Have Your Way With Me

by Parker, Weston

  “It died.” I pointed to the empty red pot on our windowsill and smiled. “You knew that. You were the one who told me that it died and I never should have brought it home in the first place.”

  “Neither of us were grown up enough to adopt Mrs. Grisley’s cactus.” Her shoulders slumped. “You’re way too free-spirited and I’m way too focused on my designs when I’m home.”

  “It was a cactus,” I repeated the same words I’d used ten months ago after our neighbor had asked me to take the plant so she wouldn’t have to move it with her. “She said it was practically impossible to kill. Plus, her name is Mrs. Grisley. How was I supposed to say no to her?”

  “She was scary,” Lisa agreed, brushing her hair back and tying it up with a band she kept around her wrist. “But okay, we’ve gotten totally off-topic here. Is there no way I can convince you to stay? You only have one semester left before you graduate from college too. Won’t you just stay until you’re finished?”

  “Nah.” I waved my hand dismissively. “You know me. I don’t have a problem with backing off without completing stuff. Fine arts was fun, but I won’t need a degree in that where I’m going.”

  “I know, and you know I’ve never judged you for it, but don’t you think this is worth finishing?” she asked. “What are you going to do in Hawaii anyway? You never told me.”

  “Kole got me a job at the daycare on the base. Isn’t that cool?” Excitement made my heart beat faster. “I’ve always wanted to work with children, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

  “Sure, but what about your degree?” she repeated. “It’s one more semester, El. Would it kill you to wait six more months?”

  I rocked my head from side to side, considering. “It probably wouldn’t kill me, but it might kill Kole. I bet he’s chomping at the bit to have me under his watchful eye again.”

  Lisa paused for a moment. “Is that really what you want?” Her voice was quieter now, her expression contemplative. “I know I’ve never met him, but you said he used to be really overprotective. Are you sure you want to go back to that? You’ve been on your own for a long time now.”

  “I have, but that’s why I need to go,” I admitted. “I miss my brother. He won’t be traveling so much now that he’s gotten his promotion and I’ve always planned on going to join him wherever he ends up.”

  Family was important to me, probably the only really important thing I had in my life, and Kole was all I had in that department. He might have been my big brother, but he’d looked out for me like a father. He protected me and supported me, called me as often as he could, and was the one person in the world I knew I could count on no matter what.

  As much as I knew it was going to be an adjustment living in close proximity to him again, I was excited about getting to spend real time with him. Since he’d enlisted ten years ago, I hadn’t gotten to see much of him in real life.

  He generally visited once a year or so, and we video called all the time, but that was it. It had been fine at first. Our mom had still been alive and I’d had to finish high school after he left, but everything had gone to shit since.

  Once I got to Hawaii, I was going to be able to start over, to turn over a new leaf and build a new life with my brother by my side. I’d get to leave all the bad stuff that had happened in California behind and focus on the future.

  Kole had set me up with a quaint little house near the base and he’d gotten me the job at the daycare center, so I had the basics there covered. While he’d been looking at places for me to stay, he’d sent me some pictures.

  The house we’d eventually settled on looked a bit like a cottage, was painted sunshine yellow, and had a small but colorful garden outside. There was even a cute picket fence around it.

  We were only renting it for now since I’d refused to live with my brother if I moved, but I was hoping it would become my permanent home. A place I could really call mine, even if I didn’t technically own it.

  Kole hadn’t been too happy about the fact that I wouldn’t be moving in with him, but when I’d pointed out that we were both used to having our own space now, he’d come around. I guessed he wanted and valued his privacy as much as I did when he could get it.

  “Okay,” Lisa said, interrupting my thoughts with a rip of packing tape. “Let’s get you reunited with this brother of yours then. I’ve got this box all ready to be taken downstairs. Where do you need me next?”

  I tapped my chin with my index finger, then grinned. “How about we take a coffee break before we carry on? I need a good dose of caffeine if we’re going to finish this today.”

