Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
The twins saddled Koa and Kekame for us the next morning.
Lu had still been asleep when I got back to our bedroom the night before.
After showering, I’d debated on waking her.
I wanted her something fierce, but the bags under her eyes caught my attention and stayed my hand.
Or should I say, cock. Instead, I woke her up by eating her out and then fucking her from behind.
We went riding for a while. My land wasn’t as vast as my ancestors’, but I had permission from all my neighbors to ride on their lands.
There was also a public park not too far away from the farm that we could trailer the horses to if we wanted a different locale.
Today, we mostly stuck between Bacon’s and my property.
We had to stop for Lu to throw up. After that, we doubled up on Koa and I led Kekame back on a lead line. I also put my pāpale on her head to help shield her from the rising sun.
Lu leaned herself back against me. “I swear, my body didn’t have any symptoms before I saw that damn test,” she whined.
I chuckled, which she pinched my leg in retaliation for. “I’m not sorry,” I told her honestly. There was a surge of pride inside my chest every time I thought about my baby growing inside her.
I was keeping Koa at an even pace so as not to rock her too much. This section of Bacon’s land led past a small cabin on the back of his property and was fairly level. I noticed lights on in the cabin and figured Bacon had a renter living there. Just to be safe though, I didn’t take us too close.
Lu tipped her head up at me, nearly knocking my hat off. “I’m…surprised.”
I corrected my hat on her head. “At what?”
“You’re taking all this really well. I understand, you know, the initial excitement from yesterday, but I half expected you to wake up this morning in a panic or second guessing your decision.”
I snorted. “When have you ever known me to second guess myself, Lu?”
I couldn’t see her face with my hat back on her head, but I felt her shrug. “I know, I know. It’s just… It’s a baby, Aloiki. And we were always both so sure that we didn’t want one.”
“And that statement still stands,” I told her, “if you were anyone but you.”
“That makes no sense,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
“It makes perfect sense,” I argued. “If I’m going to be a father, Lu, then you’re going to be the mother. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“You say that like you magically implanted your sperm in me.”
“Wasn’t magically,” I corrected. “But it was fucking awesome.” I moved my hand under her shirt, rubbing her flat belly.
She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Think we made him at the storage yard? Or was it on your couch in that fucking ridiculous apartment you called a home?”
“We don’t even know how far along I am,” she reminded me. “Those tests usually can tell around five weeks and we’ve been back together for nine-ish.”
I nodded slowly. “I think it’s the storage yard. Knocked you up that first night.”
Lu let out a low grumble. “You’re unbelievable!”
She fell quiet for a moment. We were approaching my land again.
The twins would be waiting for us. I had called a Church meeting for this morning, but I wasn’t anticipating Lu getting sick or us being so far out when she had.
I was running late for my own meeting, but they could fucking wait.
Lu took precedence. None of them had the balls to bitch at me anyway.
Maybe Tangaloa, but that was only if I wasn’t in range of his balls.
“You said ‘he’. Is that generic or wishful thinking?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Neither. It’s fact.”
“There’s no possible way you could know if it’s a boy or a girl,” she scoffed.
“If the universe wants to keep some sort of balance, it’ll be a boy,” I told her darkly.
Lu tipped her head back again, but this time she lifted a hand to keep my hat on her head. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I glanced down at her before looking up again.
I didn’t have to watch where I was going, per se.
Koa knew the way, but it still was a good idea to keep an eye out too.
Horses had limited fields of visions, and Hawai’i had some natural dangers.
“It means I know what men do to women. And unless the gods want a massacre on their hands in roughly eighteen years, they’ll bestow upon me a healthy baby boy.
” My upper lip curled. “This island’s male population will not survive long if I have a daughter. ”
Lu hesitated. “I get what you’re saying. I know what women have to go through in this world more than you do. But we have to be realistic, Aloiki. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that she’ll be a girl. I need you to be serious about this.”
Something menacing and twisted brewed in my gut at the thought.
“I was being serious,” I informed her. “Lu, I killed a man for striking you. You say it was ‘just once’, but that is still one time too many.”—I didn’t mention to her what I had done to Rory the night before.
