Husk Read Online Free PDF Page B

designed to ensure that you wouldn’t end up where you eventually did. Sure, tell me I’m bitching about my First World problems, except too much of the West ain’t looking like First World anything any more. We’re more like Second World now, reminiscentof Cold War Russia, amilitary superpower with a miserable middle-class population facing few legitimate ladders they can climb and getting more desperate by the day.
    So what do you do if you don’t want that desperation in your life? You acquire an understanding, a moral flexibility to do something lucrative off the books, off the radar, and often in bad taste. You find that double-edged sword which doesn’t scareyou like it scares other people, and throw yourself on it. Husking and I found each other, one part destiny and one part design. We go hand in hand. You want to be someone rich and special in life? Well, for periods of up to three days at a time, I’m some of the wealthiest, most high-profile people who ever lived. There’s an awful lot profit to be made in this business. I do what I do for the money,plain and simple.
    Smooth touchdown at JFK International and I’m feeling better about myself. I apologize to the stewardesses for being a consummate dickhead and take a double espresso to go. Outside the airport I hail a cab back to the East Village and boot up my favourite eighties playlist. I’m listening to Hall & Oates’s ‘Out of Touch’ when Ryoko calls. I love the timing. Feels like a littletouch of fate.
    ‘Hi, beautiful,’ I say.
    ‘Hi, handsome,’ she replies, but it lacks warmth. ‘Where you at?’
    That fateful feeling takes on a darker tone. She doesn’t sound like herself and I wonder quickly if it actually is Ryoko or if it’s one of her clients breaking the rules by going through the contacts on her Liaison. I throw out our little codeword to make sure.
    ‘Just on my way home fromthe airport, sugarplum.’
    ‘Fancy meeting me for a drink, cheesecake?’
    It’s her. I breathe a sigh of relief and throw back the rest of my espresso to give me enough energy for a round or two.
    ‘Love to. Where’re you thinking?’
    ‘How about Harbinger’s in half an hour?’
    ‘Sounds good. See you there.’
    She hangs up, leaving me to wonder what’s got her panties in a twist. Then I can’t stop thinkingabout her panties, the trademark lacy pink ones that I love tearing away from her fantastic ass. The thought electrifies me, despite my exhaustion. I wonder if she’ll take me for a quickie in the bar bathroom when we meet.
    When I get to Harbinger’s it becomes obvious it won’t happen. I find Ryoko in a private booth nursing a glass of Chardonnay. She looks dark around the eyes and the musclesin her gorgeous face seem slack and tired. Otherwise, she’s stunning, her striking half-Swedish, half-Japanese features never failing to turn heads. There’s good reason why she falls under the
exotic
category.
    ‘Hi, you,’ I say as I plunk down beside her.
    ‘Hi, you.’
    I kiss her gently on the nose as she nuzzles up to me, resting her head on my shoulder. A beefy, balding waiter comes and I ordera gin and tonic.
    ‘I tried calling you the other day,’ Ryoko says.
    ‘I was in Vegas.’
    ‘Working?’
    ‘Yeah, you?’
    She shakes her head. ‘I haven’t worked in a few days now, not since I got back from London. I think I need a little time off to be honest.’
    ‘I was thinking the same thing.’
    ‘Yeah, well, the boss is going to be crawling up your ass about more gigs. Demand is up again. Baxter has beencalling me non-stop. I’ll probably have to go back soon.’
    My gin and tonic arrives and I take a long drink. It’s not like Ryoko to turn down gigs, but the fact she’s willing to makes me want to do the same. I need a timeout, a breather. Everything lately has seemed like some sort of masochistic marathon. Ryoko chews her bottom lip in a way that looks like she’s trying to be cute. What it meansis anything but.
    ‘What