Page 4 of Deadly Aloha
“Lucky me,” I quipped without enthusiasm. “Other than the truck rental agreement, you have no idea what the Bloody Scorpions are up to?”
Red shook his head. “I could only pack certain equipment. I was able to tell the agreement was legit, but not much beyond that. I have Bones back in LA looking into it further. He’s babysitting my babies while my girl and I are down here.”
It took me a second to realize he didn’t actually mean ‘babies’. “You’re the club’s tech?”
He nodded.
Him playing on his phone a few minutes ago got a whole new meaning. I put my empty beer bottle on the table in front of me, still sitting back. “What did you discover?”
His cheeks flamed under his sunscreen. “What do you mean?”
“You showed Aftermath something on your phone. I take it, it’s about Tangaloa, me, or the both of us. Which is it?”
Red studied me a moment, and I had to give him credit for that. For a nerd, he didn’t back down. “Aloe-i-ki Kan-na-ana,” he royally butchered my name. “You’re a former activist turned porn star. While you were suspected in the Red Hill Fuel attacksafter the leak in 2021, you were never arrested or formally charged. Based on your age, though, I doubt that was your first time fighting for your home. However, you fell into some money problems around that time too. My theory is that you,” he glanced to his right where Tangaloa was sitting, “or someone you care about pissed someone off you shouldn’t have, and you paid them to walk away or to buy their silence. Either way, you almost lost your surf shop business and your family’s farm, which you now use as a studio for your porn site.” I thought he was done, but then he added, “I’m also impressed with just how much you’re bringing in with your site. You’ve not only paid off your debts, but you also have been able to squirrel away a good chunk of change as well as fund your brother-in-law’s arms business.” He shot Tangaloa a look. “Sorry,ex-brother-in-law.”
My eyes landed on Tangaloa’s amused expression. “He’s got you pegged,” he told me in our native language,?Olelo Hawai?i. “And not in the fun way.”
I snorted. He knew damn well there was only one person on this planet I’d ever allow anywhere near my ass, and this Royal Bastard tech nerd wasn’t her.
I had to hand it to the ginger. He’d certainly learned a lot about me from whatever quick search he’d done on his phone. I was lucky if I remembered where my phone was. More than a few I’d guess were at the bottom of the sea. I was also fairly certain there was amenehunein my house, and while they weren’t generally known for stealing things, they did enjoy hiding things. It was the only logical explanation as to why my phones kept disappearing.
“Aloiki,” I said, turning back to Red.
“I’m sorry. What?” he blinked. He seemed a bit taken aback, and I wondered if both he and Aftermath expected me to be pissed that he knew so much. I wasn’t, because that wouldindicate that I was ashamed of my history. I was actually quite proud of who I was and what I had accomplished.
“My name,” I told him with a smirk. “If you’re going to know my entire history, at least say my name correctly. Al-o-e-ki.”
Aftermath snorted, and stood up. “Come on, Aloe Kinky. We’ve got some Bloody Scorpions to find.”
Before we left,Aftermath and Red said goodbye to their women. Aftermath’s woman, Kensi, took back her sunglasses and thanked her man for “holding onto them” with a big, flamboyant display that came close to being described as public lewdness.
Not that I was one to judge. I was renting a nightclub in three nights to stage a public humiliation and free use shoot. Last week, I took part in a breeding gangbang. The actress, Kaimana, was already pregnant by her husband, who was present for the shoot. Something like that was basically my one and only exception for going bareback. Other than the occasional shoot, Kaimana and her husband were monogamous, and she was always tested again before each shoot. Plus, there was no way that I could be accused of being the father when she was already four months pregnant. Kaimana had a bit of heft to her, so her baby bump wasn’t obvious yet and we were able to stage the creampie display. If I remembered correctly, the script was something about cuckolding her infertile husband, but that was all bullshit.
Red and Nadia were much more lowkey about their parting, though I did hear Red warn Nadia not to leave the hotel property under any circumstances.
Tangaloa turned his back on the couples. I could understand why. There was something so raw about each of their displays, and the love both men held for their women was obvious. I’d only felt a love like that once, but it turned out that not everyone gets a happily ever after. I wasn’t jealous, per se, as I watched, though I couldn’t ignore the pang in my chest. It happened sporadically when I was around happy couples. I hadn’t felt it since the day my niece was born, and I watched my brother-in-law hold the little girl he believed to be his daughter.
Odd that it should return now.
Aftermath walked up to us first. Without the sunglasses, I was able to read him a lot easier. I saw him take in Tangaloa’s back, and wondered if he was thinking about the ‘ex’ part of Red’s comment. The look I gave him warned him not to pry.
He seemed to catch my meaning, and in that moment, something passed between the two of us. An understanding of past pain. I didn’t know what his was, and he didn’t know mine, but we understood its presence in each other’s lives. I nodded my thanks when he kept his mouth shut.
We stood in silence until Red joined us. He looked desolate under all that sunscreen. Like it pained him to leave his lady behind. Then again, maybe it was the fucking wide-rimmed sunhat that just gave him the sad look. I’d be inconsolable if I had to wear that too. I’d go broke with the amount of sunscreen I’d need if I had Red’s fair complexion.
“They’ll be safe here,” Aftermath told him, like a reminder. “And if anything happens, Kensi will protect Nadia.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Red nearly whined. “If anything happens, Kensiwillprotect Nadia, but I’m also ninety-nine percent sure that whatever that mystery ‘anything’ is will also be Kensi’s fault!”
Aftermath chuckled. In that moment, I questioned the man’s sanity, and he looked so fucking doped up on love, he probably would have failed a drug test.
Fucking weirdos, thesehaoles. I held up my motorcycle keys. “Who’s riding bitch?”
Aftermath held up a pair of car keys with a rental company keychain. “I’d rather jump into one of your volcanoes.”
“Suit yourself.”
Tangaloa and I started walking towards where we parked our bikes. “Wait,” Aftermath called. We turned back around. “You ride in flip-flops?”
