Chapter 8 #2
“Hotheaded, impulsive,” she began. “I won’t go into detail, but I did feel like I needed to bring it to your attention so you could keep an eye out for warning signs and help them assimilate without too many bumps and bruises.
Though what I saw out of them last night confirms my suspicions that they only tangle with someone when they feel like they’ve crossed a line. ”
“Yeah, I, um, hearing him talk about it, I got the same impression,” Nyx explained.
“Just spend some time getting to know each other,” she suggested.
“You don’t want them getting off on the wrong foot and winding up involved in another public incident.
Word spreads fast here, good and bad, you know this, so encourage them to use their powers for good and maybe start letting their hair go back to its natural shade so people will think twice about tangling with them.
Nuno’s toxicology report was extremely elevated when he reached the hospital.
Had he been more sensitive to jellyfish toxin than he was, it might have landed him in the morgue.
“We’ll, um, mention the hair thing to them,” I said. “It threw us when they shifted in the water; we were searching for a brown jellyfish at first, not a green and purple one.”
“As unfair as it might seem to ask someone to change themselves for the benefit of others, a jellyfish’s hair is, well…” she began.
“…a neon warning sign that they are toxic,” Nyx finished for her. “But Nuno grabbed them; Kekoa didn’t invite him to do that.”
“Nuno might have reconsidered that choice if he’d known,” she replied, scrubbing a hand over her face, “though I doubt it. I would just hate to see Kekoa get off on the wrong foot in the community when this is where you intend to live together.”
“You’re right,” I said.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Now feel free to wait on the bench outside of the interview room for them to finish the statement, then you can join them back in the room. I hope it won’t take too much longer before he’s apprehended.
Tips have been coming in from all over, along with a lot of public encouragement for us to catch this guy.
He’s clearly stepped on a lot of toes over the years. ”
Kind of like our mate, I thought as we headed back to the bench. Another memory flashed through my head, of a moment back at the bar, when Kekoa had done the hand twist thing, like they’d been trying to break free, only they hadn’t; they’d just grabbed Nuno’s wrist and held on.
Shit.
Double the exposure. The bar had been warm; Kekoa had admitted to being sweaty. If his palms had been even remotely damp, his touch would have sent more toxins into Nuno’s bloodstream. But had it been on purpose?
Better still, did I think he was wrong?
My phone chimed and shit, I wasn’t in the right headspace to deal with the meeting and any more last-minute party planning bullshit and quickly fired off a text explaining that I had a family emergency and to please proceed without me.
I asked them to cc me in on whatever new details I needed to know while hopeful that there weren’t any, though that would probably change before Wednesday.
It wasn’t exactly a lie; there was a bit of family turmoil going on and maybe more to come as we sat down and started to have real conversations with Kekoa.
Too real for the third date; only, like they’d said back at the beach, this was no date, it was the first step towards forever.
Here’s hoping we didn’t trip and land on our asses.
“So, um, how do you think the whole hair conversation is going to go?” Nyx asked as we parked ourselves on the bench.
“Not good,” I muttered.
“Yeah, I don’t get the impression from them that they like to be told what to do.”
“Maybe we start by asking why they don’t wear it the way other jellyfish do and work from there,” I said. “We might get lucky and be able to reason with them without having to directly bring up the topic of them changing it back.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Chief Masters remarked as she stalked past us.
“How does she always manage to do that?” I moaned.
“Years of dealing with me and my siblings,” he reminded me as my shoulders slumped.
“It’s going to be intense, isn’t it?”
“And worth it once we’re all on the same page,” Nyx reminded me. “Mom is right, we can’t skip over the hard stuff just because we’re eager to get to the happily ever after. That’s not the way it works.”
“Wish it would,” I replied.
“You and every mate in the history of mating.”
“What if we drive them away?” I asked, knowing it was allowing some of my insecurities to shine through since I’d never managed to shred the stigma of being labeled defective by some of the assholes I’d gone to school with over the years.
“Then it’s a good thing we live on an island. It’s not like they can go far.”
“True, but…”
“Nope, just leave it at true and lean back.”
My shoulder tensely pressed against his while we waited until finally I relaxed enough to lean against him some. It felt like forever before Detective Torres stepped out, legal pad in hand. “You can go in now.”
We scrambled in to see Kekoa with their head on the table.
“You look ready for a nap,” I said as I sat beside them while Nyx took a seat across the table.
“More than ready,” they admitted.
“A bunch of people just rushed out,” Nyx said, “my mom included. I hope that means they’re closing in on Nuno.”
“Good, because it sounds like I’ve got a bunch of ordering to do once I catch a nap. I, um, I’m just wondering if you still want me to take that nap back at your place?”
“Why wouldn’t we?” I asked.
They just raised their head enough to lock eyes with me and gesture around the room.
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Nyx said. “Are you referring to the ambiance or the décor, or are you not a fan of potted palm trees?”
“I prefer elephant ears and spider plants,” they admitted. “Even the occasional fern, especially the red ones. What I was referring to was the location of the room and the fact that this tends to happen more often than I’d like.”
“Maybe you should go back to rocking jellyfish hair,” I blurted, then groaned, because that hadn’t been subtle, not in the slightest.
They just chuckled and banged their head on their arms. “My cousin Patch warned me that it was a bad idea. I just have a hard time heeding warnings.”
“Stubborn much?”
“Too much. This time I’m just glad he’s not here to rub it in that he was right.”
“How long have you worn it that way?” Nyx asked.
“Two years,” Kekoa admitted. “Which is about a year and a half longer than I planned.”
“And you didn’t just go back to your natural hair because…?” Nyx prodded.
They squirmed, a flush spreading out over the bridge of their nose.
“This cousin was still giving him shit for it,” I said.
They just nodded and closed their eyes, letting me know I’d nailed it in one.
“Where does your cousin live, anyway? Nyx asked.
“Santa Monica.”
“So, he’s not going to see it anytime soon,” Nyx hedged.
“We video chat twice a week.”
Nyx stared across the table at him, one hand pressed to the side of his face as he shook his head. “Is that seriously why you’ve left it that way?”
They sighed. “Pretty much.”
Why didn’t I believe them?
“At this point give it up,” Nyx said, “or wear a hoodie during your video chats if you don’t want to concede defeat. But if you seriously don’t like it the way you’re wearing it, what’s the point?”
“None, I guess.”
They sounded defeated. Frustrated too, which just elevated my belief that they hadn’t been telling the truth about his cousin being the reason they’d maintained a hairstyle they disliked.
“Thank you.”
“Not that wearing it in typical jellyfish fashion has ever stopped anyone from being stupid or getting in my space.”
“Seriously?” Nyx asked.
Groaning, they nodded their head. “Seriously.”