"Ma'am, you're not allowed to be in there," the guard said. His name badge said Holt. Crap, this was the guy she had to avoid so he didn't tattle to Marcus.
"I know. I'm sorry. I accidentally threw something important away and I'm trying to find it."
He shone a flashlight in there. "Are you a guest?" he asked her.
"No, I was on the beach today and I think I threw out my ring by mistake."
"Your ring?"
"I think it's here." She poked through the bag, desperate to find the stupid ring box.
"Please step out of the dumpster," he said in a polite voice that brooked no bullshit. He was nice enough to hold out his hand to help her out and he didn't even gag at what was all over her Walmart sneakers. "You're going to want to stay out of the garbage. Once the sun goes down the rats come out."
"What?" Michaela jumped back on the home depot buckets and nearly took a header. Holt steadied her on her feet.
Her phone rang. She looked up at him, apologetically. Taking it out of her pocket, Michaela saw it was Joely. “I should get this.” She answered it. "Hi, I can't talk right now."
"I've got your ring. Kevan put it in the resort's safe in Amelia's office."
"Great. That's a big relief." She pulled the phone away from her mouth to talk to Holt. “My friend found my ring.”
"Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to escort you off the property," Holt said, holding out his hand.
"Who's that?" Joely asked.
"Oh, that won't be necessary, Holt," Michaela said. "I can make my way out."
"Oh shit," Joely groaned.
No kidding.
"I insist" There was a little more steel in Holt’s voice this time.
"I'll call you back," Michaela said, disconnecting the call.
She ignored his hand and started walking, wondering if she should wade in the water with her sneakers on to clean them off, but the shark signs were still up.
"They didn't open the beach today?" Michaela asked Holt, since he was tagging along behind her like a baby duck. A big, burly, baby duck.
"Nope."
"Isn't that a little odd?"
"Yep."
Well, he was a great conversationalist. At the edge of the property, he stopped and said, "Have a nice night, Ma'am."
Michaela waved. "You too."
Chapter Ten
Marcus had a really shitty night. Every two fucking hours, he had to tell someone that he hadn't slipped into a coma. He wanted to wrap his hands around Tetsuo's neck. He wanted to sleep for days. He wanted Michaela. He wanted those fucking white pills.
No, he didn't.
He just wanted the pain to go away.
But that wasn’t true either.
He just wanted the Oxy.
He crunched two more Tylenols, hoping the bitter taste would turn his stomach to the thought of the pills. But all they did was make him want to chase the taste away with Scotch. To make matters worse, he was getting the runaround again from his useless as tits on a bull lawyer. He’d half a mind to fire the asshole, but then they would have to start again from scratch. All he needed was some leverage to make Tetsuo back off until they could finish the final renovations and start to market heavily to bring in the tourists.
Holt let himself in. "Are you supposed to be on the computer?"
"I figured if I was going to be up, I might as well be productive. Were you able to find out any information on Michaela?"
Launching himself on the couch, Holt put his feet up on the coffee table. "You got a problem."
"You mean aside from the six staples in my head?"
"I found her."
Marcus swiveled in his chair. "Is she staying at the Hilton?" That would be why she was close by.
Holt shook his head. "I stumbled across her last night while I was doing rounds. She was dumpster diving on our property."
"What?" Marcus said. "That doesn't make any sense." Even though it hurt, he racked his brain to figure out what she actually said to him. "She's on vacation." Actually, she never said that. All he knew was she had a pain in the ass ex and she wanted to get away from the rat race. "What was she doing in the dumpster?"
If he said looking for food, he'd go nuts. They hadn't had time for lunch or dinner because of Tetsuo.
"She said she was on the beach yesterday and accidentally threw out her ring."
"She wasn't on the beach yesterday. She was with me. Why would she lie?"
Holt ticked off on his fingers. "She borrows boards. She borrowed Joely's wetsuit. She wears really cheap clothing."
Marcus shook his head and then regretted it. Was that why she kept wearing the white bikini? She only had the one?
