“No!” I jerked my feet away. “You need it yourself.”
“Your feet are my feet.” He rubbed the salve into them, making them feel wonderful. The pain in my left arm and side started then and Kimo was looking up at me.
“I had to play her carefully, baby. Those things you are thinking, they hurt me. Say anything except that you don’t want to be with me.”
Oh, joy. I had to go and pick me a hot, sexy, hung hula dancer who can read my mind. I felt his fear then. I felt his distress as acutely as I knew he felt mine.
“I don’t want a threesome or a foursome with her. I only fucked her because you turned me on so much and you were wonderful with her, Lopaka. She should never have said those things to you. You are so beautiful, but I couldn’t say anything because I need to be with you and I…” His gaze moved to my feet as he gathered his thoughts. “There’s a reason I stopped loving her. Now maybe you can see why. She’s really not a very nice person.”
I wanted to ask why he just didn’t get a divorce, but I already knew he had a lot invested financially with her, as well as his public image.
Not knowing how to respond because he’d sensed my impending train wreck and put me right back on track, I said, “I love you.”
“I know you do. I love you, too. That’s why, when our show moves to Maui, I want us to stay there. To live there permanently. Oh, Lopaka, I have the most beautiful house there. High up on a mountaintop. She hates it, which means I know you’ll love it. We will be so happy there and she can’t just burst in there whenever she wants. It’s just one more week.” He stopped speaking. “What?”
“Where is the house?”
“It’s kind of a remote place. It’s called Kahakuloa. It’s—”
“I know exactly where that is. My favorite place to kayak is the Olivine Pools.”
He threw himself between my legs and into my arms. “You just get it and I love it.” The ointment jar crashed to the floor. “There’s a reason I just want to fuck you senseless all day long.”
“You haven’t done much of that today,” I sniffed.
“Are you gonna move to Maui with me?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then you are going to get fucked. I’m gonna do all the things to you that you wished I’d done when Mim was here.”
He pulled me to the floor and ripped my nice clean clothes right off my body.
Chapter Twelve
Knowing that I was going to be spending the whole night with Kimo was such a luxury I never noticed the pain in my feet until the show was over and I was bleeding all over the dance floor.
I hobbled backstage and Kimo wrapped my feet in towels and bags of ice. He brought the car to the stage door, pouring me in, a petrified look on his face. He jumped behind the wheel. “I’m taking you to Dr. Hansen—”
“Oh, no you’re not. You’re taking me home. I get to keep you all night!”
He laughed, taking turns at wide angles. “I know she was a bitch today, baby, but isn’t this better, all out in the open? No sneaking around anymore?”
“When are you telling her about Maui? I’m kind of afraid of what she’ll say.”
“I sort of already told her while you were out ripping your feet to shreds.”
“Before you even asked me? You’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“I’m sure of you.” The look in his eyes got my dick hard all over again.
“Pull over and fuck me.”
“Honey, I’m worried about your feet. Dr. Hansen can tape them up for you and it will help them heal much faster.”
“Fuck me first, then you could take me to a proctologist for all I care.”
“We have the rest of our lives together, Lopaka. Your feet are your fortune. We have to take care of them.”
But my hands were already in his pants. “You ever had anyone babysit your stepchildren?”
“Stepchildren?” His eyes were wide. “But I don’t have any.”
He pulled over to the side of Nimitz Highway as fast as the tires would let him. “Baby, I don’t even think we can park here.”
A commotion across the road attracted our attention. It was Roland. He was being beaten up by the guy who’d followed us the week before. Another guy was joining in.
“What the fuck.” Kimo’s hand was on the door.
“Roland had a one night stand with that guy and he chased us down the other night,” I told him. “He tried to run us down with his car.”
The expression on Kimo’s face was one I will never forget. “Stay in the car.” He turned off the ignition and marched across the road, oblivious of six lanes of opposing traffic.
