by Jayne Rylon
She spun around and plastered herself to him. Sheltering arms enfolded her in his warmth.
“Pāpā isn’t coming back.” She finally admitted it to herself. “Not ever. He’s gone.”
“Don’t give up, Kahori.” He squeezed her. “We’re going to keep looking.”
Shaking her head, she insisted, “He would never have left me. Not after my mother—”
Sniffling, she tried to hold herself together. Too late, she realized the conversation had ceased.
Miguel and Sabine were watching her worriedly, while Uncle Kimo joined her and Tosin.
“I want to say you’re wrong.” Uncle Kimo ran his knuckles over her cheek, collecting her tears. “But I feel the same. He would never have betrayed you. He’s not involved in this scam. But I bet he figured out who was. He always was the smartest one in the family.”
Kahori lost it at that. She sobbed, clinging to Tosin.
He rocked her, promising to help her search for answers, if not her father himself. Nothing could console her. Snot and tears leaked from her despite her best attempts to bottle it up inside again.
Kimo wandered to the reception desk where Hemi usually greeted their guests. He opened a drawer and rummaged toward the back, muttering about tissues. Instead, he froze, as if he’d laid his hand on a scorpion instead.
“What’s wrong?” Banks asked.
Uncle Kimo’s face twisted in disbelief as he withdrew a velvet pouch. One Kahori recognized from her workshop. When he looked inside, he cursed. Next, he took a wad of cash that would easily cover several years’ worth of the resort’s operations from the hiding spot, along with a passport. A plane ticket was jammed inside. When he flipped the book open to the photo page, he roared. “HEMI!”
“Yeah?” Her cousin—who might as well have been her brother—stuck his head around the corner as if the sound that had just ripped from his father’s chest at the proof of his betrayal and imminent departure was something he heard all the time. The noise was one Kahori would never forget.
It echoed her own pain and terror.
“You?” Uncle Kimo’s clay-colored skin shed its vibrancy. Ashen, he stared at his son. Then he threw the damning evidence at him. Pearls skittered across the floor, bouncing everywhere. “Tell me this is not what it looks like. No son of mine could be this rotten inside. He couldn’t do this to another human being, never mind his own family. Hemi! Tell me!”
Kahori quivered in Tosin’s hold, only staying upright thanks to his arms banded around her.
Instead, Hemi drew a long bone-handled knife from a sheath on his belt.
“I never meant for it to come to this.” He stopped short of apologizing. “I only wanted to make enough extra money to get the hell off this island. Have a real life in a modern city. But…things got out of control. Once I’d earned what I needed, my partners wouldn’t let me stop, let me go. I was still just as trapped as ever in this ass-end of the Earth. And now that I’m an hour from leaving, you won’t stop me. No one will. I’m finally going to be free.”
“You could have been honest!” Kimo’s face gained all its color back and then some. He looked nearly burgundy as rage and disbelief brewed within him. “I would have helped you achieve your dreams. Here or elsewhere.”
“Good. That’s what I want from you now. Let me go. Let me leave.” Hemi inched toward the exit.
“Where is my brother?” The frosty calm with which Uncle Kimo asked the question lodged in Kahori’s throat terrified her. She didn’t want to hear the answer she already knew in her heart.
Hemi didn’t answer. He stared out at the ocean beyond the lagoon.
“What did you do?” Kimo stepped forward. Then again.
“I didn’t do anything!” Hemi waved his hands in front of him as if he was completely innocent. “Uncle Ruru got too nosy, taking those packages to the airport. He noticed that I’d opened and resealed them all. Figured out that I’d swapped the pearls for fakes. Really amazing fakes. Stupid papa’a would never know the difference. Hell, even my partners didn’t realize I’d started swapping out fakes for the ‘real’ stolen merch I was passing on to them for a little while. I guess they weren’t quite as stupid as Kahori’s other customers, though, since they showed up here. I’d almost gotten away. And now I will. Finally. Thanks for chasing them off for me, Tosin, so that I had time to finalize my travel plans and set up a place to go from here where no one will ever find me.”
“Hemi,” Uncle Kimo growled in warning. He looked as dangerous as their ancestors when fighting a rival tribe.
“When they went after Kahori, assuming she was in on the double-cross, I ran to her house. I wanted to clean up that one last package I couldn’t find earlier in the evening and any other evidence. I didn’t want them snapping my neck. You don’t know them and what they’re capable of.”
“Yes, I do,” Kahori whispered.
Her agony was enough to cut through the father and son’s argument. They both looked at her, with various degrees of dismay and lament.
“I never meant for you to get hurt,” Hemi swore. “Uncle Ruru either.” He balked then. “But he came straight to Kahori’s when he heard her scream. Thought she might be on her way there. Or maybe he followed me since he knew what I’d gotten tangled up in. Uncle Ruru came for me. Out of his mind. I told him I’d split the profits. He went crazy. Told me that if anything had happened to Kahori, I would pay. He charged me. It was reflex. Instinct.”
