Cockatoo Pt. 21

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*****

Following the call to Kritsada, I stayed in Cockatoo, chatting to Nin who had brought me another beer. I asked her to join me for a while, and we talked about last night. She had really hated Tony and was delighted with what we had done. I was quietly impressed; she was pretty, her English was excellent, had a great sense of humour and a charming personality. I didn't know if Alex or Areeya had mentioned the job to her, so I didn't say anything, preferring to leave it to the girls. I asked her again not to mention anything about Sam to Areeya or Alex. She was obviously uncomfortable about it, but she agreed. I told her I would take any blame and that it would be sorted very soon.

I drifted down the strip, stopping at one of the massage shops for a Thai massage, performed by a very attractive masseuse. I politely declined the offer of extra services but tipped her well, and fully relaxed, I strolled back to the apartment to find Alex dozing on one of the sofas on the balcony. I took a beer, sat down beside her and watched her sleep. Her face was almost childlike as she lay there, seemingly untroubled by anything. I sipped my beer and thought about how far I had come since my first evening here on Samui. It still seemed unreal that so much had happened to me since then. I smiled to myself as I remembered my shock when I met Alex, and how I had fallen for her so quickly. As if aware I was thinking about her, she stirred, opened her eyes and smiled up at me.

'Hello baby.' she said softly, stroking my face with her fingers. I bent down to kiss her and she wrapped her arms lazily around my neck pulling me down onto the sofa. She rolled over to make room for me and I lay down beside her. She felt warm and soft, as someone does who has just woken up. We kissed for a while before her hands started to drift beneath my t-shirt where her fingers found my nipples, which immediately hardened under her touch. They were still tender from the other night, but she was gentle this time. I sat up and pulled the shirt over my head and as I lay down again, she started to use her tongue on my now rock hard nipples. My nipples have always been sensitive anyway, and the way she was licking and sucking them now was getting my very excited. I undid the buttons on the light cotton blouse she was wearing, one by one, kissing her skin as it was revealed. She lay back and let me fully undo the blouse, and opened it completely to let me lick her nipples through the lace of her bra. I felt them stiffen even through the material and she whispered, 'Oh, I like that.'

I gently pulled down the front of the bra so I could reach her nipples and I swirled my tongue around one, and then the other, returning to the first to suck the diamond hard nub. Alex moaned softly as I moved up to her neck with long, slow licks. She tilted her head back and I kissed the side of her neck, making her purr like a kitten. Her hands went round my head and she brought me up so that we could kiss, our lips and tongues playing with each other, slowly and sensuously. She probed my mouth with her tongue for a while and then slid off the sofa onto her knees. Pulling me up into a sitting position she pushed me back against the back of the sofa, her hands stroking their way across my chest. She stopped as she saw I still had some redness from the other night, when her nails had scored their way across my skin. She softly kissed the red tracks, then kissed and sucked my nipples again. I closed my eyes and laid my head back as she bathed my nipples with her lips and tongue and then her teeth nipped one, but the small, sharp pain merely heightened the pleasure this time.

I felt her drop her hands down and she undid the belt of my shorts and opened the zip. I had not worn boxers today, so my cock stood straight out and I felt her kiss the tip. I kept my eyes closed as I wanted to concentrate on the sensations I was feeling. She took my cock in her hands and stroked it up and down then sliding back the foreskin, uncovering the head. I nearly jumped off the sofa as she blew gently across it, before licking the tip. Giggling to herself, she pushed it back against my chest and licked from root to tip, three or four times, making me arch my back. She blew across the head one more time before curling her tongue around it and finding my little sweet spot between the head and the shaft. Wrapping her fingers around it, Alex slowly started to move her hand to and fro, at the same time taking my balls in her other hand, making me moan in pleasure once more.

She must have let some saliva drop onto the shaft to lubricate it as she began to move her fingers faster and faster. I felt her wrap her lips around the head and as the tip of her tongue found it's way into the slit, I nearly bounced off the sofa in surprise. Alex shoved me back down against the sofa and I tilted my head back, still with my eyes shut. Alex now plunged her mouth over my cock and took me deep until I felt her nose touch my skin. Her head was moving up and down and I could feel myself harden as my climax began to build. Sensing this Alex slowed down, taking me to the edge, and then pulling back, prolonging the climax. She moved back slightly and worked on the head, her tongue flicking and licking the most sensitive parts.

