Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer, my OCs belong to me
This is the second chapter I've uploaded today
This chapter is dedicated to Alphabloodwolf, Asherah Isa, Fadewind, M-Bianca94 and Noble
Kekipi
"Lunch time." Billie sang as she came into the garage.
I looked over the edge of the dry dock and could only see her long slender legs, she was bare foot again, she always got rid of shoes when she could. Then she leant down and smiled into my face.
"There you are." She said. "You hungry?"
"Always." I said with a laugh as I climbed out of the pit.
"Me too." She said as she moved over to my desk and she perched up on it balancing a cup holder with two cardboard soda cups and a paper bag from Big Jim Silva's Diner. "Got it from the Diner, hope you don't mind."
"That you're giving your hard earned cash back to your boss?" I asked as I found an old rag to wipe the oil from my hands.
"I kinda am, but I get a staff discount and decided to share it with my favourite mechanic." She said as she put down the cups and pulled out a burger wrapped in paper and a bag of fries from the bigger bag and placed them on my desk by my chair.
I sat down and she put her foot up on the arm rest, her leg brushing against my arm, but she didn't seem to notice as she unwrapped her own burger and took a big bite out of it. She hummed in delight as she chewed and swallowed then licked at a bit of sauce that had escaped on the corner of her mouth. I was watching her with my eyes wide and my mouth open. I was staring, and it was rude, but I couldn't help it. She had me by the libido, but she wouldn't want anything more from me than just friendships.
I managed to drag my eyes away and focus on the burger in front of me. I pulled it out of the wrapping and bit into it. It was good, the food at Big Jim's was always good, just like it always had been, but I had my reasons for not going in there. I kinda wished Billie hadn't got a job there of all places, but I couldn't tell her what to do and I wasn't ready to say why I didn't go in there.
"So it's my first pay day today, I thought I'd treat us to a meal tonight. I'll buy the stuff after my shift and cook it." She said between bites of burger.
"You're ok." I said.
"No. I insist." Billie said, looking directly into my eyes. "You might be a rebel but you've been nothing but kindness to me, it's about time I repaid it."
"You already have." I pointed out.
"Well you're letting me stay on your Island free of charge, shouldn't buy at least half the food?" She asked, putting things in a way that was hard to argue.
"I guess." I said, but if we were counting this way then I had to be owing her by now.
"Is there anything you haven't had in ages that you fancy?" She asked.
"Nope." I said. "And you've been feeding me so well I'm gonna start piling on the pounds." I added, tapping my stomach.
"And I told you that you haven't been feeding your wolfy metabolism enough." She said and she put her hand against my stomach as she looked into my eyes.
Oh god! Why did she do that? It was so intimate and I… What did she want me to do?
I knew I wanted to kiss her and see where it led. I wanted to push that piece of bronze hair that was falling across her eye back behind her ear. I wanted to not be in here right now. It wasn't fair that I had this beautiful woman keep getting so close to me when nothing was gonna happen. I don't care what she's said about being a freak herself, she didn't turn into an animal. Why would she want to deal with that?
"Guess I should feed it then." I said, leaning away from her and taking a bite of my own burger.
Billie sat back up and took a small bite of her burger. I don't know, I felt like I'd done something wrong again, I wished she'd just tell what she wanted already. Well whatever, the silence was killing me. I usually liked quiet but this one was getting uncomfortable. What could I say?
"Pizza." I said off the top of my head.
"Pizza?" Billie asked, looking at me with a frown.
"That's something I haven't had in a choke long time. Not since I went to my island. It's not like local to any of the pizza places for them to deliver and I never liked the frozen ones." I explained.
"I can make pizza from scratch." She said with a shrug. "What toppings do you like?"
"Any." I said, I wasn't picky about that.
"I know, I'll get a load of different stuff and you can build your own pizza. You can help me make dinner and then I'll help you with the dishes. How does that sound?" She said with a wide grin.
"Sounds good." I conceded. "Course we'll have to go for a run after."
"That's the favourite part of my evening." She said with a smile.
"Getting out in the fresh air?" I asked.
"Running wild with my favourite wolf." She replied, and she squeezed my shoulder lightly as she leant toward me again. "How many more times do I have to tell you that I love spending time with you?"
I wasn't sure how to answer that.
"Ho Brah! You never guess what…!" Isla hollered as she entered the garage but didn't say what when she saw Billie. "Oh you're busy."
"I was just going." Billie said, chugging back her drink as she got down off my desk and dumped her trash in the bin she'd bought me. "See you later Kekipi." She added and kissed my cheek.
Isla watched it with her eyebrow raised.
"And I'll see you around Isla." Billie said as she walked passed my sister and kissed her on the cheek too; guess it was her usual way of saying goodbye.
I watched Billie as she stopped by the garage door to put her feet in her slippas before she headed out into the afternoon sunlight. Isla was watching her too, and once Billie was gone she turned back to me.
