Chapter 15 #2
"He says that if you don't figure this out, he's going to make you wish you'd never seen me, but I love you, Nicki. I love being your wife, so you better fix this because Daddy doesn't do empty threats."
"Yeah. Yeah. I love you too, baby. This is all just a bad dream, okay?" Nick knew his voice sounded thin and shaky even to his own ears.
He put his phone closer to his ear as the noise from the crowded room rose again and he covered his other ear with his free hand. "I'm going to fix this, okay? You'll see, baby. I'll come home and this will all be something we laugh over years from now."
"Right, sure. You better be telling the truth, because right now, Daddy says that everything coming out of your mouth is pure bullshit."
"Not when it comes to you, baby. Not when it's about you."
"Awww... See? You do love me."
"Of course, sweetie. I'll always love you."
"Kisses!"
And then the phone call ended, and he lowered his hands back down to his side.
One hand brushed by the pocket that held a declaration form in it that Charmaine's daddy had drawn up for Kawehi to sign.
That, at least, would get the ball rolling on his end.
Charmaine's daddy was a scary motherfucker when it came to his baby girl.
He might be all genial smiles and act like Andy Griffith when he was happy, but one tear from his daughter turned him into an evil asshole.
An asshole, that quite frankly, scared the shit out of him.
Nick had no doubts that her father would bury him under a woodshed somewhere if he didn't get the paper signed.
It didn't matter to him that Nick said he'd figure it out.
Nope. Charmaine's daddy wanted things done his way because his daughter was involved.
Nick had thought about reminding him that his life in Hawaii was before he met Charmaine, but one look at the wicked letter opener that he'd been holding in his hand had Nick keeping quiet about his own thoughts.
Maybe it was going to be easier this way. If her daddy had lawyers worth their salt, then it could be just as easy as signing a paper. Right?
Ha.
He continued along the wall, keeping an eye on the bathroom door for any movement.
KAWEHI
"Oh! Look at that!"
Kawehi felt Maile's hand on her arm.
"They have samples!"
Laughing inside at her cousin's obvious glee, Kawehi shook her head. "Go ahead and taste. I really need to go to the bathroom now."
Maile waved over her shoulder. "Go. I'll be here."
Kawehi's laugh was more of a snort. "I'll be right back."
She turned away from her cousin but turned right back. "Oh... if they have some cuttlefish can you get me one?"
Maile turned to look at her. "Are you going to eat that here? In front of a hot guy? That stuff is kinda smelly."
Kawehi shrugged. "I'll save it for later, but if he's going to be around for a while, I'm not giving up snacks. I'll be right back."
Maile was back to perusing the samples before Kawehi turned back around.
There were so many great snacks in Hawaii, but yes, some of them would be unconventional to people from the continental US.
There was just such a mix of cultures in the islands and that mix had created some awesome foods and given the residents of the state access to an incredible amount of deliciousness.
Dom was already a fan of a bunch of dishes popular in Hawaii, who knows what he'd think of cuttlefish.
Smiling, she reached out to push open the bathroom door, but before she could reach it, another hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the shadows.
Kawehi found her back against the wall and the air rushed out of her lungs. "Nick!"
His smile, which she'd once thought was handsome, looked hard and cold now. "Hey, honey. Imagine my surprise when I heard you were going to be coming here to see your boyfriend!"
It took her a few seconds to process the words he'd just said.
"You're upset that I'm here to see a man when you're married again? Ow!"
His grip on her hand was crushing.
"Let go of-"
He slapped his hand over her mouth. "Shut up!
" He hissed out the words. "Shut the fuck up.
If you weren't here to see your boyfriend, we could have settled this already.
I went to the bowling alley and found out that you'd taken the night off.
Can you believe how it felt to hear that when you couldn't be bothered to take a night off to be with me? "
She wanted to bite the inside of his hand, but she held back. With the ambient noise in the room, she doubted anyone would hear her scream. And if she made him angrier, he could do some damage before she got anyone's attention.
"Well, we're going to have a little talk, okay? You and me, all by our lonesome. Got it?"
She glared at him, seething.
"Got it?"
Realizing that he wasn't going to take his hand away from her mouth without some sort of response, she nodded as much as she could move her head.
"I want to be clear. You make a sound. You do anything to draw attention to us. I'm not going to be happy and while I never put a hand on you before, you can damn well be sure that I don't care about that anymore."
She believed him. The radiating pain she felt in her hand was enough to convince her, but there was a hardness in his eyes that she'd never seen before.
Boredom? Sure. Frustration. Absolutely. Nick was always upset at how much she worked, but she'd never seen him bright-eyed with anger as he was now.
So she nodded.
What else could she do?
"Good." He smiled, but she didn't feel it or any relief. "Let's walk."
He took his hand off of her mouth but kept a hold of her hand in his.
They were both about the same height, so their hands were nearly the same size, but his hold on her was punishing and he'd twisted her arm around to her back. With that awkward position, she couldn't really do much to get away. So she walked.
And hoped.
NICK
It was nice that he'd caught her at an event on base.
He didn't remember much about Kailua town or the area around their house, but he knew the base. He knew how close they were to the water and how far away he could get her away from the crowds.
With all of the security around the areas open to the public, he doubted anyone would see or come to check on them, and given that he'd brought and worn his uniform, he could play off his presence there.
"You know what kind of trouble you've caused me?"
She didn't look at him. She didn't even speak.
Well, he could do something about that.
He gave her hand a squeeze. "Answer me."
"You said to be quiet."
"Well," he snarled in the dark, "we're not going to be near anyone out here. Talk."
"I found out that you were married. I didn't know before I saw the video from the process servers."
"That doesn't do me any good. Charmaine's father is a scary fucker."
Kawehi tensed up and almost stumbled. He pulled up on her hand to keep her moving and she cried out.
"Shut up."
"It hurts." She spoke quietly but he could hear it in her tone.
"Then keep walking. I need to get you to sign something."
"What? What do you think I'm going to sign."
"Charmaine's daddy has some damn good attorneys. They drafted up a document that's going to take care of everything. I just need you to sign it and I'll leave you alone."
Nick saw the light of the moon shining off of the water of Kaneohe Bay and eased up on the pace.
"Out here?" She looked around them. "I'm not signing anything out here."
He swung her around to face him and remembered the last time he'd seen her in the moonlight like this.
Those were happier times.
Easier times.
Before he figured out that life with her wasn't going to be as fun as he was hoping.
"We can go back to the house and sign it there if it makes you happier, but you are signing it."
"Fine, we'll go back to the house, but-"
He saw her eyes look back at the hangar and yanked on her hand, pulling her up against him.
"No buts. You're signing it. We can drag this out and go to the house or you can just sign it here and go back to your date."
He looked over her shoulder at the dark expanse of water at the end of the runway. Going through the courts at all could take forever. Standing there with the bay stretching behind her, he realized that there were easier ways of dealing with this issue.