by Abby Knox
Or worse. She might dump his ass. Kai preferred the first option. He certainly deserved the ass kicking.
Kai hated communicating over text. He punched in the reply:
Come back to me. Let’s talk about it.
Instead of kicking his ass or dumping his ass, she somehow delivered the worst option of all.
Before you and I go any further, I need some time to take care of some things.
That meant the dreaded word “space.” She wanted “space.” Kai had not even thought of that being a possibility.
Space is limbo. Torture. Unacceptable.
Fuck this.
He stomped down to the record shop on the off chance that Zara might be there. But, of course she wasn’t.
Well, he thought, she can’t give me space. She has to come back to work, and I’m not going anywhere.
Chapter 21
Kai
Sweat poured into his eyes. Having long, thick hair was tough in the summer for a guy who was handy. He was now seeing the value of those 1980s workout headbands and was seriously considering bringing them back into fashion.
Allowing Zara to have space was unacceptable to this newfound possessiveness he was experiencing. She belonged to him. They belonged together.
But with Zara, he could not simply claim what was his. He had to convince her they belonged together, without her realizing that’s what he was doing.
Hence, replacing the entire ceiling of the shop without allowing a single bit of dust to fall on a customer’s head in the process. He worked around the shop at night; during the day, he busked out front and kept an eye on her without crowding her. He slept little.
Dusty had come home and tried talking some sense into Zara, but it all fell on deaf ears.
And now with so much time on his hands, not only did Kai have the entire Fourth of July block party completely planned, he had also completed a shit ton of work around the building. He had installed a security system for the shop and for the flat; built a stage for the block party; hired security for the event; fixed the store’s wonky sound system; and applied fresh coats of paint in the restrooms.
If Kai he couldn’t fill his time with Zara, he had to at least be useful.
Today, his goal was to fix the water leak in the shop. He had removed all of the ugly drop-ceiling material—thank god for no asbestos—and was hammering away at the corroded seams in the water pipes.
After that, he decided, he would update the air conditioning vents. Then. he would paint all of the exposed duct work one uniform color to give height and interest to the room.
The hammering did little to work out his frustrations over Zara.
In the meantime, Dusty had returned to Vinyl Vixen.
Things were tense all around.
If Kai used his time to work extra hard around the shop, Zara was uncharacteristically unproductive. She showed up late to work. Kai watched her messing up the totals in the till at the end of the day. Zara wasn’t herself.
One this day, as Zara slept in late, again, Dusty addressed the issue with Kai.
He kept working as she spoke.
“Kai, it wasn’t me who told her. It was her father, Walter. He had some no-good friends of his do some digging on you, and he told her. I’m sorry it spooked her. But just hang in there.”
Kai thanked her and got back to work on the pipes.
Any sane man would have cut and run. Made everyone more comfortable by leaving. Bow out. Let them have their peace.
But he was far from sane when it came to Zara.
For now, the old jailbird seemed to enjoy spending his probation time finding free Wi-Fi to leave terrible reviews of Vinyl Vixen on Yelp!, smearing them on Twitter and Facebook. No social media were safe from his attack campaign.
The piece of shit wasn’t going to come near the shop while Kai was there, now that he knew what he was capable of.
Instead, Walter was trying to draw Dusty out.
Chapter 22
Zara
By the time the Fourth of July arrived, Zara knew it was time to move on.
She had managed to keep her distance from Kai in order to get her head straight these past couple of weeks. But now, she was ready. She would have to tell Kai she had made up her mind, if he was ready to hear it.
Working together to set the stage for the party was torture. They kept bumping into each other, literally.
Finally, Dusty could not take the icy silence any longer and gave them the job of rounding up a list of decorations she needed. The list was a mile long and had them snaking all over town in Kai’s Volkswagen bus.
“You know that Dusty doesn’t need any of this shit on this list. She did this to us on purpose, to force us to talk. Her machinations know no bounds.”
Kai offered, “Yeah, but is that such a bad thing?”
“It is when people aren’t upfront about it. Why didn’t she tell me the truth about you? And why didn’t you?”
Kai pulled over to the side of the road and parked next to some rocks near a path that led to a beach access. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe people wait to tell you everything is because you can be a little…I don’t know…stand-offish?”
“Excuse me?”
“Be honest. Would you have dated me if you had known from the beginning that I came down here to decompress after shooting my aunt’s abusive husband?”
“Maybe. It’s kind of badass, what you did.”
Kai looked shocked. “I thought you were scared of me because of it.”
She shook her head. “No. I was angry because you didn’t tell me. And … I needed space so I could dig up dirt on my father. Turns out, he’s in violation of his parole. I found out the name of his parole officer and we’ve been in contact. Cops are going to pick him up tonight at the Fourth of July party.”
It was all true. In the days since she’d last been confronted by Walter, Zara had stayed under the radar to do her own dirty work. She had changed strategies and decided to pretend to warm up to Walter.
After she texted Kai about needing time to think, she circled back to the gas station.
