Chapter 6
Chapter Six
We called in Nohea Oni. If there was anyone who could clean up this amount of carnage in a short amount of time, it was Nohea. In the underworld of O‘ahu, he was known as the Manō, the shark, because he always could sense where the blood was.
I left Tangaloa and the twins with Nohea. Virgil said he had to get back to check on his dog, but then he would journey to my house. Rory left it undecided if he was going to follow us back.
In the rental SUV, I broke the news to Aftermath and Red that I had accepted the cut from Jameson. Neither looked surprised.
“We told Capone we could head back,” Red told me, looking over his shoulder to where I was sitting in the rear bench seat. I took a dip in the sea to get most of the blood off me, but I was still going to need to scrub myself raw when I got home. “But we can stay if you need us to, Alo-he-he.”
“Aloiki,” I corrected. By this point, I had no idea if they kept mispronouncing my name to fuck with me.
Red shrugged, “That’s what I said.”
I snorted.
Aftermath glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “You certainly have a way about you. You go from fighting like a madman, to fucking like a possessed Casanova, to joining the Royal Bastards all in the span of a few hours. Bit impressive.”
I studied both of the LA brothers for a moment. “Do you ever regret it? I don’t care what your reasons were for joining, but do you ever feel like you locked yourself into a life you no longer want?”
Both shook their heads. “I think I speak for both of us,” Red answered, “when I say that we joined to belong somewhere, but we stayed for family. I’m not talking about our ladies.
I’m talking family. Tangaloa is your brother, yes?
Because he’s not blood, and not because he was once married to your sister. But because of who he is to you.”
I nodded slowly.
Red punched Aftermath on the shoulder. “I found my brothers. They’re rough around the edges, and none of them would ever fit into ‘regular society’.
They’re wounded, and some are tortured, but they’re family.
We would kill for each other, but more importantly, we would die for each other.
And as much as it would kill me to be separated from Nadia and my little boy that way, I don’t fear dying, because I know that my brothers have them if something happened to me. There’s never a doubt about that.”
I nodded again, also trying to hide my surprise that Red was able to stop blushing long enough to procreate.
“Why would you agree to join, to create a chapter here, if you’re questioning your decision?” Aftermath asked.
“I’m not,” I said honestly. “I know joining is the right decision to keep my promise to Lu. I need the support of the RBMC, because it’s more than likely that first boat took my people off my island, and I highly doubt they brought them to another island.
They’re somewhere out there in the world, and I’ll need all the help I can get to get them back.
But I need people, a club, and not all of them will be officers.
I need to know how to handle them if they choose to leave. ”
“Well, that’s where prospecting comes in,” Red explained. “They need someone within the club to sponsor them. If they’re not a good fit within that year, they’re out.”
I understood that, and already knew that, but I didn’t have a year to allow members to prospect.
I needed members, warriors, now. The Bloody Scorpions were already established here, and declaring myself a club did nothing unless I had the people to back it.
I patted my pockets for my phone, only to realize that I was in my underwear and my jeans were currently burning in a trashcan.
Probably with my phone still in the pocket. Fuck it all.
I was tired enough to not really care. I’d have Tangaloa send out the messages I needed when he got back to the house later. I trusted Kanoa to watch over Lu. The two of them were friends. I’d bring him into the loop tomorrow.
Realizing the path Aftermath was taking us, I said, “Make a left up here.”
“Why?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Unless you don’t want to pick up your wife?”
I’d been on my neighbors’ beach before, but never been up to their house.
The long, winding drive took us through dense trees and lots of open land that had belonged to my family generations ago.
I didn’t feel anything nostalgic when I saw it now.
I could only imagine the cost of upkeep on a plot of land this big.
My old neighbors had been haoles who used it for a vacation home, but their children sold it when their parents died.
They’d offered to sell it to me, but I didn’t have that sort of money.
Even before Hiro had taken my life savings.
I was doing well for myself, but not that well.
The large house was three stories, with a massive wraparound porch and a second story balcony in the back. I had always assumed cops weren’t paid that well. Maybe this guy took some bribes? Either that, or he came from family money. Maybe it was his lady who was rich and he was her sugar boy.