  Truth be told, it wasn’t all that much to get through. Almost all of the clothes, shoes, and personal items I was taking with me fit into two medium-sized suitcases.

  There were some of Mom’s old things in the apartment I shared with Lisa though, so those had to be put in storage and would be shipped to Kole eventually. It wasn’t that much. We were already more than halfway done.

  All the furniture and other items I’d contributed to in the apartment were staying with her. She’d offered to let me take whatever I wanted, but I told her to keep it all.

  Sunshine Cottage, as I’d nicknamed my new house in my mind, came fully furnished, and whatever I needed once I got there, I’d buy when I needed it. If this really was going to be the fresh start I’d been longing for, it didn’t help to cling to clutter I might not need.

  Lisa smiled and dropped the packaging tape on the couch. “Coffee sounds much better than packing.”

  “Agreed.” I led her into our tiny kitchen and flipped on the kettle before reaching up to retrieve our favorite mugs from the shelf. I felt a pang in my heart when I realized it was probably going to be the last time we sipped coffee together from the goofy mugs we’d bought each other one Christmas.

  The pang wasn’t deep or painful enough to make me change my mind about the move, though. I’d always been a little too adventurous for my own good and this was going to be my greatest adventure yet.

  Two days and many more coffees from the goofy mugs later, Lisa dropped me off at the airport. She was teary-eyed again, drawing me into a hug as we stood next to her car in the drop-off zone.

  “So this is it, huh?”

  I nodded and returned her hug fiercely. “This is it for now, but I’ll see you in Hawaii soon.”

  She rolled her eyes again as she released me. “Let’s hope, but I really don’t see it happening that soon.”

  “I’ll keep hoping.” I smiled and stepped away, setting both hands on the handles of my suitcases. “Love you, Lisa. Remember, you can do anything you set your mind to. I’m only ever a phone call away.”

  She swiped underneath her eyes to wipe away tears that had fallen from each. “Yeah, you too. Travel safe and let me know the minute you get there?”

  “I’ll let you know as soon as we touch down.” Before she could remind me that I wasn’t allowed to turn my phone back on as soon as we touched down, I turned and hurried away, wheeling my suitcases behind me.

  There were tears welling in my eyes too, and I really didn’t want Lisa to see them. It would have made her feel even worse. I heard her calling out that she loved me too, and I threw my hand up in a final wave as I marched toward the doors.

  Airport check-in and security went faster than Lisa had anticipated it might, so I killed some time in the stores before I could board my plane. I hadn’t flown much in my life, so I enjoyed doing a little exploring of the terminal and making up stories for my fellow passengers in my head.

  When I was finally onboard the metal bird that would carry me to my brother, I rested my head against the frame and smiled as I watched California’s ground fading below. I lifted the tiny bottle of champagne I had asked the attendant for to my lips and relished the burn of the bubbles as they flowed down my throat.

  Here’s to my latest, greatest adventure. The tears from earlier were long forgotten. I honestly couldn’t wait to see what this new chapter held for
me.

  Chapter 3

  Jordan

  “Are you ready to start today’s edition of World’s Greatest Pineapple Collectors?” Mauli called to me when I got out of my truck.

  The air was fragrant with the smell of earth as I dragged in a breath and grinned at my colleague. “I was born ready.”

  He rolled his chocolate brown eyes and pulled me into his meaty arms, hefting me against his considerable bulk as he hugged me. God, I’m never going to get used to that.

  “Are you really going to hug me every morning?” I asked the colossal Hawaiian man who I considered to be my second closest friend.

  He flashed me a grin of pearly white teeth offset by the milky latte color of his skin. “Are you really not going to hug me back every morning?”

  “Let’s just say I’m not used to being welcomed to work with a hug every morning,” I said.

  Genuine pity filled his eyes as he studied me. “That’s your loss. You’ll get used to it, though. I don’t mind having to make up for the lack of warmth from your former colleagues.”

