoken to him again.

“You don’t need to know that information” Sky retorted. “All I know is the event is taking place here tonight.” Rain was surprised; he didn’t expect this event to take place in a part of the city he knew so well. He drove down this road every day. He was stunned that there was no traffic on the road now and it was empty except for the parked cars from the event.

“Seriously”, Rain turned to Sky. “Who is that?” Sky rolled his eyes, annoyed that his friend would not stop nagging him for the information.

“My ex”, Sky told him. “He is also here.”

“Are you okay?” Rain asked, spotting that something was wrong. “If you are uncomfortable, let me drop you back home?” Worry was dripping from Rain’s voice and was pasted all over his face. Rain had never been in a relationship before, so he had never had experience with an ex, but he knew it was painful. He knew he wasn’t good at conversing with people he found attractive, let alone flirting. The feeling of guilt swept over Rain; he didn’t think about what his friend would have to do to get that information.

“No need” Sky reassured him. “Park the car to the side and we will walk the rest of the way.”

“I can go alone” Rain tried to convince him; he didn’t want to drag his friend into trouble with him.

“Okay” Sky acknowledged. “We are already here, let’s go!” Sky made his way out of the car before Rain could object to anything. As Rain caught up to Sky, he glanced at him with concern. Rain knew he wasn’t comfortable and was second guessing if they should go and find out more about Phi Payu or just move on. The passion that was surging through him when they were devising this pan had been extinguished when Rain saw the disturbed look on Sky’s face.

“Let’s just get this over with and go home” Rain’s inner monologue chimed in. He followed his friend; in the distance you could see the headlights and hear the roar of the engines getting ready to go. As they got closer, they saw the huge security guards at the door. “Why is it forbidden to drive cars there?” Rain asked himself when he saw cars speeding into the middle of the road. This is the right place. “Do we have permission to go inside?” Rain asked Sky, who shook his head, telling Rain no. Sky felt the nerves in him begin to protest what they were doing.

“Ay Rain”, Sky said with his voice shaky. “Can we just go back home?” Rain considered it for a brief second but dismissed the thought, as they had come so far; they couldn’t turn back.

“Huh?” Rain asked him. “Just wait for a while. I haven’t seen Phi Payu yet?” The restlessness that surged through Sky was not settling. In fact, it was becoming more intense the closer they became. “Wait for me!” Rain told Sky as he turned to face him. Although he may get into trouble, he wanted to try and keep Sky out of it. “I will be back in a bit.”

“No” Sky protested. “Let me come with you.” He was scared for Rain to go alone but at the same time scared to be alone. Rain refused and ran away. Sky was left with nothing to do other than sigh and shake his head. He silently prayed that there wasn’t going to be a problem and that he could avoid his ex. The more the thought of his ex swirled around in his head, the more he worried.

Rain, on the other hand, was smiling inside. He thought he could get back at Phi Payu by letting him know that he knew his dirty little secret and would wipe the smile from his dangerously handsome face. There was no need to cause any trouble for anyone else. The closer he came to the event, the more nervous he became. His eyes widened as he saw the number of people that littered the highway. This seemed like a rich kid’s playground. His inner monologue kicked in. “YES! I’m in.” He celebrated to himself. “Okay Rain, quickly find Phi Payu and leave.” He kept searching the sea of unfamiliar faces to find the face that he was dying to see again. He would take a picture and then blackmail him. That was the plan. As he kept searching, all he could see was luxurious bikes and cars with the girls, rich kids and cool suits to match. He was trying to take in as much as possible. What he didn’t know was that he had been spotted by the security guards and they were watching him suspiciously. As he was being followed, he finally spotted one of the bikes that was in Payu’s workshop. He smiled and made his way closer. Payu had to be there.

“Excuse me”. A huge man blocked Rain’s path. “Who are you with?” Rain saw the threatening face and started to panic. He took a step backwards to bump into what he thought was a wall, but when he turned to look it was another security guard.

“May I know your identity?” The guard asked. Rain was still standing against him. Rain took a hard swallow, his palms sweaty and all of his senses tingling that were possible. He knew he was in trouble and panic started to rise in his gut. He didn’t want to get caught either, but he didn’t want to say Phi Payu’s name as well. Even if he was out for revenge, he didn’t want to cause him any problems.

“I was just passing by and didn’t know what was happening...” Rain stuttered. “So, I thought why not check it out.” He blabbered anything that came to his mind. As soon as he said it, he couldn’t help but think how silly it sounded because of where they were stood in the middle of the highway, not in any sort of residential area for anyone to be aware of what was happening. He must have looked like some sort of spy to the guards and he knew it.

