Page 92 of Try Easy

The whistle of the percolator pierced the air, startling Keoni.

“Shit,” Keoni said, jumping up from his seat.

“Calm down, bruddah,” Bones said.

Keoni stood up from the stool so fast that it clattered to the ground. Bones turned around at the sound, raising an eyebrow at Keoni.

“I’m outta here,” Keoni said, giving the stool a kick as he stormed from the room.

“Where you goin’?”

“I dunno,” Keoni admitted, pausing to grab his shoes and shirt off the floor.

Bones stood in the kitchen looking at Keoni. “I never saw you like this before, cuz,” he said. He walked slowly into the living room, watching Keoni pull on his shirt and step into his shoes. “You really love her, eh?”

Keoni sank down to the sofa with a sigh. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Bones sat down on the chair across from Keoni and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Maybe you didn’t try hard enough, eh?” Bones said. “Not everything is so easy.”

Keoni glared at Bones. “You’re the one already making time with another girl.”

In a flash Bones was up from his chair. He grabbed Keoni by the neck of his shirt and yanked him off his feet. Keoni and Bones hadn’t fought since they were teenagers, back when they were matched in size. Since Bones had shot up six inches and gained fifty pounds, they hadn’t laid hands on each other. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight.

Bones’s face turned a deep shade of purple, and a vein throbbed in his neck. Keoni steeled himself to fight his cousin, knowing he would be lucky to get in a single punch. Bones was going to crush him, but part of Keoni craved the pain. Physical pain would be better than what was going on inside his body.

Bones dropped Keoni back to the ground as quickly as he’d jerked him up. He stalked across the room, stopping at the window with his fists clenched at his sides.

“It was never gonna work with Penny and me,” Bones said. “Pops woulda fuckin kilt me if I’da brought home a haole girl like her.” Bones raked a hand through his curly hair, disheveling it even more. “Can you imagine the family dinner?” he asked, choking on a laugh. Turning away from the darkened yard outside the window, Bones pinned Keoni with a stony gaze. “But you and Lou? Different story, eh? You got nothing to lose.”

Keoni adjusted the neck of his shirt where Bones had grabbed him. “I asked her to stay,” he said. “She shot me down.”

“So ask again,” Bones said.

“She has this whole plan for her life. I don’t fit into it.”

Bones stared at Keoni as if the solution was simple and he was too stupid to see it. “So make her fit into yours,” he said. He went back into the kitchen. “You want coffee?” he asked.

“Nah,” Keoni said, picking up his keys and wallet from the table.

“You going to Waimea?” Bones asked.

“Nah,” Keoni said, opening the front door. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care about surfing. He didn’t care about anything.

Bones laughed. “Wherever you’re going, take a shower first,” Bones called after Keoni. “You look like shit.”

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