  Rolling my eyes, I laughed and started walking toward the site office. “I’m really okay with you not making up for it. I guess I’m just not the hugging type.”

  “Maybe, but I am.” He fell into step beside me and slung one thick arm around my shoulders. He had to reach up to be able to get it there, but he managed. “I’m lovable, like a big, huggable bear. Now why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”

  “What?” I frowned, shrugging his arm off. “How can you tell there’s something on my mind?”

  He sighed heavily, amusement making his eyes light up. “I told you, man, I have a sixth sense about my friends. I also haven’t seen you look so stoic since you first started here, so there’s that. You’re trying to keep a straight face.”

  “I’m not stoic.” I stopped walking and glared at him, but Mauli wasn’t intimidated by me. He never had been. He simply smiled and waited for me to tell him what was going on. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You have two choices,” he informed me, drawing his spine up a little straighter. His belly still flopped over the elastic waistline of his shorts and he was still a good few inches shorter than I was, so he wasn’t all that intimidating either.

  Even if he did probably weigh nearly double what I did and none of it was muscle mass. I tilted my head. “Yeah? What are they?”

  “One, you can tell me right now what’s on that beautiful mind of yours.” He smiled when I didn’t choose that option. “Two, I can pester you all day long until you do. The choice is yours.”

  I sighed and shoved both hands into my hair, tugging at the short strands on top of my head as I regarded my friend. The thing about Mauli was that he cared—like really cared—about some people. Somehow, I had become one of those people for him.

  When he said he’d pester me all day, what he meant was that he’d pester me every day until I told him. I shook my head at him but gave in. “An old fling of mine is supposed to be coming to the island. I haven’t seen her in a long time. That’s all.”

  A wide grin spread on his thick lips. “That’s great. I’m excited for you, man. You need to get laid. It’s been too long.”

  “How would you know?” I asked.

  Mauli just smirked and threw his hands up. “How many times do I have to tell you about the sixth sense?”

  I laughed. “Fair enough, but it’s not that simple.”

  He closed the distance between us and clapped me on the shoulder, his gaze fixed to mine. “Love is the most simple feeling there is, brother.”

  “Yeah, but this isn’t love.” It might have been, once upon a time. But that time wasn’t now and I wasn’t a stupid, hormone-infested teenager anymore. “Also, it’s simplest, not the most simple.”

  He pursed his lips, his head shaking with disapproval. The smile hadn’t quite left his eyes, though. I didn’t think it truly ever did. “Correcting my English is not something you want to start with, my friend. You’re also not getting out of telling me about this lady friend of yours.”

  “Elyse is…” I trailed off.

  God, I didn’t even know where to start. I also didn’t know if anything I remembered about her was even still true anymore. A decade was a lot of time for someone to change. I sure had.

  Nineteen to twenty-nine had been a time of great transition for me, as I imagined it was for most people. I’d been a teenager the last time I saw her. Now I was pushing thirty.

  Similarly, she’d been sixteen and would now be twenty-six. While I’d been in the Navy, she’d been out there living her life.

  Kole didn’t talk about her often. He’d told me back when we first enlisted that he wanted to keep the fact that he had a sister on the down-low. As protective as he was, he hadn’t wanted guys he didn’t know finding out about her and making comments that were likely to get him into trouble.

  Since I’d still been smarting over the breakup of our year-long on-again off-again fling at the time, I hadn’t argued with him. I’d figured the less I heard about her, the better.

  After a while, even the quietly shared facts about her life had stopped. Again, I hadn’t asked.

  It was like he’d packed Elyse safely away into a compartment of his heart and mind only he had access to. I’d wondered about her, of course.

  Asking the questions I’d promised myself I never would had been on the tip of my tongue a thousand times in the years that had passed. Every time I felt one threatening to break through, I’d had to actively fight against letting it out.

