“Damn it, just when it was starting to get good,” he jokes before placing a kiss on the tip of my nose as I wrestle my damp body back into my underthings and pull my dress over my head. Kai is a lot more relaxed but still manages to cover himself before our company descends on the pool.
“Let's just move over there a little bit so that we can have lunch,” Kai suggests, pointing to another flat boulder a little further away. “Then we shouldn’t be disturbed by the people swimming.”
Gathering our things, we move away as the people we had heard arrive in the clearing. Kai shakes out the blanket, gesturing for me to have a seat while he unpacks the basket. As he does that I study the people who have just arrived. It looks like a couple of family groups with teenage kids who’re acting like they'd rather be anywhere but here until they spot the pool. With a holler, the boys quickly strip off their shirts and race to the water. The couple of girls are less enthusiastic, but they strip down to bathing suits and follow nonetheless. Their squeals and shouts echo as they hit the cold water while the parents take a seat on the boulder we had just vacated, looking ready for a break.
“Here.” Kai passes me a plate of food, bringing my attention back to him. There’s cold chicken and salad, along with some crusty buttered bread. He passes me a can of soda to go with it.
“Yum, this looks delicious,” I tell him as we dig in.
We’ve been eating for a while when I finally get the guts to ask the question that’s been rolling around in my mind since last night.
“Kai, will you tell me how you came to be with Brad? What happened to your family?” A shutter comes down over his eyes, and I see him withdraw into himself. It’s the first time this fun, charming man has looked so… sad. In fact, he lookssosad, so unlike the happy, enthusiastic guy I know, that I try to backtrack until he cuts me off.
“I’ll tell you, but it’s not a pretty story. My mom and dad weren't childhood sweethearts or anything. They hooked up, and my mother got pregnant. My dad was thrilled; he had always wanted children, and he asked her to marry him. She said yes, but because it was demanded of her by her parents. She was an only child, and her mother and father were her only family as well. They wanted her to provide her child with stability, and they were firm believers in the idea that if she was adult enough to have unprotected sex, she was adult enough to be someone’s wife. Mom was seventeen and my father twenty. He was an only child too, but his parents had died the previous year, so he had no one. Mom and I were an instant family for him, and he couldn’t have been happier about not being alone any longer.”
He looks up at me, his eyes glistening with tears that are just so out of place, and my heart lurches. I feel like now that he’s started, he needs to finish. Telling me this will open up a door between us, and I want that to happen, but at the same time, I’m ready to make any promise in the world to ensure that he never has this look in his eyes again. Swallowing hard, he lets a shuddered breath out. I can tell this story is about to go bad, so I reach out a hand and grab hold of his.
“He was a great dad. We played ball, he taught me to surf, and he was my best friend. He worked hard to provide for us, but he wasn't raking in big bucks, so we had a comfortable life, or that’s what I remember. But my mother wasn't happy. In fact, she became increasingly unhappy as time went on. Dad was going to work and coming home to look after me while my mother was going out and ‘finding herself.’ Turns out Mom was sick of the ball and chain that was me and Dad, and she was doing drugs and sleeping around.”
His eyes drop away while he tells me all this, focusing on a spot on the ground. “It was late one night; Dad had put me to bed after reading me a story, but something woke me. Hearing shouting, I stumbled out of bed and wandered out to the kitchen, realizing it was my parents screaming at each other. Dad just kept asking her why until she screamed, ‘Because I hate you and I hate that fucking kid.’ There was a thud, more of my dad’s shouting, and then there was a gunshot.” He takes a deep breath, his shoulders shaking with the force of the subsequent exhale.
“I was afraid and didn’t know what to do, so I ran and hid in a closet. I heard the kitchen door open, and she started wandering through the house, calling my name, but I didn't answer. When the cops found me, I was curled up asleep under a pile of clothes. A lady was with them, and she picked me up and carried me out of the house, but not before I looked through the open kitchen door and saw the blood all over the floor. When she carried me outside, there were all these flashing lights and an ambulance. My mother was handcuffed next to a police car, screaming at everyone, but Dad was nowhere to be seen.” His now haunted eyes meet mine, and one of those tears slides down his face as I feel one of my own on my cheek.