"She's a transient," Holt finished.
"I won't allow that. I'm going to offer her a job. If Dude can do snorkel lessons, she can be our surf instructor. Clear it with Amelia. I can't deal with her perkiness this morning."
"Marcus, you have to realize she might be conning you. She could be a prostitute. You need to protect yourself. If she was sent by Tetsuo to start another cathouse on the property, we're going to get shut down."
"You’re wrong," he said. "She’s not a transient. She’s a surfer. Check the semi-pro leagues. Her name is Michaela Harris. Find out what hotel she's staying at. It’s got to be on the strip."
A thought tugged in the back of his head. She had said her hotel was too far to go to get changed, though.
“I don’t know. Check all of them if you can. Google her.”
Holt pushed himself to his feet. "I'll run her down. But I'm not going to find her."
"Just do it."
After Holt left, Marcus tried to concentrate on work, but it was no use. He couldn't get Holt's words out of his head. What if she was sent by Tetsuo? The timing fit. She'd be a perfect spy, especially if she was screwing him for information. Slamming the top of his laptop down, Marcus went back to bed. The pounding in his head shouldn't be this bad. Part of him worried that it wasn’t pain at all, but a phantom of his addiction rising up after all these years.
As he lay with his eyes closed, he tried to ignore the gnawing voice in his head telling him that relief was only a phone call away. He was pretty sure he could get another prescription.
Scowling, Marcus put the thought out of his mind. It wasn’t worth it. Not for this. It wasn’t agony. It was just annoyance. He wouldn’t have even been thinking of it, if the nurse hadn’t brought it up. Now it was like, “Don’t think about elephant’s knees.”
All he needed was to sleep. He was dimly aware of Pololena coming in and taking away his half eaten breakfast. He didn't have much of an appetite because he was exhausted. It hadn’t helped that it had been like Grand Central Station in here.
Say what you want about New Yorkers being rude, no one had ever cracked his head open with a surfboard at the Met.
He must have dropped off into sleep because when someone sat on his bed, he jolted awake. An agony of colors exploded in his head.
"Easy," Michaela's sultry voice said.
Was he dreaming? Marcus pried his eyes open. She was wearing a University of Hawaii shirt. It was a garish pink. Her shorts were grey and baggy, but she still looked beautiful.
"I need your number," he croaked.
"Most guys ask me for my sign. Scorpio by the way."
He grabbed his phone off the nightstand. "What is it?"
She rattled off the digits. He programmed then in and hit call. Her pocket rang. "Didn't believe me?" she asked without looking at it.
"Sorry, I realized last night that I didn't have any way of contacting you." He eased up into a sitting position. “I’m a little grumpy this morning.”
Michaela squinted at his forehead. “You look like Frankenstein. How does it feel?”
He gave a half shrug. “It’s fine.” It would be too. It was just the first injury he had like this in a long time. It was no big deal. He just hadn’t been expecting the aggro at Ho’okipa. He had gotten cocky. It could have gone a
lot worse. She could have been hurt.
"I brought your meds," she said, tossing him a bag of pills. "Want me to get you a glass of water?"
Marcus stopped breathing for a moment. He ripped open the bag and clenched his fist around a bottle of twenty OxyContin pills.
No.
Was Holt right after all? He searched Michaela’s face. "Who sent you?"
"Amelia." She walked over to the carafe that Pololena left. "Or you can wash them down with coffee."
Just one.
It couldn't hurt.
The pain would be gone and he'd feel like his old self again. Except his old self was a selfish little shit who hurt his family because he was weak. Marcus wanted to crush the bottle in his hand, but he was afraid if the pills spilled out, he wouldn’t be strong enough not to take one.