He looked at the knife in his hand.
“What did you do, Hemi?” Uncle Kimo dropped to his knees.
“I only tried to defend myself.” He swallowed hard. “I never meant to kill him.”
Kimo threw his head back and unleashed a wail that Kahori felt straight to the core of her soul. She accompanied him with a scream of her own that made a ghastly duet. Her body thrashed in Tosin’s hold, but he wasn’t letting her out of his grip, away from the madness unfolding across the room.
“You’re not going to let me go.” Hemi wasn’t asking.
His father snarled, then sealed their fates. “No. You’re going to confess to the council and accept your punishment.”
“I can’t do that.” Hemi shook his head.
Archer, Miguel, and Banks rose, stalking closer to Hemi.
They were nowhere close enough to stop him from charging, knife raised, toward his own father.
Uncle Kimo closed his eyes for the barest of moments then swiped his arm out, beneath his desk. When he raised it again, his spear gun pointed straight at Hemi’s black heart.
He didn’t stop.
Kimo pulled the trigger, launching a harpoon through the chest of his only offspring. He’d always prided himself on clean, quick kills when he provided for his family from the fruit of the island’s life. This time was no different.
Hemi staggered one more step then fell, face-first, onto the floor, already gone.
Uncle Kimo knelt beside the corpse. He spoke in his native tongue, offering a prayer and a plea to the gods for utu.
“What is he doing?” Tosin whispered in her ear.
“Seeking balance.” She sniffled. “He’s asking for mana to restore our family’s honor. Sort of like karma in other cultures. Trying to erase Hemi’s sins and protect us from any lasting effects of them.”
Tosin may not have understood or believed as the elders from her village did, but he respected her uncle’s values and let the man do whatever it took to process his betrayal, grief, and loss.
Kahori wondered then what her father would think of Tosin standing strong beside her, propping her up on the hardest day of her life, and if Uncle Kimo’s sacrifice would appease his spirit.
A single clap of thunder boomed out over the clear, sunny day. It rattled the windows and lasted for so long that everyone stood and examined the sky for a rogue cloud.
There were none.
“I love you too, Pāpā.” Kahori kissed her fingers then held them to the sky. “Goodbye.”
Twenty-On
e
Kahori stood on the deck of the Divemaster a few days later. It had taken a while to wrap up the legalities surrounding her father’s and Hemi’s deaths to the satisfaction of both the Cook Islands Ministry of Justice and the tribal elders.
Tosin took her hand in his and kissed it softly before surprising her by reaching into his pocket and withdrawing something she recognized immediately. “I want you to wear this, and think of me.”
He fastened the leather around her wrist before placing his palm flat against hers so that their complementary bracelets aligned perfectly for a moment, just as she had designed.
Never had she thought she would be the lucky person to share a bond—or the symbol of it—like this.
“Where will you be going?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged as if he didn’t care anymore either. “In fact, I was kind of thinking I might stay a while. There’s a clause in my contract with Archer that says I can sell my share to him if I ever want out.”
She couldn’t keep silent then. “No! That would be such a waste!”
Tosin spun around, away from her. “I understand if you don’t feel the same way I do…”
Kahori covered her mouth with her hand before reaching for him. With gentle pressure on his shoulder she attempted to turn him to face her again. “That’s not how I meant it. It’s just that I’ve already decided…if your offer from the glowworm cavern still stands…”
He whipped around to stare at her, seeming to hold his breath as he waited for her to finish her sentence.
“I’d like to come with you.”
“Are you sure?” He rushed to close the gap between them then, nearly crushing her in a hug worthy of all eight of an octopus’s arms.
She nodded. “Yeah. To be honest, I don’t think I can ever call this place home again. There are too many bad memories. Pāpā—”
Her voice cracked. Tosin rocked her gently until she could continue.
“He was the reason I stayed as long as I did. I love it here, don’t get me wrong, but it was holding back my career—and my ability to live my life to the fullest. With you, everything is possible. You’ve shown me that every day that we’ve spent together. There are so many things I regret not telling my pāpā. About how important he was to me and how I stayed because of him. I don’t want to screw that up again. I love you, Tosin. I won’t ever forget to show you how much.”
“I promise I’ll keep proving my love to you, too.” He lifted her chin so he could stare into her eyes when he swore, “I’ll make you so fucking happy that you never get homesick. And if you do, well, I do happen to have a private jet at my disposal. Just saying.”
Kahori laughed. “Good to know.”
Just then Banks and Marta wandered over wearing matching grins. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, dear.” Marta squirmed in between her and Tosin to hug her. “But did you say you’re staying?”
Kahori nodded, tears welling in her eyes. How had she gotten lucky enough to find the man of her dreams and extend her family all at once when she needed them most?