“Turns out Mom was hopped up on something, and she shot him dead. They said it was a lucky shot, there was no way she should have been able to hit him in the chest in her state, but by the time the neighbors had called the police, they only arrived in time to find him dead on the floor. He died, bleeding out on the floor all alone, because I was a coward and hid.”
I gasp at his words and scoot myself toward him, pushing aside the picnic stuff so I can wrap my arms around him.
“No, Kai, not a coward. You were a kid,” I try to reassure him. I know how it feels to take on a responsibility that isn’t yours to shoulder. For so long, I thought that I had played a part in my mom’s behavior, but I can look back at that now and know that she was fucked up all on her own. It wasn’t that scared little boy’s job to stop his deranged mother, and I’ll tell him that however many times he needs until he starts to believe it.
“The social worker told me that I probably would have been next if I hadn’t hid. That’s why my mom was calling my name; she wanted to make sure that she got rid of both of us. Anyway, she’s serving a life sentence in the women's prison, and I haven't seen her since. With no immediate family to speak of, I ended up in the foster system. The foster family I was placed with knew Brad through working in the original Neighpalm Hotel here in Hawaii, and they heard he was looking to adopt, so they approached him when he was here for a meeting. They were lovely people, and I think I could have had a nice life with them, but they thought that I would be a better fit for Brad. The rest is history.”
Pulling his head around, I rest my forehead against his and force him to look at me. I lean in slowly enough that he has time to pull back if he’s not in the mood for this type of comfort, but when he remains still, I place a kiss to his soft lips. “Thank you for sharing your pain with me.” His body relaxes as I kiss him, his eyes open but finally filled with relief, and after a moment, he lunges for me, wrapping my body in a tight embrace.
“Woohooo, get it, man!” one of the teenagers yells, lightening the atmosphere. Kai and I pull apart, and when we look over, the boys are giving him a thumbs up. The parents, on the other hand, look mortified as they call out their apologies. Kai waves them off but stands up and starts to pack our things away, the mood lighter and more peaceful now.
Helping him, it’s not long before we’re hiking contentedly back down the trail toward our car. The drive back to the hotel doesn't take long, and I’m looking forward to having a shower to wash off the sweat I accumulated on the walk home. We’re just pulling into the underground parking garage when Kai grunts.
“What's wrong?” I ask, a little concerned as he pumps his foot up and down on the brake.
“Fuck, the brakes aren’t working!” he shouts as he takes a corner too fast. The downhill slope of the underground garage has us steadily speeding up. The tires squeal as he tries to turn, but the car is moving wildly without the brakes to balance us out.
“Fuck, Harlow!” he shouts. “Brace yourself!” He tries to slow the car down by weaving back and forth; thank god there aren’t many other cars down here. His adrenaline junkie habits must have included some kind of crazy driving classes because so far, he’s managed to miss them more smoothly than I could’ve imagined. Unfortunately, any relief is extremely short lived because we’re approaching the wall much,muchtoo fast.
With another chorus of murmured curses, he pulls the hand brake, but it’s too late. My body is thrown forward, and there’s a huge crash as the airbags explode around us when the wall suddenly stops our forward momentum. As the front of the Jeep crumples on impact, my seatbelt slams me in place, knocking the wind out of me and exerting a bruising pressure on my body that I know I’ll feel later.
Dazed and confused, the smoke from the airbags causes me to choke. I look over to the side to find Kai’s got a cut on his forehead. There’s blood trickling down his face, and he looks a little dazed but otherwise alright.
His gaze meets mine, his eyes darting around like he’s having a little trouble focusing. “Are you okay?” he groans.
“Yeah, I think so,” I tell him, trying to assess how I feel. There’s a ringing in my ears, but I can hear a shout over it. Before I can work out the noise, my door is wrenched open and Jaxon is there. Frantic with worry, there’s fear written all over his face.
“What the fuck happened? We all felt that upstairs.” Kai’s door is wrenched open as well, but from my vantage point, I can’t see who’s there. I struggle to move again, but Jaxon holds me in place.
“Just wait, Harlow. An ambulance and search and rescue team is on its way. We need to let them get you out and have a look at you. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I hurt you because we acted too hastily.”
I lean back with a sigh, knowing he’s right but finding that common sense is not my best friend right now. As I try to quiet my racing heart and find some semblance of calm, one thought brings that panic surging back.
How the fuck did our brakes fail?