"Amelia gave you these to give to me?" Marcus couldn't remember if Samuel told Amelia about his prior addiction or not. His parents had been so embarrassed by him, they shipped him off to a rehab center and wouldn’t talk to him until he was clean. Samuel had called as often as he could sneak it. He forced himself to stare at the bottle. One pill wouldn’t be enough. He’d have to take two or three. He wasn’t in that much pain. The Tylenol worked enough that he got a little bit of sleep. All he needed was a little bit more, and that cup of coffee—even though his stomach protested at the thought.
She poured him a cup of coffee and set in on the night table next to him. "No. She's put up a schedule. Every two hours, someone grabs your key and comes up to check on you. I asked her if I could come see you this morning." Michaela held his hand between hers. "I was so worried."
"Where did you get the pills?" he asked. She hadn’t reacted with any guilt or belligerence. She was looking at him with her warm, brown eyes, and he didn’t see any deceit in them. Just concern. Under other circumstances, he might have gone for a kiss. His gaze dropped to her lips. He still might.
"They were hanging off the peg with your key on it."
"Take these." He handed her the pill bottle. He swallowed the coffee in one long drink. Marcus was feeling strong enough to resist the pull, now. But later he might be tempted, or worse old habits might come back and he’d grab two without even thinking about it.
"You sure?" she asked.
"No, and that's the problem." Marcus called Samuel.
"Jesus Christ, what? It's the crack of ten,” Samuel answered after the fifth ring. “Don’t you have nursemaids you can call to wipe your ass? I’m hung over.”
"Tetsuo sent me a gift." He hung up on his brother because he knew it would piss him off.
The door to his suite slammed open. Michaela jumped in surprise. Samuel came storming in, wearing his boxer shorts. They had palm trees on them.
"You could have gotten dressed," Marcus said.
"What's going on?" Michaela asked.
Samuel's eyes narrowed in on the pills she was holding. "What the fuck?" He ripped them out of her hand.
"Careful," Marcus snarled, sending a bolt of pain through his head.
"Did you take any?" Samuel asked, shaking the bottle.
"No."
"Did you?"
"He said no. Back off." Michaela rounded on him.
"Don't tell me to back off, wahine.” Samuel pointed at her. “You have no idea what's going on."
"I know some local businessman," she used air quotes around the last two words. "Is trying to get his hands on this property and isn't afraid to get dirty in the process."
"Are you working for Tetsuo?"
"Me?" Michaela said. "No. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the slimy bastard. Why do you think I'm working for him?"
"Samuel shut up. You're out of line." Marcus was terrified he'd tell Michaela about his past addiction, that she would think he was a spoiled rich boy. Maybe he had been, but he made sure he was the polar opposite now. Business before pleasure, always.
"I think you should leave," Samuel said.
Michaela looked at Marcus. "Do you want me to go?"
Marcus was too damned tired to deal with any of this. "Thanks for checking on me. I'm really out of it and all I want to do is sleep. Ignore Samuel, he’s a real prick when he’s hungover."
"Okay." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Feel better."
He felt better enough to pull her down for a real kiss. One that could have gone on a lot longer, but he reluctantly released her because he didn’t want to put on a show for his brother.
Samuel walked her out and locked the door. "She's on his payroll."
"Have you been talking to Holt?" Marcus sighed.
"No, I try to avoid him. He's a bigger prick than you are."
“Pour me another cup of Joe.” He held out his coffee cup.
“What’s the magic word?” Samuel said.
“Do it or I’ll kick your ass?”
“That’s more than one word. Besides, I think I can take you now.”
“Do it, or I’ll have Holt kick your ass.”
Samuel refilled the coffee and handed it back to him before pouring one of his own. “Jesus, my head is pounding. Maybe I should take one of these.” Samuel shook the pill bottle.
“Don’t be a fuckstick,” Marcus said. “It’s not funny.”
“How’s your head this morning?”
“Hurts.”
“Pussy,” Samuel called over his shoulder as he went into the bathroom.
“Michaela's not working for Tetsuo,” Marcus said after Samuel had flushed the pills down the toilet. It was for the best. Another good night of sleep and he wouldn’t even feel the urge. He hoped.
