Chapter 23
BIRDIE
Kalani: Ashley just walked into The Stinky Dog.
Kalani: I’m in the back. I told Sugar.
Kalani: I’m supposed to wait for her to leave.
Kalani: I don’t think I can.
Kalani: I want to un-on her.
Kalani: I want to un-on her real bad.
Birdie: Take a breath.
Birdie: Sit down and close your eyes.
Birdie: Meditate.
Birdie: I’m on my way.
“Coochie!” I yelled as I grabbed my phone and keys. “I gotta go!”
“Hold on, Bird. What’s going on?”
“I don’t have time to explain!” I ran for the door. “Are you coming or not?”
“Yes, but I’ll drive.”
“Well hurry it up. Kalani’s at work and Ashley just walked in.”
“Fuck! Does Sugar know?”
“She said she told him. Damn it! I knew we should’ve stayed in town.” We’d driven to a coffee festival for the afternoon. It was only forty-five minutes from Kahakai, but that felt like an eternity at the time.
“I’ll get us there as fast as I can.”
When Coochie’s phone rang with Whisker’s name on the screen, he handed it to me. “Put it on speaker.”
“I’m in the truck with Birdie,” Coochie said when the call connected.
“Have you talked to Sugar?”
“No, but Birdie’s talked to Kalani.”
“We’re headed that way.”
“We are too.”
“I’ll let you know if we hear anything.”
“Same.”
I stared at my phone in silence, watching for a text from Kalani while simultaneously hoping I wouldn’t get one because she was meditating.
She’d been practicing with one of the sirens and seemed to like it, but trying to meditate away the urge to kill Ashley would’ve been difficult for seasoned meditators.
My stare down with my phone screen was interrupted when Biscuit called Coochie. I answered and put it on speaker without being asked, anxious for an update about Kalani. “Is she okay?”
Biscuit chuckled. “We have Ashley, and Kalani is unharmed. How far out are you?”
“About ten minutes. Why?”
“Because Ashley said Hannah is in the trunk of her car. When we find her, that little girl is gonna be scared as hell. Was hoping Birdie could help.”
“Why me?” I asked. “Kalani’s there and Hannah knows her.”
Biscuit sighed. “Kalani is covered in Ashley’s blood.”
“What?” I shouted. “Not again!”
“She didn’t kill her. But she did cut her arm off and dance around with it.”
“She didn’t?”
“She did,” Biscuit confirmed. “The Hokey Cokey.”
“The what?”
“It’s the British version of the same song.”
“Why would she choose that?” Coochie wondered.
“What other song would you sing while you danced with a body part?” I answered. “Don’t judge me. I know how my granddaughter thinks.”
“You and Sugar … y’all are some brave sons of bitches,” Biscuit said.
“Your momma said I could thump you for that.”
“We’ll be there soon,” Coochie interjected and motioned for me to end the call.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he chuckled. “I just enjoy your personality.”
“Oh gross. Don’t make me have feelings in a moving vehicle.”
“My apologies.”
As he drove, I tried not to think about what was going on at the house in too much detail, but I couldn’t help it. How in the hell did Kalani cut off Ashley’s arm?
When Coochie turned into the driveway, I expected chaos. Other than the presence of an extra vehicle and a few motorcycles, it didn’t look like anything was going on. “Are we too late?” I whispered, hesitantly getting out of the truck.
“No, we’re not,” Coochie assured me as Whisker stepped out of the house.
“Is she okay?”
“Seems to be. She’s sedated, but Slit’s monitoring her upstairs.”
“What? Why?” I shouted and hurried for the door.
“No!” Whisker yelled and moved in front of me. “You can’t go in that way.”
“My granddaughter is in there. I’ll be damned if I let you or anybody else keep me from her,” I spat.
Whisker raised his hands in a placating manner. “I’m not keeping you from her, but you need to use the front door.”
I ran for the front door and sprinted up the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt when I saw a little girl in Kalani’s bed with Slit by her side. “Where is Kalani?” I asked frantically.
“Downstairs, but I don’t think you should go down there. Hold on, I’ll call Whisker.”
I didn’t know why they weren’t letting me see Kalani, and I didn’t care.
I was the one who found Hokulani’s body in that very house, and that’s where my mind went.
“Kalani!” I screamed as loud as I could.
“Kalani!” When Coochie’s arms came around me from behind, I collapsed into him. “Where is she?”
“Right here,” my beautiful, blood-covered granddaughter said when she materialized at the top of the stairs.
If Coochie hadn’t been holding me, I would’ve hit the floor at the sight of her. She looked just like she did the day she murdered Chet.
“I’m sorry,” she said genuinely. “I had to do it.”
I glanced at the innocent little girl sleeping in Kalani’s bed. “I know,” I sighed. “But what in the hell are we supposed to do now?”
“We’ll take care of everything,” Sugar said, appearing behind Kalani. “She’s going to shower, and then we’re all going back to Kahakai.”
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed dazedly.
Coochie helped me to a chair in Kalani’s bedroom.
“Birdie?” Kalani asked worriedly.
“I’m okay. Just a bit of a shock. Go shower. I’ll be fine.”
I held the tears back until she was gone. Then I covered my face with my hands and sobbed. “I don’t know how to help her.”
“She’s fine, Birdie.”
“She keeps killing people! That’s not fine!”
“She didn’t kill her.”
“She’s going to!”
“She kills bad people who deserve it,” Coochie pointed out. “It’s not the traditional career path, but she’s making the world a better place.”
I looked at him incredulously. “Are you really rationalizing this?”
“Yes, I fucking am,” he said defensively. “Most of the members of the club have killed at least one person. We’re not running around killing anyone and everyone, but shit happens. Like when I killed the guy who shot you.”
“You shot him? I knew one of the Kings did, but I assumed it was Cooter or Pocket.”
“Yes.”
“Well, that was different.”
“Not really. I shot him at the bar when he fired at you, but I killed him later that night.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I cared about you!” he admitted. “I always have. I was going to tell you that weekend, but everything else happened.”
“I think there was a part of me that hoped something would happen between us when I came to Kahakai, but it’s probably best it didn’t. I was still reeling from Carl. I wasn’t ready for another relationship so soon.”
“I know, and I knew it then, but it was the first time we were both single, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. I should’ve come to you instead of asking you to come to me. Might’ve been different if I had.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it would’ve been different in a good way.”
“You have a point.”
Leaning back in my chair, I took a cleansing breath and met Coochie’s eyes. “What now?”
“Now we get shit cleaned up and go back to the clubhouse. We’ll deal with the rest of this there.”