“I don’t know what that means,” Kalani said.
“Come on. I’ll explain as we go.” I motioned for her to follow me. “Beaver has your phone.”
“Why?” she interrupted.
“If you’d have let me finish, you’d know why. Because he handles all the IT shit. If you call from your phone, he needs to mask the call so it looks like you’re calling from Makani not Kahakai. Unless you want to leave digital evidence placing you in Kahakai when you were indeed in Kahakai killing someone.”
“Excuse me for asking questions instead of blindly following you. Until a few minutes ago, you were the man who kidnapped me.”
“And you’re still the bitch who stabbed me.”
“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes! It was an honest mistake! I’ve explained this several times, and Birdie traded her magic patch. What else do you want from me?”
“A drop of respect,” I said.
“Oh, well you have to earn that,” she said, as if that explained everything. And I guess it did for her, because she dropped the topic instead of continuing to pester the hell out of me and everyone else in her vicinity.
EIGHTEEN
KALANI
Coochie was right. The Stinky Dog was closed. I didn’t have to call to find out. When Beaver turned on my phone, numerous text messages and voicemails came through, and one was from Everly telling me they were closing the bar for the next two days, maybe longer.
When I finished looking through my messages, I asked, “Do Ihaveto leave my phone with you?”
Beaver nodded.
I frowned. “I might have a problem.”
“Fucking hell,” Sugar groaned. “What problem?”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I said and looked at Beaver when I answered. “I still have the high bid on an item I really want. The listing ends tonight, but I won’t know if someone places a higher bid without my phone.”
Beaver moved to the side and gestured to his keyboard. “Pull up the listing. I’ll watch it for you.”
“Really?” I asked excitedly. “Thank you! It ends at midnight. I’ve been the only person to bid so far, but that doesn’t mean anything. Somebody could wait until the last minute and steal it from me. Here it is.”
Beaver looked at the screen and laughed. “Fuck yes! I’ll make sure you get it.”
“What is it?” Sugar asked.
“A handmade resin butthole keychain,” I said excitedly. “In light brown.”
He gave me that look again—the one that said he thought I was insane. I don’t know what it was, but I really enjoyed seeing that look on his face. Maybe even loved it.
“All right. Now that Beaver is watching your butthole, let’s go downstairs and get something to eat.”
“How will I know if someone bids against me?” I asked.
“I’ll text Sugar,” Beaver said.
“You’ll be my booty messenger?”
“Fuck me,” he grumbled. “Yes, fine. Can we go? I’m fucking hungry.”
