“Oh, we wouldn’t want that.”
“I know. Right?” He wiggled his freshly painted toes.
I couldn't help it. I chuckled. "I see you've been having a difficult time on the island."
"Oh, the most difficult." He pressed a hand to his chest. "The stress, Nyomi. The trauma. You have no idea what I've endured on this island. No idea."
"Oh really? What trauma have you gone through. Was it the pyre?"
He blinked. “The what?”
Hiroko shook her head. “She’s talking about the BBQ we weren’t invited to.”
I quirked my brows.
“I told him not to think about it.” Hiroko shrugged her shoulders. “Surely, there will be other BBQs. Right?”
“Uh. . .yes.” I figured Hiroko did not want to deal with a Zo that knew there’d been a pyre of hundreds of people burning today. And being that I’d dealt with an anxious Zo many times before, I understood. “Yeah. And don’t worry. I didn’t go to the BBQ either.”
“Oh.” Zo nodded. “Then, clearly they didn’t want the best people there, because honey, we are everything and more.”
“Yes. We are.”
“It did smell so good.”
My stomach twisted. “Yeah. . .delicious.”
"But anyway, let’s get back to my hardships.” Zo waved that away. “First, there was the lack of proper skincare products. Then the absence of decent Wi-Fi. And don't even get me started on the thread count of the sheets in my room."
He shuddered. "Criminal. Absolutely criminal."
I laughed, and it felt good. A pure release after Hiroko’s little horror story in the golf cart.
"But I persevered." Zo took a grape from the attendant's fingers and popped it into his mouth. "I found the weed hookup. I connected with Deja and Nika. And you know how Deja’s cousin is. . .a pure cheapskate. She took all my weed, so I had to go back and get more. That’s the last time I’m smoking with Nika. Like talk about poverty mindset! Anyway, I demanded better pillows and received them. All and all, I survived."
"You’re a true hero."
"I know. It is exhausting being this resilient."
The person at his feet finished the topcoat and began gathering their supplies.
Zo examined his toes with approval, then glanced back at me. “Perfect.”
And for a moment, watching him there—pampered, attended to, surrounded by luxury—I thought of Kiko.
Kenji’s Maybe-baby mama.
Where is she now? And what is she doing?
I was sure that she was being pampered somewhere on this island too. Carrying twins tended to earn you that kind of treatment. Especially when those twins might belong to the Dragon.
Might.
That word sat in my chest like a stone.
Hiro had told me they hadn't done a paternity test. Said it wasn't their way to disturb a pregnancy. That the testing would come after the babies were born.
And I understood that. Respected it, even.