"You still gonna tell me there's nothing between you?" She asked as she dropped down into the customer chair.
"There's nothing. We're just friends." I said, dumping my trash in the can too.
"I know you think I'm only a kid, but you looked awful cosy to be just friends." Isla remarked, raising her eyebrow at me.
"It doesn't matter." I growled. "What did you want anyway?"
"Well you never guess what?" She began again.
"What?" I asked, I loved my baby sister, but at times she could get annoying. Like when she had any bit of news she had to make a fanfare out of it, she couldn't tell me straight out.
"You're girlfriend is working at the Diner." Isla said as if it was some kind of scandal, and like she didn't think I'd know.
"I know." I said with a nod.
"Really?" Isla asked, looking a little deflated that her great big news didn't have the impact she'd hoped. "And you're ok with that?"
"Not my business where she works." I said with a shrug.
"Well, she's working there under the name Mina. Why's she got a different name?" Isla demanded as if she was onto some conspiracy and Billie was at the centre of it.
"Her name is Wilhelmina. She uses Mina for more official stuff and Billie when she's with friends." I explained.
"Why?" Isla demanded.
"I don't know. None of my business." I said a little snappy cause I couldn't give the real reason.
"Isn't it though? If she's living with you?" Isla asked, and I guess she had a reason to be concerned, but I couldn't tell her why I weren't.
"If Billie wants to go by a different name, I can't complain." I said with a shrug.
"You got that right, Jimmy." Isla said just to wind me up since her info hadn't been the great big news she was hoping it to be.
"My name is Kekipi now." I said firmly.
"That's not what Mom named you." Isla said with a shrug.
"It's my name now." I countered.
Isla rolled her eyes.
"I don't know why you want to be a rebel for anyway. What is your deal?" She demanded.
"You been talking to our brothers again?" I asked, she always got this way when they'd been giving her the 'facts' about me.
"Maybe." She admitted.
"Or were they talking stink to you?" I asked, which was more likely.
"More talking to Mom at dinner last Sunday. Told you you should come." She said accusingly.
"I really wouldn't be welcome Isla." I said with a sigh, it always got to this sooner or later.
"Why? What did you do?" Isla demanded.
"Became a rebel." I said with a chuckle, it really was the only answer I could give her, I didn't really know myself why my parents went weird with me.
Ok so I did disappear for two days, but when I came back Mom was relieved but dad was all distant after that. It was why I had to move out as soon as, the tension was there and the tension made the wolf want to jump out. It was safer for everyone if I got out of there. It was all Dad really, Mom had been ok with me, but staying away made her not ok and I'd left it too long now.
"Well the Diner is having the annual luau in a few weeks, why don't you show up? It's not like Mom and Dad can say anything to you in public. They're more likely to save face and be nice to you. And your girlfriend will be working so you got no excuse not to go." Isla said enticingly but I groaned.
"I don't know." I said, shaking my head. I really didn't want to make promises I wasn't sure I could keep. I didn't know how I would feel come the luau.
"You can confide in me you know." Isla said in a low voice. "You used to be my favourite big brother when I was little. You were the only one who looked out for me. I know you still do, but we're not as close as we used to be. Remember you used to take me to hula lessons and I always used to love the songs you made up on the ukulele. Why did you stop playing?"
I shrugged, what could I say? I started turning into a giant wolf and I suddenly didn't feel like playing no more. Like she'd believe the truth, and I couldn't think of a good human reason why I stopped playing.
"You should start again. Music is always a good way to woo the ladies." She said with a wink.
"What if I don't want to woo the ladies?" I asked, already seeing where this was going.
"Well there's at least one you want to." She said like she knew everything.
I shook my head.
"Come on brah you're twenty two, it's perfectly ok for you to like girls now. Or boys if you prefer. But I think you like at least one girl. You like her don't you. A lot." She persisted, looking at me firmly so I had to turn my head not to be in her gaze.
I shook my head.
"Come on Kekipi, I know you better than anyone, and I can tell you're crushing big time on that hot piece of okole." She said, leering a little.
I just stared at her now she was being silly.
"You got her all alone on your little island, it will be easy to set the mood right to get things going." Isla continued, raising her eyebrows up and down.
I scowled.
"Even if it doesn't go any further, wouldn't you at least like to have sex with her? Take it while it's there."
"I'm sure Mom would love to here you speaking this way." I said flatly.
"Like you care what Mom thinks." Isla countered.
"Look. Me and Billie are living on top of each other right now. I don't want things to get weird if I make a move and I'm wrong about it." I pointed out, hoping she'd take this as a hint to shut up about it.
"Why would you be wrong about it?" Isla demanded instead, she was going to keep on about this.
