Chapter 10
CHAPTER
TEN
KOA
“Look out for the bachelorette party at table one,” Hana, one of the hula dancers at the luau Koa worked at, said with a grin as she slid past Koa, Preston, and Paka into the small dressing room they all shared.
Hana had seen firsthand the kind of chaos a group of women celebrating one’s last night of freedom could create when there were shirtless men and fire involved.
Paka rubbed his hands together in anticipation as Preston and Koa shared groans.
“I’m surprised,” Preston said to Koa as the two finished prepping their fire knives for their performance. Paka had left them to scope out the bachelorette party.
“By what?” Koa said as he secured his lavalava around his waist. He might be shirtless for their performance, but he was definitely going to keep on every other article of clothing.
“The Koa I know, as of a few weeks ago, would have jumped at the chance to perform shirtless for a bunch of women. I’m going to guess the women are quite attractive judging by the glee on Paka’s face.
” Preston motioned to their coworker who indeed was smiling widely as he looked through the panels that separated the luau attendees from backstage.
“Hm,” was all Koa responded. Because the Koa of just a few months ago would have jumped at the opportunity to show off for the women and then would have hoped to meet up with the prettiest for a date later.
After his ex-fiancé had left him, Koa could hardly tell up from down.
It took months for him to pull out of the haze she’d left him in.
After that, Koa put his all into work and caring for his family.
It was a few weeks into that, and after probably letting Paka influence him a bit too much, that he started finding non-committal dates.
The shorter the woman’s stay on the island, the better.
Koa’s ideal was going out with a woman one night and having her fly home the next.
The women all knew what they were getting into, they were the ones leaving, but they got to have some extra vacation fun, and Koa didn’t have to give even the tiniest piece of his heart.
He’d thought it was a win all around.
But then a few weeks ago, the change had come on like a lightning flash. One day he was on a date and the next those dates held no appeal for him. At all.
Preston shook his head as he put away the kerosene jug that needed to be far, far away before they lit anything on fire.
It might have seemed a little ironic to have a group of firefighters dance with fire knives, but to Koa, there wasn’t a better group to do what they did.
They practiced extreme fire safety while entertaining the masses.
“What about you? Why aren’t you happy about the party at table one?
” Koa pressed because Preston didn’t date women who lived on Maui but he also didn’t go after the tourists the way Koa had.
Koa knew there was a woman in Preston’s past that kept him from dating, long-term or casually, but he had yet to share.
And Koa tried to get it out of him every few months.
Preston shrugged and Koa couldn’t help but compare their delts. Koa hit the gym hard but Preston hit it harder. The man was a machine.
“I didn’t have my heart broken and feel the need to heal it by dating every good-looking tourist on the island,” Preston replied glibly.
Koa would have been offended if it wasn’t the truth.
“Speaking of hot tourists though, I’m realizing there was one you didn’t even attempt to date. And wasn’t it around the time she arrived that you changed your ways? And now she’s living in your house,” Preston mused.
Koa narrowed his eyes. Now, he was offended. He knew he shouldn’t have shared that information with Preston. But he’d had to talk to somebody about the change in his housing situation. That the gorgeous tourist he’d badmouthed would now be sharing a hallway with him.
One good thing about Mia moving in, was that Koa had been grateful he’d been given the opportunity to really apologize to Mia. She’d deserved that and more. So he’d offered her the apology then helped her move in.
Before he ran away to a friend’s house for the rest of that evening.
And now that Mia was his housemate, his plan for the foreseeable future was to avoid home as much as possible. When he wasn’t working or at the firehouse, he’d help friends with projects. Anything to evade the beautiful woman who was now sharing his home.
“The change in the way I date has nothing to do with any one woman,” Koa growled.
Preston’s answering smirk told Koa he believed Koa as much as Koa believed himself.
“Two minutes,” Hank, their show manager, called to Preston and Koa.
Paka jogged back to them, flexing his pecs as he ran.
Koa rolled his eyes because they all knew Paka’s muscles couldn’t compare to Preston’s.
“There are at least two hot ones,” Paka said to Koa with a pump of his eyebrows. “I’ll take the hottest, but you can have second pick. We’ll leave Preston with the rest.”