Roland was screaming as the two thugs kept laying punches on him. Of course, I did not stay in the car. I played human dodge ball with several cars and made it over to the other side of the road as Kimo circled the two attackers. Roland lay in a heap on the ground. I scooted him out of the way and heard the two guys laughing at Kimo, challenging him.
They weren’t laughing when Kimo reached in and grabbed the driver by the solar plexus, squeezing hard and tossing him with a thud to the ground. He lay in an agonized mass, clutching his chest and writhing as if he’d been skinned alive.
The guy left standing started to run. Kimo grabbed him and pulled his arm up behind his back.
“You stay away from my friends. Both of them. You understand me?” He pointed to the guy on the ground. “Tell me you understand and I’ll make it stop.”
The guy nodded.
“I can’t hear you.” Kimo jerked the guy harder. On the ground, the writhing man screamed like he was in labor.
“Yes, yes! I’ll leave them alone!”
Kimo pushed him away, moving over to the guy on the ground, chanted something and the guy stopped screaming and lay prone, as if he was asleep. I knew I had just seen an ancient form of magic, black magic, I had always believed, called Lua. It was something I had never witnessed before, only heard about. Roland and I were astonished.
The two men crawled off and Kimo shifted his attention to where I was cradling Roland’s head in my hands.
“Hospital for two.” He was trying to keep his voice light, but I knew he was controlling the deep rage he felt for the two men who had hurt Roland. He ran across the road and came back with the car. Between us, we got Roland in the backseat.
“I’m okay,” he kept saying, but when Roland saw Kimo put me in the front seat, buckle me up and kiss me, he was stunned silent.
Kimo drove Roland to Queen’s Hospital, where he showed the group insurance card taken out by the show’s producers for its dancers.
Roland was given two stitches in his head and had two ribs taped up. My feet looked like bowling balls were dangling from them by the time they were done wrapping them. Kimo dropped Roland at his apartment in Kaimuki.
“Let me know if you’re up to dancing tomorrow night.”
“I will be fine, I promise. I’m really sorry, Kimo.” Head down, he limped inside the house he shared with his lover.
Kimo started the car again. As we drove away, he reached for my hand.
“I’m gonna say this and I want you to know I am not trying to keep you away from your friends, but, Lopaka, I don’t want you hanging out with him anymore. More best friends get hurt or killed in the crossfire of that type of attack than the intended victim themselves. If anything happens to you, I will die.”
I believed him, because I felt that way, too. I promised him, leaning over to kiss him.
“You know I wanted to kill that man tonight.”
Nodding, I caressed his fingers. “Was that taxing what you did to him?”
“A bit. You know what it is, don’t you?”
I nodded again.
“Did it scare you?”
“No. I trust you. You saved Roland’s life tonight. I hope he heeds the warning.”
“He probably won’t. I’m glad you weren’t scared of the magic, it’s not something I use…often. But like any
skill that’s hard learned, it’s good to know that you can still…harness it when necessary.”
“It was a big turn on.” I smiled when I saw the relief flood his face.
“Do you mind if we go home and make love?” he asked. “I really feel the need to be alone with you in our sacred place. And you can show me how you babysit your stepchildren.”
“Can we stop for some ice cream first?”
“Sure, baby.” His fingers had started moving over mine again. I felt the man I love come back into his body. I suddenly felt fiercely protective of him. I never wanted anything to harm him or put him in the position he’d just been in, ever again.
“That’s how I feel about you.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “That’s exactly how I feel.”
Damn. Kimo and his mind reading again.
“You want some coffee with that ice cream?”
“Coffee, ice cream and you.” I leaned in for a kiss, which was returned with warm and great enthusiasm.
“Lopaka,” he said, when he got out of the car at Jack’s Cone Shack near our studio. “How do you feel about babies? I mean real ones?”
“I’ve never given it much thought.”
“Then do.” He ran into the store, which was flooded with tourists anxious for a respite from the sizzling heat.