"Why would Billie be interested in me? Why would any woman?" I snapped, and it was a stupid thing to say since I didn't want to get into it, I couldn't, why did I bring it up?
"Fo' real brah? Aznuts? Billie might be one little hottie, but you looked in the mirror lately? There's a ton of guys who'd kill to look like you, Odell and Lim are so jelly of you. Like seriously jelly it's not even funny. I joke that since we're both ridiculously good looking and they look like a dog's dinner we obviously get our looks from Dad."
"Don't even joke about that. Billie's already feeding me more than I'm used to." I said, tapping my stomach.
"Well you work out it'll just go on as muscle." Isla said with a shrug. "Not that you need any more of those, and don't worry, I think you'd have to gorge on nothing but burgers for twenty years to get as big as Dad."
"I guess it gives him a gimmick for the Diner though." I joked.
"Yep." Isla agreed.
"Anyway, I need to get back to work." I said getting to my feet since it had been enough time for me to say this to get her gone.
"I'll come bug you tomorrow." Isla agreed.
"Mahalo." I said with a laugh and I ruffled her hair.
She batted my hand away, before giving me a hug and left. I got back to working on the latest boat; it was nothing serious, just a new coat of waterproofing. It wouldn't take long. I'd just finished when I heard someone enter the garage.
"Howzit?" Someone called and I realised it was Jad the mailman, late as usual but he always kept Hawaiian time.
"'Ey." I called as I got out of the pit.
"You got mail brah." He said, waving a pile of letters in his hand and had a parcel under his other arm.
"Mahalo." I said as I took it from him.
"So who's the hottie I see coming out of here every day?" He asked, making the shape of an hourglass in the air.
"You'd best not be talking bout my baby sister brah." I warned.
"No brah, the red head haole with the legs all the way to forever." Jad replied.
"That's my friend Billie." I said flatly.
"So she just your friend? I'm not stepping on your toes if I ask her on a date?" He said with a grin.
"I… What? Why?" I demanded.
"Cause you seen her brah?" Jad asked in disbelief.
"I just, why are you after her? Haven't you got a girlfriend?" I growled, getting really annoyed with Jad, and I was usually ok with his laid back nature.
"Well you know, what she don't know won't hurt her right." He said with a wink.
"Find someone else to play your sick games with, you're not using Billie like that." I growled low and I used every bit of my six foot four inches to intimidate someone for the first time in my life. At least on purpose.
"Oh brah, you should have said. I get it. She's not your girl yet, but you want her to be. Shoulda just said. Catch you later brah." He said and left.
I scowled after him. Who did he think he was? Coming in here wanting to use Billie like that? Who was he, thinking it was ok to cheat on his girl? Why was it only the fact another brah had his eye on a girl that put her out of bounds? I know if I had a girlfriend I wouldn't go elsewhere, even for a good-looking woman like Billie. God, he made me so angry that he disrespected Billie like that I could feel the wolf heat rising up. I stomped over to my desk, dropped my mail onto it and slumped into my chair thinking calming thoughts, trying not to turn into the wolf. I couldn't believe how wound up I felt. Jad had always been a player, always cheating on his girl and I never liked it when he bragged about it, but it never got me this heated before. It had to be because of Billie, but it was insane how wound up it got me. I'd fancied women before but I never felt this stupid over the top need to protect them, even when they really didn't need protecting. It couldn't just be a wolf thing cause it felt even more intense than the protectiveness I felt for Isla and she's my baby sister.
I had to get my mind off it. I picked up the top letter and opened it, it was just a flyer for a casino theme night they were having up at one of Mr Gillespie's hotels. I dumped it straight in the trash. I wasn't interested in that type of thing. There was an electricity bill, water rates, and the usual costs of running a business. At least my bank statement should be ok.
I picked up the envelope from my bank and opened it. A cheque fell out. It was Gillespie's cheque with a big red stamp across it saying denied. The cheque had bounced god damn it! I knew I shouldn't have accepted it!
No. It had to be a mistake. I just had to phone him and get this sorted out.
I found my logbook and dialled Gillespie's number. It rang a few times and then went to voice mail. I hated leaving messages, so I hung up and dialled again. Still the answer phone. I decided to try one last time and then I'd have to leave a message.
I had to leave a message.
"Hello Mr Gillespie, this is Kekipi Kahamoku from Kekipi's Boats 'n' Pieces. I've just received a letter from the bank and unfortunately they've rejected your cheque. I'm sure there's been some kind of mistake but if you could ring me at the earliest convenience so we can rectify the matter I'd be grateful." I left my number too so he couldn't say he'd lost it and then I hung up.
What if Gillespie didn't phone me back, how would I get my money? Would there be any point in going after him? Ok so it was three hundred dollars, but would it cost more than that if I had to chase him through the courts? This was the last thing I needed.