Preston punched Paka’s shoulder.
“Ow,” came the immediate response as Paka rubbed where he’d been hit. “Fine, you can have the second hottest.”
“Have a little respect. Don’t talk about them like that,” Preston said with a shake of his head, picking up his fire knives and leaving Koa and Paka behind.
Paka stared after Preston and was about to say something more when Koa shook his head. “Preston’s right,” was all he said before following his friend.
Koa had always known he should treat women with respect, but Preston was a better man than he was.
Even if Koa’s dates knew what they were getting into, he knew they deserved more respect than one date and never talking to them again.
With the new leaf he’d turned over in the past few weeks, Koa would do his very best to follow his friend’s example.
The intro to the song Koa spun his fire knives to began to play, and he ran out onto stage.
Koa grinned, totally in his element. He’d started spinning knives when he was four and had added fire to the mix as a young teen.
Although he only worked at the luau every other weekend these days—his work schedule was too busy to allow for anything more—he loved these moments on stage where it was just him and his fire knife—his nifo oti.
He placed his left hand over the flame already burning on one side of his knife and then brought it to the other to allow it to light.
He loved hearing the gasps from the audience but ignored the catcalls coming from table one.
Koa started to spin his knife, slowly at first, the weight of it comforting in his hands. He felt more than saw the phone cameras pointing his way, little did they know the show had just begun.
Koa dropped to his back and placed the fire on his feet.
“Oh my gosh!” he heard someone exclaim.
He kicked the knife back up into the air and caught it as he jumped to his feet, applause hitting his ears.
Paka and Preston joined him on stage, Preston throwing him an extra fire knife. Koa caught it deftly and then pressed the unlit knife to the one already blazing with fire, the heat of the two sticks nearly overwhelming.
Koa threw the fire knives toward Preston and Paka, they caught them and lit their own knives before they tossed them back to Koa.
Koa caught one in each hand and began spinning at a fiery speed immediately. He knew behind him Preston and Paka were doing the same, they’d worked together for so long that they were in complete unison.
Applause sounded louder as Koa continued to increase his speed, his wrists anticipating what was to come next. Koa threw both knives in the air, catching them with ease before spinning once more.
Before he knew it, the show was over, and Koa was panting as he took a knee with one knife under his leg and the other held high in the air. Thunderous applause filled his ears before he jumped down and jogged backstage.
“Not bad,” Hana said with a slow clap once they got back to the dressing room. She was on her way out. The girls who had danced hula, the siva, and with poi balls had all finished getting back into their street clothes, and the space was now all for the guys.
“Good show, boys. But I’m outta here,” Paka said.
His lavalava had come off as he ran back to the dressing room and he grabbed his clothes before heading back out.
“I’ve got some bachelorette party girls to catch.
Oh, and just to let you know, Koa, I’m lying and telling them that I was the guy with the two knives.
We all know the haole girls can’t tell one Hawaiian from another. ”
Preston threw a slipper that hit Paka’s side while he pulled on his shirt. “What? I didn’t even say anything about who I was planning on lying to. I might even pass up the hottest girl.”
Paka dashed out of the dressing room before Preston could throw his other slipper.
“I don’t think he quite understood what you were trying to teach him about respecting women,” Koa said sarcastically as he wiped the kerosene off of him with a towel.
“You think?” Preston replied as he grabbed his slipper off the floor.
“But your words did hit home with me,” Koa said to his friend as he pulled on his shorts.
Preston paused, looking at Koa.
“I didn’t ever mean to disrespect the girls I went on dates with. I figured we both were getting what we wanted so it was just fine. But I’m realizing what I did isn’t the way I’d want someone to treat my nieces, so why would I treat someone else’s niece that way?”
“Or sister,” Preston added. The man had four of them. That was probably why he was so good about the way he treated women.
“Yeah,” Koa said as he pulled on a shirt and then fluffed his sweaty hair.
“Hm,” Preston said turning away from Koa to finish cleaning up.
“What?” Koa asked, not liking Preston’s all-knowing tone.
“Nothing,” Preston said, his voice too flippant.
“It’s not nothing. And it’s going to bug me until you say what you need to say. So say it.”