Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Day of Wedding
The Waikīkī Wedding Hall was a beachside restaurant.
Aloiki and Lu chose the location because it was secluded, surrounded by foliage rather than tourism.
The large parking lot had plenty of space for the number of motorcycles and vehicles that would be in attendance, and the owner was a loyal customer of Shakaloha.
Mako pulled Kalea’s cage into the parking lot at the same time I came in on my bike.
Based on the amount of vehicles already here, we were probably one of the last to arrive, though neither of us was late.
I wondered if Kalea had a hard time getting Pualani wrangled this morning.
She looked adorable in her little white dress covered in pink hibiscus.
Kalea had on a full-body coral plumeria panel pareo, a sarong.
Like me, Mako wore only a pareo around his waist. Mine was black with a white turtle design, “to accent” per Lu. Mako’s was a forest green with silver waves.
“Give us a minute,” I told the Cleaner after Kalea got Pualani out of her car seat. Mako nodded once and headed towards the path that led down to the beach. Kalea waited by the cage for me to approach her. I supposed that was to be expected. “You look good,” I told her with complete honesty.
“I almost didn’t come. I wasn’t sure if you would want me to.”
I wasn’t happy to hear that. “Of course I want you here. And you have just as much of a right to be here as any of us.”
“Are you… I mean, you look tired. Are you okay?”
I did not want to say on her brother’s wedding day that I would sleep better if she would just give me the name and details of her blackmailer. So instead, I said, “Just working late. How do you like Mako?”
Kalea’s eyes narrowed on me. “Did you tell him to sleep with me?”
I stiffened. “No! I mean, I told him to try to get information out of you, and I didn’t specifically say that seduction couldn’t be used, but I did not tell him to sleep with you.”
Kalea stared at me unimpressed. “You’re not helping your case. To be honest, the only reason I kept him around was because he’s a neat freak. I swear, my house hasn’t looked so clean since the day we moved in. The guy’s like a shark, finding every speck of dust in that house.”
I chuckled. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I led her towards the path down to the beach. “Why do you think we call him ‘Mako’?”
Although usually his powers were used to find blood stains to ensure we didn’t leave any trace evidence behind at a scene of a crime.
“It’s uncanny,” Kalea laughed as we stepped onto the sand.
I took hold of Pualani so Kalea could remove her slippahs.
“Honestly, I’ve been thinking of pitching a,” she lifted her hands to cover Pua’s ears, “porn scene to Aloiki,” she whispered before lowering her hands.
“Put him in a French maid outfit and have him clean before his mistress comes home.”
I laughed so loud that it turned some heads, but I ignored them as I smiled down at Kalea.
This was the Kalea I knew and loved, the woman who was both grossed out and impressed by the porn empire her brother had built.
I handed Pualani back to her, still chuckling. “I’ll be sure to mention it to him.”
If Aloiki ever spoke to me again. Yet another thing I had to fix.
But today was not about me and my mistakes.
Today was about Lu finally making an honest-ish man out of Aloiki, a feat none of us thought possible.
Once I got Pualani and Kalea to their seats, I had to go find Lu.
Not only was I standing up with Aloiki today, but I was also walking Lu down the sandy aisle in her makuakāne’s stead after her parents refused to attend because of their religious beliefs and wanting Lu to be married in a church.
We were partly down the aisle, the beach filled with hardened bikers in leather cuts, when a brunette head of curls caught my eye. She could have easily been mistaken for a child amongst the giant, muscular men in attendance.
“Tangy!” was shouted over the chatter of voices, and sprinting through the throng of adults and chairs in the sand, came a little girl in a pink frilly dress.
My heart immediately shattered at the sight.
There was no way on this fucking planet that I wasn’t going down on one knee to catch her flying leap into my arms. Fucking hell, I wasn’t going to survive only watching this little girl from a far.
The pain I’d been suppressing for the past three weeks hit me like a coconut to my solar plexus.
For a moment, as she clung to my neck, I couldn’t breathe.
I looked at the pictures Caroline still added to our shared album, but they did not do her beauty justice.
That smile, the way she laughed, hearing her call me “Tangy”, the overwhelming pride I felt when she learned something new…
That wasn’t something a picture could capture.
But what the hell choice did I have but to leave her again?
I couldn’t be trusted around her mother.