Nah, I scratched that idea almost as soon as I had it. The one time I’d actually had a conversation with the guy when we’d exchanged numbers like good little neighbors, I’d gotten a very dominant vibe from him. I couldn’t see him as the ‘kept man’ type.
Though it was still early morning, the front lights were on. A man I recognized as my neighbor stepped out onto his porch as Aftermath stopped the car. I got out so he knew who we were. The gun in his hand was telling.
He nodded once in acknowledgement. Red and Aftermath got out too. Together, the three of us ascended the big staircase up to the front door.
“Dare I ask what happened to your clothes?” the guy asked.
I shrugged, not really caring. “I set them on fire.” He lifted his eyebrows but didn’t otherwise inquire. I liked a man who kept his opinions to himself. I held out my hand. “Mahalo for watching the ladies.”
He shook it, his grip tight. He was a few inches taller than me.
Though he also had black hair and a tan, his skin was naturally paler than mine.
“My woman didn’t really give me much choice in the matter,” he stated with a look that said he didn’t like the interference in his personal life.
“She would have protected them with or without me, and let’s just say her version of protecting would have been a lot bloodier than mine if trouble had come calling. ”
Red and Aftermath exchanged a look, like they were trying to figure out if they’d been wrong to trust their women in this man’s care.
“Shawn Mallory,” the man said, offering his hand to the Royal Bastards duo. “But you can call me ‘Mal’.”
“Wow,” Aftermath gasped, aghast. “A name I can actually pronounce. How did you get away with that?”
Mal chuckled, offering his hand to Red. “I’m from Alaska.”
“Good to meet you,” Red said. “I’m Red and this is Aftermath. We really appreciate you watching our women.”
“Which one of you does Kensi belong to?” Mal asked, dropping his hand. “Because you owe me a new sex swing.”
Aftermath’s jaw dropped a second before his fists clenched. “You motherfucker! I’ll kill you for touching my wife!”
Aftermath charged forward, but Mal held his ground. “I didn’t touch your wife.”
The mountain of a man stopped, his fist just shy of connecting with Mal’s face. “What?”
“My girl decided to show your women our sex dungeon.” Mal looked like he was trying hard not to roll his eyes. “Kensi took a flying leap into our sex swing and it collapsed. Believe me, I will be having a word with our contractor about faulty bolts, but your wife still tore the straps.”
Aftermath’s mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish.
Mal turned to Red. “I take it Nadia is yours then. There’s a good possibility you’re getting an aerial dance pole installed in your bedroom.
My little owl decided to give her lessons last night.
” To Aftermath, he added, “After the sex swing incident, I didn’t think it was a good idea to let Kensi try that too.
Though she did have a blast on the regular dance pole. ”
Aftermath and Red exchanged a look again, though this time it was more baffled than concerned. “Where are our women?” Red finally asked.
Mal took a step back, indicating the open front door behind him.
“After the three of them went skinny dipping in the hot tub, they fell asleep binging serial killer documentaries in the movie theater. Second floor, all the way down the hall, last door on your right. Do not startle my little owl. I promise you, it will be the last thing that you do.”
I knew from our phone conversation before that he called his woman ‘Little Owl’. I didn’t know why, and it was none of my business.
As Aftermath and Red headed into the house, Mal turned his green eyes on me. “Now’s your chance to explain why my woman was not in my bed last night and why I had to protect two Ol’ Ladies from a motorcycle club in Los Angeles.”
The message Tangaloa sent out last night, or I guess at the asscrack of dawn, was to be at my house at noon and to bring someone whom you either thought should be an officer or wanted to sponsor as a member. Though the message did not go out to Hiro, they showed up anyway.
I was going to need a bigger house. We were all crammed into my kitchen and living room.
While the basement was the entire size of my first floor with no separating walls, all my gear and set up were down there.
It would have been just as packed with a lot more expensive equipment.
My living room was open to my kitchen area, so we just flipped the couch around to face the stove instead of my TV.
Tangaloa and I were leaning up against the small L my countertop provided, much as we had been only days ago when Jameson had called me. I wondered if it was irony or fate that we were once more standing here. Only this time, we were Royal Bastards now too.