“It‘s prohibited to be here without permission”, the security guard told Rain. He was stunned into silence; he didn’t know where to look or what to say. His heart jumped as the men reached out to grab him. His instincts kicked in and his first thought was to run. “HEY!” The security guard shouted. “Stop there!” Rain had not thought of getting caught and what he would do if he was caught. He knew he was going to be in serious trouble if these guys managed to get a hold of him. The fear of not going home was real in his heart and he was running for his life. “Catch that kid!!” Rain heard the yell from behind him but ran into a solid person who was now holding him. He tried to wiggle out with every bit of strength in him, but the person who was holding him was strong. He turned to try and look at the man but he was hoisted on to broad shoulders and was struggling, but whoever had a grip of him held his hips tightly so he didn’t fall.

“Let me go” Rain cried. “Let me go please.”

“This kid is really fast”. The security guard told the man that had a grip of Rain. “Thank you, Khun Payu, for catching him.”

“Khun Payu!” Rain’s inner monologue screamed. When Payu placed him back on the floor, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He now saw the tall guy, his broad shoulders and his long hair tied up in a bun. “s**t!” he shouted inside his head.

“Let us handle him now”, the security officers told Payu.

“It’s okay” Payu advised them. “I will handle it from here.”

Payu was still trying to calm down; he was dismayed at the way the night had ended up. When he heard the commotion, it had peaked his attention away from his friend. But he felt a wave of worry when he realised that the boy running away from the security guards looked familiar. The worry soon dissipated and anger flooded him, leaving his heart and face burning. He left the bikes and cars and followed behind the intruder. “The kid is with me.” He told the security officer, trying to keep the fury at bay and out of his voice.

“Oh!” The security guard said with fear in his eyes. “Sorry, he looked like an unfamiliar face and, more so, he was acting a little suspicious, so we tried to pin him down.”

“I am sorry for the trouble” Payu told the guards, praying that they could be convinced. “Please act like tonight never happened?” Rain could tell Payu was trying to negotiate with them now. “For my sake.” He squeezed Rain closer to him, who was still frozen in terror.

“But...” The security guard stuttered. “We have to tell the boss.”

“I will talk to him myself” Payu reassured him. The security guard nodded and had no reason to distrust Payu as he was their bosses’ favourite mechanic.

“Okay”, The security guard agreed. “But just give us a heads-up next time. It would not have caused such a problem if we had known.”

“Sorry” Payu apologised with a grateful smile on his face. As he saw the security guards leave, he stormed past Prapai who was watching with a keen eye. “Sorry Pai, could you do me a favour? Could you call Saifah to come and handle things here for a few minutes? I will be right back.” Pai could recognise the anger on his friend's face and pitied the young man.

“Ah” Pai told Rain as he was dragged past him. “Good luck to you.” He knew the kid, whoever he was, was in trouble.

Meanwhile, there was someone outside who was getting tenser with every minute that Rain was away. When he couldn’t take anymore, he headed inside to try and find him. He was looking around trying to find Rain when he saw Phi Payu, but was shocked to see his arm around another young man. Gobsmacked, he moved closer to have a look. He looked familiar. When his face turned, Sky was astounded. IT WAS RAIN. He saw Payu throw his friend into a car without giving Rain a chance to escape. He slammed the door. Sky opened his mouth but nothing came out. All he could do was stand and watch as his friend was taken away.

“Are you Payu’s boyfriend’s friend?” Sky whipped his head around when he heard the male voice coming from behind him.He couldn’t help but think the tall guy had an amazing smile. The attraction was instant. The guy raised a key and started to wave in front of him. Sky recognised the key instantly; it was Rain’s car key. “Your friend must have accidentally dropped it.”

“Yes” Sky took a deep breath and actively told himself to remain calm. “May I have them back please?” The big guy smirked at him with a teasing look on his face. “How much should I pay to get them back?” Sky asked.

“You can have them back” The guy held out the keys to Sky and he grabbed them quickly, worried that the man was going to pull the keys away from him. “But...” The guy continued. “Did you know this event requires permission? Sneaking in like this is prohibited.” Prapai held Sky’s hand tightly. The smile on his face looked harmless and friendly, but his fingers refused to let go of Sky.

“So...” Sky paused. “What do you want in exchange for me to leave without causing any problems?” Pai’s smile widened.

“Nong...” Pai paused, looking Sky up and down with s****l desire pulsing through him. “You must know what this Phi wants from you though.” Sky looked up at the guy with a cold gaze. Sky, who was normally caring and friendly to anyone, was now cold and callous. Rain would for sure have been scared if he saw him. He had never seen Sky this way.

“If you want something” Sky started while gripping Pai’s jacket. “You can take it.” Sky’s voice was cold and unrecognisable. But in reality, he was scared and worried. He was relieved by Rain being with someone they knew, but he had to find a way to get out of there quickly.