She stopped suddenly, yanked my shorts down and pushed a finger into my mouth. I sucked hard on it as she moved it in and out through my lips. Pulling her finger from my mouth, she pushed my legs apart and moments later, I felt her finger slipping into my hole. I squirmed at first as she moved it deeper into me and then withdrew. She was teasing me by rubbing between my balls and my hole, making me moan out loud once more. I was now jerking my hips as she slid her finger in and out I felt the climax growing deep within me. Alex, sensing I was now so close, once more wrapped her fingers around my shaft and pumped hard, keeping her lips locked around the head. I threw my head back once more and groaned, 'I'm coming, I'm coming now.' I felt myself spasm as my cum pumped into her mouth and Alex kept her lips tight around the head, swallowed everything as I jerked three of four times, and then fell back. As I slumped back against the sofa, I heard people giggling. I snapped my eyes open to see Areeya and Sam standing on the balcony, smiling broadly.

Areeya started to clap and said, 'That was lovely, we really enjoyed the show, thank you.'

'Bloody hell, Areeya, you will make me stroke out one day.' I looked down at Alex, who was grinning like a chimp. 'Did you know they were there?'

'Of course I did, I had my eyes open. I didn't think you wanted me to stop.'

'You could have warned me.' I grumbled.

Standing up, Alex said, 'Where would the fun have been in that?'

I managed to do up my shorts and found my t-shirt.

'Hello you two, did you have a good time?' Alex asked, kissing them both on the cheek. Somehow, I had managed to get my t-shirt stuck around my ears, and Alex had to come and get me free. I stood up and rather sheepishly greeted Sam and Areeya.

"How was the trip?

Sam jumped in, 'It was wonderful. The other side of the island is so pretty and the snorkelling was fantastic. We had a great time thanks.'

She seemed so buzzed, it didn't feel like she had found out about Tony. Yet again, I had that nagging feeling that I might have got this all wrong, but I had clearly seen them together. I needed to be very careful, and very sure of my facts before I did anything.

Sam sat down and said to Alex, 'How was it over here?'

Alex smiled, 'Oh fine, nothing exciting, although we did have a pest control problem.'

'Oh, what was that about?' asked Sam.

'Oh, we had to get rid of a big rat, that's all.' Areeya sniggered and Sam gave her an odd look.

'What? Here at the restaurant, or the bar?'

Alex grinned, 'It was just an annoyance, nothing more than that. Problem solved.'

I was watching Sam closely, but nothing in her face led me to think she knew what we were talking about. Sam stood up and said, 'If it's OK with you guys, I'll go back to the boat and get changed before dinner.'

Alex said she needed to go sort out the restaurant for tonight's service and Areeya wanted to have a sleep before we met for dinner. I said I fancied a massage so I would walk into town with Sam on her way to the boat. We headed off to the strip and chatted casually about the trip on the boat until I said I'd changed my mind about the massage, I would drop into Cockatoo instead. We parted company and I did go to Cockatoo, but nodded to Nin and then walked straight out the back and followed Sam from a distance. She didn't appear to have any idea that she would be followed and it was pretty easy to keep tabs on her.

As I had guessed, she didn't turn off to the pier, but walked on to the hotel where Tony had been staying. She went straight in and emerged a few minutes later with a puzzled look on her face. if there was ever any doubt, there was none now. She was involved with Tony up to her neck. She looked around, clearly confused by Tony's departure, then walked towards the pier and was obviously heading for the boat. I followed her onto the pier and caught up just as she was about to board the boat.

'Sam.'

At the sound of my voice she whirled around.

'James, what are you doing here? I thought you were at Cockatoo.'

'Sam, we need to talk, right now.'

'About what? Can't it wait until later?'

'No, we have to talk now, Sam, before you see Areeya tonight.'

She started to look worried, catching the look on my face.

'Er, OK, let's talk on board.'

We walked onto the boat and sat down at the table.

'Sam, I want some honest answers, what's your relationship with Tony?' Her face went blank, 'Tony? Tony who?'

'Sam, don't treat me like a fool, you know perfectly well who. Tony, the journalist who wrote the stories about Alex, Areeya and me after the pirate attack. He's been here trying to shake us down. You've been seen meeting him, and please don't deny it, because I have the photographs to prove it. You just went to the hotel where he was staying to find he's gone.'