I guess I just had to take my mind off it for now, worry about it later if they didn't call back. I went back to work, checking over the waterproofing on the boat I had in the dry dock before I went to work on an off board motor that needed a new starting switch. I found enough tasks to keep me busy for the rest of the day and made sure the clients paid in cold hard cash. This was why I never took cheques, but I didn't think a businessman like Gillespie would give me a dud. He was rolling in money so how can his cheque bounce? It had to be a mistake, that's all. Gillespie, or more likely his assistant, would call me and the whole thing would get cleared up. Yep, that's what would happen.
Those thoughts really didn't help put my mind to rest, but I could try and pretend that there was nothing wrong when Billie got back, weighed down by shopping bags.
"Pizza time." She sung, holding them up, but then she frowned. "You ok?"
"Sure. Everything's good." I said brightly as I began putting the garage in order for the night.
"Ok." She said, and she settled on the edge of my desk and read the morning paper like she always did.
It took me ten minuets to close the garage and like always it felt good to get out of my overalls. I loaded Billie's shopping and my mailbag into the boat before I jumped in and helped Billie into the prow. She sat down and gazed out over the front of the boat as I cast off and turned out to sea. The journey let my thoughts fly away from me for a while, getting to stare at Billie's butt as her hair whipped behind her on the breeze helped a lot with that. I guess it wasn't a gentleman thing to watch her like that, but I couldn't help it if she happened to be in my line of sight.
When we got back to my island she gave that little jump she always did, like the journey was shorter than she thought. I moored the boat and climbed out. I offered my hand to Billie and she let me help her out of the boat. I always felt an electric shock up my arm when she touched my hand like this. At first I thought maybe it was her power, her draining power, but now I don't think so.
I grabbed her bags and my mail out of the boat but knew to hand the shopping to Billie. There were some bits of chivalry she liked, but she liked to pull her weight too and didn't like it when I made it look like she couldn't. We walked up to my hale and I took my mailbag straight up to my bedroom. Billie didn't go up there, well except for once and she hadn't exactly been in the right frame of mind to snoop around then. She hadn't gone up there since so it was the best place I had for privacy. Not that I thought she'd deliberately snoop through my stuff, but at least this way there wouldn't be any accidental reveals.
When I got back downstairs Billie was already weighing out ingredients.
"You wanna learn how to make pizza dough?" She asked.
I shrugged, it wouldn't hurt to learn and at least it would take my mind off things. It was a good decision, I could do with learning some new recipes and I hadn't really baked before. Billie gave me a lesson in kneading, a hands on lesson.
"Just get your hands in there, don't be afraid." She said, pushing my hands into the warm springy dough. "You really have to work it." She said, moving her fingers over mine, encouraging me to massage the dough, to knead it and stretch it and get air into it.
I really liked it when Billie was helping me, but she had to get back to her own dough and that wasn't so good. Then I followed her instructions in pulling and flattening the dough into a disc that would fit on the round baking tray Billie had bought to cook our pizzas on.
I piled everything on my pizza, ham, pineapple, chicken, pepperoni, tomatoes, the works. Well all except for mushrooms but Billie shook her head when I asked her; she didn't like them and hadn't thought to get them. Well I guess I could get some next time if we were having separate pizzas anyway. And I guess when Billie went home.
Billie put our pizzas in the oven while we both cleared the table. We sat down to pizza and god it was good to eat the cheesy, greasy goodness again. I guess I was making sounds of enjoyment because Billie laughed at me.
"Nice?" She asked.
"Oh god yeah." I said around a mouthful of pizza.
"Well pizza is a speciality of mine. I'm part Italian you know." She said with a nod.
"Is there any nationality you're not?" I asked, genuinely curious, but I guess it came off as a joke because Billie gave a snorting laugh.
"Guess I'm just a mongrel." She replied with a grin before taking a big bite of pizza.
"They tend to be better than purebreds." I pointed out.
Billie nodded, still chewing on her pizza.
I gulped my soda and finished off my pizza before getting to my feet.
"Guess I'll do the dishes now."
"I'll help you." Billie said, shooting to her own feet.
"How?" I asked, after all there was only one sink and I always let my dishes drain.
She gave me a long look, she did it sometimes, like she was thinking something but changed her mind on saying it. She carried her plate to the sink.
"How about you do the plates and I'll do everything that's covered in burned on cheese?" She suggested.
"Shouldn't we just let them soak?" I asked, looking at the cheesy pans and finding it hard to imagine it being easy to clean them.
"I'll do them when we get back from our play date." She said. "I guess I'll go wash the grease from my hands while you're doing the plates, don't want to get your coat greasy."
"Mahalo." I said with a slight laugh, not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
She wiggled her nose at me before kissing my cheek and bounded into the bathroom. I really didn't know what to make of that girl, but it made life better. Got to admit it was nice to have someone to share my island with.