  Nothing good could come from knowing, I’d told myself. Elyse was back home in San Francisco and I was in Pearl Harbor. It had become my home and I’d realized years ago that even if I received my discharge and left the service, I probably wouldn’t leave the island.

  My life was here now. I liked it on the island. I wanted to live my life the way I was now, relaxed and without the pressures of any corporation.

  That was another point of contention between Kole and me. He thought I was too intelligent to “waste my life” collecting pineapples. Maybe I was. Studying and learning had always come easy to me, as did figuring out how stuff worked.

  I didn’t feel like I was wasting my life or my “potential,” as Kole liked to call it. I spent all my free time learning new stuff. It just wasn’t a hobby I necessarily told anyone about. My brain was keeping plenty active, as was my body.

  In the meantime, I knew Elyse had gone off to college since we’d left. I’d overheard Kole on the phone to her once, congratulating her on getting into whatever program she had applied for. I hadn’t hung around to eavesdrop on any more of their conversation.

  The point was that Elyse might not even be the same person I remembered her being, the free-spirited adventure seeker who danced to the beat of her own drum. She used to be the type of person to live and let live, an artistic soul who had never fit into the popular crowd and never gave a single fuck about it.

  A smile curved on my lips as I recalled the person she used to be. Mauli hauled me out of my memories by shoving his elbow into my ribs with a knowing gleam in his eyes. “A man doesn’t smile like that over any old fling.”

  I dodged another elbow nudge by swiftly sidestepping his attempt, then shot him a glare as I rubbed my side. “That fucking hurt. The smile didn’t mean anything, okay? She’s just someone who used to be different to a lot of the girls I knew and I liked that. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.”

  He tilted his head, his black curls falling to his shoulder. “No, I don’t think so. She was important to you.”

  “Maybe, but the operative word in that sentence is ‘was.’ I probably won’t even see her once she arrives on the island. We haven’t talked since we were teens. Trust me, Maul-man. Leave it be. There’s no juicy gossip here for you.”

  I started walking again, hearing Mauli’s footsteps padding over the soft earth behind me. “I think you’re wrong. This island
may be big, but I know everyone here by name. You’ll see her and so will I.”

  “Fine, so maybe we’ll see her. It still doesn’t mean anything.” I turned to face him, walking backward as we neared the office. “I was just surprised when I heard she was moving here. End of story. It’s no big deal. I saw an old friend over breakfast, he told me she would be arriving soon, and I wasn’t expecting it. That’s the only reason why I was even still thinking about her when I got here.”

  A bushy eyebrow lifted above those laughing eyes. “I don’t think so, but I do think you might.”

  “What are you? A psychic suddenly?” I laughed and kept walking backward as I put out my arms. “Trust me, man. This isn’t some epic love story. It never has been. Everyone was young and stupid once. That’s all this was. Kids doing something idiotic.”

  If ours was any story at all, it definitely wasn’t an epic love story. It was one of epic betrayal and it wasn’t one that would ever be told.

  Finally turning around, I marched the last few feet to the office. Off to the back of it was a partition with a few lockers. I ripped mine open and took out my clothes, then tugged my shirt over my head to replace it with the yellow shirt bearing the company logo.

  Mauli finally came in just before I lowered the uniform over my head. He chuckled and slapped my abs as he walked past to his own locker. They’d had to put in a special order for his shirt because of his bulk, yet he was the one always joking about my weight.

  “You better do some situps before your lady friend gets here. You’re looking a bit flabby around the waist these days.”

  I flipped him off and patted my hand over my stomach, smirking when I only felt the rock-hard muscle I had to work at keeping there these days. “Flabby? I think you better get your eyes tested, man. Or maybe your head. You seem to be hallucinating.”

  With his howling laughter in my ears, I stepped back out of the office and got to work. I didn’t care what Kole or anyone else thought. This was definitely the fucking life I wanted.