Chapter Eighteen #2
Tommy, the taller of the two men, had jet black hair with the sides shaved. He was native and covered in tribal tattoos. “I see you got yourself a nice little haole of your own. Good. Now, when do you leave for the mainland?”
“Why would I leave? This is where I belong.” Kelly’s voice was calm and in control, but his jaw was set in a firm line. His muscles were tight, as if readying for a fight.
“You don’t belong here. Just like you don’t deserve to have that tattoo,” Tommy said, pointing to the markings peeking out from under Kelly’s left sleeve. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” Tommy asked, turning his attention to me. He was eyeing me up and down, and I felt a chill run down my spine.
“You don’t need to answer him,” Kelly said as he stepped slightly in front of me. Kahale had moved to his side, forming a barrier.
“Now, Kelly, that’s not very nice. Your girl is smoking, though, I’ll give you that.
” Tommy licked his lips as his eyes met mine.
They looked almost black in the dark. Like a predator.
“When you’re ready for a real man, I’ll pick up this haole’s sloppy seconds.
I’m not above some good pussy,” Tommy said, and the man next to him laughed wickedly.
Kelly moved forward, but Kahale held him back. “That’s enough, Tommy. You and Sam can go home now.”
“My brother and I leave when we’re ready,” Tommy growled.
“Yeah. We leave when we want,” Sam echoed.
Sam was shorter than Tommy, closer to my height. I could already tell he’d been his brother’s sidekick his whole life.
“If you want to see any of your tips from tonight, you’ll leave,” Kahale stated, more seriously than I’d ever seen him.
“You don’t have any fucking say—”
“You wanna bet? It would be a shame to leave with nothing tonight. What would your mom say when you can’t keep the lights on this month?” Kahale crossed his arms.
There was a tense moment of silence, during which no one even blinked.
Without a word, Tommy moved away, his back turning to us.
Sam lingered for a second longer before joining his brother.
With their backs to us, I could feel Kahale and Kelly both relax a little, but it wasn’t until they turned out of view that I felt like I could breathe again.
“We’re leaving now,” Kelly said.
They quickly bumped fists before Kelly led me away. We didn’t speak as Kelly took long strides. Even at my height, I struggled to keep up. My foot caught on something, and I almost fell forward. He stopped to steady me, looked into my eyes, and must have seen that I was frightened.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said softly, but then started walking again.
“Kelly,” I finally found my voice. “What—”
“I’ll explain in the truck, but we have to get going.” He moved even faster than before, and it suddenly felt like we had parked ten miles away.
When we reached the truck, I felt out of breath.
Kelly brought me over to the driver's side as he manually unlocked the door.
Once unlocked, he ushered me to the passenger side, helped me in, then closed the door.
He sprinted around and immediately locked the door once inside.
With the turn of the key, the ignition came to life, and he reversed quickly, turning up gravel in his wake.
I looked behind us and saw two figures that looked eerily like the brothers.
I gasped, and Kelly looked back as well.
“What the fuck was that?” I demanded.
“That was the Lee brothers,” he said, turning down a new road as the men disappeared. “Between the two of them, they possess about three whole brain cells and are notoriously known as local thugs.”
“What is their problem?” What was that word they had called him? A halley? A holly?
“I’m their problem,” he sighed, keeping his eyes on the road.
“But why?”
“They think I don’t belong here. That even though a native family adopted me, I’ll never be one of them,” he said as if it pained him. “They have bullied me my entire life, and they get violent, too.”
“We should call the police,” I said, pulling out my phone.
“It doesn’t matter.” Kelly pushed his hair back, something I noticed he only did when he was stressed. “Their dad is high up in the police department. They’re untouchable here.”
“No one is untouchable,” I argued.
“Here they are,” he insisted.
“Why does he hate your tattoo?” I asked.
“It’s called a kakau, an ancient style that holds deep cultural significance. It represents my family’s lineage. Every male in my family has received it at eighteen. My dad asked me if I would get it to honor our family, and the honor was truly all mine.”
I thought of the rich, dark markings, and my heart felt heavy at how important they truly were.
“What were they calling you? Or I guess calling us?”
“A haole. It’s Hawaiian slang for a white person. Some people use it just to describe tourists, but the Lee brothers mean it as a slur.” We’d made it back to the highway, and I was starting to recognize some landmarks.
I had moved around a lot, didn’t make many friends, but nobody ever bullied me. I was quiet, kept to myself, and most people didn’t notice me. I looked at Kelly and tried to imagine him as a little kid, getting picked on at school for being adopted.
“Your family doesn’t feel that way,” I said, thinking of the tattoo on his arm.
“I’m grateful they chose me. I have no idea where I’d be without them. But...” he went quiet, and I didn’t fill the silence. I waited for him to be ready. “It’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re not wanted. My biological mother didn’t want me.”
“You know that for a fact?” I wondered what Kelly’s birth mother was like. If they shared the same blonde hair or slate eyes.