Walter had looked surprised, maybe even annoyed, at first, to see her.
“Look,” Zara tried, “Mom’s in trouble. You and I know she’s not great with money. But I am.”
Walter had looked at her suspiciously at first, but then invited her to have a seat.
Over the next couple of weeks, they met in secret. Always in public, but Zara made sure it was always far from Beach Avenue and anyone who knew her. It took some time, but she eventually convinced Walter to let her help him find what he wanted.
She had handed him the flier. “Come to the party. Mom will be busy. Kai will be helping mom. I can duck out and find what you’re looking for. But you have to promise that when you sell that thing, you’ll split it with mom and be on your way. Get your shit together. Leave her alone and we’ll leave you alone. I won’t even tell your parole officer where you are.”
Walter had looked her up and down with a wary grin and considered his options.
Zara waited.
She hated to admit it to herself, but she and her dad had one thing in common. They never let go when they wanted something.
Finally, after what had felt like a millennia, Walter bought the plan. Hook. Line. Sinker.
Zara explained the whole situation, including the part where he would show up at the back alley behind Vinyl Vixen during the Fourth of July party. Zara would take him inside and the local cops would be waiting to take him back to jail on a warrant to extradite from Northern California.
He gritted his teeth. “I should never have been there that night. I should have let the police handle the call. And taking someone’s life, even a bad guy, may look badass on paper. But it seriously fucking messed me up and I don’t like to talk about it. I was going to tell you on my time. On my terms. Yes, you deserved to know that, but it is my story to tell. Not your dad’s and not your mom’s.”
By
the time he was done talking, Zara’s tears streamed down her cheeks. She opened the passenger door and stepped out. “Let’s walk,” she said.
“Why?”
She smiled through her tears. “Because I refuse to kiss and make up inside this ridiculous van.”
Chapter 23
Kai
Grateful things were back on solid ground with Zara, Kai was singing and playing better than ever at the party that night.
People were dancing, drinking, having a blast.
His tip jar was completely full, and between songs, he had Zara count it out for him.
In just two hours, he’d made about $300. He announced to the crowd, “Thank you all for your tips. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be donating all the tips I make tonight to the shelter. And thanks to all the tickets sold, after expenses we’ll have raised $4,000.”
Everyone clapped and cheered. Then Dusty took the stage and whispered something that totally blew Kai’s mind. He handed her the mic so she could tell everyone the news.
“We have an update on that number. It seems we have an unexpected celebrity guest in our midst tonight, who has just informed me he’s going to match whatever we raise. So far that’s $8,000. Who here thinks we can top $10,000?”
Everyone cheered. Zara looked at Kai and mouthed the words, “Who is it?”
Kai shrugged and scanned the crowd. He didn’t see anyone he recognized other than the locals.
Dusty finished talking and handed the mic back to Kai, who said, “Thanks, everyone. This next song is one that I wrote for a special woman who I’ve recently gotten to know. She’s smart, fun, and despite her outward appearance, as kind and generous as they come. She’s worked her ass off to make this party happen for you tonight. She’s a good woman and I feel lucky to have her in my life.”
You got eyes like Joan
You got lips like Debbie
You got a voice like Stevie
And a soul like Patti
Girl, you stomped the shit out of my heart
And I’m coming back for more.
You got heart like Chrissie
Fire like Janis
Legs like Tina
And the sweetness of Alanis
Yeah, you kicked the shit out of my heart.
And I’m coming back for more
Yeah, you stomped the bullshit right out
And I ain’t never gonna close that door.
Zara disappeared in the middle of the song. He supposed the time had come for Zara to carry out the plan to meet up with Walter at Vinyl Vixen.
He’d just have to play it for her later. She’d be ready for him to sing her to sleep, after what Kai was planning to do to her tonight.
As he sang, he smiled to himself at the thought of bending his woman over the bed while fireworks lit up the night sky outside his window.
In the next moment, he saw Dusty talking to an older fellow. Kai suddenly realized the older man was, in fact, the anonymous celebrity donor. She was talking and dancing and acting friendly and flirting with none other than Big Daddy. Jed. Big Daddy. Masters.
Holy Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, seven angels and a donkey.
It was as close to Kai would ever get to a religious experience. For him, this was seeing the pope.
Kai could not believe he was performing on stage right in front of that guy. It was all he could do to hold himself together enough to finish the song. He felt like a massive fraud in the presence of such greatness.
Keep it together and finish the song, dude.
When the song ended, he lost sight of Big Daddy. Kai excused himself for five minutes to get some water. As he descended from the stage, he nearly bumped right into his idol.
“Big Daddy!”
The silver-bearded hulk of a man held out his hand to shake Kai’s. “I hate that nickname. Just call me Jed.”
The man’s voice was a deep baritone, but calming and disarming.
“Yes, sir. I mean, Jed. I…wow. I’m a huge, huge fan. This is such an honor.”
“Well, I’m a big fan of Dusty, so you should be used to being around greatness.”