I didn’t want to risk her getting sick again, but I also wouldn’t keep it from her.
I would just tell her when we were closer to a bathroom.
—“What do you think I would do for my daughter?”
They were waiting for me in Bacon’s living room.
It was a hell of a lot bigger than mine, and the meeting room in the bunkhouse wouldn’t be ready for some weeks.
Everyone but the twins was present, even Janko.
No one grumbled at me for being late as I entered, though voices certainly hushed up quick when I strode into the room. Good.
I looked to Tangaloa, who was sitting at the wet bar with a glass of tequila. The bottle was resting half-full next to him. I didn’t judge the early morning hour. He was a grown-ass man who could drink at fucking nine in the morning if he wanted to. I was neither his mother nor his girlfriend.
However, I was a bit surprised by it. What had happened in the barn wouldn’t have affected Tangaloa as it might have others. It made me wonder if something had happened afterward that I didn’t know about.
“He still alive?” I asked my ex-brother-in-law without preamble.
“Was when we left him on his boat,” he said before throwing back the rest of his glass. He immediately reached for the bottle to refill it. “But he was also bleeding pretty heavily.”
I nodded once. I knew Tangaloa, and he wouldn’t have treated Rory’s wound. I didn’t bother to ask what happened to his hand either. First, I didn’t care, and second, Tangaloa would have ensured no evidence was left behind for the construction crew to find this morning.
“We’re not replacing the Nomad position at this time,” I told the group as a whole.
“But we do have a new member among us.” I nodded to Janko.
“The paperwork has gone through and Shakaloha is officially ours.” Clapping and banging on furniture ensued.
My eyes, however, narrowed. “That does not mean you get to spend your days drinking and not working. I don’t give a damn if you go to work drunk, so long as the work is done right the first time.
Janko is still the boss, and he has authority over all of us when it comes to production.
That includes me,” I added for good measure.
“I don’t know the first thing about making beer.
If I pull a shift there, I expect Janko to ride me just as hard as he does the rest of you. Any questions about the brewery?”
No one spoke up.
“Good.” I looked to Bacon. “You got his cut?”
Bacon tossed some leather at me from where he sat. I caught it. Curious, I took a look at the road name, then I threw the leather at the big Jamaican with thick dreadlocks. “Welcome to the Royal Bastards, Hops.”
Hops caught the new cut and then put it on. “Good to be here, mon.”
The twins walked in. My eyes narrowed, because both of their cuts said ‘Thing One’ on their left breast. I’d left the horses with them, gotten Lu into the house, and then headed back to Bacon’s.
As they came in to take their seats, I noticed one had a slight limp. A moment later, the other matched his brother’s stride. I shook my head. That was too fucking weird for me this early in the morning.
“Lu’s pregnancy changes some things around here,” I told everyone, crossing my arms over my chest. “She’s not to be left alone.
If I am not with her, I will be assigning one of you to watch her.
” The threat was clear in my voice. I didn’t need to specify that they were to only watch her.
They’d seen what would happen if they touched her.
“Who’s watching her now?” Tommy asked, his eyes glancing around now that the twins had arrived.
“Holly,” Bacon answered. “She’s more than capable of protecting her.”
Some looked to me with a measure of shock. But I did not elaborate. I did not need to justify my decision to them. “Where are we with Nishi?” I looked to Neo in the back.
They were sitting cross-legged in a fucking sex swing in the corner of the room with their laptop open on their lap.
The expression on their face was so dejected that it had several of the men in the room look at them in worry.
“Nowhere,” they answered, their eyes wide and sad.
“We know she was in Amsterdam, but after that…” They shook their head.
“I don’t know, Paniolo. The Black Market Railroad isn’t exactly known for their record keeping. ”
That was not the news I wanted to hear. “What about Red?”
“Same thing. It’s a big world, Prez, and these people know how to make their victims disappear.
He put me in contact with Keys, the Hacker from the Santa Clarita Chapter.
They’ve had a number of run-ins with the Black Market Railroad and other traffickers.
He gave me some pointers and things to look for, and he’s diving into parts of the Dark Web I’ve never navigated before.
If he finds something, he’ll let me know. ”