'Her face dropped, You were following me?'

'Sam, you've been caught red handed, don't deny it, just tell me the truth.'

'Where is he? I won't tell you anything, until I know where is.'

'He's back in London. he's been scared, but unharmed.' Not strictly true, but I wasn't going to tell her that yet.

Sam leant back in the chair, blew out a long breath and looked out to sea.

'OK, OK. Does Areeya know anything about this? she asked, still not looking at me.

'No,' I said, 'Only me so far. I wanted to hear your story before I did anything.'

She finally looked at me and I could see tears forming in her eyes.

'I'm sorry, James, things got out of hand, I'm really sorry. What you have to know is that if i could roll back time I would do so in a heartbeat, I never meant to hurt any of you.' She wiped her eyes, sniffed and went on, 'Tony is my brother.'

Shit, I thought, that was why he seemed vaguely familiar when I met him. 'My half brother, actually. My dad died and Mum married again, and had Tony. there's about three years difference between us. He had a good future as a journalist once, but then the booze took hold and it was downhill from there. He might have had a future on one of the big papers once, but it was a downhill slide to a grotty little regional paper.'

She paused, wiping her eyes again before continuing. 'When the attack happened and I was asked to come out here, he found out I worked for the same company as you, and he pestered me for information. He was about to get sacked again, and he thought this story would save him, get him back up the ladder once more. I didn't see any harm in it. I hadn't met you, Areeya or Alex and it seemed so easy to pass on information about what was happening. But once he got his claws into me, he just kept coming back for more and more, threatening to expose me as his leak at the company. I hoped it would all die down, I didn't know it would blow up as it did.'

She looked at me, pleading with me to believe her.

'He kept on and on about it. It was getting him some attention from the other newspapers and he couldn't stop. By the time I had got here and met you, and Areeya and Alex, I stopped feeding him anything. I even tried to warn you as far as I could. He went beserk and by than, I think he had done some digging on his own and came up with Areeya's link with her father. He saw that as his big story, his route back to the big time as an investigative reporter. I tried to put him off, but he flew out to Thailand, and then on here. I was desperate to stop him, but I think he had lost the plot completely now. he was always talking about getting a payoff from you all. He had come off the rails completely, I think. He was drunk most of the time and I tried and tried to get him to give up and go back to London, but he wouldn't. Shi, shit, shit, I didn't want any of this to happen, I was trying to stop it, believe me.'

She stopped and tears trickled down her face. 'He promised he wouldn't do anything until I got back today. I was going to pay him to go home. I'm telling the truth, you have to believe me.'

There was little doubt in my mind she was telling the truth; only a psychopath could fake the way she was telling this story, and I didn't think she was one.

'Why didn't you tell us, or Areeya about this? Just come clean about it?'

'I thought I could deal with it, without getting anyone else involved. I didn't want to confess to you or Areeya, especially. I thought I had too much to lose. Fuck him, I should have walked away from him.'

'He's family, Sam.'

'I know, but I've been hauling him out of shit for as long as I can remember. Now, he's dropped me right into it.'

She put her face in her hands and sobbed, her tears rolling down into the deck.

Without looking up she said, 'What happened, James?'

'He was sniffing around Cockatoo, asking the girls questions. They called me and I went down to see who he was. He didn't recognise me, he was too drunk. He told me he was a journalist after a story about me and Alex and Areeya, and our links with her father. He was so drunk he told me a lot more than he should. We had him followed to the hotel where he was spotted with you. I was the only one who knew that, but the others knew about him. I thought he looked familiar, but now I know why. Alex went mad, but we calmed her down and came up with a plan to scare him away. I met him and asked him what he was really after. He wanted a hundred grand sterling to begin with.'

'The fucking fool,' Sam shook her head. 'He thought he was so smart.'

'We made him an offer of 50 US and he accepted. He came to the bar to collect and, well, he wanted one of the girls as well.'

Sam looked up and started to cry again.

'We drugged him, and put the fear of God into him about what would happen if he didn't leave and forget about the story. You don't need to know the details Sam. He flew out this morning, and onto London. He won't be coming back.'

'The stupid little idiot. He was so in over his head.'

'He's lucky he was dealing with us, Sam. If he had gone up against Kritsada, it wouldn't have gone well.'

She had stopped crying, but sat there biting her lip and looking out to sea.

