I had a hard time connecting with Holly at first. As much as I liked her, despite some of the oddities she presented that clearly displayed a lack of social awareness, I couldn’t help but feel like she was replacing Nishi. When Holly and I first met, wedidn’t know Nishi’s fate. All I knew was that my best friend had been abducted and likely sexually trafficked. It felt disrespectful to like Holly as much as I did, to want to connect with her and get to know her, while my best friend’s fate was still unknown. Even now, I could not call Holly anything more than a friend. Nishi’s gruesome death was still too fresh. Maybe someday, but not now.
Holly was a little thing, only a couple of inches over five feet. Her hair was cropped short, looking like it had once been sheared close to her head. I got the feeling that she hadn’t had many girlfriends in her life, and I felt honored she was willing to let me in. Following Nishi’s death when I was trying to come to terms with what had happened to her, Holly had confided in me that she was gang raped when she was only fifteen years old. I was horrorstruck. I assumed she’d been assaulted, and by multiple men, but I certainly had never guessed it had happened when she was that young. It immediately explained all her oddities I’d noticed about her, along with her clear distrust of men. She referred to Bacon as “Master Mal”, even in public. He was her Dom. As fascinated as I was by their dynamic, I hadn’t yet asked about it in detail. Somehow that felt more private than the admission of her assault.
“Ready?”
I looked up at Aloiki, who now hovered over me after taking our dishes into the kitchen, and raised an eyebrow. The wedding wasn’t until early afternoon. I had plenty of time to get ready. “For what?”
“For your day of pampering and not lifting a goddamn finger.”
I blinked in confusion. He made it sound like I worked myself to the bone daily, when the truth was the exact opposite. I hadn’t been back to work since the day after I discovered Nishi was missing. That was over eight months ago. Aloiki didn’t like theidea of me going back to work, especially while pregnant. I spent my days learning about birthing and baby things. I traveled with him to his surf shop or to the brewery. Then, after our home was destroyed, I was working on handling insurance and cleanup so Aloiki didn’t have to and he could put all his efforts into finding Nishi. I certainly didn’t sit on my ass all day watching television, but I also could be busier if I pushed it.
Which I didn’t do. As much as it irked the feminist in me, the truth was that I loved being pampered.
My eyes trailed over his tanned skin. His disdain for wearing shirts was my favorite trait about him. It meant eye candy for me all day long. His honed muscles were perfection, and the fact that he was all mine? Heat rose inside me and I wiggled on my seat a little to try to relieve the pressure.
“Does ‘pampering’ mean ‘orgasms’?” I asked him saucily.
His eyes dilated at my words, blending in seamlessly to his dark irises that it made them appear as black as his hair. “Not in this case.” Then he added with a wicked smile, “That’s tomorrow’s pampering. Today’s is a fifty-minute prenatal massage followed by a facial, hair, nails, and whatever else women do at spas.”
I wasnotexpecting that answer. “Nadia and Kensi said they’d help me with my hair.”
“Tell them to cancel,” he ordered. “I’ve got it handled.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. Just when I thought I couldn’t love this man anymore, he went and did something like this. And damn him, a prenatal massage sounded positively heavenly right now!
I wrapped my hands around his neck and laced my fingers to secure him down to my level, though I was under no delusion that I could actually hold him there if he wanted to break free. “I love you.”
In true Aloiki fashion, he winked. “Fuck yeah, you do.”
When I could no longer ride on the back of Aloiki’s motorcycle, he surprised me by getting a car, or a “cage” as bikers call it. In the decade I had known Aloiki, I hadneverseen him behind the wheel of a car. If he couldn’t take his bike or his horse, Koa, he normally didn’t go. But acar? I still had a hard time believing he bought it.
The sleek, silverAudiQ7 was sporty and a bit flashier than I would have expected Aloiki to choose for himself. Yet I should have known better because hedidn’tchoose it for himself. He chose it for me. Because of course he did. According to Aloiki, theAudireceived top pick in safety ratings and he would accept no less for the vehicle that would be driving me and our son around.
Bacon and Holly sat in the back seat. I was thrilled when Aloiki told me that his gift for my pampering spa day extended to Holly. She wasn’t comfortable getting a massage or a facial, but she was going to have her hair and nails done with me. Nadia and Kensi would also meet us for a late lunch at the restaurant hosting our reception.
Aloiki was leaving to handle everything with Kiana, our wedding planner. I trusted him completely and never had a single hesitation about sending him off with a hot, not-pregnant woman for the afternoon. Not only would he be surrounded by his club brothers who would immediately come to my defense, but infidelity was inconceivable. Aloiki was mine. Some might question my sanity for that statement—after all, he was a porn star who had slept with countless women throughout his career. To them, I would say “fuck you”, because they had no concept ofwhat true love was if they thought either of those things affected our relationship.
Since the club brothers would be helping Aloiki and Kiana ensure that everything was set up and ready for the ceremony, he was leaving behind two Prospects, Beetle and Khal Drogo, or KD, to guard Holly and me, though they would be stationed in the front waiting room instead of back in the spa area with us.
I was pretty sure I died and went toLani, or heaven, during my massage. I was in such a state of bliss that I didn’t want it to end. My masseuse applied just the right amount of pressure to turn me into a pile of goo. Even without the hot stones, I had no complaints.
Holly laughed when she saw me waddling my way out of the room. She was in the back waiting room, which had three other women inside. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were drunk.”
I smiled at her and sipped my cucumber water. “I’m definitely flying high. Especially after last night, it was almost too much.”
Aloiki gifted me a maternity kimono, a covering I hadn’t needed before today since he preferred me completely naked at home. It was pink with sage-colored hibiscus imprinted on the soft fabric. I was barefoot, which was a common practice here. The only time I’d been forced to wearkama?a lole, or sneakers, as standard attire was during the four years I’d lived on the Mainland when I’d left Aloiki.
Holly set the magazine she’d been looking at down on the end table as I took a seat next to her. “I’ve never been to a spa before. Does it usually smell like this?” She crinkled her nose adorably.
The three other women in the room chatted among themselves. They looked like a mother, daughter, and grandmother party. Looking at them made my heart hurt,because my own mom was boycotting my wedding. Both my parents hated Aloiki and thought I’d been knocked up by the spawn of Satan, but it was my refusal to get married in a Baptist church that would keep them away today. As an only child with no living grandparents, in addition to Nishi’s death, my parents’ absence was hitting me harder than I thought it would.
Mamawas born in Hawai‘i, but her family was Baptist. Mymakuakane, my dad,was Polynesian and converted to marry her. Which was something mymakuakanenever let her forget. I had been baptized when I was a preteen, but I was not Baptist in my heart. Like Aloiki, I wasKanaka Maoliand followed the spirits of our homeland.
I forced myself to look away. It wasMama’s choice not to come today, and she would have to live with that fact. My son wasn’t even born yet and she was already giving me grief about getting him baptized, which was not going to happen. If she pressed the issue, Aloiki would have no hesitation in removing her completely from our son’s life. It would only be for my sake that it wouldn’t be permanently from this world.
Putting a smile on my face, I did my best to ignore the gaping hole in my heart. Mymakuahine, my mom, should be at my wedding.Bothmy parents should. The fact that they weren’t because of religious differences cut as deep as any knife.
“It’s the oils and incense,” I finally replied. Based on the expression on her face, I took a bit too long to answer, but thankfully, she seemed to be ignoring the misstep. “I can’t believe you’ve never been to a spa before.” My throat tightened and my chin started to tremble as I added, “Nishi and I used to come all the time. Not this one specifically, but there was another that gave student discounts that we had standing appointments at when we were in college.”