Once I had all the smaller dishes on the drainer I changed the water in the sink and put the pans in to soak. I turned from the sink to find Billie sitting at the table, her feet propped up on my chair and she'd been watching me, but she pretended she was interested in her phone, even though she didn't turn it on out here cause of the GPS or something.
"Ready for our run?" I asked.
"You bet ya." She replied, jumping to her feet and dumping the phone on the table.
We left the house and started running. I was human at first, I liked to feel the wind on my skin and see how fast I could run on two legs first off. It was only when we got to the lowland forest that I ducked behind a bush and stripped off before letting the heat take me. Then I was the wolf and everything was different. The world was so weird when your primary sense was smell, but it gave a lot more information. It let you see into the past for one thing, like the fact that there was a pig near here, did Billie realise? She probably needed blood and we could roast its rump after. I knew how to gut a pig; my father had shown me when we went on a hunting trip when I was a kid.
I bolted after his scent and Billie chased after me getting ahead of me and stopping me in my tracks.
"What's going on?" She asked.
I wanted to shush her, but couldn't. I raised my front paw and wiped it against her mouth, hoping she'd get the idea. She frowned at me so I grabbed the bottom her t-shirt carefully between my teeth and pulled down until she sat. I tapped the floor near her, stay there, and she nodded but folded her arms.
I picked up the scent again and followed it eagerly, the pig none to far from here. I did wonder how he got here, there weren't usually pigs on my island, but they could swim and I guess this one swam a little further than the others. I found him rooting around the bottom of a palm tree, and it was a boar, pretty big but nothing compared to me. I made sure to keep out of the way of his tusks and trotters as I leapt on his back and sunk my teeth into the scruff of his neck. He struggled, squealing like, well a pig, but he had no foothold when I lifted my head and I lugged him back through the foliage to where I'd left Billie. She got to her feet and the look on her face was, "What the hell?"
I trotted over to her, the pig still struggling ineffectually as I took him to her. She looked at me like she didn't know what was happening. I wish I had that telepathy she said about so I could tell her.
I dropped the pig at her feet and before he could run away I lunged on top of him, keeping him in place with my body weight. I looked up at Billie and motioned toward the pig with my head.
"You want me to feed?" She asked, frowning.
I nodded my head.
"Are you sure?"
I gave her a serious look; didn't I tell her that I didn't find her drinking blood weird?
"Thank you." She said before she looked along the pig then knelt down and put a hand against the pig's cheek, pushing it down and away from her, probably to make sure she didn't end up on the business end of his tusks.
Then she moved quickly, burying her face in its neck. My ears twitched as I heard her slurping and swallowing. Her shoulders were moving as she suckled and there was the scent of blood in the air. There was something deep in my mind; I guess it was the wolf instinct that said I should be disgusted by this. I hunted the creatures that drank blood, but it was silenced by something else. I have no idea what, but Billie was exempt. As the pig stopped moving I rubbed my cheek against hers, I couldn't help it. She lifted her head, there was blood around her mouth but I didn't care, I licked her nose.
She giggled as she rubbed the blood away with the back of her hand then scratched behind my ears as she rubbed her cheek against mine.
"Thank you." She whispered in my ear. "What made you think of it?"
Now I had a problem, I wanted to answer her but I couldn't when I was a wolf, but I didn't want to move either while she had her arms around me. I was just working up to turning human briefly since she wouldn't see anything anyway with her arms still around me, when her arms tightened around me and she sighed.
"Don't worry. Tell me later." She said happily and buried her face into my fur.
I wrapped my paw around her and breathed in her scent. She smelt so good, so much better when I could smell her in this shape. It was like the best scent in the world that made me feel ohana and hale all in one breath. I could love her forever and then some. How wrong was it that I couldn't imagine my life without her now? I'd known her just under a week, but it was like I'd always known her. It came from something deep inside me. Was it a wolf thing? It could be. I don't know it was probably just attraction. I'd never met anyone like Billie before, she was so damn sexy and I had to stop thinking of her like that. Why would she of all people be interested in freaky wolfy me?
I pulled away and went back to where I'd left my shorts. I became human again and pulled them on before going back to Billie who was waiting for me a few feet away from the pig.
"I smelt him, thought you might need blood. We can have a roast tomorrow." I explained.
"That sounds great." Billie said with a smile.
"Yeah." I agreed as I hauled the carcass up off the floor. "Let's get him up to hale before the rats get him."
Billie nodded and we began out of the forest to cross the beach. Billie stopped to grab my t-shirt when we passed it so I didn't lose it. When we reached my house I led Billie around to the shed at the back and put the pig on the floor while I went to get my knives. Billie was still standing around the back.
"You don't have to stay to see this." I said, after all some people got squeamish.
"I'm not squeamish." She said, like she read my mind. "I want to see how you do this. I'm a big fan of everything Hawaii and I always wanted to see what traditional butchery would look like. I want you to teach me your skills."