I wasn’t just caught between a rock and hard place, but two impossible decisions.
Samantha pulled away from me first, her cheeks red and her eyes alight with glee. “Where have you been? Haha said you had to go away for work.” Her words were slow, almost jilted, but clearly she’d been improving her English. “When are you coming home?”
I didn’t want to mess up her pretty hairdo.
Someone had braided a ribbon of hibiscuses through her hair and then added little butterfly and dragonfly clips to the top of her head.
So instead, I dusted off her dress of non-existent sand.
“I’m not sure, Kealoha. But I will do my best to visit more. You have my word.”
I had to find some medium, some way I could keep Samantha in my life while also keeping my distance from Caroline as I promised her I would do.
Samantha’s smile was breathtaking. “And we can go for ice cream?”
I matched her enthusiasm. “Absolutely.”
A beautiful satin dress and bare feet appeared behind Samantha.
I looked up—not very far up, but still up—into Caroline’s sea-green eyes.
The eyes that had haunted me since I spotted them in a hidden basement all those months ago.
How foolish had I been to have called myself an eternal bachelor only the day before I had met her?
Standing, I brought Samantha up with me and settled her on my hip. “Aloha,” I told Caroline, meaning the word in the purest definition. She was beyond incredible, her hair pulled up in a fancy bun and a light purple formal dress. I couldn’t look away.
“I got your voicemail.” Her eyes did not stray from mine, which was unusual for her. Had her confidence grown that much in the month I’d been gone? Did that only prove it was better to keep away? “Can we talk?”
“I’m not sure that’s for the best,” I told her honestly.
“I have something to tell you that cannot wait four years.” Her voice was steady, but there was something else in it. Guilt, maybe? Worry? I prayed it wasn’t fear. I never wanted her to be afraid of me.
Since Aloiki planned on consummating his marriage at the reception in view of witnesses, Caroline, Samantha, and Pualani were restricted to the ceremony.
They were the only under-eighteen invitees, too.
And since Kalea was Aloiki’s sister and had no desire to see her brother fuck his new wife on a stage, she also had not planned on attending.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I was the best man, I probably wouldn’t attend either.
I hadn’t exactly been in a sex-mood since a certain shower a month ago.
“How about I call you tomorrow?” I offered. That way there was no risk of anything inappropriate happening.
But Caroline shook her head. “In person. We can take Samantha somewhere public if it makes you feel more comfortable than talking in our bedroom.”
Fuck. She said “our bedroom”. Why the hell did that have to sound so fucking good? “Pick the place,” I told her before I could stop myself. “I’ll be there at eleven to get you.”
I shouldn’t—I really, really, shouldn’t—but I also couldn’t say “no”.
Lucifer stepped forward to encourage everyone to take their seats, and I caught sight of Aloiki down by the water speaking with Capone, the President of the Los Angeles Chapter. Shit, I still had to go find Lu.
I quickly passed Samantha off to Caroline.
“I need to go. Do you have seats?” I glanced up to see Saga standing toward the front of the line of chairs.
At my signal, he started towards us. To Caroline, I left it with a rushed, “I’ll see you tomorrow.
” I tickled Samantha’s chin, savoring that little girl laugh, and then turned—only to find Kalea standing behind me with Pualani on her hip.
Shit. Fuck. I’d completely forgotten about her.
Before I could say anything, though, I saw her eyes dance between Caroline, who I hoped was walking away with Saga, and me. “Is she the reason you were trashed that night? Why you hid in my house for three weeks? Why you rejected me after you kissed me?”
I flinched at that last accusation, because of all of them, that was certainly the worst. I should never have kissed her, never tried to resurrect the past.
“I have to go find Lu,” I told her. “We’ll talk later.”
I looked up with the intent to find someone to escort her to her seat when the sight of KD walking towards us caught my eye.
The Prospect wore nothing but a pair of tighty-whities, his cut, and a wooden paddle around his neck.
Seeing me stare, he hesitantly approached before kneeling.
Taking off the paddle around his neck, he held it up to me, the pink rhinestones catching the overhead sun.
In a low, shame-filled voice, he said in a monotoned voice, “I have been a very bad Prospect. Please spank me before I do your bidding.”
Well, clearly I had missed something, but that did not stop me from accepting the offering.