"She's a spy. He hired her to get close to you and slip you these pills."
"She said they were at the desk when she grabbed the key." Marcus took his time finishing his coffee, rather than gulping it down like a madman. He was starting to feel better, even though his head felt like it was going to pound off his shoulders.
"I'll look into it."
"You’re going to do work? Did you hit your head too?”
"I'll have Amelia look into it. Same thing." Samuel waved his hand.
"Tetsuo is playing dirty. How did he find out about the pills?"
"He's got ears everywhere. But he's gone too far. I'm sick of his shit," Samuel said. "Let's sell him back the place and let him choke on it. The property taxes are killing us."
"Convince Amelia of that and we'll talk." Marcus held out his coffee cup for Samuel to refill.
"I'm getting bored with this island anyway. We can find a property anywhere and Amelia can manage it. I hear Tahiti is nice."
"She loves it here," Marcus said. "And you know as well as I do, no matter where we go there will always be a Tetsuo Hojo."
"He tried to kill you."
"No, he harassed me. If he wanted to kill me, they would have held me under the water until I drowned. Same thing with the pills. If I'm stoned on opiates again, I'm not a threat. He's scared of us, Samuel. He wouldn't be pulling this shit if he wasn't."
Samuel paced, spilling coffee on his rug. "He's trying to get our licenses revoked. First it was the prostitution ring that he was running with our housekeeping staff, then it was the code issues on the renovations."
"And we're still here." Marcus took the filled cup back and after finishing it, felt human again.
"I don't trust the wahine. She's got you wrapped up in knots. You barely know her."
"I'm working on that. I'll handle Michaela. In fact, I want to hire her on as a surf instructor. She can stay in employee housing where we can keep an eye on her."
"When she's not on your dick."
"Respect. Or I'll knock your head off with a surfboard."
"I'm just saying, you're playing right into Tetsuo's hands if you put her on staff."
"Maybe, maybe not. It's the devil you know. If she is Tetsuo's spy, we'll feed her wrong information. It should be apparent very quickly.
Chapter Eleven
Michaela walked up to Amelia, who was behind the concie
rge desk. "Is there any way I can rent a car and get it delivered here?"
"What do you need a car for?" Amelia said.
"I'm going after Tetsuo."
"You can't," Amelia said. "He's well guarded and I have no idea where he is."
"Not like that," Michaela grinned. "I'm going to hit him where it hurts." She waggled her fingers. "Lawyer, remember. I'm going to check out the court house and law library in Wailuka and see what I can dig up. Maybe hit the county buildings to look up some records. If there's dirt on him, I'll find it. And there's got to be a reason he wants this property so badly, I'll find out that too."
Amelia tossed her a set of keys. "Take my car. If anyone asks, I sent you out for coffee."
"I'll probably be out all day."
"Good coffee is hard to find. Are you sure you want to do this? It might be dangerous. Do you want to take Makoa or one of the boys with you?"
"No. It's going to be long, boring work."
"Why are you so looking so happy about that? You're supposed to be on vacation."
"I love research and I love gathering information. I just wish I had my laptop."
Amelia unplugged her laptop and wound up the cord. "Here, take mine." She stuffed them into a Palekaiko Beach Resort tote bag.
"Are you sure?"
"Let's get this bastard. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"If Gerald Stone calls looking for me, you haven't seen me since Sunday when you told me my reservation had been cancelled. Oh, and his ring is in your safe."
"Got it," Amelia said.
Michaela stretched and rolled the kinks out of her neck. Her eyes stung from staring at the computer screen for the last five hours. Stifling a yawn, she decided to call it quits for the day. Her nose itched from the dust and mold from some of the old records. She had a lot of things to process about Tetsuo Hojo’s business, but she didn’t want to miss the sunset.
The wind was a refreshing blast against her face, even as it blew her hair into her eyes and mouth. There were two thuggish looking men sitting on the hood of Amelia’s car. She pretended that she hadn’t been heading over there and casually looked around the parking lot.
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