'What are you going to do, James?'

I didn't say anything for a few seconds. 'To be honest, Sam, I don't know. I wanted to hear your side of the story, because even though I knew you were involved somehow, it didn't seem to square with what I thought I knew about you. Whatever it was I expected to hear, it wasn't this.'

Sam looked at me, distraught.

I said, 'Neither Alex, nor Areeya knows anything about this. I think they need to know, but it shouldn't be me who tells them.'

'You mean, I should.'

I nodded, 'As I see it, you have two choices, Sam. One, tell Areeya everything, as you have just told me. She will tell Alex, anyway. They don't keep secrets from each other. If you're not prepared to do that then you should leave straight away and tell Areeya it's over between you. I would not be able to keep this from Areeya. I believe what you told me, Sam. It makes sense with what I know about you, but I can't cover this up for you, it would be too much of a weight for me to carry.'

She looked everywhere but at me. 'You're right, I know. Can I borrow your phone? I lost mine. I'll tell Areeya I'm not feeling so good for dinner tonight. I'll ask her to come back here and tell her tonight.'

I handed Sam my phone, knowing that Areeya would realise I had been here, but that couldn't be helped.

Sam called and spoke briefly to Areeya, telling her that she had felt ill in town and I had helped her back to the boat. Areeya would be on her way in a few minutes. Sam gave me the phone back, stood up and with tears in her eyes, said, 'James, whatever happens, I want you to know I think you're a great guy. Keeping this to yourself, and then listening to me first means you're stand up. Thank you.'

She hugged me and went inside the cabin to wait for Areeya. I walked off the boat, not wanting to be there when Areeya arrived. This had to be between the two of them. I took the side streets to get back to the apartment to avoid Areeya and found Alex on the balcony. She took one look at my face and said, 'What the fuck is going on. What have you been doing?'

'I need a drink first, it's a long story,'

I got myself a scotch and Alex already had a beer. I sat down next to her and took her through the whole story, from when Nin first saw Sam with Tony, until tonight and finishing with Sam's story. When I finished Alex was quiet, normally a bad sign. I waited for an explosion, but none came. She went to fetch herself a beer and me another scotch.

'I feel so sorry for Areeya, I don't know how she will take this. I guess i feel sorry for Sam, too. I didn't see this coming. I can see now why Nin and Pao were behaving a bit oddly.'

'Don't blame them,' I said, 'I asked them to keep it to themselves. They weren't happy doing it, but it's not their fault,'

Alex looked at me and said, 'Oh, I don't blame them at all. I blame you entirely for it.' She paused and then went on, 'I don't know whether to punch you in the face for keeping this from me, or to give you the fuck of your life as a reward for doing it this way. You took a big risk, you know. It could have gone completely tits up.'

I nodded, 'You can't say it's gone well, but it didn't make sense to me that Sam would be on Tony's side. I had to find out the truth before blowing the whistle.'

'Do you think we were too hard on Tony?' she said.

'No, I don't think so, nothing we know now changes what he did, or was trying to do. He got what he deserved.'

Alex came and sat on my lap, 'I told you that you didn't know how good you were.'

She nuzzled my neck and said, 'Is there anything else you're keeping from me?'

'Well, I have to go see Kritsada tomorrow. I have to sign the paperwork for the buyout and to sort out the payment. it's due in three days time. I know Kritsada will make me pay more if it's late.'

She laid her head on my chest. 'I hope Areeya will be OK, should we go see if she's alright?'

I put my arms around her and kissed her hair. 'No. I think she would want to handle this on her own, I think she will let us know what she needs.'

We stayed like that for a while, listening to the sea and holding each other. It must have been an hour later when we heard someone walking slowly up the stairs. Areeya gradually appeared and Alex jumped off my lap, took one look at Areeya and ran over to her. She opened her arms and embraced Areeya. I stood up and slowly walked across to them as Areeya looked at me and tried to smile. Instead, she began to cry on Alex's shoulder and I put my hand on her arm. Areeya put one arm around me and we were all hugging. Her tears hot on my skin as she cried silently between Alex and myself. Areeya eventually stopped crying, grabbed hold of Alex's hand and walked across to the sofa. They sat down on one and I took the other. She took a deep breath and said, 'I'm sorry for what has happened, and especially I'm sorry for and you, James. You took a lot on yourself and I thank you for that.'