"Ok." I said, frowning a little over her eagerness, but then she took animals down with her bare teeth, was gutting them really that much more gut churning?
I showed her how to gut the pig, getting out all the inner organs.
"You're good at this." Billie said.
"I used to go hunting pigs all the time with my fadda when I was a kid." I explained. "It's easier lugging the cuts home than a whole carcass."
"It's also less likely to go bad." Billie observed.
I nodded.
"So are you gonna cook Kalua?" Billie asked.
"Well I haven't done it in years, but then I've never had a whole pig." I replied, thinking over the possibility.
"You know how to do it though?" Billie asked.
"Yep. Maybe we could build the imu tonight and then bury the pig tomorrow morning. Should be cooked just right by the time we get home." I planned.
She gave a little dance before rubbing her hands together.
"Where do you keep the shovels?" She asked excitedly.
"Let me just finish up here and I'll get one for you." I promised.
Billie nodded and watched me as I finished butchering the pig and I hung the meat up inside the shed. The organs I put in a bucket to carry down to the forest later, the rats would like it so it wouldn't be wasted. Yeah I could probably make them into stuff, even edible stuff, but I didn't really know where to start. Dad was always more interested in the succulent pig meat.
Then I got the pick and shovel before leading Billie to a spot a few hundred yards from my hale. We cleared away the weeds then I took the pick to break the ground and Billie moved the earth away with the shovel. We worked well together and soon had a pit the right depth and size for the imu.
"We need to gather rocks and banana leaves to line the bottom now right?" Billie asked excitedly.
"We could go get the rocks, but maybe leave the leaves until tomorrow so they're fresher." I said.
"Ok." Billie said, smiling widely, she was enjoying this. "So lets go get some rocks."
"Let me grab the pig guts first." I said as I went to grab the bucket.
"Oh, but we could do so much with them." She observed.
"Can you?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I don't really feel up to it." She said with a shrug. "I guess if Dad never finds out it'll be ok. If he does we'll just say they spoiled. Ok?"
"Will he get mad if we waste them?" I asked with worry.
"He has old fashioned ideas about not wasting food. Kinda ironic when you consider the fact that he can't actually eat the food." She said with a laugh. "But you know, back when he was human they ate some crazy cuisine that would make pig guts seem positively delightful." She chatted on as we made our way down to the beach.
Billie began collecting stones while I went to dump the guts in the forest far away from where we usually ran. Then I went back to the beach and swilled out the bucket in the seawater so we could use it to carry the stones in. Billie already had a pile of stones, about half of what we would need. We collected a few more before we returned up the cliff and lined the pit with stones. That seemed about it for tonight. Although I did decide to put a cover over it just in case, it didn't seem stormy but there was the smell of rain on the air.
"I can't believe it, our own personal luau." Billie crowed, wrapping her arm through mine and hugging it for a moment. "This will be epic!"
"Yeah." I agreed.
"I guess I should go wash those pans now." She said like the thought had just distracted her, she did this sometimes.
"I can do those." I offered.
"But you'll be cooking tomorrow and there won't exactly be much in the way of dishes." She pointed out.
I shrugged.
"I'm washing the pans." She said firmly before kissing my cheek and running so fast into the house that you could hardly see her move.
I followed her in and she was already running clean water into the sink. I let her get on with it while I went to shower. I was a little grimy thanks to prepping the pig. When I came out of the bathroom, Billie was sitting at the kitchen table with two cups of coffee.
"Thought you might like a drink." She said with a smile.
I sat down and took a sip. It was perfect, just how I liked it. She always did it how I liked it and I'd never told her how I took my coffee. She just seemed to know how I liked it.
"Maybe we should ask Isla to join us for the luau tomorrow." Billie suggested.
"Nah. Best not. I don't want her here too much in case she finds out about the wolf." I said sadly, I hated keeping so much from Isla, but I had to.
"Maybe you should let someone from your family know." Billie said softly, like she was advising me but wasn't sure if it was a touchy subject.
"What's the point getting my baby sister mixed up in the supernatural if it'll never touch her life?" I asked.
"I guess you have a point." She conceded. "She'll probably get the wrong idea about me anyway. She already thinks I'm you're girlfriend, right?"
"Pretty much." I confirmed.
"Not that I'm complaining, but you're a little shy, probably private about your personal life. Even where your family is concerned, so I won't do anything to further those thoughts your sister might have." Billie said, matter of fact.
"Mahalo." I said, a little uncertain where she was going with this.
"Anyway." She said, draining her cup. "I'm gonna get some shut eye."
She swilled her cup, dumped it on the drainer and kissed my cheek before leaving. I guess it was time for me to settle down too. Well we did have to light the imu, salt the pig and get it buried before heading out to the island in the morning. Probably better to do it before we shower or else smell like pig meat all day.