“No. I don’t know. I don’t know anything about my birth parents.” He said, his eyes fixed on the road.
“The adoption agency didn’t have any information about them?” I asked softly. I didn’t want to pry, but I had to know who Kelly was.
“There was no adoption agency,” he said, one hand on the wheel while the other pushed back his hair.
“What do you mean?” I asked as we entered Kelly’s neighborhood.
He remained silent as he made some turns that were starting to become familiar to me. His house came into view on the right, and he parked. He cut the ignition and turned to face me. The yellow glow of the streetlights illuminated his face, and the air felt thick and humid between us.
“I don’t talk about this much,” he finally said.
He seemed to take a deep breath, readying himself.
“You know that my adopted parents own a diner,” he started.
“My bio mom used to be a customer there. I’ve been told that she started going there when she was pregnant with me.
Lilly said she was beautiful, young, with the same blue eyes as me.
Or, I guess I have the same eyes as her,” he chuckled, but there was no joy in it.
“She never said more than her order and a thank you. She came in at least once a week and always paid cash. Despite the heat, she always wore long sleeves, and Lilly occasionally caught sight of a bruise poking out. Then, I was born, and she continued to come in, bringing me with her. This went on for a month until one day, my bio mom came in, and she had a black eye. Her right arm was in a cast, and she was struggling to hold me in the other. Concerned, Lilly tried to talk to her, but the woman insisted that she had fallen down some stairs.” He paused, as if this part haunted him.
“It was clear that she was being physically abused. But she didn’t ask for help.
The last time she came in, she could barely look at Lilly when she ordered.
She picked at her food and then paid the bill, in cash, like always.
But instead of leaving, she approached Lilly and asked if she would hold me while she used the bathroom.
Lilly happily agreed, being a mother of three herself, and then my bio mom left for the bathroom.
Ten minutes went by, and she didn’t come back.
Lilly went to check the bathroom, but there was no one there, and the window was open. ”
“Lilly came back to my mom’s table and found she had written on the check.
It simply said, ‘His name is Kelly.’ Nothing more.
My mom abandoned me and never came back.
Lilly called the police, and they took me into child protective services.
They searched the local hospital databases for a boy named Kelly born in that year, but they found nothing.
The police think that either she had a home birth or that was not the name on my actual birth certificate.
They think she gave me up because she was in an abusive marriage, so it would have made sense that she changed my name. ”
“After searching for my mom and not finding a trace of her, it was determined that I would go into the foster care system and wait for a family to adopt me. Lilly was heavily involved with the search for my mom, and when she heard I was going into foster care, she couldn’t stand the idea of it.
Kimo could never say no to her, so they did the proper training to become foster parents.
I was told the plan was to foster me until the right family came around to adopt me.
Lilly swears that after the first day home, she knew she would never give me up.
It took some time, but they adopted me before my second birthday. ”
I was speechless. It wasn’t the adoption story I'd expected. It was bittersweet. My heart filled with joy that it had been the Iona’s that had taken in Kelly and fallen in love with him. But the story of his mother disappearing into thin air sent a chill down my spine.
“You know, I didn’t even know I was adopted for a long time.
I grew up with my siblings, and everything was normal to me.
I’m sure as a kid, I had pointed out the physical differences between us, but I didn’t know any better.
It wasn’t until I started school that Tommy Lee pointed out how different I truly was.
I remember asking my parents, and they sat me down to tell me I was adopted. ”
“I listened, and they promised me they loved me just like I was their own. That I was their son, and that I would always be. Don’t get me wrong, Reese,” his eyes were misty in the dim light.
“I had a great childhood. I have the best family, and I feel completely loved. But I will always be missing a part of me. I have so many questions, and I’ll never get those answers.
Sometimes, I worry that I’ll never be whole. ”
Kelly hung his head, and his shoulders slumped. Without thinking, I reached out, taking hold of his hand.
“Kelly...” I started to say, but I didn’t know what the right thing to say was.
He looked away, and I held on to him tighter. “I don’t want you to pity me. To look at me differently.”
I stayed quiet for a moment before placing one hand on either side of his face as I brought our foreheads together. I heard his breath catch slightly as he closed his eyes, leaning into me.
“Have you ever gone looking for your mom?” I asked.
“No,” he breathed. “I’m...I’m scared of what I’ll find. What if I found her and she didn’t want to meet me?” His voice was only a whisper.
“It would be her loss then. I’m glad you told me,” I whispered. “Now I know you better. And you know what I think?”
“What?” he asked, sounding a little breathless.
“I have gotten to know the real you, and I think you might be my favorite person.”
I pulled away just slightly and kissed his forehead, letting my lips linger for a second. I felt the urge to move my mouth down to his jaw, but restrained myself. I sat back in my seat and looked across at the man who’d just shared his heart with me.
I thought about how my time here would soon be over, and for the first time, I wished it wouldn’t.