It’s amazing how I can go four years without seeing the girl next door, but one argument and four days later, I can’t get her out of my head. I’ve replayed it on repeat in my brain, her storming away from the deck the other night. I guzzle the cup of coffee that Kapuna poured me and rinse the cup in the sink afterward. He smiles at me before I head out for another day of beach cleanup.
The roar of the ocean draws my attention toward the waves. I want to surf again, more than anything, but I don’t know how I’ll deal with surfers in the lineup who don’t know me or only know the rumors. They don’t know that I grew up surfing these waves. I learned how to surf here. This is my home too. But knowing everything I’ve done in the surf world. I feel unworthy. As much as I miss the ocean and the feel of a board under my feet, I know I don’t deserve to be out there on the best waves in the world.
A car door slams, and I turn my gaze across the yard. Keiko opens the driver’s side door of his car, but then he hesitates before closing it and walking toward me. His evil eye is even better than that of Vin Brooks in an interrogation room. Fuck my life.
“Kale Nakoa, welcome back,” Keiko says, although I am fully aware he doesn’t mean it. “I’ll get to the point. Stay away from my sister. Don’t drag her into your problems.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” I say for clarification. “I honestly didn’t plan on talking to her or anyone else. I’m biding my time, okay?”
Keiko glances over his shoulder, as if he’s making sure no one else can hear him. “Leilani feels sorry for you. She thinks she can help you because she still sees the fourteen-year-old boy who left here five years ago,” he says, stepping closer. “She doesn’t see who you are now.”
“Fuck you,” I spit out. “You don’t even know who I am now.”
Everything in my veins wants to lunge forward, knock him to the ground, and pound my fist into his face, but I know better. I’m not a wild ass West Coast Hooligan anymore, and beating the hell out of her brother isn’t the way to impress Leilani. I can’t afford to get in trouble again, regardless of the reason. My probation officer won’t care that Keiko approached me and called me out on my crimes. What they care about is how I react.
“It doesn’t matter,” Keiko says. “I don’t need your version of the story. It’s all over the news everywhere I look. I know what you did to Colby Taylor. I saw what happened to that A.J. guy. I’ve followed it from day one, before I even knew you were involved. And for the record, Colby Taylor is rather popular around here, so word to the wise – watch your back.”
I don’t back down or move from my spot in the yard until after he’s back in his car and has driven away. I want to be mad in a volcanic eruption kind of way, but I know he’s right about everything. Leilani deserves better, and Hawaii deserves better. Keiko may be a bit self-righteous because everyone on the island freaking loves him, but he knows what he’s talking about.
And the truth is, I’m nothing but trouble for everyone here.