I swilled out my cup, went to the bathroom then went up to bed. But now in the darkness with nothing to take my mind off the bounced cheque it was suddenly there in my mind and I couldn't help but worry about it. What was I supposed to do about it? I really didn't like the thought of launching legal action against someone like Gillespie; I couldn't afford the highflying lawyers he could.
I don't know how long I'd been lying there, fretting in the dark but I heard the door open and close, I guess Billie was coming in to use the bathroom.
"Kekipi?" She called up the stairs, I thought maybe I should ignore her, but then decided that if she was calling up to me she knew I was awake.
"Yeah?" I called back.
"Can I come up?" She asked.
I thought for a moment, should I let her come up here? Are you stupid man? Just let her, you never know what she wants. I decided not to get my hopes up, it was more likely because it was raining, I could hear it pat lightly against the roof.
"Sure." I said, sitting up.
She came up the stairs.
"Sorry to barge in on you like this, but it's started raining." She explained.
"It's ok. Take the bed, I'll go take a blanket downstairs." I said, starting to get up.
"Don't be silly. Your bed is uber big and it's not like we haven't shared a bed before." She reminded me.
"It's your call." I said with a shrug.
She smiled at me before climbing into the other side of the bed. She snuggled down under the blanket, lying on her side facing me. I lay back down and looked at her because I could feel her watching me.
"So." She said lightly. "Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"
"Wrong?" I asked, confused.
"Well, you might have been acting all happy this evening but I could tell you weren't yourself. And you haven't slept tonight." She said like she knew it was fact and not that she was just speculating.
"Well I was sleeping till someone woke me up." I bluffed.
"No you weren't." She said with a shake of her head.
"How do you know?" I demanded.
"Because you weren't snoring." She said simply.
"I don't…" I began.
"Yes you do." She said, cutting me off with a laugh. "But don't worry about it. It's kinda cute."
"Ok." I said, frowning.
"What's wrong?" She asked again.
I shook my head.
"You know what they say, a problem shared is a problem halved." She coaxed.
I thought about it for a minuet. Really my financial business was none of her business, but it would be nice to confide in someone. And maybe she could give me some advice and if not she had contacts. Maybe they could help in some way?
"Ok. Although there's nothing we can do about it tonight." I warned.
"Still…" She pointed out.
"I got a letter from the bank today. A cheque this guy gave me bounced and it's for over two hundred dollars. I know that might not sound like much, but to me it is, especially when the parts cost a hundred and fifty. I don't normally take cheques, but he seemed legit enough. I mean why would a big hotel guy be doling out rubber cheques?"
"Dodgy people make more money by screwing over everyone else." Billie stated flatly.
"I hope it's just some mistake." I said sadly.
"You phoned him?" She asked, and I thought it was insulting at first, like I wouldn't think of the obvious, but then I realised she was just trying to get the facts.
"Yeah. I just got voice mail. I'll try again tomorrow." I said.
"Don't give him too much leeway though. And keep me posted on this. If he hasn't got back to you by next week then we'll think of some way to make sure he repays you." She said firmly.
"Like how?" I asked, cause I really don't know how to go ahead with this.
"I got contacts." She said with a shrug. "Don't worry Kekipi, we'll get your money back." She promised me and I believed her.
"Mahalo." I said, and risked brushing her cheek. "You have put my mind to rest."
"Sleep time now?" She asked.
I nodded.
She smiled at me and put her hand to my cheek.
"Goodnight." She said.
"Night." I replied as I felt my eyes grow heavy and I drifted to sleep.
I woke in the morning with warmth all down my right side. I opened my eyes a little and looked down to see that Billie had snuggled up to me in the night. Her head was on my shoulder and her hand was across my chest and her right leg hooked over mine. My arm was a little numb where it was around her. Did I have it round her all night? Billie was still asleep, breathing gently as she was lost in dreamland.
I decided to let her sleep a little longer; anyway it meant I could hold her. I know I already held her all night, but that had been different. I'd been cradling her after a bad dream. This was more intimate and I got to say I liked the thought that she'd snuggled up to me like this in her sleep. Maybe her subconscious realised something she didn't.
I got to lie there a full five minuets before she stirred and looked up at me. She smiled as she sat up, rubbing at my shoulder.
"Sorry I drooled on you." She said with a chuckle.
"You can drool over me anytime." I must have still been half asleep to say something so cheesy.
She giggled and kissed my cheek before jumping to her feet.
"Come on." She announced. "We got an imu to build."
Without waiting for me to reply she ran to the handrail and bounded over it. I shot up and run to the rail, looking over in time to see her land lightly on her feet and run to the door as if it was nothing. Well I guess the drop wasn't that big when you thought about it. I didn't attempt it though; I just went down the stairs.
Billie was already up in the trees when I caught up to her, she was happily collecting leaves.
