Page 118 of Cornered

Briggs grinned. “Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Tension crackled between them, and Briggs searched her eyes, hoping to find the answer to his question. Was she going to leave? Was the hope flickering in his chest for a future with Lahela going to be snuffed out? Was—

Commotion behind them turned their attention to thesudden movement of the police jogging toward the street. Detective Morgan was at their side, his hand on his service pistol at his waist.

“What’s going on?” Briggs moved in front of Lahela, reaching one hand behind him for her to hold on to as he searched for the threat. “What is it?”

“There’s a man trying to get to Lahela. He’s threatened two of my officers and—”

“Wait,” Lahela cut in, putting a hand on Briggs’s shoulder to peek around him. “Does he look like a Hawaiian Fabio?”

Detective Morgan frowned and then spoke into his radio. A second later, his frown deepened. “Yes,” he said with some hesitation.

Lahela groaned. “That would be my brother.”

TWENTY-FOUR

NOVEMBERS IN TEXASmight be her new favorite thing. Lahela tipped her head back against the Adirondack chair and soaked in the sun shining from the bright blue sky. She closed her eyes and breathed in the blended country scent of the animals grazing in the nearby field and the smoky scent drifting from the BBQ pit.

Briggs was right. There was something cathartic about being in the natural beauty of the country. And in the two weeks since the incident, Lahela had quietly enjoyed the solitude at Briggs’s family ranch.

“You okay, Sis?”

Solitude that included her big brother checking on her every five minutes.

Lahela opened her eyes, shielding them from the sun, and pinned a stare on Kekoa. “You’re worse than Mom and Dad.”

“Psh, you’re lucky I’m the only one here.” Kekoa dropped into the empty chair next to her. “Garcia had to keep Lyla from coming with me.” He squinted like he was searching the distant terrain. “Can’t be certain she’s not got eyes out there somewhere.”

“Are you serious?”

“The whole team was worried about you.” He eyed her. “Allof them were ready to come down here, but you know Lyla always takes it to the next level.”

Lahela laughed because he was right. Lyla was the feistiest of Kekoa’s team, but it meant a lot that all of them had accepted her as part of their ‘ohana. Her eyes moved to where Daphne, Briggs, and Nash were huddled around the smoker.

Each of them had accepted her in the same way. Become her ‘ohana here in Texas and didn’t leave her side when things got hard.

“They’re good people, Sis,” Kekoa said like he’d read her mind. “‘Ohana.”

“I know.” And she did, but that didn’t just fix her fear that one day they’d leave her. “You know, when you left Hawai‘i after Ikaia died, you didn’t just leave Mom and Dad. You left Makalena and me too. I know it was hard for you. Extra hard, but when you left ... it made me afraid I was going to lose everyone I loved.”

Kekoa swallowed and he twisted his gaze away from her, wiping his eyes. “I’m sorry, Sis. I never meant to hurt you or make you afraid.”

She reached over and squeezed his giant hand, grateful he was here.

AFTER DINNER,Briggs walked her to the fence by the horse pasture. “I know you’re thinking about leaving and I don’t want to pressure your decision, but I do want to make sure you have all of the facts before you decide.”

Lahela was about to interrupt him, but he twisted to face her, tipped up his Stetson, and had such a purposeful look in his eyes that she wanted to hear what he had to say.

“We need you. You’ve told me that you’re afraid of beinga needy friend, but the truth iswe’rethe needy ones. Daph, Nash, and me.”

“What are you talking about?” She hadn’t meant for her question to come out on a half laugh of disbelief, but she couldn’t help it.

Briggs took her hand in his and spun her so she could see where Daphne, Nash, and Kekoa were talking and laughing at the picnic table.

“Have you noticed that Daphne doesn’t have any girlfriends besides you? She’s got her older brothers, Fish and Finn. Me. And Nash. She doesn’t have girlfriends because once upon a time—”

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