Tosin squeezed her then teased Marta. “Why does that sound like you might be joining us for an extended visit yourself?”
“I guess there’s something about this boat. It sucks you in and you can never leave.” She beamed up at Banks. “Or maybe it’s the abundance of sexy men onboard that tempt us women to become permanent cruisers.”
“Arrrrgh, I can agree with that.” Sabine did her best—really awful—pirate imitation as she joined them.
Miguel, Archer, Waverly, and Captain Alex came to see what all the fuss was about.
“Did I hear we’ve got ourselves a new permanent cruiser?” Captain Alex asked warmly. When Kahori nodded, he squished her in a one-armed hug.
“You know, now that Kimo signed on to add a grow dome to his motu, we’ll probably be making Aitutaki part of our regular rounds.” Miguel shared the good news. She wondered if he’d been keeping it in his back pocket in case he needed to persuade her not to break Tosin’s heart.
As if she could do that without also crushing her own.
Kahori looked around at the smiling faces that surrounded her with love, companionship, friendship, inspiration, support, and parental-esque advice. As sunset began to light the sky on fire, she couldn’t imagine a more perfect way to finish one phase of her life and welcome in another. “Thank you all for making this the easiest decision of my life. Despite everything that’s happened, and how quickly things changed, I’m sure that this is where I belong. With you. I hope you don’t mind if I say I love you all. I’ll be forever grateful to Banks and Archer, and the rest of you, for making this special project a reality.”
Archer ruffled her hair as if she was his beloved little sister.
And when he turned around, Kahori noticed a sheen in Waverly’s eyes. Pride in her boyfriend overwhelmed her. “She’s right, Archer. Without you—without what you’ve built—we’d all still be lost.”
He cleared his throat as if searching for the right thing to say and faced Waverly. “You know, I didn’t have very much to do with it. Banks deserves credit for both the brainstorming and the hard work that made the Divemaster Project and the Banks Foundation realities. But I have to say that I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my life before and with you—everyone, but especially you, Waverly—by my side, each and every day will only get better. That’s why…”
Archer reached into his pocket as he dropped to one knee in front of his soul mate and the rest of their makeshift family. Everyone gasped when he flipped open the lid of the jewelry box Kahori knew so well and exposed her creation to the final rays of the tropical sun.
The ring came alive, diamonds and fire opals reflecting the light, which enhanced the luster of the magnificent—definitely genuine—black pearl nestled at its center.
It was the perfect thing, at the perfect time, for the perfect people.
Kahori was convinced.
This had been meant to be.
She leaned into Tosin as Archer said to Waverly, “…I’m begging you. Please, marry me.”
The socialite turned badass military pilot squealed like a little girl then flung herself at her boyfriend. No, fiancé. He steadied her long enough to slip the ring on her finger.
It was a perfect match, and a perfect fit.
As everyone oohed and aahed over Kahori’s handiwork, congratulations were passed all around.
“I have a feeling we may become wedding experts before too long.” Captain Alex snorted. “I just have one question…”
“What?” Archer asked suspiciously.
“Can I be the flower girl?” Captain Alex propped one hand on his hip and flashed a silly smile.
Though they laughed at the time, none of the guys let him back out of his commitment down the road.
And he made the prettiest flower girl ever. All four times he filled the role before taking Dr. Kleveno for a walk down the aisle.
If you’ve enjoyed Divemasters, check out another of Jayne’s contemporary romantic suspense novels, Bound For You, which available everywhere now.
This book is a standalone novel in the Men in Blue universe.
Ben has lived through hell. He only survived captivity and torture by the brutes who’d been attempting to develop Sex Offender, a potent aphrodisiac used as a date rape drug, because of the guy he met—and fell in lust with—in the drug lord’s dungeons.
Ryan became Ben’s roommate after they escaped. His nearness is constantly tempting Ben to force Ryan to submit to his dark desires. Disgusted by how similar that makes him to their captors, he’s managed to hold off so far. How long can he keep his cravings for Ryan’s sexy body at bay?
On top of that, they both seem to be falling for the same woman. If Ben has reservations about unleashing his sexual appetites on Ryan then that goes double for Shari, who is entirely too sweet and inexperienced for either of them. Or so Ben thinks.
When Shari teams up with Ryan to chang
e Ben’s mind, it seems like Ben might consider turning their three-way fling into something serious. Until a threat to Ben’s niece reminds them that it’s not always possible to keep those you love safe. After losing his sister in the Sex Offender scandal, Ben might never be ready to take that risk again.
None of them could have realized they were bound for something greater than a traditional partner in life, but Shari and Ryan are sure the three of them will benefit from the love of not one, but two, strong, giving soul mates who can help them leave the darkness of their past behind.
Will they be able to convince Ben that living fully is better than living cautiously?
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