"You know what we need?" I asked.
"Yep." She said.
"I'll go prepare the meat."
"Good idea." She replied, as she dropped a bunch of the leaves to the floor then leapt to the next tree.
I went back to the house and prepared the meat. In the mean time Billie came back and prepared the pit so it would make a decent imu. It took us an hour in all, but by six the pig was buried and cooking. I let Billie use the shower first and then I went to wash while she made breakfast.
Like always the breakfast was good, I hadn't had such ono breakfasts in all my life. Not even Mom or Dad did breakfast as good as this and it was sad to think that Billie would leave here some time and I'd be back to a cup of coffee and a slice of toast.
We sailed to the Big Island as usual and I set about opening up the garage while Billie went off to the Diner to work. I checked all the waterproofing was dry on the boat before I filled the dry dock and drove the boat outside to moor it next to mine ready for when the owner showed up. Then I got to replacing the rotor fan on an off board motor that someone had broke up driving too close to the rocks. Then at ten I decided it was late enough to give Gillespie a ring.
I had to leave another message, making sure I put some urgency into it this time, give him to the end of the week to get back to me. I was starting to have a bad feeling about this. It was like a wall of silence. I'd give them until the end of the week.
When I still couldn't get through the next day and they'd made no attempt to contact me I went back in my trash can and found the flyer I'd dumped there a few days back. I looked at it, wondering if I should turn up at the hotel and confront him there, but nah that was a stupid idea. I'd give him to the end of the week like I said and if there's still no joy, threaten him with a lawyer.
The end of the week came and I finally got a call. It was the assistant.
"Is this Mr Kahamoku?" He asked.
"Yeah." I replied.
"This is Mr Maroni, Mr Gillespie's assistant. I understand you've been trying to contact him." He said.
"Yes. The cheque you gave me bounced." I said, not beating about the bush with accidents or whatever now they'd taken so long to get back to me.
"I think you're trying to pull a fast one here. I've checked our bank records and the payment has been made to you." He said in firm tones.
"I can show you the cheque if you don't believe me." I replied, trying to keep to calm tones, it would be stupid to get antagonistic right now.
"I believe you're trying to con Mr Gillespie and if you do pursue this through the court we can prove that you have been paid the money and you have some 'brah' at the bank who voided the cheque to try and defraud Mr Gillespie. If you know what's best for you then you will not contact us again. Good day." Maroni said in clipped tones.
And like that he hung up.
I stared at the phone for a very long time wondering what the hell I could do now.
"Lunch time!" Billie sang as she came into the garage, but she quickly dumped the food on the desk and was kneeling in front of me, looking up into my eyes with her hand on my cheek.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I just got a call from Gillespie's assistant. He's warned me off legal action saying that he can prove that I've been paid but I'm pulling some kind of scam." I said, not even thinking twice about sharing with her this time.
"Does he have the influence to do that?" Billie asked.
I shrugged; I could believe it with Gillespie.
"So this guy is dodgy?" She asked.
"Seems like it." I said unhappily.
"You're not gonna get your money back legally?" She asked carefully.
I shrugged.
"I can get you your money back without this Gillespie guy even knowing." She said, and grabbed the flyer off the desk. "I sure can, but it will mean I'll have to spend a night at this hotel and go in disguise. They can't know I know you though. Do you think you can drop me off in the port near Honomu?"
"Sure. Why?" I asked with a frown.
"That's where my handler is. He can drive me back here as my chauffer. I'll get your money for you. I promise." She said firmly. "And it'll be perfectly legal."
"How?"
"Because I'm exceptionally good at gambling." She said, holding up the flyer.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked, because generally the house won when it came to gambling.
"Don't worry, I won't be gambling with any of your money. Though I will need to go speak to my handler before we head home today." She muttered, clearly in planning mode.
"So you'll be late tonight?" I asked.
"I'll try not to be too late." She replied.
"I could pick you up from Honomu if you like." I offered, rather than her having to make a return trip.
"I think it's better to limit how much we're seen together there just in case. Don't worry though; I'll introduce you to Drogo when you drop me off on the day. I just think I should prep him first in case he overreacts." She stated.
"Is he likely to do that?" I asked with worry, maybe I didn't want to meet this Drogo guy after all and maybe he wasn't safe for Billie to be around.
"No. But just in case." She said with a shrug. "Ok. I think we should eat lunch now and we'll discuss this more when we get home. You never know who might be listening in."
I nodded and picked up the ham salad sandwich she'd got me. We ate our food in silence and Billie was quick to get back to the Diner. Guess she wanted to buy brownie points to leave earlier tonight. I just hoped she wasn't getting herself in trouble for my sake. I hoped this went well for her, I liked her to get out of this safely more than if I had my money back.
Again I will be taking a break next week to work on another project.
Thank you for reading
Reviews are welcomed
Gemma x