A baby? For us? I had no idea what he had in mind but I wasn’t ready to share him with anyone. I was already sharing him with another wife.
I caught his gaze through the window of the ice cream shop and he flicked his tongue out at me. I felt its intention shoot straight to my cock and I had to grab the door handle. Man, this guy was amazing. He’d gotten me harder than hell and he was nowhere near me.
Kimo laughed when he saw me squirming. I could give up Roland, I decided, trying to keep my breath even and my facial expression nonchalant. I could give up anything, except for that man half covered with black tattoos.
Chapter Thirteen
Roland and I both reported for duty the following night but things were very chilly between Roland and Kimo during our evening prayer before the show started.
As soon as we were alone in our dressing room, Roland said, “So, you’re back on with Kimo. How long you think it can keep going on?”
“As long as we want it to.”
“He’s married.”
“She knows all about us.”
That was a big surprise, I could tell.
“Yes, she has Jessie, Kimo has me, we’re all as happy as we can be,” I said in a singsong way.
Roland undressed quickly, his body covered in bruises. “Help me put makeup on.”
I helped him as best I could, hoping Kimo wouldn’t burst in and think something was going on. He might have been a mind reader, but he had the jealousy of…of, well a fire-breathing Pig God in the peak of the mating season.
By interval, when we crammed into the green room and stuffed our faces with crab cakes and spring rolls, Roland was told to switch dressing rooms with Lon and Lon was pissed, since my room didn’t have a TV. I hadn’t requested one.
“Ask for it,” I said. “The production manager is great. He’ll do anything for you.”
“What’s up with Kimo and Roland?” Lon asked.
I shrugged, because I never gossip.
“If you ask me, Roland’s in big trouble. I heard Kimo bailed him out on his gambling bill. He likes those internet gambling clubs you know—”
“No, I didn’t know.” Here I was gossiping, after all. I was beginning to realize I didn’t know Roland very well at all. But I was delighted to discover the more I found out about Kimo, the more I loved him. I was so touched that he had taken care of Roland’s gambling bill.
I felt stupid for not knowing Roland’s real addiction. Now Roland’s frantic text messaging and constant worrying made sense. He was a gambler. The guy with the car had been a loan shark. I was so proud that Kimo had stepped in and helped. It made me more glad than ever that I had pursued my Phantom Lover. No matter what the future held.
* * * *
When Nicky called me on my cell, complaining that she could never get hold of me, Kimo suggested she join us for lunch. She was surprised when she heard we were back together and I thought at first she would refuse, but when we picked her up at the store, Kaiona was with her.
I felt uncomfortable, until Kimo’s hand covered the distance between our seats and I saw Kaiona watch him firmly take my hand in his.
He drove us just a few blocks to Hausten Street and said casually, “You ever been to The Willows, Lopaka?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Oh my God, neither have I.” Nicky was excited. “Kaiona’s been promising me for ages to take me there. Haven’t you, honey?”
Kaiona was noncommittal and Kimo squeezed my hand.
The Willows turned out to be a grand, Old Hawaii restaurant in a lush garden setting. It was Poi Thursday and Nicky groaned when she saw the sign. Poi is not her thing.
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of other wonderful food for you to enjoy.” Kimo hugged her. The restaurant was set around the edges of an ancient fishpond that once belonged to King Kamehameha.
We were taken past the buffet-style rooms to a lovely thatched hut, straight out of ancient Hawaii and even Kaiona, the Queen of Frost, thawed just a little as lovely hostesses fluttered around us, bringing wonderful Hawaiian food as musicians played old melodies I recognized from childhood.
“Are you flirting?” Nicky asked as Kaiona’s eyes danced over our hostess.
“Only with my eyes, sweetheart,” Kaiona said, and Kimo casually changed the subject.
