We’d killed the wrong man. We’d condemned the wrong friend.
I couldn’t process how easily we’d been manipulated. But why wouldn’t we question it, when multiple sources were all pointing their fingers at Kahoku and screaming “guilty!” at the top of their lungs?
Kayl opened his mouth to speak again, but I didn’t want to hear it. None of it. Like what he’d done to Kalea wasn’t bad enough. Now I had information that he truly had been manipulating our lives. There likely was more, a lot more, but I didn’t care. I didn’t give a shit. It changed nothing, and he was enjoying talking about his genius far too much.
I shoved his now vomit-soaked underwear back in his mouth before going behind him and pulling the trigger twice more. His body and the whiskey barrel beneath him muffled the blast. I didn’t know if the bullet had hit anything vital, and I didn’t care.
I walked out of the room without a backwards glance.
The cargo planeshook violently as we started our descent. Kayl wasn’t looking good. Still bound to the whiskey barrel, he was strapped to the plane by multiple tethers. If he’d lasted this long, the bullet hadn’t hit anything too vital. Which only drew out his death. I had no issue with this outcome, though he probably did. We’d been flying for about six hours, and that didn’t include the time it took to get him loaded up and buckled in.
Safety first, and all that shit.
The pilots hadn’t even blinked when a naked, bleeding man with a soiled pair of underpants in his mouth and a gun up his ass was wheeled onto their plane by a forklift. Knowing these smugglers, this probably wasn’t the oddest thing to be brought onto their plane. But then again, they were paid an exorbitant amount of money to look the other way and to not ask questions.
There was an estimate of two million uninhabited islands in the world for various purposes, like terrain, dangerous wildlife, and conservation efforts. The world was a big place, and unless you’re big and loud, you tend to be forgotten. Just east of Fiji were a number of these islands, and who was I to correct World Leaders on their misconception that they were uninhabitable.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and patted Kayl on the head. “Almost there,” I promised him over the roar of the engines. I wondered if he was going to hold out long enough for the grand reveal. Be a bit anticlimactic if he died before I got to show him his final resting place, but it wasn’t like his knowledge would change anything.
It was a bit of a miracle he’d lasted this long. Fucker was resilient, I’d give him that.
My club did not know where I was or what had happened atmy warehouse. I’d only sent a message to Mako that the back room in my Kalihi Kai warehouse needed cleaning. I did not pay attention to the time or anything else. This wasn’t just about Kalea anymore. Kayl had been fucking with our lives for far too long and about far too many things.
This was about creating a clean slate.
The landing was rough, but my tight hold on the cargo netting on the ceiling kept me steady. It was like riding a wave on a twenty-seven ton surfboard.
By the time we got Kayl rolling down the payload bay, our plane was surrounded. Many of the indigenous people here were dark-skinned, some dressed more modernly than others, and they all had weapons of some sort. Their leader, Cakobau, had only recently taken power, and he was not as happy about his island being used as a smuggler’s pitstop as his predecessor. Only reason he allowed me here was because I brought him things his people needed, like medicine, clean water, weapons…and the occasional sacrifice.
After the pallet carrying Kayl and the whiskey barrel were dropped off onto the dirt runway, I knelt down by his head. Patting his cheek, I was impressed and pleased when his right eyelid cracked open.
“You know the saying ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer’? Well, you’re about to meet someone who despises me, likely more than you do. But he likes me a little more when I deliver him treats.” I didn’t know how much he was comprehending at this point, but it made me feel better telling him his fate. “I should probably mention that they’re sitophilia cannibals, which means they like to fuck their food before they eat it. I hope messing with our lives all these years was worth it. Goodbye, Kayl.”
The smugglers did not dropme off on a runway. Instead, they did a flyover about four hundred yards out. I was exhausted, having barely slept on the plane, but there was nothing like jumping ten thousand feet above open ocean to wake you up. I was also in desperate need of a shower, so two birds, one stone and all that.
As I finally made my way onto the rocky shore, I expected to feel some closure, but I was unprepared forhow much. It was the middle of the night. I was still wearing only thepareofrom the wedding, though its condition was certainly lacking. From the right angle, I was sure my junk was showing.
Finding a smooth boulder, I parked my ass on it and looked out onto the moonlit waves.
For the past month, I’d been self-destructive. Going back to Kalea’s had been a mistake, even if it had unintentionally revealed Kayl’s treachery. Kalea and I were done with, I knew this, and as much as I wanted to take responsibility for her life again as penance for my own sins, I knew I couldn’t. I had to set her, and myself, free.
Clean slate, I reminded myself.
I needed to set things right with Caroline and Samantha, both of whom I had no doubt were my future. I also needed to give Caroline some credit. I had not coerced her into that shower. An argument could be made that I should have waited until she was eighteen, but it wasn’t like there was a magic switch that was flipped at eighteen that would suddenly make her wants and desires change.
I would not sleep with her until she was eighteen—if that was the type of relationship she still wanted from me—but that didnot mean I couldn’tdateher. Be with her, love her with the respect she deserved.
I didn’t know what day it was, how long it had been since the wedding, but I knew that I’d missed our scheduled time to meet up. Since I did not tell the club where I was going or what I was doing or for how long I would be gone, no one would be able to tell her either.
I had a lot to make up for, but I was willing to grovel. But first, it was time to find Aloiki and set that relationship to rights.
By the timeI managed to figure out how to get myself back to my warehouse, get my bike and my phone, and then make it up the island to Bacon’s house, it was well after four in the morning. My brain was running on fumes.
I did not knock before entering Aloiki’s room, and despite the hour, I should not have been surprised to find Lu riding Aloiki’s dick. They were newly married, and weren’t planning a honeymoon until after their son was born. With the way they went at it, it was a wonder there was only one kid inside her.
Lu looked over her shoulder at my entrance, but she did not stop rocking. Aloiki’s hands were on her hips, keeping her steady while allowing her to keep her own pace. The amount of times I’d seen these two fuck, it shouldn’t affect me anymore. At this point, it was par for the course, and yet my dick twitched—the first signs of real life in a long, long time.
“Where have you been?” Lu asked me, her voice filled with worry.