Kai was confused. “Really?”
Jed continued, “I’ve been ordering rare vinyl from her for years and just recently had the chance to meet her. She told me about you, and I want to ask you about that song.”
Kai could barely process what was happening right now. But the matter at hand was, he needed to find Zara. He had to make sure she was OK and that this cockamamie (but also badass) plan of hers didn’t get her in trouble. He could not believe what he was about to say.
“I’m sorry, sir…Big Daddy…I mean Jed. I gotta go find my girl.”
Jed’s grip was firm and his eyes were warm. “I completely understand. Go find her, or else what’s music even about, am I right?”
Kai nodded and took off.
Chapter 24
Zara
“He said he’d be here,” Zara said, checking the time on her phone, as the two sheriff’s deputies watched and waited inside the closed record shop.
Walter was late.
And she was beginning to feel incredibly foolish.
She could hear the music and the carousing in the distance at the block party. A feeling started to creep in that she should have kept her mouth shut and minded her own business. Let the authorities deal with her father rather than try to manipulate him.
She looked at the deputies, who were checking their watches.
One of them suggested, “If you have an address where he’s currently living, we can execute the warrant at his home in the morning.”
Zara’s stomach churned. “It’s no use. He never told me where he was staying and I never asked. I’ve just been meeting with him at different places around town. Hell, he could be sleeping anywhere, like a vagrant.”
“It’s not unheard of,” the other deputy said.
Just then, a call came over their radios. The dispatcher was calling for response to something happening out in the county.
The deputies looked at each other and then the first one said, “I’m sorry ma’am, but this call takes precedent over this type of warrant. Let us know where he’s staying, when you find out, and we’ll get him. We suggest you take out a protection order against him if he starts making physical threats and in the meantime, take a firearms class.”
She said goodbye to the officers and saw them out to the side street where they had parked their unmarked patrol cars.
She mentally kicked herself as she headed back in to re-set the security system at Vinyl Vixen.
Chapter 25
Kai
As soon as Kai rounded the corner to the side street, he had to keep himself from nearly going full Hulk.
And the reason he was so angry — no, enraged — was the sight of Walter, hiding behind trash cans in the alleyway.
Kai froze, backed himself into a nook at the back of the florist shop, and watched.
If the man was laying in wait behind the trash cans, things had not gone according to plan.
And the back door of the shop was wide open.
Which meant only one thing: Zara was in trouble.
But whatever shit Walter was planning, it was never going to land at Zara’s feet.
Kai watched as Walter checked the alleyway entry points, and made his move.
When Walter approached the recessed doorway, his way in was blocked by a hulking blonde beast in a 1990s baja tunic.
“Hey buddy,” Kai said in a pretend-friendly tone. “What you up to back here?”
Walter put his hands up, “I have some family business to attend to. So if you’ll kindly step aside.”
Kai threw his head back and laughed. “That’s cute.”
Walter looked at him warily. “That there’s the laugh of a psychopath. Like I’ve been telling Zara.”
Kai snatched the front of Walter’s shirt. His voice rumbled. “Say her name again. I’m looking forward to head-butting you.”
“Z
ara is my da-,” he started, cut off by the crack of Kai’s forehead against his.
Walter stumbled backward.
Kai stepped down from the doorway and approached Walter. “Turn around and leave Sea Grove now, and maybe you’ll get to live the rest of your life in peace. Try to do the right thing.”
Walter scoffed. “What does that mean? You won’t try to turn me in to the authorities?”
Kai pointed at Walter’s chest. “No. It means if you don’t bother Zara or Dusty ever again, I won’t fucking murder you.”
Walter backed away slowly, matching Kai’s gaze as he walked. Then he turned tail and ran like a little bitch.
Just then, Kai heard a female gasp.
Kai turned, and Zara stood there with her hand over her mouth.
“That was him. He was here? Now what?”
“He’s gone. Don’t worry. It’s going to be OK.”
She fell into his arms. “I had it all planned out. It was perfect. He needs to go back to jail.
“Eh, sooner or later someone will pick him up for larceny or just for being a jackass. That’s a federal charge, right?”
She exhaled some of the tension that had been building up.
“Are you OK?” he asked, tracing his thumb over both of her cheekbones.
She nodded silently, still covering her mouth. Then she put her hand to Kai’s forehead. “But are you OK?”
Kai smiled. “I’ll have a goose egg but otherwise, I’m fine.” He covered her hand with his own, and drew it to his lips.
She sighed. “Let’s lock up and get back to the party. Mom’s probably wondering where we got off to.”
Chapter 26
Zara
From behind the stage curtain, Zara went over the words. Of course she knew it by heart. Who doesn’t know the words to “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You”? Elvis was her private jam. Whenever she felt lonely or sad or sappy, Elvis always helped. And now she couldn’t think of anything better than to sing in front of not just a bar full of people but a whole crowd of locals who had known her since she was just a seven-year-old chicken-legged squirt running around the beach.