“This restaurant was started by Victoria Kamamalu, a granddaughter of our Great King. Initially, it was the site of lavish feasts, luaus that went for days. It became a more commercial establishment but it was closed for a long time.”
He paused to order for everybody and I watched Kaiona nod in approval as he suggested different types of meat and fish. Our hostess went away again and Kimo took up his story, taking my hand in his.
Kaiona’s eyes lit on that, a spark of fury. Kimo was oblivious, telling us that the Great King had used the fishpond in battle since it had underground caverns that served as an escape route during early invasions.
Nicky and I were entranced, but Kaiona was fidgety until the food arrived. She snatched up a poi bowl, gobbling hers up and Kimo fed his bowl to me from his fingers.
“Oh boy,” Kaiona hissed. “Will you two stop?”
I saw Nicky nudge her under the table.
“What?” Kaiona was on a tear. “He’s married. Is nobody going to talk about the great big elephant sitting beside us?”
“My wife knows about us.” Kimo’s revelation surprised Nicky. “Oh yes,” he nodded. “She has her lover, I have mine. I have everything I want.”
Frowning, Nicky turned to Kaiona, “Why didn’t you tell me Mim knew? You talk to her every day. You’ve made me feel horrible for feeling loyal to Bob—I mean, Lopaka. And she knows all about them?”
“It’s still not right.” Kaiona’s tone was stubborn.
“This isn’t like you, to be so judgmental.”
“Oh, please, Nicky. You’re such a Pollyanna.”
“No, she’s not.” I leapt to my friend’s defense.
Kimo was handing around dishes of meat and fish, ever the host, while this whole ugly discussion took place.
“What are you trying to say?” Nicky lay down her fork.
“What they are doing is wrong,” Kaiona insisted. “I feel bad for Mim.”
“You sure you wanna do this, Kaiona?” Kimo’s face took on a hard cast. I had never seen him so angry.
“Sure I wanna do this.”
“You wanna do this, really? I mean, do you really wanna go there?”
She met his stare. “I’m not afraid of you.”
Nicky and I were left stumped. Neither of us had any idea what was going on.
“This has nothing to do with my marriage,” Kimo said.
>
“I think it does.” Kaiona was defiant. “You’re flaunting your relationship here.”
“Well, I’m sorry it bothers you so much, but I’m not going to stop seeing Lopaka.”
“And what about your wife?”
The waitress appeared. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, thank you.” Kimo kept his tone light. “I think we’re ready for the check.”
She looked surprised, but slipped away again, an anxious look over her shoulder.
Kimo leaned toward Kaiona. “Like I said, it has nothing to do with Mim.”
“It has everything to do with her, Kimo.”
“She’s had a lover for ten months, flaunting that in my face, but that is supposed to be okay? I lay there night after night hearing her and our supposed houseguest making love in the guestroom.”
“No, she didn’t,” I gasped. Why had he stayed with her?
“She trusts you. She’s my friend.” Kaiona sounded desperate.
“Really? And are you my friend, Kaiona?”
She looked flustered then.
“Well, are you?”
“Of course. I’m your friend and hers.”
“I’m actually in love with Lopaka. I hope she loves Jessie half as much as I love my man. What’s your opinion, since you are so…ah…intimately acquainted with their situation, Kaiona?”
She looked shocked.
The waitress returned with the check and Kimo dumped some notes on the receipt tray. She hesitated before scurrying away with it.
Nicky looked at her, back at me, then at Kimo. And suddenly, I knew. I knew everything. That Kaiona had been screwing around with Jessie and Mim. Screwing around on my best friend, Nicky. Hurting my lover’s feelings.
“Oh come on, Kaiona.” Kimo’s temper flared. “Fresh out of sassy comments now?”
“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t let it blow over. It would have ended, eventually. Did you think that screwing a guy would ease your pain and suffering?”
“Don’t you dare judge me,” Kimo snapped. “You are about to open up a whole can of pain you really don’t want opened.”
Phantom Lover Page 13